1. Planning in Turbulent Times
Nancy Hall

2. Why Strategic Plans fail –
Document more important than plan itself
Lack of resources to implement plan – people, money
Change outpaces the plan
Plan outpaces the planners and those tasked to implement
Doesn’t account for disruptive events

3. FORMS OF DISRUPTIVE EVENTS
NATURAL DISRUPTIONS
POLITICAL DISRUPTIONS
BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL DISRUPTIONS
SOCIETAL DISRUPTIONS

4. NATURAL DISRUPTIONS
Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods. If in your service area, can put a strain on resources. Can redirect financial resources to relief organizations in the area affected.

5. POLITICAL DISRUPTIONS
Unanticipated election results. Government shut- downs. Legislative and regulatory actions.

6. BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL DISRUPTIONS
WIDE SWINGS IN THE STOCK MARKET
SCANDALS LIKE BERNIE MADOFF, NEW ERA
RAPID PACE OF TECHNOLOGY

7. SOCIETAL DISRUPTIONS

8. TODAY’S NEWS

9. MULTI-YEAR STRATEGIC PLANS ARE BECOMING DINOSAURS UNABLE TO EXIST IN THE CURRENT WORLD.

10. Planning needs to be continuous not something that happens once a year at budget time or once every three years for the big strategic plan document.
The fluid world we live in does not align with the fixed nature of an annual budget cycle.

11. Boards and staff need to be agile – Agility has a hard time co-existing with a rigid 3 to 5 year strategic plan

12. AGILE THINKING
A NEW WAY OF THINKING
Strategic thinking is what the organization should look like in the future…..

13. Strategic planning is how we choose how to get there….

14. CHARACTERISTICS OF STRATEGIC THINKING
Intent Focused

15. As the Cheshire Cat said…
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.

16. By the end of the decade, we will put a man on the moon.
As John Kennedy said…
By the end of the decade, we will put a man on the moon.

17. As Martin Luther King said…
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed; we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

18. TIGHT ENDS
LOOSE MEANS
Tom peters

19. TIGHT ENDS Mission, goals Set by Board
LOOSE MEANS
Activities
Implemented by staff
Tom peters

20. What does success look like?
For your organization
For your cause

21. CHARACTERISTICS OF STRATEGIC THINKING
Intent focused
Systems perspective

22. Supply chains…….

23. See the whole floor

24. STRATEGIC PEOPLE CREATE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN IDEAS, PLANS, AND PEOPLE THAT OTHERS FAIL TO SEE

25. CHARACTERISTICS OF STRATEGIC THINKING
Intent Focused
Systems Perspective
Thinking in Time

26. Skate to where the puck is going, not to where it is.
WAYNE GRETZKY
Skate to where the puck is going, not to where it is.

27. Marriott

28. China

29. CHARACTERISTICS OF STRATEGIC THINKING
Intent Focused
Systems Perspective
Thinking in Time
Intelligent Opportunism

30. SLACK
PROVIDES A BUFFER
PROVIDES RESOURCES FOR INNOVATION

31. OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS… and you better have money and people available to take advantage…

32. CHARACTERISTICS OF STRATEGIC THINKING
Intent Focused
Systems Perspective
Thinking in Time
Intelligent Opportunism
Hypothesis-driven

33. THINK LIKE A SCIENTIST
You are never right or wrong, you are always simply proving or disproving your hypothesis.

34. CHARACTERISTICS OF STRATEGIC THINKING
Intent Focused
Systems Perspective
Thinking in Time
Intelligent Opportunism
Hypothesis-driven

36. WHY DO (STRATEGIC) PLANNING/THINKING?
Organization is experiencing problems - loss of funding, uncontrolled expenses, under-utilized program services. Organization is growing in uncontrolled way Change in leadership Periodically the story needs to be told

37. WHY DO (STRATEGIC) PLANNING/THINKING?
Staff wants to get board involved
Funders are requesting a copy of the organization’s strategic plan
It’s been X years since the last one was done

38. KEY ELEMENTS OF PLANNING PROCESS
There needs to be a compelling reason to plan.
Start where you and others involved currently are.
Tailor the process to the organization and its unique situation. One size does not fit all.
The resource most needed is commitment and leadership, not dollars.

39. KEY ELEMENTS OF PLANNING PROCESS
Decision makers have an opportunity to talk with one another about what is truly important.
Big payoffs can come in surprising ways and from surprising sources.
If the going gets tough, keep going.
Sometimes you need someone from the outside to keep everyone on track.

40. WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE ?
TIGHT ENDS REVISITED
WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE ?

41. BOARD COMPOSITION What does the board look like now?
What will it look like in 1 year, 3 years if you keep doing things the same way?
What do you want the board to look like?
What do you have to differently to get from where you are to where you want to be?

42. YOUR PROGRAM
What is your program now? What will it look like in 1 year, 3 years if you keep doing things the same way? Are there external factors that will impact the program? What do you want the program to look like? What do you have to differently to get from where you are to where you want to be?

43. FINANCIAL
What is the financial situation now? What will it look like in 1 year, 3 years if you keep doing things the same way? Are there external factors that will impact the financial situation? What do you want the financial picture to look like? What do you have to differently to get from where you are to where you want to be?

44. The End
QUESTIONS?