Ask yourself, is your strategic plan worth the paper it’s written on? Can you estimate the value of your plan and its impact on customers or the community you serve? You’d be surprised how a well-thought-out, effective plan could more than double your income and improve your credibility. These are the strategic plans we use to support client financing proposals. Unfortunately, we don’t see enough of them.
How are these strategic plans highlighted?
What makes them so successful?
Here are five ways to get value from your plan, increase your credibility, and increase your income:
1 Plan for 3-5 years
A strategic plan aims to achieve results in a period of 3 to 5 years, not in 12 months. Anything less than the longest time frame is operational. To grow or become sustainable requires ingredients such as access to human resources, research and development, governance, finance and infrastructure, as well as the ability to measure your success within realistic time frames. If you don’t have clearly defined strategic objectives, how can you design effective marketing, human resource, and financial plans? How can people contribute to the direction of the organization if it is not clearly articulated?
2 Get outside help early on
If you are about to come up with a new strategic plan, consider hiring an outside facilitator early on who can help you with planning, information gathering, facilitation, and coming up with the final plan. They bring objectivity to the process and benefits include:
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Saving time and internal resources by outsourcing the legwork
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Minimize the risk of undue influence in the shape of the Plan that can occur when an internal person facilitates and promotes the content of the plan.
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Allow all parties to participate fully and equally in consultation and discussion in shaping the plan.
3 Incorporate a well-documented situation analysis
Some organizations rely on their internal knowledge and insights to guess what is happening in the external environment and use this limited knowledge to analyze the current situation and future trends. We live in a rapidly changing world, so it makes sense that in order to be strategic and stay ahead, we need to review demographics and economics, competitors, stakeholders, and government policy. This is the backbone of innovation. To get an idea of how a good situation analysis can support a strong 3-5 year outlook, check out your local government council’s plans. Otherwise, you might as well pay Gypsy Rose Lee to look into her crystal ball.
4 Goals and strategies are not your programs, products and services
If your focus is on business, take a step back and focus on your vision and mission. If you’re going to achieve results, programs, products and services are only part of the equation. Consider ‘how, when, why, who and where’, starting with ‘what’ needs to happen to get us from A to B in x amount of time to help us achieve y (y = destination goal = vision). When it comes to programs, products, and services, use the strategic planning process to think outside the box and come up with some innovative solutions.
5 Measure your results
This is the essence of life within the strategic plan that distinguishes winners from the rest. This is the part that many strategic plans overlook, perhaps because it is too difficult to think about or because it is an indication that the Board/Management Committee does not understand its role in setting and monitoring the direction of the organization. Even some million-dollar operations fail to measure their results beyond the balance sheet.
If you want to position your organization with credibility, how can you do it without evidence? How do you really know how well the organization is traveling?
Working with clients both large and small, those who have been able to secure large amounts of financing and/or demonstrate their credibility have:
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The Board of Directors exercises its role as the driving force of the organization
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It undergoes a diligent strategic planning process that helps uncover gaps and opportunities that are being exploited.
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They measure improvements. They compare, use qualitative and quantitative data, and measure in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. They evaluate everything they do, not only for continuous improvement, but also to demonstrate the difference they make. Even in socially oriented operations, it is possible to collect testimonials and stories to add emotion and a human touch to the data.
If you had to put funds into an organization, which one would you prefer? One that shows you have your finger on the pulse, sets your goals, and works to achieve them efficiently and effectively, or one that, when things go wrong, can’t really demonstrate the difference you make to the people you serve? ? The clients we work with who assess performance in all areas and also incorporate this into their strategic plan are the ones we find most successful in attracting large grants. This is how a well planned and implemented strategic planning process can more than double your revenue and improve your credibility.
