Basics of Writing and Communicating a Strategic Plan
© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Adapted from the Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation.
This activity is usually conducted near the overall process of strategic planning. Therefore, the reader might best be served to first read the information in the topic Strategic Planning.
Writing the Plan
1. Have a small number of people write the first draft of the plan. An outside facilitator (someone hired from outside of the organization to facilitate the planning process) should not be the one who writes the plan.2. Don’t worry about having every last detail in the first draft.
3. The draft should be presented to the board of directors (if applicable) and upper management for review and approval. It's not unusual for the board and/or top management of large organizations to provide major input primarily to the contents in the body of the document, that is, the mission and vision and values statements, and the goals and strategies. Employees and other staff often provide the major input to the action planning portion, including the objectives, responsibilities and timelines for completion of objectives.
Format of the Plan
Note that it's wise to distribute copies of the plan to major stakeholders (investors/funders, trade associations, etc.). Therefore, you should organize the format of the plan such that the body of the plan can be sent outside of the organization and the appendices can include the more confidential and detail-oriented documents -- documents which also tend to change a lot. The format of the plan should fit the culture and preferences of the organization.Consider the following sections:
(The following sections might be viewed as the "body"
of the plan document.)
1) Executive Summary -- This is written to the scope and level
of content that an “outsider” can read the summary and
grasp the mission of the organization, its overall major issues
and goals, and key strategies to reach the goals
2) Authorization -- This page includes all of the necessary signatures
from the board of directors (if applicable) and other top management
designating that they approve the contents of, and support implementation
of, the plan
3) Organizational Description -- This section describes, for example,
the beginnings and history of the organization, its major products
and services, highlights and accomplishments during the history
of organization, etc.
4) Mission, Vision and Values Statements -- These statements describe
the strategic "philosophy" of the organization
5) Goals and Strategies -- Lists all of the major strategic goals
and associated strategies identified during the strategic planning
process.
Appendices
(The appendices often include information that is somewhat
confidential, detail-oriented and/or tends to change a lot.)
A) Action Planning -- Specifies objectives, responsibilities and
timelines for completion of objectives
B) Description of Strategic Planning Process Used -- Describes
the process used to develop the plan, who was involved, the number
of meetings, any major lessons learned to improve planning the
next time around, etc.
C) Strategic Analysis Data -- Includes information generated during
the external analysis (for example, environmental scan) and internal
analysis (for example, SWOT analysis), and includes listing of
strategic issues identified during the these analyses
D) Goals for Board and Chief Executive Officer -- Goals of the
board and CEO should be directly aligned with goals identified
during strategic planning. This appendix will list goals for the
board and can include recommendations for redesigning board committees
to be associated with strategic goals. The appendix also lists
goals for the CEO goals -- these can be used (along with the CEO
job description) to form the basis for performance evaluations
of the CEO.
E) Budget Planning -- Depicts the resources and funding needed
to obtain and use the resources needed to achieve the strategic
goals. Budgets are often depicted for each year of the term of
the strategic plan
F) Operating Plan -- Describes the major goals and activities
to be accomplished over the coming fiscal year.
G) Financial Reports -- Includes last year's budget (with estimated
expenses and the actual amounts spent), this year's current budget
(again with estimated amounts and actual amounts spent), a balance
sheet (or in the case of nonprofits, a statement of financial
position), income statement (or in the case of nonprofit, a statement
of financial activities), etc.
H) Monitoring and Evaluation of Plan -- Include criteria for monitoring
and evaluation, and the responsibilities and frequencies of monitoring
the implementation of the plan
I) Communication of Plan -- Describe the actions that will be
taken to communicate the plan and/or portions of it, and to whom
Communicating the Strategic Plan
Note that certain groups of stakeholders might get complete copies of the plan, including appendices, while other groups (usually outside of the organization) might receive only the body of the plan without its appendices.1. Every board member and member of management should get a copy of the plan.
2. Consider distributing all (or highlights from) the plan to everyone in the organization. It's amazing how even the newest staff member gains quick context, appreciation, and meaning from review of the strategic plan.
3. Post your mission and vision and values statements on the walls of your main offices. Consider giving each employee a card with the statements (or highlights from them) on the card.
4. Publish portions of your plan in your regular newsletter, and advertising and marketing materials (brochures, ads, etc.).
5. Train board members and employees on portions of the plan during orientations.
6. Include portions of the plan in policies and procedures, including the employee manual.
7. Consider copies of the plan for major stakeholders, for example, funders/investors, trade associations, potential collaborators, vendors/suppliers, etc.
Also see:
General Recommendations for Improving CommunicationsReturn to the topic Strategic Planning.
For the Category of Strategic Planning:
Related Library Topics
Recommended Books
For-Profit Specific
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Nonprofit-Specific
Field
Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Step-by-step guidelines to customize and facilitate planners to implement the best strategic planning process to suit the particular nature and needs of their nonprofit. This is one of the few books, if any, that explains how to actually facilitate planning. Includes many online forms that can be downloaded and used by planners. Many materials in this Library's topic about strategic planning are adapted from this book.
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Also See
Planning and Project Management -- Recommended Books
