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 clients or the community you serve? You would be surprised how a well thought out and effective plan could more than double your income and enhance your credibility. These are the strategic plans we use to support clients’ financing proposals. Unfortunately, we don’t see enough of them.
How are these strategic plans featured?
What makes them so successful?
Here are five ways to leverage the value of 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 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 goals, how can you design effective financial, HR, and marketing plans? How can people contribute to the direction of the organization if it is not clearly articulated?
2 Get outside help from the start
If you are about to develop a new strategic plan, consider hiring an external facilitator early on who can help with planning, information gathering, facilitation, and developing the final plan. They bring objectivity to the process and benefits include:
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Saving time and resources internally by outsourcing leg work.
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Minimize the risk of undue influence on the form of the Plan that can occur when an internal person facilitates and drives the content of the plan.
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Allow all parties to fully participate on an equal footing in consultation and discussion when it comes to shaping the plan.
3 Incorporate a well-researched 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 to be strategic and ahead of the curve, we need to review demographics and economic data, 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 plans. Otherwise, you could pay Gypsy Rose Lee to look at your crystal ball.
4 Goals and strategies are not your programs, products, and services.
If your focus is on the business, take a step back and focus on your vision and mission. If you are going to achieve results programs, products and services are only part of the equation. Consider ‘how, when, why, who and where’, starting with ‘what’ must happen to get us from A to B in x amount of time to help us achieve y (y = target 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 the winners from the rest. This is the part that many strategic plans overlook, perhaps because it is too hard to think about, or an indication that the Board / Management Committee does not understand their role in setting and following 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 travels?
When working with clients both large and small, those who have been able to secure large amounts of funds and / or demonstrate credibility have the following:
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The Board exercises its leadership role in the organization.
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It undergoes a diligent strategic planning process that helps uncover gaps and exploiting opportunities.
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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, testimonials and stories can be collected to add emotion and a human touch to the data.
If you were to fund one organization, which one would you prefer? One who shows that he has his finger on the pulse, sets his goals, and works toward them efficiently and effectively, or one who, when things are bad, can’t really demonstrate the difference he makes to the people he serves? ? The clients we work with, who evaluate performance in all areas and also incorporate it into their strategic plan, are the ones we find most successful in attracting large grants. Here’s how a well-planned and implemented strategic planning process can more than double your revenue and improve your credibility.