Most people understand the concept and importance of Strategic Planning. As Lewis Carroll wrote, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” The purpose of Strategic Planning, therefore, is to identify the road that gets the organization where it wants to go.
In performing Strategic Planning, The Kelly Group focuses on the organization’s vision. What is the Vision Statement? Does it make sense, and what is the timeline? Using that starting point, we then conduct interviews with staff and board members to determine their long term goals and objectives for both their specific areas as well as the organization itself. The third leg of the Strategic Planning stool includes stakeholders and donors- what do they expect, how invested are they, and is the organization providing what the users and customers and supporters expect?
Our Strategic Planning process will look specifically at the following:
- SWOT Analysis
- What values the organization believes and operates by
- Future demographic shifts that may impact the organization, both positively and negatively
- Who are the customers today, and who will they be in the future?
- Are you focusing on your customers, and are you excluding potential customers?
- Who are the stakeholders and how are the partnerships established and nurtured?
- What was your core when the organization began, what is it now, and what should it be?
WHY SHOULD THE KELLY GROUP BE A CANDIDATE TO PERFORM YOUR STRATEGIC PLAN?
Can’t I do that? Can’t my Executive Committee do that? Can’t my Assistant Director or Management Team or Administrative Assistant do that? Of course they can… but how objective would it be? How thorough would it be? Someone long ago said, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” It’s human nature to become so involved and invested in your organization that it’s almost impossible to take a large enough step backward, out of the forest, in order to see the trees. We’ve been there- we know at times the best move is to ask for outside, objective, expert advice. That’s where we come in.
Your staff has other jobs. They may be highly capable…or…they may not be as candid as they should be. They may or may not know what to look for, what to review, and what to identify. Your staff and board may or may not be as forthright with an internal staff member as they would be with us.
A well done Strategic Plan can pay for itself many times over by identifying efficiencies and areas of overlap and inefficiency. Think about it!