strategic planning
the process
NEW GROUPS
Strategic planning involves setting the vision for what you want your group to achieve, and at least some idea of how that might be done.
In Section 1 - Getting Started we dealt briefly with the kind of strategic planning your group should do before deciding whether to set up a formal organisation or not.
Tip
Some tips on the strategic planning process after you've decided to start setting up your new group are:
- Try and do your strategic planning in 2 or 3 half- or full-day sessions and cover the following:
- Set the scene identify your vision, purpose or mission and values/principles (your kaupapa and tikanga).
- Environmental scan (see below) - look at what's currently going on in the wider community and what's planned for the future that may impact on your work.
- PEST/SWOT1 and stakeholder analysis (see below) - what can help or get in the way of achieving the mission.
- How you plan to get there - setting the more specific goals (or outcomes) and strategies. Keep this list short - a maximum of three goals (or intermediate outcomes). This leads into the operational plan which can be done at the same time.
- If possible, get someone outside of your organisation to facilitate the planning.
- Use large sheets of paper or a whiteboard with coloured pens, to record the brainstorm sessions.
1 PEST: Political, Environmental, Social and Technology factors;
SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
ESTABLISHED GROUPS
If you're an established group, the above processes would have already been done, but you should review your plans.
You can start with your group's mission statement and objectives, which will be set out in your constitution and possibly in previous strategic plans. If your mission statement and objectives have changed since you wrote them, there is a formal process to follow to update your constitution (see Section 3 - Organisational Structures).
strategic planning tools
ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN
This is sometimes called a "situational analysis".
An environmental scan means checking on what's going on, or what may happen in the future, that may have an impact on your work. The things to consider are:
- what's happening in the wider community that may affect your group/the people it works with
- any trends or developments planned in the future.
You should consider a wide range of areas - such as transport, new subdivisions planned, employment, new industries or factories closing, population trends (aging population, migration - both within New Zealand and internationally, ethnicity changes etc).
Some sources of information for carrying out an environmental scan are:
- Public information
- Local authorities are required to develop Long-Term Council Community Plans (LTCCPs) and to facilitate Community Outcome Processes (COPs), whereby the communities identify the social, economic, environmental and cultural outcomes they want for community well-being. The LTCCP will also include a regional profile, which will have information about your community.
- Local authorities will also have a range of other relevant information regarding future developments, trends etc, much of which can be obtained from their websites.
- Statistical information is available from Statistics New Zealand - www.stats.govt.nz.
- Family and Community Services (FACS) within the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), has developed Local Services Mapping (LSM) material.
- Informal information
- Brainstorm as a group. Between you, your group will have considerable local knowledge to draw on when deciding your priorities.
PEST ANALYSIS
A PEST analysis is a specific example of an environmental scan in which you consider the:
- political
- economic
- social and
- technological
factors that may impact on your organisation, but which are outside your control.
To do a PEST analysis:
- Under each of the PEST headings, make a list of what factors may impact on your community group.
- Consider how these factors might impact on your group.
This information will feed into the SWOT analysis (below).
SWOT ANALYSIS
A SWOT analysis is another useful tool to map out a range of factors that will have an impact on your organisation - both internal (which you can influence) and external (see Figure 1).
The PEST analysis (above) will provide you with information about the external factors i.e. the "OT" (or "Opportunities" and "Threats") part of the SWOT analysis.
To do a SWOT analysis:
- Draw up a large sheet of paper or whiteboard as follows:
Figure 1: SWOT Analysis Template
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Internal factors
(things about your group) |
Strengths
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Weaknesses |
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External factors
(things outside of your group) |
Opportunities
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Threats |
2. Complete the template by writing down the internal and external factors that will have an impact on your organisation.
STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS
A stakeholder is someone who has a direct interest in the services your organisation provides. A stakeholder can be, for example, a client, a volunteer in your organisation, or another organisation that uses your services.
A stakeholder analysis will map the people or organisations that may impact on your group and identify the nature of this impact (see Figure 2). This provides information that you can use when developing your strategic plan, and is also very useful when planning any communications (see Section 9 - Communication).
To do a stakeholder analysis:
1. Draw up a large sheet of paper or whiteboard as follows:
Figure 2: Stakeholder Analysis Map
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Stakeholders |
Role/ relationship |
Influences |
Inter-relationships |
Strategies/ Management |
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Community Groups:
1.
2. etc
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"Clients"/ community |
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Funders |
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Neighbours |
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Etc. |
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2. In the first column (Stakeholders), list all the people and organisations that have an interest in what you're doing. Include:
- the people that you are working with/providing services to
- other community groups in the area - look at how you may work together, and/or refer people on to more appropriate services
- the people in the organisation - staff, volunteers, committee/board members
- funders (actual and potential).
3. In the second column (Role/relationship), write down what each stakeholder's particular role or relationship is with you.
4. In the third column (Influences), write down what influence each stakeholder has or may have (see also the "force field analysis" below).
5. In the fourth column (Inter-relationships), write down any inter-relationships (e.g. people involved in different groups, or personal relationships with stakeholders) that may be useful.
6. In the last column (Strategies/management), write down the implications of this stakeholder relationship for your group and what you need to do (i.e. the strategies) to make the relationship work (if this is possible). A force field analysis will help you complete this last column.
(Adapted from Toolkit for Managers, Public Health).
FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS
A force field analysis provides another tool to use when identifying the influence that stakeholders may have and how to make these relationships work. In this analysis, you place your key stakeholders on the "force field" according to whether they support, oppose, or are neutral about what you're doing (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: Force Field Analysis Template
From this template, you can develop strategies to build your support and manage your opposition by:
- getting your supporters more actively involved in supporting you
- bringing the "neutral" people on board e.g. by direct communication
- targeting your opponents e.g. by building relationships or strategically opposing them.
Record these strategies in the last column of the stakeholder analysis map (see Figure 2).