Don’t miss this critical last step of strategic planning
I was not sure if I wanted to keep going up the mountain.
There we were, over 30 years ago, hiking up Mount Tallac, near Lake Tahoe.
It’s a 10,000-foot peak! High enough that I could feel myself taking deep breaths as walked up and feeling a little light-headed.
The trail to the top is beautiful and challenging. There are trees, plants, rocks…and lots of dust. As we walked up, the trees and plants thinned out, almost as if they wondered if it was a good idea to be up that high.
As we hiked higher, something strange happened.
The peak seemed to move further away from us.
It seemed like we were almost there…but we weren’t! There was further to go.
Turns out, much further. Because this happened a few times.
Almost Giving Up
I started to get frustrated and to feel myself losing hope. I was hot and my legs were tired. I was not enjoying the experience of hiking in altitude.
I thought about how I had never done this before and I wondered if I could make it to the top.
Maybe we should turn around. Did it matter whether we made it to the “peak” or the “almost peak”? No one would know. 😊
I talked myself into turning around. And I was about to tell this to my father and brother – except they kept walking.
It hurt. But before I knew it, we were at the peak. And it was glorious!
That Last Mile
Having guided many organizations through the process, we notice that finishing a strategic plan is a lot like that last mile to the peak.
When leaders arrive at this point in strategic planning, they have convened their people. They have done the reflective work of the discovery phase. They have created a vision, drafted a mission statement, and created strategies and goals.
And yet, we are not there yet! It can feel discouraging.
Concretely: The last step is to take all of this and create an implementation plan.
Action Planning
Action Planning is a process of operationalizing a strategic plan.
For each goal, we have clients create one-year indicators of success. And then we guide them through an Action Plan, which includes the following questions:
At the end of this one-year period, what would success look like?
What will we accomplish in the first quarter?
What will we accomplish in the second quarter?
What will we accomplish in the third quarter?
What will we accomplish in the fourth quarter?
Who is the “team captain” who will be responsible for this work?
As we work through the one-year indicators of success, leaders refine the plan. Sometimes it turns out that one of the goals has already been accomplished! Other times, leaders determine that a goal does not fit in the plan for the first year – or that they need to get more information to understand exactly what the work involves.
The last step is right-sizing organizational work to the plan. This means stepping back to consider all the work that board and staff is currently doing and analyzing the degree to which this work is reflected in the strategic plan. This may involve either adding goals to the plan or deciding to stop doing work that is not aligned with the strategic plan.
If you have made it through this series, you should have a good idea of the steps of building an inclusive strategic plan.
As we write this, we are in the last quarter of 2023, and we are receiving requests for building strategic plans in 2024. In 2023, we are proud to have worked on plans for organizations such as AEOE, Bike East Bay, interACT, National VOAD, Pittsburg Arts & Community Foundation, and SOS Meals on Wheels. Reach out if you would like to explore this for your organization! We feel gratified to see that our approach resonates with many of you and members of your networks.
And let’s be honest – these days, with so many challenges and hard events happening in our world, it can feel like that peak of the mountain, wherever it might be, keeps moving a little further away. It can be discouraging.
But every day we seek to build a world in which each of us is honored and affirmed, so we are each less alone in the confusion and challenge of what to do next. As you are doing your work of creating change, our goal is that you have a trusted guide along with you walking up the mountain. A guide who has scaled the mountain time and time again. Most importantly, a guide who can confirm that making it to the top has no comparison.
We encourage you to take that first step, and we’ll be here to help you take the last. We can sit atop the mountain and take in the glory together.