Strategic Planning Primer

1. Strategic Planning Primer Vincent Dawans Virtue Ventures, LLC May 2011

2. Overview • Strategic planning: what it is (and what it's not) • Who should be involved, and how? • When should it take place? • What should come out of it? • Tools and resources that can guide you. • How to get started after this session.

3. What it is for… Taking stock Refocus on common objectives Brainstorm on how best to achieve these objectives Quickly test different alternatives What it’s not for… Pleasing funders Produce a document called “strategic plan” Outsource decision-making to outside experts Make decisions behind closed doors Strategic Planning?

4. Who should be involved, and how? Drive Inform Validate

5. When should it take place? • Redesign every 3 to 5 years • Take stock and revise every year • Adjust every 3 months • Monitor every month • Implement every day

6. What should come out of it? • Vision: Shared and Realistic • Mission: Specific and Timely • Value System: Meaningful and Coherent • Strengths and Weaknesses Assessment: Honest and Balanced • Threats and Opportunity Assessment: Well-researched and Relevant • Strategic Objectives: Clear and Integrated • Strategies: Comprehensive and Actionable

7. Vision: Shared and Realistic • What you wish for… NOT what you are going to do to get there. • In other word: what it would take to drive you out of business. • Shared: implies you are not alone in wishing this. • Realistic: implies you and your partners have the means to deliver.

8. A world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. A world in which every individual has equitable access to the eye care products they need to live a full, productive life. A world in which technology can have a big positive impact on society’s most disadvantaged communities. A world in which self-motivated private entrepreneurs managing small-scale enterprises play a dynamic role in the economies of developing countries. VisionSpring Save the Children Kickstart Benetech Example:Connect Vision and Organization

9. Mission: Specific and Timely • What you are going to do to realize your vision… preferably with the help of others • In other word: the role you intend to play in the larger scheme of things • Specific: in line with your ability and capacity • Timely: addresses a current priority in achieving your vision

10. We develop and promote technologies that can be used by dynamic entrepreneurs to establish and run profitable small scale enterprises. We trains local villagers to conduct outreach & vision screenings and sell high-quality, low-cost eyeglasses in their communities. Together with partners and supporters worldwide, we use technology innovation and business expertise to solve unmet social needs. Leveraging the intellectual capital and resources of Silicon Valley, we create solutions that are truly life-changing. Our mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. VisionSpring Save the Children Kickstart Benetech Example: Connect Mission and Organization

11. Value System • Establish a set of guiding principles. • Should be shared by all stakeholders. • Try to stay away from universal principles whose opposites are not defensible: • Accountability, Integrity, Justice, etc. • Focus on principles that are true challenges: • Embracing Creativity vs Control, Empowering XYZ group, Promoting Gender Equity, etc. • Be ready to accept that in practice, your values will sometimes be mutually exclusive.

12. SWOT Analysis • In implementing your mission, what are your Strengths and Weaknesses? • Be honest and balanced. • Use benchmarks. • Look for Opportunities to leverage your strengths to address your weaknesses. • Strengths are pointless if you don’t use them. • Weaknesses are mostly a problem if you don’t address them. • Look for Threats that might undermine your strengths, more likely by hitting you where you are the weakest. • Keep your options open to be able to go around threats. • Choose your battles carefully.

13. Strategic Objectives • What do you want to achieve in the next 2 to 5 years? • 4 Key Strategic Lenses: • Engaging your Stakeholders • Mobilizing your Resources • Developing your Knowledge • Promoting your Value System

14. Synergies and Tensions along4 Key Performance Criteria • Depth of Impact: • Quick vs Deep of Impact: Easing the worst effects (short-term) vs Addressing underlying causes (long-term) • Blended Value: • Charity vs Interdependence: Converting donations into impact vs Making economic value creation dependent on impact • Efficiency: • Short-term programmatic efficiency vs long-term economies of scale. • Adaptability: • Predictability vs Risk-taking: Well-known solutions with constant fundraising vs solutions that seek to adapt to changing conditions.

15. Blended Value Depth of Impact Efficiency Adaptability Four Lenses Strategic Framework www.4lenses.org Stakeholder Engagement Resource Mobilization Culture Management Knowledge Development

16. What should come out of it? • A strategic plan document • An internal working document to keep track of the process and decisions made. • A “public” version can be produced to share with potential partners, etc. • A commitment to implement, monitor and revise

17. Tools and resources… www.setoolbelt.org

18. How to get started after this session • How to Write a Vision Statement that Inspires • http://www.setoolbelt.org/resources/521 • How to Ensure that Your Strategic Plan Becomes a Valued Tool • http://www.setoolbelt.org/resources/1220 • SWOT Analysis: How to perform one for your organization • http://www.setoolbelt.org/resources/1246 • Strategic Planning Toolkit (Civicus) • http://www.setoolbelt.org/resources/285