How can you create a strategic plan that is clear and concise?

Start by pinpointing the exact change you wish to achieve. Then, break down this vision into actionable, straightforward steps. Avoid complexity; clarity is key. Your strategy should be easy to grasp and act upon, guiding everyone towards a common goal. The essence of your plan should not just map the journey but also ignite motivation to pursue it together.

A SWOT analysis is always a good place to start, but be honest and as objective about it as you can. Strengths and Weaknesses should be things that matter to your actual / potential customers, not just things that you 'think' you do well or not well. Opportunities and Threats are too often lists of bright ideas or strategies that you might follow 'we could expand into Asia'. They should simply be issues that exist in your environment, probably outside your control, which present you with an Opp or Threat. The bright ideas and options for you to act on come later in the process.

Short answer, let me help you. I have developed a great process for helping individuals and organizations investigate their own work, including their fundamental "why's" and "how's."

As non-profit organizations navigate the ever-increasing number of disruptions that affect their organization, to ensure a mission-impactful future, strategic planning must change again. Through this lens, a “strategic core” is the future of associations and professional organizations as it offers a framework that is clear, concise, modular, flexible, and responsive to achieving mission-driven outcomes.

Ask your organization: what sort of problems have they faced while organizing their functions with previous plans - this is vital information. When you get to the nitty gritty of the concrete operational aspect of leading strategy into action, your ideas start to evolve towards the change you need. This may involve terminological development and viewing how we actually SPEAK strategy, but also how we are literally used to creating action from our strategy papers and plans within our community, and the problems therein. There is a relationship there that one needs to uncover.

The difference between vision and mission lies in their scope and purpose. Your vision represents a broad, aspirational outlook of what you aim to achieve in the long term—it should be more ambitious than your mission. Your mission, on the other hand, acts as a concrete step towards realizing that vision. It is more dynamic and subject to change as circumstances evolve. It's essential to have both a clear vision and a mission, but also to remain flexible, willing to learn, and adapt as needed.

There is no law that says you need a vision and mission statement! I have seen so many organizations going in circles trying to articulate and differentiate their 'vision' and 'mission'! This is just one approach that has become pervasive in the sector - if it doesn't feel like a fit for your organization, forget about it. What you DO need is to be able to clearly articulate your organization's core purpose. This is an internally-facing statement; it's more important to be clear than to be perfectly wordsmithed. Once you are clear on core purpose, you can get specific about the specific areas of impact you want to focus on within that core purpose. Again, clear beats cute! Leave the wordsmithing to your comms team.

I would argue that mission is more permanent than vision. Mission is the core purpose for the existence of the company - what is the task it is performing in the society. It is infinite in terms of time, whereas vision is a set goal with time perspective and it changes as things evolve and the company is close to achieving its vision.

Vision and Mission are only worthy when backed up by proper matching actions, otherwise, anyone can declare whatever they want- talking is cheap.

Misión y visión, elementos rectores de proceso. Desarrollar estos elementos ayudará a concretar el proceso. Nuevamente, recordar que un programa sin estos elementos carecerá de espíritu.

Envision your goals as incremental steps that not only align with your mission but also guide you toward realizing your vision. Establish predefined time frames. Ask yourself: What are your monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals? It's crucial to set clear objectives and measure the outcomes. Employ the progression: Vision > Mission > Goals > Objectives, ensuring each element contributes to advancing to the next stage. While every aspect is quantifiable, the joy reflected in the eyes of those you positively impact is immeasurable, serving as a testament to the difference you're making in the world.

Break down your big vision into achievable goals – specific targets you want to hit over time. Think about expanding your reach or bettering the quality of your work. Objectives are smaller steps along the way. These could include practical things like launching a new program or hiring staff. Make sure they align with your mission and the things you learned when assessing your situation.

Before you set your goals and objective you need to define your strategy. This is your "how". This is your unique interpretation of the current operating context and how your organization will uniquely address is. This sound guardrails that help you develop more aligned objectives. I like using Key Results as I find they are much more actionable and clearer to staff.

Once your vision and mission statements are established, it's essential to delve into the specifics of setting SMART goals and objectives. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These goals and objectives should align with the log-frame approach, incorporating indicators to track progress and ensure compliance with donor requirements and criteria. Moreover, they should be in line with your organization's overarching vision and mission. By adhering to the SMART criteria, you ensure that your goals and objectives are clear, quantifiable, attainable, relevant to your mission, and bound by specific timeframes. This approach facilitates effective planning, implementation.

Having an analysis of the current status financially, programmatic, and operational, the goals achieved so far, pending goals, SWOT analysis, to start. Once you understands what the foundation can offer then you can look into adding more floors(goals) to your building(organization). If your foundation can support only three floors, adding five more will make it tilt. Think on the Pisa Tower. You can't add more without knowing your stress levels, your supporting points, etc.

Strategies are your game plan for those objectives! This could mean growing your network, finding new funding, or upping your team's skills. Action plans get specific: the individual tasks to actually make the strategies happen (Think marketing plans, grant applications, and training sessions). Make sure your plans are realistic, have clear timelines, and assign who's responsible for what!

To create a clear plan: set specific goals (SMART), analyze strengths and weaknesses (SWOT), prioritize tasks, make practical strategies, use plain language, visualize data, set measurable goals (KPIs), assign tasks, review regularly, and keep it concise for clarity.

In an ideal scenario, you would thoroughly research, craft a strategic plan, and have a clear direction before taking any action. However, life doesn't always follow an ideal path. Depending on your industry and your organization's phase of development, there are times when you might need to act first and refine your strategy as you go. While this approach isn't preferable, it may sometimes be necessary. Aim to develop a solid strategy, but don't let the pursuit of perfection immobilize you.

The Mission is the standing mandate that indicates the roles, responsibilities and duties of an organization as well as the purpose . Where as the vision is the far end long term goals wishes to be achieved through out a long period. And the vision is subject to change for every long term strategic plan.

Your strategic plan is primarily an internal document, and it should be designed first and foremost to be useful to your board and team. You don't necessarily need to share your strategy with your 'stakeholders', unless it's of some direct benefit to them. The truth is, most people aren't interested in your strategic plan. They're more likely interested in your impact, your activities, your theory of change . . .Your org and stakeholders will be better served by a strategic approach to communications that shares specific messages, with specific communities, in intentional ways.

My experience doing strategy over the years is: 1. Start with a guided reflection with the team. Identify what has worked and why, what hasn't, lessons learned, and identify gaps. 2. Drill deeper into the gaps/opportunity areas, or refresh areas from the perspective of your beneficiary. Using archetypes helps at this stage. 3. Situate the team wisdom in the real context (research and consultation) and refine it. 4. Generate the strategic outcomes and broad approaches. This is iterative (2,3,4). 5. Generate the first draft as a simple two-pager strategic overview, before fleshing out the more detailed document. Pointers: Keep it simple and brief, tell the story, and don't delegate to your consultant.

Strategy implementation should start internally in the company by analyzing what would prevent things from happening. If we have a new strategy, it often requires changes in company structures, processes, people's roles and especially in metrics and incentives. This all should be designed anew to match with the strategy.

Follow up with celebrating achievements, and inspiring people to continue the process of furthering the strategic goals with reminding them of the Vision. The Vision is the identifying your “Why”

At its inception, funds for the non-profit are generally brought in by the Founders. At stage 2 are the direct contacts- friends and well- wishers. Stage 3 is Public/ Government /Corporate Funding augmented with retail/crowd funding. A balanced inflow is imperative.