Planning for the future
a Basic guide to strategic Planning
Community Change
What is strategic
Planning?
What are the Benefits of
strategic Planning?
Strategic planning is when a group decides its future
direction within an agreed time frame and develops a
written Strategic Plan.
Page 3
What is strategic planning?
What are the benefits of
strategic planning?
Page 4
Who is involved in strategic
planning?
How much time does it take?
Page 5
What are the Key Elements
of a Strategic Plan?
Page 6
The Key Elements explained...
Organisational Description
Page 6
Vision - Mission
Page 7
Values - Aims
Page 8
Objectives
Page 9
How is the Strategic Plan
agreed and adopted?
How is the Strategic Plan
Implemented?
Page 10
How is the Strategic Plan
communicated?
Page 11
How is the Strategic Plan
kept alive?
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Useful Contacts
* for the purpose of this booklet the
term ‘group’ applies to any community
/ voluntary group and / or organisation.
The group takes time out to reflect on the work they are doing, their achievements, the needs of the community and relevant issues that may impact on their work. With this in mind decisions are made as to what the group as a whole aims to achieve in the future and a plan is written to enable them to get there. Strategic planning can sometimes be seen as something “that has to be done” in order to secure funding, however it is important to recognise the benefits of strategic planning.
• Enables a group to understand the reason why it exists and how it will act to serve this reason.
• Increases the effectiveness of a group through well planned responses to community need by identifying priorities, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and using resources efficiently.
• Determines a group‘s future through long term planning rather than responding to immediate needs in an adhoc manner.
• Enables a group to respond to changing environments.
• Defines what a group’s success will look like and how they might monitor progress. • Enables a group to share their
understanding with stakeholders (anyone with a vested interest in the work of the group).
It is the role of a group’s Management Committee to ensure
that everything a group does contributes to fulfilling its
purpose and ensures its ethos and values.
Management Committees should seek the opinion of staff, volunteers and service users within the strategic planning process. However, ultimately it is the Committee that are responsible for establishing the group’s strategic direction and drawing up the Strategic Plan.
Who is involved
in strategic
Planning?
hoW Much tiMe does
it take?
What are the key eleMents
of a strategic Plan?
Groups can sometimes be reluctant to take time out of their
hectic day to day running in order to plan but adequate
planning time is essential in order to develop a comprehensive,
realistic and achievable Strategic Plan.
Community Change would recommend that a group allocate a minimum of 2 days towards creating a 3 year Strategic Plan. If you think about it the Strategic Plan will outline the group’s work and focus for over 1000 days. Setting aside 2 days to put that plan in place is small when that is taken into consideration.
• State a specific start and end date • Table of Contents • Organisational Description • Vision • Mission • Values • Aims • Objectives
evaluate
the key eleMents
eXPlained…
Organisational Description
This section should include information that will be informative, particularly to readers from outside of the group:
• Brief overview of history of the group • Description of major programmes, projects and services
• Overview of major achievements and highlights of the group
Vision
The vision sets down what the group aspires to do in 10 or 20 years time. What would you want to see as an overall impact of your work in that time?
Some examples of Vision
statements are:
Community Change:
“Fair, equitable and resilient communities”.
Women’s Support Network:
“Our vision is ‘a society where women’s experiences are fully recognised and
valued and where women enjoy full and equal participation in all sphere’s of life’.”
Mission
The mission is a concise description of the purpose of the group. It answers the questions: Why does our group exist? What does our group do? Who are we doing it for? The mission should provide continued direction and focus to your plans, programmes, projects and services of your group.
Some examples of Mission
statements are:
Community Change:
“Supporting Communities to participate actively in their own development and sustainability.”
Women’s Support Network:
“Our mission is ‘to support the development of women’s organisations, enable collective action and positively impact on policy and decision – making processes’.”
Values
The values outline the group’s ethos – the core beliefs and principles that guide how the group carries out its work with stakeholders.
Some examples of Values are:
Community Change:
“Community Change will promote and encourage learning and good practice through support, training and networking.”
“Community Change supports and encour-ages positive approaches to change as part of the natural community development process.”
Women’s Support Network:
“We value diversity – we seek to find and represent the commonalities we share, while affirming, valuing and giving voice to our dif-ferences as organisations and individuals.” “We value feminism – we seek, collect and disseminate information which provides evidence of the need for our work.”
Aims
Aims set out priority areas of work for a group. Your aims should: help achieve your mission, show clear direction and be limited in number (4-10 maximum)
Some examples of Aims are:
Community Change:
“Aim 1: Continue to build capacity of community and voluntary groups and organisations throughout N.I.”
Women’s Support Network:
Objectives
Objectives define key areas of work that are required to achieve each aim.
Some examples of Objectives are:
Community Change
- objectives under aim: • “Development support, facilitation and training on the roles and responsibilities of Management Committees and Boards” • “Development support, facilitation and training on drawing up and reviewing constitutional documents”Women’s Support Network
- objectives under aim:• “Providing access to information needed by our members, through comprehensive library of relevant research material.” • “Signposting member groups to other relevant agencies.”
hoW is the strategic
Plan agreed and
adoPted?
A draft of the Strategic Plan should be circulated to
the Management Committee for comments and any
recommended, agreed amendments made.
After a Strategic Plan is written and agreed it is essential to
break this mass of work into small workable pieces.
When the final draft of the Strategic Plan is written it needs to be formally agreed and adopted by the Management Committee. This means that the Management Committee discusses and agrees that the document outlines the way forward for the group. The acceptance and approval of the Strategic Plan by the Management Committee should be minuted. From that point on the Strategic Plan becomes the document that guides all the work of the group and should be referred to on a regular basis.
This is done by dividing the Strategic Plan into a yearly action / operational plan which identifies key tasks, responsibilities, resources etc. For further information on Action Planning see Community Change’s Action Planning booklet entitled “Getting it done - A Basic Guide to Action Planning”.
hoW is the strategic
Plan iMPleMented?
• Every Management Committee member and member of management should get a full copy of the Strategic Plan. • Consider distributing all of the Aims and Objectives from the Strategic Plan to everyone in the group.
It is amazing how even the newest staff or Management Committee member can gain a quick context, appreciation, and understanding of their group by reading the Strategic Plan. • Consider circulating copies to the funders, statutory organisations, partners, government departments etc
• Publish portions of your Strategic Plan in your regular newsletter, and advertising and marketing materials (brochures, ads, etc.).
• Include portions of the Strategic Plan plan in policies and procedures, including the employee manual. • Train Management Committee members and employees on portions of the Strategic Plan during Management Committee and staff inductions.
• Regularly revisiting the plan
Make sure the plan is discussed at Management Committee meetings. It can provide a useful tool to take stock of progress, ensure accountability and identify the need for possible new strategies.
• Building strategy into
all meetings
Try to ensure that meetings have a strategic dimension to them- reviewing current activities, future thinking and planning. It’s easy for a Management Committee to spend all of its time on day-to-day reporting and operational matters.
• Setting aside review sessions
for the Strategic plan
At least once a year the Management Committee should review the plan to check that the strategy is still relevant and informs the next year’s action plan.
• Highlighting success
When elements of the plan have been successfully completed make a point of letting people know. This can increase morale internally and also increase the confidence of external stakeholders such as funders.
• Informing new Management
Committee members
Remember to circulate the Strategic Plan to new Management Committee members to ensure that it is reflected in the daily work of the group.
• Not allowing drift
It is easy for a group to drift from its mission, vision and values or be driven by other people’s priorities. Make sure that everyone in the group understands and works within the strategy. If you need to change it, do so formally.
hoW is the
strategic Plan
coMMunicated?
hoW is the
strategic Plan
kePt alive?
It is recommended that the
Strategic Plan is circulated
among the Management
Committee, service users,
funders and within the
community.
Unit 8a, Weavers Court Business Park, Linfield Road, BELFAST, BT12 5GH T: 028 9023 2587 F: 028 9031 2216 E: [email protected] www.communitychange-ni.org
Community Change
Community Change
Tel: 028 9023 2587
www.communitychange-ni.org
NICVA
Tel: 028 9087 7777
www.nicva.org
Community Evaluation NI
Tel: 028 9024 8005
www. ceni.org
Rural Community Network
Tel: 028 8676 6670
www.ruralcommunitynetwork.org
Equality Commission NI
Tel:028 90 500 600
www.equalityni.org
Supporting Communities NI
Tel: 028 2564 5676
www.supportingcommunitiesni.org
Labour Relations Agency
Tel: 028 9032 1442
www.lra.org.uk
Volunteer Development Agency
Tel: 028 9023 6100
www.volunteering-ni.org
National Council for Voluntary
Organisations
Tel: 020 7713 6161
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk
Workers Educational Association
Tel: 028 9032 9718
www.wea-ni.com
Other Useful Websites:
www.communityni.org
www.diycommitteeguide.org
www.managementhelp.org
useful contacts
The strategic plan key element examples are taken from:
The Community Change Strategic Plan 2008 – 2011 www.communitychange-ni.org
The Women’s Support Network Strategic Plan April 2007 – March 2012 www.womenssupportnetwork.org
