Be Prepared

 
“Be Prepared. . .the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.” - Sir Robert Baden-Powell

Scouting is in my blood; my grandfather was an early leader in Boy Scouts and I spent many years as a Girl Scout. My husband and son are currently involved in Boy Scouts, too, so I understand the motto “Be Prepared.” You can handle most things that come along if you have a plan, training, and the right resources.

This applies to lots of things in life, but is especially true of strategic planning. The preparation aspect of the process is crucial to a succesful outcome. Unfortunately, it’s one of the the most overlooked and undervalued.

In the last post, we talked about how Vision and Mission form the core of strong strategic planning. Whether you are starting up a new organization or refreshing an already existing one, these two statements/ideas will drive all your actions. You will need to prepare much more than those statements, however, to determine exactly what your actions will be.

A great deal of up-front ground work has to take place before you can hold a strategic planning session. This generally involves several components:

• buy-in,
• resources,
• research and
• logistics.

Make sure you have buy-in and everyone’s support before you even begin the process. This includes the inside stakeholders as well as those your group serves. Everyone needs to be willing to take some risks and try new things, and to ensure the plan is carried out. You don’t want to invest in a great deal of planning that will ultimately be rejected.

You will also want to have the time, people and budget resources in place to accomplish your goals. Wonderful ideas and grand schemes to make your organization better still have to be rooted in the real world. You can’t take on new projects or expand on existing ones if you can’t support what you’re already doing -- whether it’s due to time, money, people or something else.

The research portion includes gathering data from surveys, existing collateral, past plans, budgets and financial statements, etc. This “fact-finding” activity allows for a baseline understanding of where your organization stands; how it is perceived by internal and external audiences, how it has achieved past goals (or failed in its efforts), and how it communicates its message, among other things. Unless you gather data and analyze the basics before pulling together your plan, you may be working in a vacuum that dooms you to failure in the long run.

It’s best to have the leisure of spreading out the entire process over several months, but that’s not always possible. At the very least, allow sufficient time to get enough survey responses for statistically significant findings. You’ll also need to have the time to thoroughly analyze the survey results and other collateral you’ve gathered.

When setting up the retreat itself, schedule it when you can have most of the main stakeholders all sitting together in a day-long session that is away from your offices. Be sure the facility you choose has the tools you’ll need for the day, such as comfortable seating, flip charts, outlets for laptop computers, and Internet access. Budget for lunch and snack breaks, too. Assigning a point person early on to manage all the logistics is probably a good idea. You may also want to designate a “plan champion” up front who will keep the group on track and oversee the reporting process as you put your plans into action after the retreat.

Sometimes in life you can be “too prepared” for things and forget to enjoy the spontaneous moments. Strategic planning is NOT one of those times; the spontaneous parts will come during the brainstorming at the retreat. “Be Prepared” before then and I promise you’ll be more successful.

Stay tuned. We’ll talk again soon. . .

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Focus On:

[In the spirit of being “501 Focused,” this blog highlights a nonprofit or association with each posting.]

Our focus this time is on the Boy Scouts of America.

“The Boy Scouts of America is one of the nation's largest and most prominent values-based youth development organizations. The BSA provides a program for young people that builds character, trains them in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and develops personal fitness.

For nearly a century, the BSA has helped build the future leaders of this country by combining educational activities and lifelong values with fun. The Boy Scouts of America believes -- and, through nearly a century of experience, knows -- that helping youth is a key to building a more conscientious, responsible, and productive society.”

They know all about being prepared. To learn more, go here: http://www.scouting.org/