Crafting a solid strategic plan

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Strategic planning actually makes some people excited!

Others, however, find something else to do.


The key to a usable, practical, inspiring strategic plan is to have the final product resonate with both kinds of people. 


  
1.  Be clear about what a strategic plan is BEFORE you begin.
Not every plan is a strategic plan. A strategic plan is a tool or map to fulfill your mission with efficiency and impact. If it is to be responsive and useful, it should articulate specific priorities and describe the strategies and resources needed to accomplish them. Commonly, most strategic plans are reviewed and rewritten every three to five years.

"Because it is impossible to do everything that needs to be done in this world, strategic planning implies that some organizational decisions and actions are more important than others - and that much of the strategy lies in making the tough decisions about what is most important to achieving organizational success." Carol Munro (friend and colleague - www.carolmunro.com)

Don't confuse a strategic plan with an operating plan. This is a coordinated set of tasks for carrying out the goals of the strategic plan (usually a 9 or 12 month timeline). The operating plan is the who, what, where, when kind of information to help people hit the ground running. Very important... but created after the strategic plan!


2.  Consider a realistic time frame in which to create the plan.
A day just won't cut it. If the next 3 to 5 years really matter to your team, invest more than a day in designing how to make the best use of your efforts. Here are a few of the reasons why a one-day, isolated attempt is not effective.
a) people are absolutely exhausted after 6 hours of serious thinking, planning and dialogue, by the end of the day any big decisions will be compromised.
b) some people need time to process - often making great connections and innovations when they allow their brains to percolate with information.  Rushing a group process will deny you the gifts of these kinds of thinkers.
c) it is highly unlikely that you will capture all the necessary perspectives in one day. Consider breaking the process down into a few steps which encourage and allow people to have a voice in different ways.

At the same time, don't drag a strategic planning process out too long. People will lose enthusiasm and momentum.



3.  Take ownership of the process and the plan.
If a team hires a consultant (or in our case consultants) to facilitate a strategic planning process, avoid the trap of transferring too much responsibility to them. It is the team... the participants... the USERS of the plan that require a vested interest in crafting a strategic plan that holds meaning. The consultant can provide invaluable assistance in designing a planning process, involving key stakeholders, listening with an objective perspective, and synthesizing key issues that arise out of an often messy, creative process. But you're not hiring a consultant to do the actual planning or make the tough decisions - that's your job!


Have some fun with this...why not!?!?
We've shared some ways to add some laughter and team building to strategic planning efforts in previous blog posts; The Right Brain Approach,  Tips for Group Toys, and the Strengths Compass Activity.
We're on the lookout for more ideas too!

What was the most fun/inspired/creative strategic planning activity you have been involved in?

Through the eyes of our children - part 2

Alanna beamed as she told us how a grandmother, unknown to her, stopped her in the hall of the local community centre and asked with obvious awe, "Have you seen the displays from the children?"

For two weeks, wildly creative displays transformed the public library, the community centre and City Hall. The art and writing was much more than a celebration of what children are capable of accomplishing - they were powerful, visual displays of the voices of children - their perspective about what community means to them.

“If we allowed children to show us what they can do rather that merely accepting what they usually do, I feel certain we would be in for some grand surprises.”   Mem Fox

Sixteen child care programs participated in a comprehensive Reggio Emilia inspired project - supported by early childhood care and education instructors Alanna Miller and Theresa Gereluk. Children (from toddlers to 12 years old) led their care providers along a unique and collaborative learning journey to express their thoughts about "community." Most centres took children on walking field trips to see what they noticed, what they were interested in and what was important to them. From there, the children's educational odyssey emerged as they asked questions, explored certain areas and expressed themselves through play and art.

In this small, resource dependent city some common themes seemed to emerge; trucks, fishing and the steam train. How the children depicted these things shed light on how these elements affect their lives.

 

Issues such as housing, the built environment, community identity and "village" relationships emerged into stories, 3-D objects made from recyclables and even rice krispie squares!

Children expressed important aspects of their lives. "I live at Mom's house, it's too long to walk. On bus we go to Ahousaht, its too long to walk. We go on a boat past Nanaimo." Delylah

In one situation, the caregivers noticed how more in-tuned with community events the children were. For example, on a walk the conversation led to discussing a recent apartment fire tragedy.  The children came up with the idea to stop at the grocery store to get food for the families who were now out of their homes. Social responsibility requires being connected to one's community.

Children became incredibly enthusiastic about their ideas being listened to and their ideas taking shape into displays for the whole community to see. This interactive aquarium stood outside the Mayor's office beckoning City staff to take a peak at the stories that the children told about the environments they highly value.

What are the issues that children in your community would highlight?

How can we increase opportunities for a child to actively shaping his or her own learning?

How can we, as adults, apply what we hear from children to community planning and policy making?

The Right Brain Approach

Tracy's personal right brain Vision Board

Left brain thinking is being logical, analytical and data focused. Working with information demands that people kick their left brain thinking into high gear. It is practical, detail-oriented and sequential.

The right brain, on the other hand, offers an equally important strength to any meaning making process. Your right brain is engaged when you are being playful, creating and acknowledging your feelings and intuition. In the business world or academic realm, we typically plug in our left-brain logic, which is great - but don't unplug the right brain! So often, information driven processes excludes creativity which, in the long run, will squelch the great results of innovate thinking.

Here are a few ideas to add a dash of right-brain creativity into the left brain world of making sense of data:

• DRAW - we recently felt a complete change in energy (for the positive) during a long and hard strategic planning session when we had participants do some team drawings.  Not only was it a great change of of pace, but we were astounded by how thinking visually helped people better articulate the complexity that they were wrestling with.

• COLLAGE - borrowing ideas from Jennifer Lee's Right Brain Business Plan, get playful yet practical by using multiple forms of art and expression to create plans visually. Her book is a  guide to using your right-brain creativity to launch and grow a business. The same concepts can be applied to creating a plan for a community initiative, project or movement.

• Build it with LEGO^®.  Check out the LEGO^® concept of Serious Play which is an innovative, experiential process designed to enhance innovation and business performance. Based on research that shows that this kind of hands-on, minds-on learning produces a deeper, more meaningful understanding of the world and its possibilities, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® deepens the reflection process and supports an effective dialogue – for everyone in the organization. You can do this on your own, or seek out trained facilitators online.

• PLAY - Play by Dr. Stuart Brown dedicates a chapter of his book to how playful approaches at work are the key to creativity and innovation. Withholding judgement and "playing around" with information translates into imagining, inventing and dreaming impossible solutions that are focused on joy and fulfillment. This publication makes a fantastic book study to get a team in a play head-space.  There are some great companion videos, too.

• Use GRAPHIC RECORDING or hire a graphic facilitator. If you are drawn to bring some visual elements into a group process, there are some great written resources such as Visual Thinking by Nancy Margulies and Christine Valenza or Visual Meetings by David Sibbet. Hiring a professional graphic recorder/facilitator is another way to go.  Do a search in your area. Check out these 2 websites (Cheyenne and Tanya are colleagues of ours) to get a feel for what they have to offer!  

Raising the Village Question:

What's your Right-Brain idea to getting through the data fog? or running in research circles?

RTV #46 - The shared experience of absurdity

A Year of Raising the Village. Week # 46:The shared experience of absurdity.

12 minutes.

In 12 minutes Charlie Todd shares the hilarious antics of ImproveEverywhere - his organization that brings laughter into the everyday.

Charlie Todd: The shared experience of absurdity | Video on TED.com

In the first story, the group secretly films a subway passenger's reaction when 6 guys enter the subway - all at different stops, not interacting with each other - with NO PANTS.  Not only hilarious, it is also a wonderful reflection on humanity and the power of connections.  He says at one point that "as soon as something becomes a share experience, it becomes less weird or scary and more fun."


Lets look at how ImproveEverywhere is a great example of village raising.

1.  Absurdity, play, laughter and extraordinary behaviour help to shake up our thinking and take our participation up a notch.  It reminds us of our experience in a flash mob dance . It felt refreshing to be a part of something different for the sake of joy and playfulness!

2. On a similar vein as Charlie's comment on shared experience, complex community issues become less overwhelming when they become a shared endeavor. Together we can share the load and create more meaning along the way.


Doing crazy stuff together...sounds like fun!  It is well worth the 12 minutes!

Check out these other blogs that speak to play & humour.
Re-energize- 7 easy ways to bring humour at work
Remember to play
Locate your playing field
How attached is your community? (speaks about play in community)
Tips for Group Toys

RTV # 45 Tips for group toys

A Year of Raising the Village. Week # 45: Tips for Group Toys.

Toys, they are not just for children's play. Toys can increase participation in community or organizational meetings.

This list, from Meeting Excellence by Parker and Hoffman, contains several key toys whose use and interpretation are flexible:

• soft squeeze rubber ball


• Koosh ball, nerf ball


• slinky


• Rubik's cube


• yoyo


• wooden cup with ball on string


• train whistle


• clapper

In our bag of tricks we also tend to include toy animals, mirrors, Disney characters (big symbolism usually!) and blocks. We've used a ball to signal when it is someone else's turn to share/talk on an agenda (keeps people awake on on their toes too)! We've heard of people who use noisemakers to liven up the space and acknowledge each contributer with positive (and loud) feedback. "That was easy" buttons have been popular when decisions are made. We've placed play dough and pipe cleaners on the table to recharge mental energy and for a guaranteed splash of fun.

One of the most effective use of toys came in one of our recent workshops on Collaboration and Authentic Engagement, we asked participants to create group definitions using bags of toys/props as metaphors. The activity was challenging enough to stretch people's thinking yet fun enough to generate much laughter and creativity. One particularly intense group stuffed a slinky full of other toys in an elaborately explained process. The description unleashed a great dialogue that uncovered many of the key components of working together that people were wrestling with.

Toys, fun AND a massive adult engagement tool!

Raising Village Question:

What's one of your fav meeting "toys?"  How do you use it?

RTV #36 - 10 Secrets of Sustained Innovation

A Year of Raising the Village - Week 36 - 10 Secrets of Sustained Innovation in Collaborative Groups.

Ever heard the term "design by committee" or "coblaberation" or "groupthink?' Just because you gather a bunch of people together does NOT ensure that the resulting dialogue and action will be stellar. In fact, there is a danger that the sum won't even add up to the individual parts let alone exceed them! Someone recently told me that there is just as much chance that a group is defined by it's weakest link as it is defined by its strongest.

What's the lesson here?  Don't take group work for granted.  A community is not made just by rubbing shoulders together...nor is it evidenced by collective, unattached agreement. Partly based on the work of Keith Sawyer (Group Genius, 2007), here is RTV's insight into what activities keep groups innovative.

10 secrets of innovation in Collaborative Groups.

1. Build spaces for creative conversation - we dedicated a section of our book to this (pg 130-137) and provide ideas for framing talking time.
2. Allow time for ideas to emerge ...go slow to go fast, you can't rush creativity and innovation.
3. Balance improvisation with planning - sustain a core vision with long term goals to help avoid being fragmented with a million great ideas. Use that vision to intelligently select the ideas that have the most value and traction.
4. Don't put all your eggs in one basket - generate many ideas and keep several of them active. When times change, you'll be better prepared to be responsive.
5. Seek diversity - a wide range of knowledge, skills, experiences and perspectives in a group increases the chances for innovation.
6. Act like a network, not a clique. Once you head down the road of homogeneity with a "member" mind-set, the more you will risk group think and stagnation. Have fun together - but not too much fun. There is often an illusion of group effectiveness when group cohesiveness is high. Instead - grow, learn, adapt, connect, challenge and evolve!
7. Share leadership by ditching a rigid organizational chart - bring your strengths, not just your job title.
8. Measure the right things - evaluation has the potential to be a meaningful tool for sustaining engagement and blossoming further innovative ideas. 
9. Seek the unexpected - both your greatest success and your biggest learning (aka mighty disaster) are often things that weren't part of the original plan. Examine your experiences to find the differences that make the difference.
10. Know yourself, know your group and THEN pick your process.  ***

RTV # 7- HAVE IMPACT! Support ART as a catalyst for change!

photo copyright- T. Dewar

A year of Raising the Village. Week #7





...Have you considered art as a way to express and support the social change you wish to see?

Historically the arts have been a catalyst for social change and personal and collective expression. Here are two examples that will surely have you reaching for your paintbrush...and asking your neighbour to do the same!

Melanie Schambach is an artist, facilitator and activist who brings people together to capture their voice, passions and social concerns through art. http://www.melanieschambach.com

Arts on the Ave Edmonton Society is a non-profit, community based, grassroots initiative engaged in developing a sector of their community into an arts district. At its core, Arts on the Ave believes in cultivating artistic fellowship through arts celebrations, signature art festivals, and traditions.

http://www.artsontheave.org or http://www.theavenuemovie.com

Village Raising Tip: Consider the impact art can have on your community! Bring together children, youth, and community groups to foster their collective community leadership and unique brand of creativity!