Nonprofit Administration Program

NONPROFIT ADMINISTRATION PROGRAMPlanning for Strategic Planning!

FOUR PHASES OF PLANNING:

Implement the plan and adapt it as needed

Engage in analysis that will form the core of planning process

Develop a planning approach that is appropriate to the situation

Environmental scan:Assess the situation/circumstances

KEY POINTS ON STRATEGIC PLANNING Planning must engage all stakeholders

(internal and external) in the program and be a product of the NPA program community:

Faculty Administration Community Advisors

Students Alumni Who else?

EXAMPLE LIST OF STAKEHOLDER GROUP WANTS AND INFLUENCES

Young, Dennis R. “Games Universities Play: An Analysis of the Institutional Contexts of Centers for Nonprofit Study” in O’Neill, Michael and Kathleen Fletcher, eds., Nonprofit Management Education: U.S. and World Perspectives, Praeger: Westport, CT, 1998, esp. pp.125-128 (available through OhioLink)

EXAMPLE LIST OF STAKEHOLDER GROUP WANTS AND INFLUENCES (CON’T)

Stakeholder Wants from Center Leverage





KEY POINTS ON STRATEGIC PLANNING (con’t) Planning is always in a state of development

– the process does not end once a plan is forged.

There is no one “best” process; the NPA program must draw from resources and produce a unique document.

It can help energize the program, seek out new opportunities and use existing resources more efficiently and effectively.

Planning can improve the program’s ability to fulfill its mission, sustain its values, and serve its stakeholders more effectively.

CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL PLANNING1. Building consensus for change

Acknowledge that participants must step out of their ‘usual’ roles.

Convince those involved that this is a necessary and desirable use of their time.

It is helpful to have a “champion” who will encourage participants to become engaged and communicate strategic planning efforts to stakeholders on a regular basis.

CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL PLANNING (con’t)

2. Focus on institutional needs

Select good institutional citizens to serve on planning groups

Encourage broad and open participation – accept and address input from all levels of stakeholders. This promotes a sense of ownership of the plan and a willingness to accept the final product.

Legitimize the political aspects of planning


3. Ensure a good fit with campus culture Understand the academic culture as well as the

history and traditions of John Carroll. Strategic planning carries connotation of “top-

down” management, but it is important that the process reflect the values of academic culture

Encourage questions and dissent Reach final decisions with consensus

There is no generic plan that can be lifted and applied to this program. The plan must be tailored to the NPA program in order for it to be legitimate and useful.


4. Promote effective faculty participation Faculty members are the programs most

powerful intellectual resource Faculty must have sense of ownership over

process Keep in mind the time restraints of this

stakeholder group – offer incentives? Assign planning functions to groups and the

converge as process matures.


5. Secure effective leadership A critical variable in effective

planning! The leader is a catalyst,

a facilitator, moving others along to engage in process.

The leader does not provide answers and is not ultimately responsible for the plan – she/he may provide a loose framework for discussions.

The leader should provide and effective system for distributing responsibilities.

Harvey, Bryan C., "The Perils of Planning Before you are Ready" 1998

IMPORTANCE OF PARTICIPATION IN THE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

• Access to information about the process dramatically alters stakeholders’ view of the outcome

• Openness maximizes support and allows stakeholders to “prepare cognitively for change”

• Broad participation can slow process and make it less efficient, but exclusion from process leads to resistance to change.

A study on perceptions of

a merger between two

nonprofits outlined the

importance of participation

of stakeholders

in the planning process:

Basinger, Nancy and Jessica Peterson, Where you

stand depends on where you sit: participation and

reactions to change. Nonprofit Managem

ent & Leadership, vol. 19, no.2, W

inter 2008.

THE HOLISTIC APPROACH TO PLANNINGPlanning should be: Integrated

Reflect the connectedness of academic, financial and facilities planning factors. The NPA program’s plans effect other parts of the institution as a whole.

Strategic Planning must define program’s relationship to

environment and get input from a variety of sources. Craft a plan that can be tested, challenged and

refined. Aligned

Strategies, actions, outcomes and performance measures are all linked.

CONNECTING STRATEGIC PLANNING AND ORGANIZATIONAL PLANNING

Use small, cross-stakeholder workgroups to generate strategies.

Use environmental scanning to discover emerging issues and challenges that require strategy changes.

Generate a simple vision or what the program should look like in the future.

Be flexible and willing to modify, change and reject strategies.

Articulate the impact of strategies on stakeholders.

Norris, Donald M. and Nick L. Poulton

"A Guide to Planning for Change", Society for College and University Planning

TOOLS FOR PLANNING(GET READY FOR ACRONYMS!) Plan for Planning

Mission of program Institutional and stakeholder values Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Internal and External Assessment Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

(SWOT, or SWOTC + Challenges) Then move on to: TOWS (Turning Opportunities and

Weaknesses into Strengths. Opportunities and strengths that can be leveraged Problems (threats/weaknesses) that can be

mitigated Constraints and vulnerabilities that can be overcome

Norris, Donald M. and Nick L. Poulton

"A Guide to Planning for Change", Society for College and University Planning

TOOLS FOR PLANNING (CON’T) Assess strategic issues and actions/develop

strategies Articulate vision of the program Tactical, operational, and budget planning Execute strategy/develop organizational

capacity/ lead and navigate change

COMMUNICATING THE PLAN Storytelling as a way of communicating

information about the program:

“When [an] organization ceases to be moved by its mission, when its mission becomes

cloudy or no longer acts as a beacon to help guide decision making, [it] may very well

disintegrate.”

“Stories may provide both the conceptual and practical guidance needed to achieve

strategic coherence in the actions of the individuals.”

Black, Janice, Kim Hinrichs and Frances Fabian, “Fractals of

Strategic Coherence in a Successful Nonprofit Organization” Nonprofit M

anagement and Leadership, vol. 17, no.4 Sum

mer

2007

STORYTELLING Gather stories to put on the website, either

text with photos or video.

Possible storytellers: Current students Alumni Faculty Organization leaders for whom NPA students

have done a project.

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE PLANNING PROCESS

Bryson, John M. and Farnum

K. Alston. Creating and implem

enting your strategic plan: a w

orkbook for public and nonprofit organizations San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004

FURTHER READING Bryson, John M. Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit

Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, 3rd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004 JCU has1995 edition HD30.28 .B79 Limited preview of 2004 ed. On Google books

http://books.google.com/books?id=gJxu_4FVieMC&printsec=frontcover&cd=1&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q&f=false

2004 version available through OhioLink Bryson, John M. and Farnum K. Alston. Creating and

implementing your strategic plan: a workbook for public and nonprofit organizations San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004 limited preview on Google books

http://books.google.com/books?id=wJA1jzIAwb0C&printsec=frontcover&cd=1&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q&f=false

Available through OhioLink Kaufman, Roger…[et al.] Strategic planning for success :

aligning people, performance, and payoffs San Francisco Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer 2003. Available through OhioLink





FURTHER READING Daniel James Rowley, Herman D. Lujan, Michael G.

Dolence, Strategic change in colleges and universities: planning to survive and prosper, San Francisco, Calif. : Jossey-Bass, 1997 JCU has LB2341 .R69

Tromp, Sherrie A. and Ruben, Brent D., Strategic Planning in Higher Education: a guide for leaders. National Association of College and University Business Officers, 2004. Available for purchase at

http://www.nacubo.org/Products/Publications/Leadership/Strategic_Planning_in_Higher_Education_A_Guide_for_Leaders.html

Search for articles by: Roseanne Mirablla (Seton Hall University) Naomi Bailin Wish (Seton Hall University) David Renz (University of MO at Kansas City)



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Nonprofit Administration Program