DEEP DIVE: STRATEGIC PLANNING

 

Strategic planning is one of the most critical services we provide to our clients, and we are proud to offer a flexible and scaleable approach to meet your team’s unique needs, capacity, timeline, and budget.

Whether you need to hash out a plan during a 1-2 day retreat or virtual series, want to survey and engage myriad internal and external stakeholders to inform the plan, or want to take your time over 6 months to a year, we can map out a process that will get you where you need to go.

Our approach to strategic planning is grounded in the following values:

 
HoneycombDivider3.png
 

HONORING THE CLIENT

 

Every client has unique needs, visions, goals, timelines, and circumstances. KBS is committed to customizing our strategic planning process to reflect and honor the complexity of each client. The client should not have to bend to fit their needs into a pre-determined structure or process.

 
HoneycombDivider1.png
 

ASPIRATIONS & FEASIBILITY

 

Organizational visions and strategic plans must be aspirational, ambitious, and transformative. They must inspire us and challenge us to continue our critical work. Yet we still have limited resources (e.g. time, people, skills) and must reckon with myriad external forces that impact our work (e.g. the political and economic landscape, white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, public health crises, etc.) A plan that fails to account for these realities will waste resources, demoralize the team, and impede the organization’s ability to make progress. A successful strategic plan strikes the right balance between aspirations and feasibility in order to support the team in effectively advancing its mission.

 
HoneycombDivider3.png
 

COLLABORATION & PARTNERSHIP

 

Designing, executing, and successfully completing a strategic planning project relies on KBS and our clients forming a deep partnership. We must be open and honest with each other about what we are trying to accomplish and what challenges we encounter along the way to ensure the client ends up with the plan they need. We are in this together.

 
HoneycombDivider1.png
 

INCLUSIVITY & EQUITY

 

The most successful strategic plans are not top-down, hierarchical, or directive processes. We work to ensure that the process engages and is accessible to a diverse set of stakeholders across identity, background, positioning within the organization, and intended impact. This is critical to ensuring plans center equity and the perspective of the most impacted communities we seek to serve.

 
HoneycombDivider3.png
 

TRANSPARENCY

 

Everyone within the organization should know the planning process, how they are engaged, and the expectations for participation. Members of workgroups, survey participants, interviewees, board, and staff should know what will be asked of them, how their contributions will be used, and the time commitment and corresponding adjustments in workload to support participation. Staff and board should receive appropriate and periodic updates on the planning process throughout. Transparency builds trust, fosters buy-in, and ultimately supports more successful adoption and implementation of strategic plans.

 
HoneycombDivider1.png
 

ADAPTABILITY & FLEXIBILITY

 

While every client and strategic plan is unique, one common occurrence is the need to shift and adjust the process. As we engage people in planning and as we begin exploring big-picture questions, we will surface new challenges and opportunities to factor into planning and uncover new information, gain new insights and perspectives, and identify opportunities to continue improving the process. Adjustments and adaptations will be needed, and we must remain flexible, putting the plan and desired outcomes ahead of pre-determined processes that may not end up meeting our needs.