Episode 25: Strategic Planning Challenges

Welcome to another edition of “Around with Randall”. Your weekly 10 to 12 minute podcast and making your nonprofit more effective for your community. And here is your host, the CEO and founder of Hallett Philanthropy, Randall Hallett. 

Thanks again for joining me this week on, “Around with Randall”. I want to pull the subject this week from some work that I'm doing with some clients as we progress towards a lot of successes and hopefully some conclusions with COVID. I have a number of clients who shifted and had to do some great work that was a little different at the beginning of 2020, but are now beginning to look to the end of 2021 and into 22, about what it is they want to do and how they want to be seen to be effective in support of their community. This is brought into picture or focus the idea of strategic planning. Strategic planning is one of the things I enjoy doing the most, but most often find that it's done incorrectly frequently.

There's a lot of reasons why and so let me cover what I see quite often that causes challenges. Then the tactical pieces are some things you can do if you want to make planning more effective for your organization. The first is that there's a disconnect between the board and the executive leadership. Too often, I find that boards are being run by, in particular, the Chief Officer of the nonprofit, whether that's an Executive Director, President, whatever, instead of the other way around. Yes, it's a partnership, but sometimes quite often I find that the board is looking to the CEO or the Chief Executive to tell them what to do. I have to say -- that's not how this works. 

A couple of examples… I have a client who is trying to become more effective and I'm a part of that equation. We're really struggling to get the organization to the point where they're doing the kind of work that's going to have the most effect on their bottom line. The real challenge is that the board is completely delegating itself to the executive leader. I keep talking about…you need to be looking at this bigger, a bigger opportunity, that you need to be driving the change and it's executive’s jobs to partner with you to execute that change. That's just not happening. It's very frustrating for everyone involved. 

Another instance is from my past. When I was on the board at the Ronald McDonald house, I was the pain in the backside, so to speak, saying we've got to do more. Why are we here? It led after some tough conversations and a lot of movement to some incredible outcomes that a lot of people should take responsibility and credit for, least of all is me, but I was behind the scenes saying we're capable of more. These kids, these families need more. What are we doing here? It led to a new way of financing the house. It led to a complete overhaul of the house, structurally doubling its size, new programs and a new way of bringing in medical care into the house for transplant patients -- totally new model and way of thinking. 

The board needs to drive where the organization's going. If all you're trying to do is self preservation, well we got to keep the doors open, then you're missing the whole point of strategic planning. Strategic planning isn't to solve today's problems in terms of how the foundation or the nonprofit works. It's to solve the community's problems, which may mean a whole series of different ways of looking at it. I find that there's an absence of tough questions and a lack of being able to dream. I just did a board training on this subject for another client where I walk them through some processes and all of a sudden this board's like we could do more. Yes, you can. I can't physically do it, but I can get you to the point where you can do it for yourselves and I'll help you get there.

We also need, when we do this, a good process and we'll talk about that in the tactics. What's that look like? It's not going to be done in a 15-minute meeting. It's not going to be done by a quarter of your board. It's another thing that I just find troubling is when literally a couple of board members are driving this process and everybody else is kind of left out. How is that a collective effort and board to drive success?

That leads us to probably the most important thing, which is your board members, trustees, directors, whomever, have to have buy-in. They feel like this is their organization. They just don't show up six times a year for the meetings and lunch. They want the organization to serve a higher purpose. They see more opportunity to help people. They're willing to take risks. 

Dan Polenta has a Ted Talk on YouTube. It’s 16-17 minutes from 2013 looking at how nonprofits are afraid of risk and it really makes it troubling for them to be successful because they're not willing to invest in themselves. They don't invest themselves in the right places and they can't bear the thought of failure. Yet we know organizations that take reasonable, calculated, but good risks, reap rewards. We often see it more often in the for-profit sector. Why don't we see that in the nonprofit sector?

We need to relook at how we do this and now is a great time. Any time's a good time, but now is a great time because what we were as nonprofits, depending on where you are in the nonprofit world…hospitals, social services, education at about February 1st of 2020, isn't who you are now. The question is, who are you going to be? What is it that your community needs? What is it that your organization needs to change lives -- not be self preservationists and solve this little problem, not have part of the board leading the way, not to have small little ideas that are going to help one person. What is it that can make a difference?

So, the tactical pieces, let me roll those out for you and talk a little bit about maybe some things you can be doing as a part of this process. The tactical, first and foremost, if you are a nonprofit leader, you need to find advocates for these kinds of things inside the board as board members. It is incredibly hard to do this as a staff member alone. Right, wrong or indifferent, you are not one of them. You are not a board member. You need voices to come from their own, one of them, or many of them that say, we need to do this better. You can be the catalyst. You can be the marionette behind the strings, pulling them. But if you're trying to do this without volunteers or board members out a half step ahead of you, verbally saying, we owe more to what we're trying to accomplish, you're going to have a real struggle. The first tactical piece is to find board members that you can partner with to do this and let them be the voice because it will resonate more because there is one of them. 

Number two, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of new. Don't be afraid of looking at something more holistically. Now that may mean two things on a tactical perspective. Number one, a really hard look at the services you provide and are they what's actually needed. Are you doing what you do because it's been historically done and nobody's ever bothered to say, look could we tweak it 10%? I'm not saying change everything, but could we be doing new things? Number two, it may mean new board members. The responsibilities that they have, the goals that they have, it may require a little bit of lead to get people who have a bigger vision on your board. So, don't be afraid of the new.  

Number three, layout a process. This is going to take some time there's going to be a big planning meeting. That's always, I think what people think of when they imagine or process strategic planning, but really what we're talking about is a longer process that has multiple pieces. Number one, the willingness for the board to engage in the conversation. Number two, that planning session. Number three, what goes into that planning session about changing the world and bigger ideas. 

Number four, a timeline, that we're going to do this over six months. We may need a SWAT analysis that it gives us an understanding of ourselves, plus the market. There may be multiple parts of the puzzle you're going to have to fill in, and it's better to lay that out on the front end so everyone's aware of what it means.

Number five, create some measurements, key performance indicators to know that you're actually accomplishing whatever it is the strategic plan is driving. If it's just pie in the sky, how's anyone going to ever know that you accomplish what was set out.  You have to measure it, sometimes that takes creativity. Then you have to allocate board time afterwards and ongoing to say, here was what our strategic plan was, here is our measurements and here's where we are today. If you aren't providing time for review on an ongoing basis, then you're wasting the opportunity to use it as an accountability piece for you as a professional, for the board, as volunteers for the organization as a whole, to make a difference.

If you need something to start with, you could bring in someone from the outside. I have a client we're bringing in someone from the outside, who's on another board, who does great, big thinking to give them an example. Or start with the question, which I think is most important. Why are you on this board? What is it that drives you to be here? Do you want to accomplish more? Start with the emotion and build outward.

Lastly it's got to be buy-in, number six. The tactical piece has to be buy-in from everybody. If you don't have a majority of the board, if you don't have every piece of your political board in the small groups that form when you're on a board. If they're not all moving forward, this is going to have a failure rate. Everybody has to agree. If they don't want to do this -- my term “bless and release”. It's okay to have board members leave. I went through this multiple times when I've been on boards, as well as a consultant. Usually when I'm on the board, I'm the one saying, you know, this doesn't seem to be a fit for you. We're going to do more, is now the time for you to hop off? You'd be surprised how often they're grateful that someone recognized it and said, yes, I'm ready to go. 

So tactical pieces start internally, find those advocates inside the board, one of them. Number two, don't be afraid to look at the new. Number three layout, a process, including some of the tactics that are going to go on and how long it's going to take. Number four, make sure you measure what you're trying to do and make sure there's time in the board and reporting to ensure that you're actually meeting the objectives. Number five is start, if you have to, with an outside person to be a catalyst or an example, or with the emotional state of the board members regarding their rationale, their feelings of why they're doing what they're doing. Six, make sure you have buy-in from everybody. You can't have a small group standing out. It's just not going to work. 

As always, I want to remind you to check out the website, hallettphilanthropy.com. I am also posting blogs, most recent about the 80th birthday of the USO, not meant to be heavy lifting, probably 90-second reads, but there. Good information, maybe something that might be helpful or interesting to you, so that's the blogs. 

Don't forget. You can email me and next podcast, I have a couple of reeks. I'm not sure that they smell all that bad, but a reminder and I thought in both cases were very, very important. We'll cover those on the next podcast, but you can email me if you have a concern or something that I missed, or if you disagree reeks@hallettphilanthropy.com or if you have a subject matter, which comes up quite frequently, podcast@hallettphilanthropy.com. 

I end each show the same way because I really believe it. I wake up every morning wondering how I got so lucky to know that I am a very, very, very, very, very small part of my client's world when it comes to helping their community. I get up every morning knowing that I love what I do and I'm making a difference.

I may not be the direct difference for the people in the various communities, in which my clients serve, but I'm a small, indirect part. Those that do wake up every day, that includes you, hopefully you wake up knowing you are a direct impact on the people that live in your community, that are part of your society and a lot of them need help. Our nonprofits are being taxed more and more to do more and more. So, keep in mind that you are doing unbelievable work. If you need a moment, close your eyes and envision someone who needed a little bit of assistance and that you were a part of that directly or indirectly. 

Remember my favorite all time phrase or saying, “Some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen. Then there are those who wondered what happened.” Where people who make things happen -- we have people on our boards, our donors, our organizations are filled with people who make things happen. Our role as a nonprofit is to help those who are wondering what happened, no matter what area of philanthropy you're in. I can't imagine something that's more worthwhile. I hope you feel that you are making a difference because I think whether you see it or not, you probably are. I appreciate your time again this week on, “Around with Randall”. We'll see you next time, and don't forget, make it a great day!