Resource: Strategic Planning - Best Practices

Build Consensus through Collaboration

Phase 1
Gather open-ended input on most important issues

• Get the community involved in setting the vision - what’s important for your constituents?
• If more people are involved, they more vested they will be in supporting the desired outcomes.
• Make sure input is inclusive of different stakeholder perspectives, ages, races, income levels, etc.
• Hold public meetings or host open office hours.
• Use tools like ClearForms to solicit community input on priorities.

Phase 2
Analyze open-ended input to find common themes or focus areas

• Use tools like ZenCity to identify common themes on social media.

Phase 3
Survey to prioritize themes

• Leverage modern survey tools, like Survey Monkey, Facebook, Google Forms, or Polco.
• Take advantage of community events to conduct in-person surveys or polling.

Phase 4
Develop goals and measurable action items for each goal

• Engage focus groups to contribute to goal and action item authoring and evaluation.
• Goals should address the most critical issues facing your community.
• Action items should be specific, measurable, and aligned with your organization's goals.

Phase 5
Implement action plan and track/communicate progress

• Communicate the planning process before and after.
• Gather feedback after the plan is launched.
• Communicate that the plan will be refined over time.

Introduce constraints

A government agency only has so much capacity; you can’t tackle everything.

• Is their political support for the goal? Will it gain funding?
• Is their operation capacity to achieve the goal?
• Will the goal provide positive public value for the cost?

Don’t try to cover too much; not every department needs to be part of the plan. The more focused an issue is the easier it is to connect to a budget request.

Clearly and accessibly communicate your plan

• Top-level Focus Areas should be broad, so readers can quickly find what interests them the most.
• Keep your audience in mind. Don’t use acronym soup if most residents won’t know what the acronyms stand for. Avoid jargon and complex sentence structures.
• Mobile is critical for today’s “consumers” and can help you meet the access needs of your constituents.

Stay flexible and adapt

Plan ahead, but heed the "Cone of Uncertainty."

• We can predict the near future (next three months) with reasonable accuracy. Still, as we get further out (3 to 6+ months), it becomes more difficult to predict what will happen within your community and the larger global economy.

Although your long-term vision should remain the same, you'll reprioritize goals frequently to adjust for unforeseen events (e.g., COVID-19).

Imagine a highway - you can change lanes, but you have to stay within the guardrails.
William Chroba, CFO of Cleveland Metroparks

Develop a rolling planning process

Don’t spend too much time on specifics of long-term action items as this will most likely change over time.

• Conditions Change, (e.g., Covid, Global Supply Chain issues, Workforce challenges, new legislation, etc.)
• New opportunities arise (e.g., new grants or funding made available).
• Some tactics may not work as planned (e.g., programs not seeing the expected enrollment)

Revisit your plan annually

Although you've done the major work of defining your community issues as a part of an infrequent exercise, your strategies should adjust depending on your outcomes.

• Determine when you'll revisit your strategic plan. Is it aligned with the election cycle or the budget cycle?
• Your Vision, Mission, and Focus areas should not change frequently. Your goals should shift. Action Items should be refreshed on an annual basis.
• The best practice would be to create a 5-year plan with a version for each Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, etc.