2016-06-21 Breakthrough Strategy for Nonprofits

Thrive. Grow. Achieve.
June 21, 2016
Dr. Rob Sheehan, Robert H. Smith School of
Business at the University of Maryland
Breakthrough
Strategy for
Nonprofits

Robert M. Sheehan, Jr., Ph.D.
Principal
Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting
@SheehanImpact
RobSheehan@aol.com
301.523.1864
www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com
© Robert M. Sheehan, Jr., Ph.D., 2016
BREAKTHROUGH
STRATEGY
2

ABOUT
ROB SHEEHAN
*Robert H. Smith School of
Business, University of
Maryland
 Academic Director, Executive MBA
Program
*Center for Philanthropy &
Nonprofit Leadership, UMD
*Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting
 Strategy, Leadership, Teamwork 3

ABOUT
ROB SHEEHAN
 Ph.D., The Ohio State University
 College of Business
 School of Public Policy &
Management
 Organization Development,
Leadership, Organization
Effectiveness
 Published Researcher
4

ABOUT
ROB SHEEHAN
 CEO, 18 years, Two National
Nonprofits
 AΣΦ Educational Foundation,
1981-1990
 LeaderShape, Inc., 1992-2001
 CFRE (Certified Fund Raising
Executive), 1986-2004
5

QUICK
SURVEY
How many of you think that
most people in the nonprofit
world work very hard?
7

QUICK
SURVEY
How many of you think that
most people in the nonprofit
world are smart?
8

LEAP OF
REASON
“Incremental Change is Not
Enough”
-Mario Morino
Leap of Reason
9

“INNOVATE
OR DIE”
“We’re in an environment
where its innovate or die.”
-Amelia Franck Meyer
CEO, Anu Family Services,
Hudson, WI
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
10

BREAKTHROUGH
STRATEGY
The intention of the Breakthrough
Strategy approach is to drive
higher levels of innovation and
creativity throughout an
organization to it increases its
Mission Impact.
11

DESIGN
FOR TODAY
 To provide you with a “taste” of
the Breakthrough Strategy
approach
 To demonstrate ideas on how you
can generate more innovation and
creativity in your organization
12

A NEW
MINDSET
We need a new
mindset.
13

NEW PATTERNS
OF THOUGHT
“The problems we face cannot be
solved using the same patterns of
thought that were used to create
them.”
- Albert Einstein
14

BEING
UNREASONABLE
“The reasonable man adapts himself
to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in attempting to adapt the
world to himself. Therefore, all
progress depends on the
unreasonable man.”
- George Bernard Shaw
15

THE IMPORTANCE
OF LEADERSHIP
 Nothing we discuss today can be
successfully utilized within an
organization without effective
quality leadership.
 Ethical, Inclusive, Authentic,
Empowering
 Contributes toward building a
more just, equitable and thriving
society
16

STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
 Establish Mission Gap
 Adopt Aspirational Mindset for
Creating Vision
Setting Strategic Stretch Goals
 Discern SWOTs
 Create Strategy Narrative
17

THE BREAKTHROUGH
STRATEGY WORKBOOK
 A guide for strategy development that
follows the Mission Impact process.
 Multiple copies may be downloaded at
no cost from web site:
Other Sheehan articles may also be
downloaded at no cost (see pp. 30-31).
 An example of the final output from a
strategy development process is
included on pp. 22 – 28.
18

“MISSION
GAP”
 Imagine what the world would look
like if you were accomplishing your
mission 100%.
 Compare that to the way the world
really looks like today.
 The difference between the two is
your “Mission Gap.”
21

MERRILL COUNTY
LITERACY COUNCIL
Mission
To assure that all adults age 16 or
older in Merrill County are literate.
Mission Accomplishment Measure
The literacy rate in Merrill County, as
reported by county officials.
22

MERRILL COUNTY
LITERACY COUNCIL
Mission Gap
With 100,000 adults, age 16 and older,
living in Merrill County, the Mission
Gap is 20,000 adults.
23

YOUR
MISSION GAP
Do you need a
Breakthrough Strategy
that will drive
Innovation in your
organization?
25

STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
 ✔ Establish Mission Gap
Creating Vision
 Discern SWOTs
26

ANALYTICAL
VISIONING
 Analyze Internal Capabilities &
Predictable Changes
 Analyze External Environment &
Predictable Changes
 Forecast (Extrapolate) Reasonable
Future
 Establish “Vision” as “Best Case
Scenario”
28

ASPIRATIONAL
VISIONING
 Dream with no constraints
 Create an Ideal “Future Picture” based
on what is Inspirational and Drives
Passion
 Create New Internal Capabilities
 Search Environment for Opportunity
29

DREAM
“Some men see things as they are and
say ‘why,’ I dream things that never
were and say ‘why not.’”
- George Bernard Shaw
30

CHANGING
THE WORLD
“Because the people who are crazy
enough to think they can change the
world are the ones who do.”
-Steve Jobs
31

DIVINE
MADNESS
“Let us build such a church that those who
come after us will think we were madmen’,
said the old canon of Seville . . . Perhaps
through every mind passes some such
thought, when it entertains the design of a
great and seemingly impossible action . . .
This divine madness enters more or less
into all our noblest undertakings.”
-Longfellow
32

STRATEGIC
INTENT
Companies that have risen to global
leadership over the past 20 years
invariably began with ambitions that were
all out of proportion to their resources and
capabilities. But they created an
obsession with winning at all levels of the
organization . . . We call this obsession
“strategic intent.”
- Hamel & Prahalad
34

CREATIVE
TENSION
“the gap between vision and current
reality is also a source of energy . . .
the gap is the source of creative
energy. We call this gap creative
tension.”
- Peter Senge
35

VISION
With your current environment in mind –
including your “mission gap” – think
about how you could make “quantum
leap” progress on your “mission gap” if
your organization existed in an “ideal
state.” Answer the question:
“If you could have it any way you wanted
it, what would your organization be
like?” Describe it in detail.
36

Why dream a vision that
can never come true?
39

VISION
 Visions give us something to aspire to.
 Visions can inspire others to help make
dreams come true.
 Visions provide meaning to the “day to
day.”
40

How should leaders
establish vision?
41

POSITIONAL
LEADERSHIP
Leadership by “lamination”
vs.
Leadership as a catalyst
42

TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP MODEL
PARTICIPANTSLEADERS
43

LEADING
INNOVATION
“The role of a leader of innovation is
not to set a vision and motivate others
to follow it. It’s to create a community
that is willing and able to innovate.”
Collective Genius
Harvard Business Review, June, 2014
44

WHAT
FOLLOWERS WANT
“Constituents want visions of the future
that reflect their own aspirations.
They want to hear how their dreams
will come true and their hopes will be
fulfilled . . . The only visions that take
hold are shared visions . . . And you
will create them only when you listen
very, very closely to others,
appreciate their hopes, and attend to
their needs.”
-Kouzes & Posner, 2009
45

STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
 ✔ Adopt Aspirational Mindset for
Creating Vision
 Discern SWOTs
46

VISION TO ACTION:
GOALS
 Direct attention to relevant activities
 Affect intensity of effort
 Affect persistence
 Strategic Stretch Goals: Outcome-
Based & SMART
48

OUTCOME VS.
ACTIVITY GOALS
“To mail 11,000 personalized
fund-raising letters to our
organization’s previous donors
by October 1, 2016.”
49

OUTCOME VS.
ACTIVITY GOALS
“To receive $300,000 in contributions
from our organization’s previous
donors by December 1, 2016.”
50

SMART
GOALS*
 Specific
 Measurable
 Attainable
 Relevant
 Time-bound
*Traditional version
51

ATTAINABLE
GOALS
 Set with at least 80% chance of
success
 Sounds reasonable – failure can be
followed by negative consequences
52

ATTAINABLE
GOALS
 What might be the downside of
setting goals that are reasonably
“Attainable?”
53

ATTAINABLE
GOALS
 What might be the downside of
setting goals that are reasonably
“Attainable?”
 Goal research:
 The more difficult the goal, the higher
the level of performance.
54

SMART
GOALS*
 Specific
 Measurable
 Aggressive, yet Achievable
 Relevant
 Time-bound
*Doug Smith version
56

AGGRESSIVE
YET ACHIEVABLE
 Allows you to maximize
performance, but with a higher
chance of failure
 If you are a boss & you want to use
Aggressive goals, check your
rewards system. If you punish
failure, people will not want to be
aggressive. Reward “performance”
vs. goal accomplishment
57

SMART
COMPARISONS
ATTAINABLE
vs.
AGGRESSIVE
Which SMART formula is best?
58

ATTAINABLE
GOALS
 Best when the priority is to
accurately predict performance of the
current system
 Good for generating “quick wins”
 Good for Learning Goals in new
domains
 Good for a team that needs to build
confidence
59

AGGRESSIVE
GOALS
 Best when the priority is to maximize
the performance of the current
system
 Maximize intensity of effort
 Maximize persistence
 Performance vs Goal Attainment
must be rewarded
60

SMART
GOALS
Think of a goal that you are
currently working on and write
it so it fits the “SMART”
guidelines.
61

A NEW ‘A’
FOR SMART*
 Specific
 Measurable
 *Almost Impossible
 Relevant
 Time-bound
*Rob Sheehan version
62

GREAT
LEADERS
Great Leaders Have a
Healthy Disregard for the
Impossible
63

IMPOSSIBLE . . .
“Space travel is utter bilge.”
- Sir Richard Van Der Riet Wooley, The Astronomer
Royal, 1956
64

IMPOSSIBLE . . .
“While theoretically and technically
television may be feasible,
commercially and financially I
consider it an impossibility.”
- Lee Deforest, American Inventor (1873-1961)
65

IMPOSSIBLE . . .
“Well informed people know it is
impossible to transmit the voice
over wires and that were it
possible to do so, the thing
would be of no practical value.”
- The Boston Post, Editorial, 1865
66

IMPOSSIBLE . . .
“We must not be misled to our
own detriment to assume that
the untried machine can displace
the proved and tried horse.”
- Maj. Gen. John Kerr, U.S. Army (1878-1955)
67

IMPOSSIBLE . . .
“Rail travel at high speeds is not
possible because passengers,
unable to breathe, would die of
asphyxia.”
- Dionysius Lardner, English Scientist
(1793-1859)
68

BULLET TRAIN
THINKING
It used to take more than six hours to travel by
train from Tokyo to Osaka. If the Japanese
executives had said to their engineers: “I want you
to reduce the time to six hours,” the engineers
would have instinctively thought in terms of small
improvements, perhaps in the way they boarded
passengers and unloaded baggage. But instead,
the Japanese executives set out a challenge to
reduce the time of the journey to three and a half
hours. Faced with such an “impossible” goal, the
engineers and designers were forced to reexamine
the most fundamental assumptions governing rail
travel in Japan. The result of this reexamination was
the bullet train. (Jack Welch) 69

TRADITIONAL ANALYTICAL
GOALS
“This is a forecast of the result we should be
able to produce if we work hard at it.”
ASPIRATIONAL STRETCH
GOALS
“This is the very best result we can
imagine possible (1% chance) and we
have no idea how to make it happen.”
70

STRETCH
GOALS
You can’t think outside of
the box, when you are
standing in it!
71

STRETCH
GOALS
 You use stretch goals, they don’t use
you. They do not exist to dominate
you and stress you out. They exist
to give you something to shoot for, to
have fun trying to see if you can
make it.
72

STRETCH
GOALS
“The most fun game is one
you’ve never played and
your inventing as you go
along.”
Jerry Seinfeld
Fast Company, June 2014
73

STRETCH
GOALS
 Fully achieving a stretch goal is not
the main focus of your attention.
You are interested in being creative,
progress, and learning.
74

THE MOON SHOT
vs CANCER
 1961: President Kennedy sets the
goal to send a man to the moon and
return him safely by the end of the
decade.
 1970: Congress passes a resolution
to cure cancer by 1976 as a fitting
celebration for the bicentennial.
75

STRETCH
GOALS
 You need to create a “safe-fail”
situation with a stretch goal. You
can’t treat failure as an issue. You
have to play.
76

SAFE - FAIL
ENVIRONMENT
 “‘The fastest way to succeed, IBM’s
Thomas Watson, Sr., once said, ‘is to
double your failure rate.’ In recent years,
more executives have embraced this point
of view, coming to understand that failure
is a prerequisite to invention. A business
cannot develop a breakthrough product or
process if it is not willing to encourage
risk-taking and learn from subsequent
mistakes.”
The Failure Tolerant Leader
Harvard Business Review, 2002 77

STRETCH
GOALS
 You have to set your own boundaries
on resources you will use to achieve
the goal—including the amount of
time you spend on it. Make this all
part of the “game.” Otherwise, you
stress out and/or turn your 70 hour
weeks into 90 hour weeks.
79

Pessimists & Optimists
Unite
Use “Flexible
Optimism”
80

STRETCH
GOALS
 Since the prospects of failing at the
stretch goal are high and failure at
some goals can have real life
implications—when you set a stretch
goal, ask yourself “Am I willing to live
with the worst probable outcome?”
If not, don’t set it that high.
81

STRATEGIC
INTENT
“Creating stretch, a misfit between
resources and aspirations, is the
single most important task senior
management faces.”
-Gary Hamel & C.K. Prahalad
82

THE WALL
STREET JOURNAL
“Stretch is a concept that would have
produced smirks, if not laughter, in
the GE of three or four years ago,
because it essentially means using
dreams to set business targets – with
no real idea of how to get there . . . .
If you do know how to get there then
it is not a stretch target.”
-Jack Welch, March 8, 1994
83

START WITH
THE END IN MIND
*When brainstorming new ways to
go about accomplishing a goal,
“start with the end in mind.”
Imagine you have already
accomplished the goal and
discern what new ideas you
must have used to do that.
84

STRATEGIC STRETCH
GOALS
 Set five Strategic Stretch Goals for
the next five years which:
 Inspire you!!!
 Would catapult your organization
toward your vision and help close your
Mission Gap most effectively
 Meet the Almost Impossible SMART
criteria
85

CHALLENGES WITH
STRETCH GOALS
 Everyone else operates on the
forecasting mindset so you have to
be careful about with whom you
share your stretch goals.
86

CHALLENGES WITH
STRETCH GOALS
 You may fall back into the old
mindset and get stressed or feel bad
if you fail. Watch for that.
87

CHALLENGES WITH
STRETCH GOALS
 The stretch goal approach does not
guarantee you good creativity. It will
unleash creativity, but some creative
ideas will sound good and not work.
You need to decide when to try it again
or differently or try something else.
88

The biggest challenge is
setting Strategic Stretch
Goals is overcoming the Fear
of Failure that has been bred
within us.
89

FAILURE
 We need to transform our
relationship with failure in order to
leverage the aspirational mind-set
and the power of Almost Impossible
Goals.
 What is your relationship with
failure?
90

YOU FAILURE!!!
“I am as worthless as the slugs
who creep in the crevices of
the deepest, darkest parts of
the ocean!”
91

TRANSFORM YOUR
RELATIONSHIP WITH
FAILURE
“We Celebrate Noble Failure.”
92

Result:
Any accomplishment of positive
magnitude
Success:
Any accomplishment which meets or
exceeds its intended result
Failure:
To fall short of an intended result
93

OHIO STATE
FUNDRAISING PROJECT
Goal Result
1988 $40,000 $48,000
1989 $25,000 $24,000
1990 $25,000 $17,000
94

OHIO STATE
FUNDRAISING PROJECT
Goal Result
1988 $40,000 $48,000
1989 $25,000 $24,000
1990 $25,000 $17,000
1991 $50,000
95

OHIO STATE
FUNDRAISING PROJECT
Goal Result
1988 $40,000 $48,000
1989 $25,000 $24,000
1990 $25,000 $17,000
1991 $50,000 $62,000
96

OHIO STATE
FUNDRAISING PROJECT
Goal Result
1988 $40,000 $48,000
1989 $25,000 $24,000
1990 $25,000 $17,000
1991 $50,000 $62,000
1992 $150,000
97

OHIO STATE
FUNDRAISING PROJECT
Goal Result
1988 $40,000 $48,000
1989 $25,000 $24,000
1990 $25,000 $17,000
1991 $50,000 $62,000
1992 $150,000 $143,000
98

LEADERSHAPE
PARTICIPANTS
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
99

10X
THINKING
Larry Page lives by the gospel of 10x. Most
companies would be happy to improve a product by
10 percent. Not the CEO and cofounder of Google.
The way Page sees it, a 10 percent improvement
means that you’re basically doing the same thing as
everybody else. You probably won’t fail
spectacularly, but you are guaranteed not to
succeed wildly. That’s why Page expects his
employees to create products and services that are
10 times better than the competition. Thousand-
percent improvement requires rethinking
problems entirely, exploring the edges of what’s
technically possible, and having a lot more fun in
the process. (http://www.wired.com/business/2013/01/ff-qa-larry-page/all/)100

FAILURE WITH
TRADITIONAL GOALS
“We messed up.”
101

FAILURE WITH
STRETCH GOALS
 “Look at our results!”
 “What could we have done
differently?”
 “I’m glad we went for it, but I wish
we had accomplished it 100%”
102

FAILURE AND
CREATIVE TENSION
“Mastery of creative tension transforms the
way one views ‘failure.’ Failure is, simply,
a shortfall, evidence of the gap between
vision and current reality. Failure is an
opportunity for learning . . . Failures are
not about our unworthiness or
powerlessness.”
- Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline
103

FAILURE AND
INNOVATION
“Failure is just a part of the culture
of innovation. Accept it and grow
stronger.”
- Albert Yu, SVP, Intel Corp
104

“The only real stumbling block is
fear of failure. In cooking, you’ve
got to have a what-the-hell
attitude.”
-Julia Child
105

GETTING
SMARTER FASTER
“ . . . there’s no substitute for getting
smarter faster. And the way you get
smarter is to screw around
vigorously. Try stuff. See what
works. See what fails miserably.
Learn. Rinse. Repeat.”
- Tom Peters, Fast Company, December 2001
106

THE POWER
OF GOALS
*Free Article: The Power of Goals
*Read & Share the Link with others:
www.sheehannonprofitconsulting.
com/PowerOfGoals/
107

STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Creating Vision
 Discern SWOTs
108

Clarity on Your
Current Reality
109

STRENGTHS &
WEAKNESSES
 Better to use systematic tools rather
than just asking “what do you think
are our strengths & weaknesses?”
 Use “systems thinking” as you
assess the organization.
110

VENTURE PHILANTHROPY PARTNERS
CAPACITY FRAMEWORK
ELEMENTS
 Aspirations
 Strategy
 Organizational
Skills
 Human
Resources
 Systems and
Infrastructure
 Organizational
Structure
 Culture
111

VPP-MCKINSEY
OCAT 2.0
 Now available on line:
http://mckinseyonsociety.com/ocat
112

YOUR
SWOTs
 Given your vision and commitment to
achieve the strategic stretch goals,
what are the key strengths of your
organization?
 Weaknesses?
 Opportunities?
 External threats?
113

STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Creating Vision
 ✔ Discern SWOTs
114

WHAT IS
STRATEGY?
 Strategy is more than strategic
planning
 Strategy is not just a collection of
goals and budget forecasts
 Most organizations have plenty of
plans, but very little strategy
 Strategy is an integrated and coherent
cause & effect performance story which
has a beginning, middle, and end.
116

WHAT IS
STRATEGY?
Strategy is an integrated and coherent
explanation of how an organization is
going to guide its performance in the
future.
117

NONPROFIT
STRATEGY
 The purpose of having a strategy is
to guide the organization toward its
desired future.
 Crafting strategy is a creative act, not
an analytical function. It is a process
of creating the organization’s desired
future, considering its current
situation, and designing a set of
actions which will catapult it forward.
118

NONPROFIT
STRATEGY
The “cause & effect performance story”
tells how you will get from “here to
there” while . . .
. . . Leveraging your Strengths,
Fortifying your Weaknesses, Seizing
your Opportunities, and Blocking
your Threats.
119

YOUR
STRATEGY
Your Strategy is “like”
your theme song
120

WHAT IS YOUR
STRATEGY “TUNE?”
 A strategy does not tell you what
actions to take in the fourth week of
the second quarter of the third year
of the strategy any more than a jazz
tune tells musicians what exact notes
to play three-quarters through the
song. They know the tune to follow.
 Everyone in the organization should
know the strategy as well as they
can recognize a popular tune. 121

STRATEGY
NARRATIVE
 A Strategy Narrative is a three – four
paragraph summary explanation of
the organization’s strategy.
 Most organizations – in all sectors
cannot articulate their strategy with a
simple coherent statement.
 As you design strategy, remember to
think of the organization as a
“system” of funding, staff, programs.
122

STRATEGY
NARRATIVE
“Leaders of firms are mystified when what
they thought was a beautifully crafted
strategy is never implemented. . . .
They fail to appreciate the necessity of
having a simple, clear, succinct
strategy statement that everyone can
internalize and use as a guiding light for
making difficult choices.”
- D. J. Collins & M. G. Rukstad
Harvard Business Review, 2008
123

How does an
organization go about
creating its Strategy &
Strategy Narrative?
124

STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT
 Review each of your SWOTs and explain
what “Strategic Actions” you should take
regarding it.
 A Strategic Action is one which will help
catapult the organization toward the
accomplish of the goals, vision, and mission.
 Leverage your Strengths, Fortify your
Weaknesses, Seize your Opportunities, and
Block your Threats.
 These build the “themes” of your Strategy
Narrative
125

STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT
 Evaluate Weaknesses & Threats
 Look for Leverage & Opportunity
126

EVALUATE WEAKNESSES
AND THREATS
 Look at interactions of Weaknesses
and Threats for necessary “damage
control”
 Evaluate all Weaknesses and Threats
 Look at interactions of Weaknesses
and Threats with Strengths for possible
solutions
 Fortify Weaknesses as necessary and
Block relevant Threats
127

LOOK FOR
LEVERAGE &
OPPORTUNITY
 Focus on the Strategic Stretch Goals
 What can you use from the current
reality and SWOTs to catapult
forward?
 Look at interactions of Strengths and
Opportunities and other Strengths
and Opportunities for ideas
128

STRATEGY
NARRATIVE
 A cause & effect performance story
with a beginning, middle, and end
 The General speaks:
“First, we are going to…then
some of you will…which will
then allow others of us
to…and that will give us the
opening to…which will lead
us on to victory.”
129

STRATEGY:
MAKING CONNECTIONS
NAPOLEON
Greatest Military Strategist
Ever?
130

STRATEGY
NARRATIVE
 Make sure Weaknesses and Threats
are addressed first so organization is
stable enough to move forward
 Be sure to have strong levers
 Integrate and balance actions in
funding, staffing, programs/services
133

STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Creating Vision
 ✔ Discern SWOTs
 ✔ Create Strategy Narrative
134

“SO WHAT”
MINUTE
 What three things will you do during
the next week to apply some of the
ideas we have discussed today?
135

“SO WHAT”
MINUTE
 Design a new strategic planning
process
 Use the next staff meeting to
brainstorm a vision for your
organization “if you could have it any
way you wanted it.”
136

“SO WHAT”
MINUTE
 Review all of your goals and make
sure they are SMART.
 Distribute the VPP Organization
Capacity Assessment Tool to
everyone on staff to identify capacity
building opportunities.
 Share your key learnings with others
at your next staff or Board meeting
137

THE BLOG
 Check it out:
 http://strategyleadershipmissionimpa
ct.blogspot.com/
 Email me if you want on the
distribution list:
RobSheehan@aol.com
138

THANK YOU
VERY MUCH!!!
 For your leadership!
 For your commitment!!
 For the difference you make!!!
139

Robert M. Sheehan, Jr., Ph.D.
Principal
Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting
301.523.1864
RobSheehan@aol.com
@SheehanImpact
FOR MORE
INFORMATION
140

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF
NONPROFIT STRATEGY
#1: “It’s Just Sitting on the Shelf.” The
rest of the sins are not necessarily in
order of severity, but this is clearly #1
because it is so pervasive and
represents a huge waste of money and
time – from staff and volunteers. This
sin can be deadly, indeed, when board
members realize the hours they have
wasted – making strategic plans that are
never implemented. And for the
attorneys on your Board, those are
billable hours. 141

NONPROFIT STRATEGY
#2: Insular Mountaintop Planning. It
can be good for a strategy planning
group to go to the “mountains” to get
away from distractions to do work
together. But, before you go, gather
input regarding the organization’s future
from stakeholders – and check in with
them when you get back for more input
before you publish and laminate the
plan (Peter Block calls this error
“leadership by lamination”).
142

NONPROFIT STRATEGY
#3: Over-Emphasis on Fund-Raising.
“What?!?” “Impossible!” I can just hear
my fund-raising colleagues’ reaction. Of
course we frequently find new fund-
raising initiatives as a part of a new
strategy. The problem is that as these
efforts are highlighted, other important
aspects of a strategy are under-
emphasized – such as program
innovation, leadership succession,
strategic partnerships, and more.
143

NONPROFIT STRATEGY
#4: Too Rushed. Rather than rushing
(e.g., “We are doing our strategic plan at
an all day retreat two weeks from
Friday, are you available?”), it is wiser to
take the time to thoughtfully design and
implement a strategy development
process. Of course, it should not take
forever either. Taking the time can lead
to inspiring visions, innovative
strategies, and empowered
stakeholders – which produce higher
performance. 144

NONPROFIT STRATEGY
#5: Lots of Plans, No Strategy.
Strategic planning documents can
contain volumes of plans, activities, and
environmental analysis – but many don’t
include a real “strategy.” A true strategy
articulates the dynamic levers which will
catapult an organization toward its
desired future, as well as how its key
operational areas will interact to create a
cycle of higher performance.
145

NONPROFIT STRATEGY
#6: No Annual Review. No one can see
into the future when developing a
strategic plan! So, we make certain
measured assumptions about the future
– including changes in our internal and
external environments. An annual
review of assumptions and results is
important to keep the plan relevant.
You may not change your mission or
vision, but you may need to change
plans and activities.
146

NONPROFIT STRATEGY
#7: Not Ambitious Enough. A strategy
and its associated goals and plans
should be focused on a vision that is
big, bold, and inspiring. Many strategic
plans are based simply on an analytical
forecast of the way things are currently
headed. How dull. It was Goethe who
said “Dream no small dreams for they
have no power to move the hearts of
men” and Mandela who stated “Your
playing small does not serve the world.”
147

2016-06-21 Breakthrough Strategy for Nonprofits

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2016-06-21 Breakthrough Strategy for Nonprofits