Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

I was recently talking to a nonprofit consultant who, while she was a tad too conscious of her exalted “expert” role, seemed reasonably savvy - until she said: “The board does the strategic plan. Then it’s the staff’s job to do the implementation plan.” I was playing well with others that day so I didn’t say what I was thinking, which was…

Nope. Nada. Nuh-Uh. We’re not talking Divinity, Moses, and stone tablets here. If a plan is actually going to work, it requires participation by the people who actually do the work. Sure, decisions have to be made and you can’t spend so much time reaching consensus nothing actually gets done, but edicts from on high are typically ignored and silently resented. The “little people” smile and nod while the various poobahs pontificate, bloviate and prioritize. Then the consultant/facilitator gets paid thousands for a purty document which gets stuck in a drawer and life goes on. (This happens in both business and nonprofits, of all sizes and types - what I call “drive-by strategic planning.” One or two day retreats, flurries of those little sticky colored dots, flip charts flippin’, things taped all over the walls…and little to no real-world perspective re action. But, boy, “The food was really good!”)

Come to think of it, the Ten Commandments are short and to the point. Something that can’t be said of most strategic plans.

(I’ve served on several nonprofit boards, been “Director of Strategic Planning” for a couple of Fortune companies…and effective strategic planning is always a challenge, even with the best of intentions by all involved.)

Related Posts:
The Strategy Disconnect
Is Strategic Planning A Waste of Time?
The Problem with Top-Down Planning
My Five Observations re Strategic Planning
I hate consultants.

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Tags: strategic planning, entrepreneur sanity check,strategic planning failure, nonprofit strategic planning