Types of Plan

http://www.mapl.com.au/planning/plan2.
htm
There are many types of plans used in human service organisations. While the essence of all
plans is the same - answering questions such as where we are going and how we are going
to get there -
we often give them different names depending on what the plan is for.
For example plans can be made for:
• The organisation (e.g. strategic plan, service plans, financial plan)

• A project (e.g. project plan, financial plan)
• A team (e.g. team work plan)
• A worker (e.g. individual work plan)
• A client (e.g. individual service plan)
Some of the different types of plans and the questions they ask and attempt to answer are
listed below.
The Organisation
Strategic Plan
Where are we? Where are we going? Why? How will we get there?
Service Plan
Who are the clients? What will be the benefits to them? How?
Operational Plan
What do we need to do to make it all happen and know we are on track?
Financial Plan
Where is the money coming from? Where is it going to? Will there be enough?
Evaluation Plan
How do we know we are doing a good job? How do we know how to improve what we are
doing?
The Project
Project Plan
What are we trying to achieve? How will we make it happen?
Project Financial Plan

Where is the money coming from? Where is it going to? Will there be enough?
Project Evaluation Plan
How do we know we are doing a good job? How do we know how to improve what we are
doing?
The Team
Team Work Plan

What are we on about? What do we need to do, when and why?
The Worker
Individual Work Plan

What am I on about? What do I need to do, when and why?
The Clients
Individual Service Plans / Case Management

What do I want to achieve? How can it happen?
A typical large organisation

In a large organisation there will be many plans, for example, a separate strategic plan,
financial plan and operational plan. There will be project plans, teamwork plans, and
individual work plans. And if the organisation is a direct service provider there will be
individual service plans or case management plans.
Very small organisations

A very small organisation many only require one plan which incporates the answers to all the
questions above.
The Different Types of Business Plans
Business plans are also called strategic plans, investment plans, expansion plans, operational
plans, annual plans, internal plans, growth plans, product plans, feasibility plans, and many other
names. These are all business plans.
In all these different varieties of business plan, the plan matches your specific situation. For
example, if you're developing a plan for internal use only, not for sending out to banks or
investors, you may not need to include all the background details that you already know.
Description of the management team is very important for investors, while financial history is most
important for banks.
Some of these specific case differences lead to different types of plans:

• The most standard business plan is a start-up plan, which defines the steps for a new
business. It covers standard topics including the company, product or service, market,
forecasts, strategy, implementation milestones, management team, and financial
analysis. The financial analysis includes projected sales, profit and loss, balance sheet,
cash flow, and probably a few other tables. The plan starts with an executive summary
and ends with appendices showing monthly projections for the first year.
• Internal plans are not intended for outside investors, banks, or other third parties. They
might not include detailed description of company or management team. They may or
may not include detailed financial projections that become forecasts and budgets. They
may cover main points as bullet points in slides (such as PowerPoint slides) rather than
detailed texts.
• An operations plan is normally an internal plan, and it might also be called an internal
plan or an annual plan. It would normally be more detailed on specific implementation
milestones, dates, deadlines, and responsibilities of teams and managers.
• A strategic plan is usually also an internal plan, but it focuses more on high-level options
and setting main priorities than on the detailed dates and specific responsibilities. Like
most internal plans, it wouldn’t include descriptions of the company or the management
team. It might also leave out some of the detailed financial projections. It might be more
bullet points and slides than text.
• A growth plan or expansion plan or new product plan will sometimes focus on a specific
area of business, or a subset of the business. These plans could be internal plans or not,
depending on whether or not they are being linked to loan applications or new
investment. For example, an expansion plan requiring new investment would include full
company descriptions and background on the management team, as much as a start-up
plan for investors. Loan applications will require this much detail as well. However, an
internal plan, used to set the steps for growth or expansion funded internally, might skip
these descriptions. It might not include detailed financial projections for the whole
company, but it should at least include detailed forecasts of sales and expenses for the
company.
• A feasibility plan is a very simple start-up plan that includes a summary, mission
statement, keys to success, basic market analysis, and preliminary analysis of costs,
pricing, and probable expenses. This kind of plan is good for deciding whether or not to
proceed with a plan, to tell if there is a business worth pursuing.
Business planning is often conducted when:
• Starting a new venture (organization, product or service)

• Expanding a current organization, product or service
• Buying a current organization, product or service
• Working to improve the management of a current organization, product or service
There are a wide variety of formats for a business plan. The particular format and amount of
content included in a plan depends on the complexity of the organization, product or service and
on the demands of those who will use the business plan to make a decision, eg, an investor,
funder, management, Board of Directors, etc.
Overall, the contents of a business plan typically aim to:
1. Describe the venture (new or current organization, product or service), often including its
primary features, advantages and benefits
2. What the organization wants to do with it (buy it, expand it, etc.)
3. Justification that the plans are credible (eg, results of research that indicate the need for
what the organization wants to do)
4. Marketing plans, including research results about how the venture will be marketed (eg,
who the customers will be, any specific groups (or targets) of customers, why they need
the venture (benefits they seek from the venture), how they will use the venture, what
they will be willing to pay, how the venture will be advertised and promoted, etc.)
5. Staffing plans, including what expertise will be needed to build (sometimes included in
business plans) and provide the venture on an ongoing basis
6. Management plans, including how the expertise will be organized, coordinated and led
7. Financial plans, including costs to build the venture (sometimes included in business
plans), costs to operate the venture, expected revenue, budgets for each of the first
several years into the future, when the venture might break-even (begin making more
money overall than it has cost), etc.
8. Appendices (there are a wide variety of materials included in appendices, eg, description
of the overall organization, its other products and/or services, its current staff, etc.)
Basic Guidelines for Successful Planning Process
One of the most common sets of activities in the management is planning. Very simply put,
planning is setting the direction for something -- some system -- and then guiding the system to
follow the direction. There are many kinds of planning in organizations. Common to these many
kinds of planning are various phases of planning and guidelines for carrying them out as
effectively as possible. Information in this document can be referenced as a basis from which to
carry out various kinds of planning, ranging from highly complex to simple and basic. (The library
topic Planning describes a wide variety of plans.) To help make the following information
applicable to as many situations as possible, the scope of the following planning information is to
the "system", which is fully explained below. The following process should be customized by
planners to the meet the needs and nature of the planners and their organizations.
Basics and Planning
Advertising and promotions plan usually includes what target markets you want to reach, what
features and benefits you want to convey to them, how you will convey it to them (this is often
called your advertising campaign), who is responsible to carry the various activities in the plan
and how much money is budgeted for this effort. Successful advertising depends very much on
knowing the preferred methods and styles of communications of the target markets that you want
to reach with your ads. A media plan and calendar can be very useful, which specifies what
advertising methods are used and when
Strategic Planning
strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how it's
going to get there and how it'll know if it got there or not. The focus of a strategic plan is usually
on the entire organization, while the focus of a business plan is usually on a particular product,
service or program.
There are a variety of perspectives, models and approaches used in strategic planning. The way
that a strategic plan is developed depends on the nature of the organization's leadership, culture
of the organization, complexity of the organization's environment, size of the organization,
expertise of planners, etc. For example, there are a variety of strategic planning models, including
goals-based, issues-based, organic, scenario (some would assert that scenario planning is more
a technique than model), etc. Goals-based planning is probably the most common and starts with
focus on the organization's mission (and vision and/or values), goals to work toward the mission,
strategies to achieve the goals, and action planning (who will do what and by when). Issues-
based strategic planning often starts by examining issues facing the organization, strategies to
address those issues, and action plans. Organic strategic planning might start by articulating the
organization's vision and values and then action plans to achieve the vision while adhering to
those values. Some planners prefer a particular approach to planning, eg, appreciative inquiry.
Some plans are scoped to one year, many to three years, and some to five to ten years into the
future. Some plans include only top-level information and no action plans. Some plans are five to
eight pages long, while others can be considerably longer.
Project Management
Project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a specific (and
usually) one-time effort, for example, construct a building or implement a new computer system.
Project management includes developing a project plan, which includes defining project goals
and objectives, specifying tasks or how goals will be achieved, what resources are need, and
associating budgets and timelines for completion. It also includes implementing the project plan,
along with careful controls to stay on the "critical path", that is, to ensure the plan is being
managed according to plan. Project management usually follows major phases (with various titles
for these phases), including feasibility study, project planning, implementation, evaluation and
support/maintenance. (Program planning is usually of a broader scope than project planning, but
not always.)
The term planning implies the working out of sub-components in some degree of detail.
Broader-brush enunciations of objectives may qualify as metaphorical roadmaps.
Planning literally just means the creation of a plan; it can be as simple as making a list. It
has acquired a technical meaning, however, to cover the area of government legislation
and regulations related to the use of resources.
Planning can refer to the planned use of any and all resources, as in the succession of
Five-Year Plans through which the government of the Soviet Union sought to develop the
country. However, the term is most frequently used in relation to planning for the use of
land and related resources, for example in urban planning, transportation planning, and so
forth.
Thus, in a governmental context, "planning" without any qualification is most likely to

mean the regulation of land use.
Common, Major Types of Plans

Business Planning (plan a new business organization, product, business department, etc.)
Basic Guidelines for Successful Planning (basis for many types of plans)
Management-by-Objectives (comprehensive process to ensure organizational goals being
met)
Program Planning (design and carry out a major, internal or external org'l function)
Project Planning (design and carry out a specific, one-time effort, eg, building, product,
etc.)
Strategic Planning (establish organizational goals and how to reach them)
Other Types of Plans

- - - Advertising and Promotions Planning
- - - Disaster Planning
- - - Career Planning
- - - Computer Systems Planning
- - - Feasibility for New Business or Program
- - - Fundraising Plans (nonprofit)
- - - Leadership Development Planning
- - - Management Development Planning
- - - Marketing Planning
- - - Performance planning (for organizations, groups, employees, etc.)
- - - Performance Improvement planning (organizations, groups, employees, etc.)
- - - Research Design Planning
- - - Staffing Planning
- - - Supervisory Development Planning
- - - Training and Development Planning
Business Planning
(for nonprofits or for-profits)
Assembled by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD | Applies to nonprofits and for-profits unless noted
First-Timers | Library Catalog | Library Home Page | Contact Us | Reprint Permission
Authenticity Consulting Home Page | MAP Home Page
Business planning is often conducted when:
• Starting a new venture (organization, product or service)

• Expanding a current organization, product or service
• Buying a current organization, product or service
• Working to improve the management of a current organization, product or service
There are a wide variety of formats for a business plan. The particular format and amount
of content included in a plan depends on the complexity of the organization, product or
service and on the demands of those who will use the business plan to make a decision,
eg, an investor, funder, management, Board of Directors, etc.
Overall, the contents of a business plan typically aim to:
1. Describe the venture (new or current organization, product or service), often

including its primary features, advantages and benefits
2. What the organization wants to do with it (buy it, expand it, etc.)
3. Justification that the plans are credible (eg, results of research that indicate the
need for what the organization wants to do)
4. Marketing plans, including research results about how the venture will be
marketed (eg, who the customers will be, any specific groups (or targets) of
customers, why they need the venture (benefits they seek from the venture), how
they will use the venture, what they will be willing to pay, how the venture will be
advertised and promoted, etc.)
5. Staffing plans, including what expertise will be needed to build (sometimes
included in business plans) and provide the venture on an ongoing basis
6. Management plans, including how the expertise will be organized, coordinated
and led
7. Financial plans, including costs to build the venture (sometimes included in
business plans), costs to operate the venture, expected revenue, budgets for each
of the first several years into the future, when the venture might break-even (begin
making more money overall than it has cost), etc.
8. Appendices (there are a wide variety of materials included in appendices, eg,
description of the overall organization, its other products and/or services, its
current staff, etc.)
Nonprofit readers might notice that a business plan is very similar to a well designed
grant proposal. In addition to the above items, a grant proposal might include itemization
of any deficits (when expected expenses exceed expected revenues), which indicates the
need for funding from the particular funder to which the grant proposal is being
submitted. Also, a break-even analysis usually isn't included in a grant proposal.
Quite often, an organization's business planners already know much of what will go into
a business plan (this is true for strategic planning, too). However, development of the
business plan greatly helps to clarify the organization's plans and ensure that key leaders
are all "on the same script". Far more important than the plan document, is the planning
process itself.
Categories of information include

Basic Introduction for Nonprofits and For-Profits (and how to convert between FP and
NP)
For-Profit Business Planning (very similar to nonprofit business planning)
Nonprofit Business Planning (very similar to for-profit business planning ...)
Preparation for Planning a Business Venture (nonprofit or for-profit)
General Resources
Related Library Links (to many other types of planning, too)
On-Line Discussion Groups
Basic Introduction (for for-profits and nonprofits)

Business planning is usually conducted when starting a new organization or a new major
venture, for example, new product, service or program. Essentially, a business plan is a
combination of a marketing plan, strategic plan, operational/management plan and a
financial plan. Far more important than the plan document, is the planning process itself.
Business planning usually includes a thorough examination of the idea for a new
product/service, if there's really a market for it, who the competitors are, how the idea is
uniquely positioned to be competitive and noticeable, how the idea will be produced to a
product/service, how much it will cost, how it will be promoted, what overall goals must
be accomplished, how the development and ongoing operations will be managed and
what resources are needed (including money). As noted above, a business plan is a
combination of a marketing plan, financial plan, strategic plan and a
operational/management plan. Here are a variety of perspectives.
Note to Nonprofits -- to Translate For-Profit Plans to Nonprofit Plans

For-profit and nonprofit business plans are very similar. (Nonprofits have "sales",
"markets", "competitors", etc, too.) Therefore, nonprofit personnel would benefit from
reading the links in the section "For-Profit Business Planning". When reading about for-
profit business plans:
1. Substitute "balance sheet" for "statement of financial position"
2. Substitute "profit and loss statement" for "statement of financial activities".
3. Substitute "customer" for "client"
4. Substitute "investor" for "funder"
5. Substitute "product" for "program" or "services"
For-Profit Business Planning
Basics About Business Planning (including outlines of plans)
Be sure to also see "Comprehensive Overviews" below
Business Plan Basics
Essential Elements of a Good Business Plan
General Guidelines for Developing Your Business Plan
Developing Your Business Plan
What Does an Effective Business Plan Look Like?
Comprehensive Overviews
Be sure to also see "Basics ..." above
Business Plan Outline (FAQ's)
Writing An Effective Business Plan (comprehensive overview and links)
Business Planning (many, well-organized links to other business planning articles)
How to Write a Business Plan (comprehensive overview and links)
Sample Business Plan

Sample business plan
outline of a business plan
several sample plans
For-profits also see

Finances and Accounting (For-Profit)
Fundraising for For-Profit
Guidelines for Successful Planning
Loans (Getting)
Product and Service Management (starting a new product or service)
Starting a For-Profit Business
Nonprofit Business Planning

Nonprofit leaders will find the following publication extremely useful when developing a
nonprofit business plan. Get the publication, Venture Forth!: The Essential Guide to
Starting a Moneymaking Business in Your Nonprofit Organization.
Basics
(Nonprofits would also benefit from reading the above major section "For-Profit Business
Plans". See Converting For-Profit Plans to Nonprofit Plans.)
Preparing Nonprofit Business Plan
Introduction and links to other resources
www.businessplan.org (for nonprofits)
Sample Business Plan

Another sample business plan
Another sample business plan
Nonprofits also see
Finances and Accounting (Nonprofit)
Guidelines and Framework for Successful Planning
Loans (Getting)
Product and Service Management (starting a new product or service)
Program Development Planning
Social Entrepreneurship
Starting a Nonprofit
Preparation for Planning a Business Venture (nonprofit or for-profit)

Before you start a major venture, there are several considerations about yourself that you
should address. This manual guides you through those considerations. Then the manual
guides you through the major considerations you'll have to address when you complete
your business plan. The manual includes numerous links to other free resources as the
reader goes through each section of the manual.
Preparation for Planning a Business Venture
Basic Guidelines for Successful Planning Process
Written by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD | Applies to nonprofits and for-profits unless noted
(Some of the following information is adapted from the guidebook,

Basic Guide to Management, Leadership and Supervision.)
One of the most common sets of activities in the management is planning. Very simply
put, planning is setting the direction for something -- some system -- and then guiding the
system to follow the direction. There are many kinds of planning in organizations.
Common to these many kinds of planning are various phases of
planning and guidelines for carrying them out as effectively as
possible. Information in this document can be referenced as a basis
from which to carry out various kinds of planning, ranging from highly
complex to simple and basic. (The library topic Planning describes a
wide variety of plans.) To help make the following information
applicable to as many situations as possible, the scope of the following
planning information is to the "system", which is fully explained below.
The following process should be customized by planners to the meet
the needs and nature of the planners and their organizations.

Context of Planning
Putting Planning in its Larger Context (Working Backwards Through Any "System")
Quick Look at Some Basic Terms in Planning
Typical Overall Phases in Planning

Basic Overview of Typical Phases in Planning
Guidelines for Successful Planning and Implementation

Involve the Right People in the Planning Process
Write Down the Planning Information and Communicate it Widely
Goals and Objectives Should Be SMARTER
Build in Accountability (Regularly Review Who's Doing What and By When?)
Note Deviations from the Plan and Replan Accordingly
Evaluate the Planning Process and the Plan
Realize that the Recurring Planning Process is at Least as Important as
the Plan Document
Ensure the Nature of the Process is Compatible to the Nature of
Planners
A Critical -- But Frequently Missing Step -- Acknowledgement and Celebration of
Results
Closely Related Topics
Decision Making
Problem Solving
General Resources
Various Other Perspectives
Related Library Links
Basic Guide to Management and Supervision

This comprehensive publication in published format, written by the author of this library,
provides complete how-to, step-by-step directions for all of the most important activities
in management and supervision.
Basic Guide to Management and Supervision
Free, Complete, On-line Training Programs That Include This Topic!

For For-profit Organizations:
This topic is also included in the Free Micro-eMBA learning module, Developing Basic
Skills in Management and Leadership. This complete, "nuts and bolts", free training
program is geared to leaders, managers and consultants who work with for-profit
organizations.
For Nonprofit Organizations:

This topic is also included in the Free Nonprofit Micro-eMBA learning module,
Developing Basic Skills in Management and Leadership. This complete, "nuts and bolts",
free training program is geared to leaders, managers, consultants and volunteers who
serve nonprofit organizations.
Tell Friends! Local Professional Organizations! Spread the Word!

Tell friends and professional organizations about these free programs! Advertise them in
your newsletters and web sites so that others can save training dollars, too!
Planning in its Larger Context -- Working Backwards

Through Any "System"
Before we jump into the typical phases in the standard "generic"
planning process, let's stand back and minute and briefly look at the
role of planning in its overall context. This is more than an academic
exercise -- understanding this overall context for planning can greatly
help the reader to design and carry out the planning process in almost
planning application.
One of the most common sets of activities in the management is planning. Very simply
put, planning is setting the direction for something -- some system -- and then working to
ensure the system follows that direction. Systems have inputs, processes, outputs and
outcomes. To explain, inputs to the system include resources such as raw
materials, money, technologies and people. These inputs go through a
process where they're aligned, moved along and carefully
coordinated, ultimately to achieve the goals set for the system.
Outputs are tangible results produced by processes in the system,
such as products or services for consumers. Another kind of result is
outcomes, or benefits for consumers, e.g., jobs for workers, enhanced
quality of life for customers, etc. Systems can be the entire
organization, or its departments, groups, processes, etc. (For an overview
of various systems in organizations, see Basic Definition of Organization and Various
Ways to Look at Organizations.)
Whether the system is an organization, department, business, project, etc., the process of
planning includes planners working backwards through the system. They start from the
results (outcomes and outputs) they prefer and work backwards through the system to
identify the processes needed to produce the results. Then they identify what inputs (or
resources) are needed to carry out the processes.
Quick Look at Some Basic Terms

Planning typically includes use of the following basic terms.
NOTE: It's not critical to grasp completely accurate definitions of each of the following
terms. It's more important for planners to have a basic sense for the difference between
goals/objectives (results) and strategies/tasks (methods to achieve the results).
Goals
Goals are specific accomplishments that must be accomplished in total, or in some
combination, in order to achieve some larger, overall result preferred from the system, for
example, the mission of an organization. (Going back to our reference to systems, goals
are outputs from the system.)
Strategies or Activities
These are the methods or processes required in total, or in some combination, to achieve
the goals. (Going back to our reference to systems, strategies are processes in the
system.)
Objectives
Objectives are specific accomplishments that must be accomplished in total, or in some
combination, to achieve the goals in the plan. Objectives are usually "milestones" along
the way when implementing the strategies.
Tasks
Particularly in small organizations, people are assigned various tasks required to
implement the plan. If the scope of the plan is very small, tasks and activities are often
essentially the same.
Resources (and Budgets)
Resources include the people, materials, technologies, money, etc., required to implement
the strategies or processes. The costs of these resources are often depicted in the form of
a budget. (Going back to our reference to systems, resources are input to the system.)
Basic Overview of Typical Phases in Planning

Whether the system is an organization, department, business, project, etc., the basic
planning process typically includes similar nature of activities carried out in similar
sequence. The phases are carried out carefully or -- in some cases -- intuitively, for
example, when planning a very small, straightforward effort. The complexity of the
various phases (and their duplication throughout the system) depend on the scope of the
system. For example, in a large corporation, the following phases would be carried out in
the corporate offices, in each division, in each department, in each group, etc.
NOTE: Different groups of planners might have different names for the following
activities and groups them differently. However, the nature of the activities and their
general sequence remains the same.
NOTE: The following are typical phases in planning. They do not comprise the complete,
ideal planning process.
1. Reference Overall Singular Purpose ("Mission") or Desired Result from System

During planning, planners have in mind (consciously or unconsciously) some overall
purpose or result that the plan is to achieve. For example, during strategic planning, it's
critical to reference the mission, or overall purpose, of the organization.
2. Take Stock Outside and Inside the System

This "taking stock" is always done to some extent, whether consciously or unconsciously.
For example, during strategic planning, it's important to conduct an environmental scan.
This scan usually involves considering various driving forces, or major influences, that
might effect the organization.
3. Analyze the Situation

For example, during strategic planning, planners often conduct a "SWOT analysis".
(SWOT is an acronym for considering the organization's strengths and weaknesses, and
the opportunities and threats faced by the organization.) During this analysis, planners
also can use a variety of assessments, or methods to "measure" the health of systems.
4. Establish Goals
Based on the analysis and alignment to the overall mission of the system, planners
establish a set of goals that build on strengths to take advantage of opportunities, while
building up weaknesses and warding off threats.
5. Establish Strategies to Reach Goals

The particular strategies (or methods to reach the goals) chosen depend on matters of
affordability, practicality and efficiency.
6. Establish Objectives Along the Way to Achieving Goals
Objectives are selected to be timely and indicative of progress toward goals.
7. Associate Responsibilities and Time Lines With Each Objective

Responsibilities are assigned, including for implementation of the plan, and for achieving
various goals and objectives. Ideally, deadlines are set for meeting each responsibility.
8. Write and Communicate a Plan Document

The above information is organized and written in a document which is distributed
around the system.
9. Acknowledge Completion and Celebrate Success

This critical step is often ignored -- which can eventually undermine the success of many
of your future planning efforts. The purpose of a plan is to address a current problem or
pursue a development goal. It seems simplistic to assert that you should acknowledge if
the problem was solved or the goal met. However, this step in the planning process is
often ignored in lieu of moving on the next problem to solve or goal to pursue. Skipping
this step can cultivate apathy and skepticism -- even cynicism -- in your organization.
Don't skip this step.
Guidelines to Ensure Successful Planning and Implementation

A common failure in many kinds of planning is that the plan is never really implemented.
Instead, all focus is on writing a plan document. Too often, the plan sits collecting dust
on a shelf. Therefore, most of the following guidelines help to ensure that the planning
process is carried out completely and is implemented completely -- or, deviations from
the intended plan are recognized and managed accordingly.
Involve the Right People in the Planning Process

Going back to the reference to systems, it's critical that all parts of the system continue to
exchange feedback in order to function effectively. This is true no matter what type of
system. When planning, get input from everyone who will responsible to carry out parts
of the plan, along with representative from groups who will be effected by the plan. Of
course, people also should be involved in they will be responsible to review and authorize
the plan.
Write Down the Planning Information and Communicate it Widely

New managers, in particular, often forget that others don't know what these managers
know. Even if managers do communicate their intentions and plans verbally, chances are
great that others won't completely hear or understand what the manager wants done.
Also, as plans change, it's extremely difficult to remember who is supposed to be doing
what and according to which version of the plan. Key stakeholders (employees,
management, board members, funders, investor, customers, clients, etc.) may request
copies of various types of plans. Therefore, it's critical to write plans down and
communicate them widely. For more guidelines in this regard, see
Basics of Writing and Communicating the Plan
Goals and Objectives Should Be SMARTER
SMARTER is an acronym, that is, a word composed by joining letters
from different words in a phrase or set of words. In this case, a
SMARTER goal or objective is:
Specific:
For example, it's difficult to know what someone should be doing if
they are to pursue the goal to "work harder". It's easier to recognize
"Write a paper".
Measurable:
It's difficult to know what the scope of "Writing a paper" really is. It's
easier to appreciate that effort if the goal is "Write a 30-page paper".
Acceptable:
If I'm to take responsibility for pursuit of a goal, the goal should be
acceptable to me. For example, I'm not likely to follow the directions of
someone telling me to write a 30-page paper when I also have to five
other papers to write. However, if you involve me in setting the goal so
I can change my other commitments or modify the goal, I'm much
more likely to accept pursuit of the goal as well.
Realistic:
Even if I do accept responsibility to pursue a goal that is specific and
measurable, the goal won't be useful to me or others if, for example,
the goal is to "Write a 30-page paper in the next 10 seconds".
Time frame:
It may mean more to others if I commit to a realistic goal to "Write a
30-page paper in one week". However, it'll mean more to others
(particularly if they are planning to help me or guide me to reach the
goal) if I specify that I will write one page a day for 30 days, rather
than including the possibility that I will write all 30 pages in last day of
the 30-day period.
Extending:
The goal should stretch the performer's capabilities. For example, I
might be more interested in writing a 30-page paper if the topic of the
paper or the way that I write it will extend my capabilities.
Rewarding:
I'm more inclined to write the paper if the paper will contribute to an
effort in such a way that I might be rewarded for my effort.
Build in Accountability (Regularly Review Who's Doing What and By When?)

Plans should specify who is responsible for achieving each result, including goals and
objectives. Dates should be set for completion of each result, as well. Responsible parties
should regularly review status of the plan. Be sure to have someone of authority "sign
off" on the plan, including putting their signature on the plan to indicate they agree with
and support its contents. Include responsibilities in policies, procedures, job descriptions,
performance review processes, etc.
Note Deviations from the Plan and Replan Accordingly

It's OK to deviate from the plan. The plan is not a set of rules. It's an overall guideline. As
important as following the plan is noticing deviations and adjusting the plan accordingly.
Evaluate Planning Process and the Plan

During the planning process, regularly collect feedback from participants. Do they agree
with the planning process? If not, what don't they like and how could it be done better? In
large, ongoing planning processes (such as strategic planning, business planning, project
planning, etc.), it's critical to collect this kind of feedback regularly.
During regular reviews of implementation of the plan, assess if goals are being achieved
or not. If not, were goals realistic? Do responsible parties have the resources necessary to
achieve the goals and objectives? Should goals be changed? Should more priority be
placed on achieving the goals? What needs to be done?
Finally, take 10 minutes to write down how the planning process could have been done
better. File it away and read it the next time you conduct the planning process.
Recurring Planning Process is at Least as Important as Plan

Document
Far too often, primary emphasis is placed on the plan document. This
is extremely unfortunate because the real treasure of planning is the
planning process itself. During planning, panners learn a great deal
from ongoing analysis, reflection, discussion, debates and dialogue
around issues and goals in the system. Perhaps there is no better
example of misplaced priorities in planning than in business ethics. Far
too often, people put emphasis on written codes of ethics and codes of
conduct. While these documents certainly are important, at least as
important is conducting ongoing communications around these
documents. The ongoing communications are what sensitize people to
understanding and following the values and behaviors suggested in the
codes.
Nature of the Process Should Be Compatible to Nature of

Planners
A prominent example of this type of potential problem is when
planners don't prefer the "top down" or "bottom up", "linear" type of
planning (for example, going from general to specific along the process
of an environmental scan, SWOT analysis, mission/vision/values, issues
and goals, strategies, objectives, timelines, etc.) There are other ways
to conduct planning. For an overview of various methods, see (in the
following, the models are applied to the strategic planning process, but
generally are eligible for use elsewhere):
Basic Overview of Various Planning Models
Critical -- But Frequently Missing Step -- Acknowledgement and Celebration of

Results
It's easy for planners to become tired and even cynical about the planning process. One of
the reasons for this problem is very likely that far too often, emphasis is placed on
achieving the results. Once the desired results are achieved, new ones are quickly
established. The process can seem like having to solve one problem after another, with no
real end in sight. Yet when one really thinks about it, it's a major accomplishment to
carefully analyze a situation, involve others in a plan to do something about it, work
together to carry out the plan and actually see some results. So acknowledge this --
celebrate your accomplishment!
Chaos Theory
Assembled by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD

Various Perspectives
What is Chaos?
Complexity, Complex Systems and Chaos Theory: @BRINT (tm)
Ted Lumley's Home Page
Complexity Theory: Fact-Free Science or Business Tool?
Bill Huitt's Home Page: Arts & Science
Articles from Emergence: A Journal of Complexity Issues In Organizations and
Management
The CHAOS ThinkSite Home Page
Innovation Network
Risk Management
(Notice these closely related topics in the library:

Crisis Management : Advice about responding to a crisis, once it's already occurred
Facilities Management: Development and management of buildings, offices, computers,
etc.
Insurance (Business): Guidelines and advice about buying various kinds of insurance
Risk Management: Guarding against theft, disasters, etc., and about fire protection, etc.
Safety in the Workplace: About types of workplace injuries, programs to reduce
accidents, etc.
Violence in the Workplace: Educating about and guarding against attacks and abuse in
the workplace.)
Categories of information about risk management include

Introductory
Fire Protection
Security Systems
Disaster Planning
Protecting Against Theft, Fraud, Forgery and Terrorism
Additional Information for Nonprofits

General Resouorces
Introductory
Risk management often focuses on matters of insurance. However, there are several other
major considerations when assessing areas of risk in your business. Read the following
sections in this overall topic, too.
What Kind of Security Measures Should I Take? (very basic overview)
Disaster Planning (Regarding Facilities, Not Computing, etc.)

Arkwright Mutual Insurance Company
Disaster Planning and Recovery

Protecting Against Fraud, Forgery, Theft and Terrorism

Protecting Your Assets Against Crime
Avoiding Fraud and Forgery
Employee Sabotage: Don't Be a Target!
Preventing Employee Theft
Control Self Assessment Overview
Safety / Slips and Falls : Risk Management Internet Services Library (rmis.com)

Basic Overview of Nonprofit Risk Management
Nonprofit Risk Management Center (extensive collection of resources)
Overview of Insurance for Nonprofits
National Alliance for Nonprofit Organizations
List of numerous on-line articles about nonprofit risk management
Overview of Liability Insurance
General Resources
OSHWEB: Risk management
Environmental Safety Management
MRPS - Office of Managing Risk and Public Safety
Liberty Mutual Business Insurance
Risk Management Glossary (focused mostl on insurance)

Computer and Network Security
Controlling / Coordinating the Implementation of Plans
Crisis Management
Ergonomics (Safe Facilities in the Workplace)
Ethics: Practical Toolkit for Business
Insurance (Business)
Legal Information (U.S. Law)
Personnel Polices, Handbooks and Records
Preventing Violence in the Workplace
Safety in the workplace
Y2K (Computer Preparation for the Year 2000)
On-Line Discussion Groups, Newsletters, etc.

There are a large number of on-line discussion groups, newsletters (e-zines), etc. in the
overall areas of management, business and organization development. Participants,
subscribers, etc., can get answers to their questions and learn a lot just by posing the
questions to the groups, sharing insights about their experiences, etc. Join some groups
and sign up for some newsletters!
References to major egroups, newsletters, etc.
You Can See Useful Books On This Library Topic Right Now!
Just enter the name of this Library topic in the window below and then click on "go"!
Program Planning and Management

What's a Program?
Feasibility Study for New Program
Basic Guidelines for For-Profit Program Planning and Management
Basic Guidelines for Nonprofit Program Design and Marketing
Program Evaluation (for-profit or nonprofit)
Related Library Links (includes other types of planning)

What's a Program?
Varying Uses of the Term "Program"
There are a wide variety of uses of the term "program" in organizations. In it's most
general use, a program is a collection of organizational resources that
is geared to accomplish a certain major goal or set of goals. (For those
of you who read Organizations (an Introduction), you'll recognize that this
definition of a program sounds like that of an organization and a
system. A program is an organization and a system.)
There are similaries and differences in how the term is used in nonprofit and for-profit
organizations. Nonprofits usually refer to programs as ongoing, major services to clients,
for example, a Transportation Program, Housing Program, etc. For-profits often use the
term for very large business efforts that have limited duration and a defined set of
deliverables. Nonprofits and for-profits might refer to programs as a one-time or ongoing
set of activities internal to the organization, for example, a Total Quality Managment
Program, Workplace Safety Program, the Space Program, etc.
(Program planning is usually (but not always) of a broader scope than Project Planning.)
Feasibility Study for New Program

If you plan to start a new, major program in your organization, you should consider many
of the same questions for starting a new business venture. The following feasibility study
will guide you through these critical questions.
Preparation for Planning a Business Venture


Program Evaluation
Basic Guidelines to Program Evaluation
Various Other Perspectives

Programme Management Web Site Articles (for-profit)

Designing and Marketing Programs. This complete, "nuts and bolts", free training
program is geared to leaders, managers, consultants and volunteers who serve nonprofit
organizations.

your newsletters and web sites so that others can save training dollars, too!Related
Library Links
Advertising and Marketing Laws
Advertising and Promotion
Business Planning
Contracts in Business
Creativity and Innovation
Customer Satisfaction
Customer Service
E-Commerce (doing business on the Internet/Web)
Financial Management of Programs (nonprofit)
Intellectual Property Laws (patents, trademarks, copyrights, etc.)
Marketing (research, pricing, competitor analysis, etc.)
Operations Management
Organizational Change
Performance Management
Planning (many kinds)
Program Planning
Project Planning
Quality Management
Research Methods (Basic Business)
Sales
Strategic Planning On-Line Discussion Groups, Newsletters, etc.
Project Management
Project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a specific

(and usually) one-time effort, for example, construct a building or implement a new
computer system. Project management includes developing a project plan, which includes
defining project goals and objectives, specifying tasks or how goals will be achieved,
what resources are need, and associating budgets and timelines for completion. It also
includes implementing the project plan, along with careful controls to stay on the "critical
path", that is, to ensure the plan is being managed according to plan. Project management
usually follows major phases (with various titles for these phases), including feasibility
study, project planning, implementation, evaluation and support/maintenance. (Program
planning is usually of a broader scope than project planning, but not always.)

Overviews of Project Management
Useful Skills -- Team Building and Group Leadership
General Resources
Related Library Links (including many other types of planning)
What is Project Management?
Overview and Brief Description of Project Management Aspects
Planning a Project
Project Planning
Project Cycle Management
Project Management Productivity Checklist
Team Building and Group Leadership

There are certain skills to have when conducting project management. It's best to have a
team of planners when doing project planning. Therefore, it's important to have skills in
forming, leading and facilitating groups. The following information will help you
develop these skills.
Team Building
Leadership (Introduction)
Meeting Management
Facilitating in Face-to-Face Groups
Group-Based Problem Solving and Decision Making
Conflict Management (this topic provides basics in managing conflict in groups)
General Resources
Project Management Glossary
management tools and articles
Michael Greer's Project Management Resources
Project managers resource center
Project Management Institute(PMI)
Project Management Institute communications center
Commercial Solutions Reading Room
Leadership Knowledge Base: Information to Improve Your Leadership Skills.
Project management training, project management books, free project templates, project
Project Manager's Control Tower

Basic Research Methods
Business Planning
Chaos Theory
Decision Making
General Planning Process
Management by Objectives
Marketing
Organizing Resources to Implement Plans
Performance Management (generic)
Planning (includes numerous types of planning)
Problem Solving
Program Management
Strategic Planning
Systems Thinking

Strategic Planning
(in nonprofit or for-profit organizations)
(Information in this topic is about strategic planning in nonprofit and for-profit

organizations. The information about nonprofit strategic planning was adapted from a
small portion of the guidebook, Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and
Facilitation.)
Simply put, strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next
year or more, how it's going to get there and how it'll know if it got there or not. The
focus of a strategic plan is usually on the entire organization, while the focus of a
business plan is usually on a particular product, service or program.
There are a variety of perspectives, models and approaches used in strategic planning.
The way that a strategic plan is developed depends on the nature of the organization's
leadership, culture of the organization, complexity of the organization's environment, size
of the organization, expertise of planners, etc. For example, there are a variety of strategic
planning models, including goals-based, issues-based, organic, scenario (some would
assert that scenario planning is more a technique than model), etc. Goals-based planning
is probably the most common and starts with focus on the organization's mission (and
vision and/or values), goals to work toward the mission, strategies to achieve the goals,
and action planning (who will do what and by when). Issues-based strategic planning
often starts by examining issues facing the organization, strategies to address those
issues, and action plans. Organic strategic planning might start by articulating the
organization's vision and values and then action plans to achieve the vision while
adhering to those values. Some planners prefer a particular approach to planning, eg,
appreciative inquiry. Some plans are scoped to one year, many to three years, and some
to five to ten years into the future. Some plans include only top-level information and no
action plans. Some plans are five to eight pages long, while others can be considerably
longer.
Quite often, an organization's strategic planners already know much of what will go into
a strategic plan (this is true for business planning, too). However, development of the
strategic plan greatly helps to clarify the organization's plans and ensure that key leaders
are all "on the same script". Far more important than the strategic plan document, is the
strategic planning process itself.
NOTE: Much of the following information is in regard to goals-based strategic planning,

probably the most common form of strategic planning.
NOTE: For a more recent breakthrough on strategic planning, see the topic Appreciative
Inquiry.
Categories of information on this page include
Gaining Understanding of Strategic Planning
Recommended Approach to Understanding Strategic Planning
Benefits of Strategic Planning
When Should Strategic Planning Be Done?
Various Overviews (basics, key terms, special topics, samples, various models, skills to
have, etc.)
Conducting Strategic Planning

Preparation for Strategic Planning
- - - Guidelines to Keep Perspective During Planning
- - - Need Consultant or Facilitator to Help You With Planning?
- - - Who Should Be Involved in Planning?
- - - How Many Planning Meetings Will We Need?
- - - How Do We Ensure Implementation of Our New Plan?
Strategic Analysis (environmental scan and SWOT analysis)
- - - Environmental Scan (taking a wide look around)
- - - Looking at Organization's Strength's, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
(SWOT)
- - - Organizational Assessments (methods to make measurements in the organization)
Setting Strategic Direction (purpose, values, vision, top-level goals and
methods/strategies)
- - - Strategizing (strategic goals and methods/strategies to achieve the goals)
- - - Developing/Updating Mission Statement (the purpose of the organization)
- - - Developing/Updating Vision Statement (depiction of future state of organization and
customers)
- - - Developing/Updating Values Statement (overall priorities in how organization
operates)
Action Planning (annual plans, objectives, responsibilities and timelines, etc.)
Writing and Communicating the Plan
Monitoring, Evaluating and Deviating from the Plan
General Resources
General Resources

This topic is also included in the Free Micro-eMBA learning module, Developing Your
Strategic Plan. This complete, "nuts and bolts", free training program is geared to leaders,
managers and consultants who work with for-profit organizations.

Developing Your Strategic Plan. This complete, "nuts and bolts", free training program is
geared to leaders, managers, consultants and volunteers who serve nonprofit
organizations.

GAINING UNDERSTANDING OF STRATEGIC PLANNING

Recommended Approach to Learn Strategic Planning
First, a Point About For-Profit and Nonprofit Strategic Planning
Major differences in how organizations carry out the various steps and associated
activities in the strategic planning process are more a matter of the size of the
organization -- than its for-profit/nonprofit status. Small nonprofits and small for-profits
tend to conduct somewhat similar planning activities that are different from those
conducted in large organizations. On the other hand, large nonprofits and large for-profits
conducted in small organizations. (The focus of the planning activities is often different
between for-profits and nonprofits. Nonprofits tend to focus more on matters of board
development, fundraising and volunteer management. For-profits tend to focus more on
activities to maximize profit.)
Also, in addition to the size of the organization, differences in how organizations carry
out the planning activities are more a matter of the nature of the participants in the
organization -- than its for-profit/nonprofit status. For example, detail-oriented people
may prefer a linear, top-down, general-to-specific approach to planning. On the other
hand, rather artistic and highly reflective people may favor of a highly divergent and
"organic" approach to planning.
Therefore, the reader is encouraged to review a variety of the materials linked from this
page, whether he or she is from a nonprofit or for-profit organization. Items below are
marked as "nonprofit" in case the reader still prefers to focus on information presented in
the context of nonprofit planning. (Readers from nonprofits might consider getting the
"Facilitators Guidebook for Nonprofit Strategic Planning", which is one of the few (if
any) books which include focus on assessing if the board is ready for planning and on
getting and working with a planning facilitator. Call (651) 647-1216.)
Recommended Approach for the Reader to Learn Strategic Planning

The reader should first read Guidelines for Successful Planning. This document provides
a very basic overview of the general planning process -- a process that is the basis for
almost any form of planning (strategic planning, business planning, project planning,
etc.). It also suggests a basic framework and set of guidelines to ensure success in any
form of planning.
Next, read A Basic Description of Strategic Planning (goals-based). This document

provides a basic overview of the major activities and key terms in strategic planning.
Then the reader should return to polish their understanding of strategic planning by
reviewing the materials referenced by the links below.

Strategic planning serves a variety of purposes in organization, including to:
1. Clearly define the purpose of the organization and to establish realistic goals and
objectives consistent with that mission in a defined time frame within the organization’s
capacity for implementation.
2. Communicate those goals and objectives to the organization’s constituents.
3. Develop a sense of ownership of the plan.
4. Ensure the most effective use is made of the organization’s resources by focusing the
resources on the key priorities.
5. Provide a base from which progress can be measured and establish a mechanism for
informed change when needed.
6. Bring together of everyone’s best and most reasoned efforts have important value in
building a consensus about where an organization is going.
Other reasons include that strategic planning:

7. Provides clearer focus of organization, producing more efficiency and effectiveness
8. Bridges staff and board of directors (in the case of corporations)
9. Builds strong teams in the board and the staff (in the case of corporations)
10. Provides the glue that keeps the board together (in the case of corporations)
11.Produces great satisfaction among planners around a common vision
12. Increases productivity from increased efficiency and effectiveness
13. Solves major problems

The scheduling for the strategic planning process depends on the nature and needs of the
organization and the its immediate external environment. For example, planning should
be carried out frequently in an organization whose products and services are in an
industry that is changing rapidly . In this situation, planning might be carried out once or
even twice a year and done in a very comprehensive and detailed fashion (that is, with
attention to mission, vision, values, environmental scan, issues, goals, strategies,
objectives, responsibilities, time lines, budgets, etc). On the other hand, if the
organization has been around for many years and is in a fairly stable marketplace, then
planning might be carried out once a year and only certain parts of the planning process,
for example, action planning (objectives, responsibilities, time lines, budgets, etc) are
updated each year. Consider the following guidelines:
1. Strategic planning should be done when an organization is just getting started. (The
strategic plan is usually part of an overall business plan, along with a marketing plan,
financial plan and operational/management plan.)
2. Strategic planning should also be done in preparation for a new major venture, for
example, developing a new department, division, major new product or line of products,
etc.
3. Strategic planning should also be conducted at least once a year in order to be ready for
the coming fiscal year (the financial management of an organization is usually based on a
year-to-year, or fiscal year, basis). In this case, strategic planning should be conducted in
time to identify the organizational goals to be achieved at least over the coming fiscal
year, resources needed to achieve those goals, and funded needed to obtain the resources.
These funds are included in budget planning for the coming fiscal year. However, not all
phases of strategic planning need be fully completed each year. The full strategic
planning process should be conducted at least once every three years. As noted above,
these activities should be conducted every year if the organization is experiencing
tremendous change.
4. Each year, action plans should be updated.
5. Note that, during implementation of the plan, the progress of the implementation
should be reviewed at least on a quarterly basis by the board. Again, the frequency of
review depends on the extent of the rate of change in and around the organization.
Various Overviews of Strategic Planning (basics,

models, skills to have)
NOTE: Although there are separate sections listed below for many of the major activities
in strategic planning (for example, the sections "Developing a Mission", "Developing a
Vision", etc.), this section "Various Overviews of Strategic Planning" also includes
information about developing mission, etc.
General Overviews
Basic Description of Strategic Planning (this link is also referenced above and is in
reference to goals-based planning)
FAQ on Strategic Planning (general and focused on top-level questions)
Strategic Planning: A Ten-Step Method (very basic, general, top level)
What is Strategic Planning? (presented in the context of a nonprofit)
Strategic Planning Tools (touches on various phases of planning)
Planning for Change and Technology (includes excellent overview of aspects of
planning)
Support Center for Nonprofit Management provides a comprehensive overview of
strategic planning in the context of nonprofits. (At this Web site, go to the section
"Answers" and then select the topic "Strategic Planning" from the menu next to the
"Open Sesame" button.)
National Endowment for the Arts presents extensive tools and in the typical order of the
planning process. Presents planning in the context of a nonprofit..
Basic Overview of Variety of Planning Models

A Basic Overview of Various Planning Models
One Example, Basic, Overall Approach

Part One - What Are We Doing?
Part Two - Reaching Your Goals
Part Three - Do I Have The Right Team?
Special Topics
Organizational Change: Strategic Planning
Innovation Through Accidents and "Controlled Chaos"

Vision and Strategic Plans-- Who Needs Them
Forecasting the Future - Strategic Management Thinking
Samples of Plans
Strategic plans come in a wide variety of formats, depending on the nature and needs of
the organization.
sample plan
sample plans
sample strategic plan worksheet
Useful Skills to Have When Strategic Planning

It's best to have a team of planners conduct strategic planning. Therefore, it's important to
have skills in developing and facilitating groups.
Committees (for example, may have committees do environmental scan, get input from
others)
Consultants (you may want to use a consultant to help you plan and carry out strategic
planning)
Creative Thinking (very important when setting goals and how they will be reached)
Innovation (very important when designing strategies, or methods to reach goals)
Decision Making
Facilitating On-Line Groups (virtual communities)
Focus Groups (get input from internal & external customers to identify issues, goals,
methods)
Meeting Management
Problem Solving
Time Management
Valuing Diversity (it's best to get a wide variety of perspectives when planning)
PREPARATION FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING

Guidelines to Keep Perspective During Planning
Many managers spend most of their time "fighting fires" in the workplace. -- their time is
spent realizing and reacting to problems. For these managers -- and probably for many of
us -- it can be very difficult to stand back and take a hard look at what we want to
accomplish and how we want to accomplish it. We're too buy doing what we think is
making progress. However, one of the major differences between new and experienced
managers is the skill to see the broad perspective, to take the long view on what we want
to do and how we're going to do it. One of the best ways to develop this skill is through
ongoing experience in strategic planning. The following guidelines may help you to get
the most out of your strategic planning experience.
1. The real benefit of the strategic planning process is the process, not the plan document.
2. There is no "perfect" plan. There's doing your best at strategic thinking and
implementation, and learning from what you're doing to enhance what you're doing the
next time around.
3. The strategic planning process is usually not an "aha!" experience. It's like the
management process itself -- it's a series of small moves that together keep the
organization doing things right as it heads in the right direction.
4. In planning, things usually aren't as bad as you fear nor as good as you'd like.
5. Start simple, but start!
Need Consultant or Facilitator to Help You With Planning?

You may want to consider using a facilitator from outside of your organization if:
1. Your organization has not conducted strategic planning before.
2. For a variety of reasons, previous strategic planning was not deemed to be successful.
3. There appears to be a wide range of ideas and/or concerns among organization
members about strategic planning and current organizational issues to be addressed in the
plan.
4. There is no one in the organization whom members feel has sufficient facilitation
skills.
5. No one in the organization feels committed to facilitating strategic planning for the
organization.
6. Leaders believe that an inside facilitator will either inhibit participation from others or
will not have the opportunity to fully participate in planning themselves.
7. Leaders want an objective voice, i.e., someone who is not likely to have strong
predispositions about the organization's strategic issues and ideas.
(Also consider Consultants (using).)
Who Should Be Involved in Planning?

Strategic planning should be conducted by a planning team.
Consider the following guidelines when developing the team.
(Note that reference to boards of directors is in regard to organizations that are
corporations.)
1. The chief executive and board chair should be included in the planning group, and
should drive development and implementation of the plan.
2. Establish clear guidelines for membership, for example, those directly involved in
planning, those who will provide key information to the process, those who will review
the plan document, those who will authorize the document, etc.
3. A primary responsibility of a board of directors is strategic planning to effectively lead
the organization. Therefore, insist that the board be strongly involved in planning, often
including assigning a planning committee (often, the same as the executive committee).
4. Ask if the board membership is representative of the organization’s clientele and
community, and if they are not, the organization may want to involve more representation
in planning. If the board chair or chief executive balks at including more of the board
members in planning, then the chief executive and/or board chair needs to seriously
consider how serious the organization is about strategic planning!
5. Always include in the group, at least one person who ultimately has authority to make
strategic decisions, for example, to select which goals will be achieved and how.
6. Ensure that as many stakeholders as possible are involved in the planning process.
7. Involve at least those who are responsible for composing and implementing the plan.
8. Involve someone to administrate the process, including arranging meetings, helping to
record key information, helping with flipcharts, monitoring status of prework, etc.
9. Consider having the above administrator record the major steps in the planning process
to help the organization conduct its own planning when the plan is next updated.
Note the following considerations:

10. Different types of members may be needed more at different times in the planning
process, for example, strong board involvement in determining the organization’s
strategic direction (mission, vision, and values), and then more staff involvement in
determining the organization’s strategic analysis to determine its current issues and goals,
and then primarily the staff to determine the strategies needed to address the issues and
meet the goals.
11. In general, where there's any doubt about whether a certain someone should be
involved in planning, it's best to involve them. It's worse to exclude someone useful then
it is to have one or two extra people in planning -- this is true in particular with
organizations where board members often do not have extensive expertise about the
organization and its products or services.
12. Therefore, an organization may be better off to involve board and staff planners as
much as possible in all phases of planning. Mixing the board and staff during planning
helps board members understand the day-to-day issues of the organization, and helps the
staff to understand the top-level issues of the organization.
How Many Planning Meetings Will We Need?

Number and Duration of Planning Meetings
1. New planners usually want to know how many meetings will be needed and what is
needed for each meeting, i.e., they want a procedure for strategic planning. The number
of meetings depends on whether the organization has done planning before, how many
strategic issues and goals the organization faces, whether the culture of the organization
prefers short or long meetings, and how much time the organization is willing to commit
to strategic planning.
2. Attempt to complete strategic planning in at most two to three months, or momentum
will be lost and the planning effort may fall apart.
Scheduling of Meetings
1. Have each meeting at most two to three weeks apart when planning. It's too easy to
lose momentum otherwise.
2. The most important factor in accomplishing complete attendance to planning meetings
is evidence of strong support from executives. Therefore, ensure that executives a) issue
clear direction that they strongly support and value the strategic planning process, and b)
are visibly involved in the planning process.
An Example Planning Process and Design of Meetings

One example of a brief planning process is the following which includes four planning
meetings and develops a top-level strategic plan which is later translated into a yearly
operating plan by the staff:
1. Planning starts with a half-day or all-day board retreat and includes introductions by
the board chair and/or chief executive, their explanations of the organization's benefits
from strategic planning and the organization's commitment to the planning process, the
facilitator's overview of the planning process, and the board chairs and/or chief
executive’s explanation of who will be involved in the planning process. In the retreat,
the organization may then begin the next step in planning, whether this be visiting their
mission, vision, values, etc. or identifying current issues and goals to which strategies
will need to be developed. (Goals are often reworded issues.) Planners are asked to think
about strategies before the next meeting.
2. The next meeting focuses on finalizing strategies to deal with each issue. Before the
next meeting, a subcommittee is charged to draft the planning document, which includes
updated mission, vision, and values, and also finalized strategic issues, goals, strategies.
This document is distributed before the next meeting.
3. In the next meeting, planners exchange feedback about the content and format of the
planning document. Feedback is incorporated in the document and it is distributed before
the next meeting.
4. The next meeting does not require entire attention to the plan, e.g., the document is
authorized by the board during a regular board meeting.
5. Note that in the above example, various subcommittees might be charged to gather
additional information and distribute it before the next planning meeting.
6 Note, too, that the staff may take this document and establish a yearly operating plan
which details what strategies will be implemented over the next year, who will do them,
and by when.
7. No matter how serious organizations are about strategic planning, they usually have
strong concerns about being able to find time to attend frequent meetings. This concern
can be addressed by ensuring meetings are well managed, having short meetings as
needed rather than having fewer but longer meetings, and having realistic expectations
from the planning project.
How Do We Ensure Implementation of Our New Plan?

A frequent complaint about the strategic planning process is that it produces a document
that ends up collecting dust on a shelf -- the organization ignores the precious information
depicted in the document.
The following guidelines will help ensure that the plan is implemented.
corporations.
1. When conducting the planning process, involve the people who will be responsible for
implementing the plan. Use a cross-functional team (representatives from each of the
major organization’s products or service) to ensure the plan is realistic and collaborative.
2. Ensure the plan is realistic. Continue asking planning participants “Is this realistic?
Can you really do this?”
3. Organize the overall strategic plan into smaller action plans, often including an action
plan (or work plan) for each committee on the board.
4. In the overall planning document, specify who is doing what and by when (action
plans are often referenced in the implementation section of the overall strategic plan).
Some organizations may elect to include the action plans in a separate document from the
strategic plan, which would include only the mission, vision, values, key issues and goals,
and strategies. This approach carries some risk that the board will lose focus on the action
plans.
5. In an implementation section in the plan, specify and clarify the plan’s implementation
roles and responsibilities. Be sure to detail particularly the first 90 days of the
implementation of the plan. Build in regular reviews of status of the implementation of
the plan.
6. Translate the strategic plan’s actions into job descriptions and personnel performance
reviews.
7. Communicate the role of follow-ups to the plan. If people know the action plans will
be regularly reviewed, implementers tend to do their jobs before they’re checked on.
8. Be sure to document and distribute the plan, including inviting review input from all.
9. Be sure that one internal person has ultimate responsibility that the plan is enacted in a
timely fashion.
10. The chief executive’s support of the plan is a major driver to the plan’s
implementation. Integrate the plan’s goals and objectives into the chief executive’s
performance reviews.
11. Place huge emphasis on feedback to the board’s executive committee from the
planning participants.
Consider all or some of the following to ensure the plan is implemented.

12. Have designated rotating “checkers” to verify, e.g., every quarter, if each
implementer completed their assigned tasks.
13. Have pairs of people be responsible for tasks. Have each partner commit to helping
the other to finish the other’s tasks on time.
CONDUCTING STRATEGIC PLANNING

Strategic Analysis (Environmental Scan and SWOT)
A frequent complaint about strategic plans is that they are merely "to-do" lists of what to
accomplish over the next few years. Or, others complain that strategic planning never
seems to come in handy when the organization is faced with having to make a difficult,
major decision. Or, other complain that strategic planning really doesn't help the
organization face the future. These complaints arise because organizations fail to conduct
a thorough strategic analysis as part of their strategic planning process. Instead, planners
decide to plan only from what they know now. This makes the planning process much
less strategic and a lot more guesswork. Strategic analysis is the heart of the strategic
planning process and should not be ignored.
(Note that some planners prefer to identify/update the mission, vision and values
statements before conducting the strategic analysis. Others prefer to identify/update these
items after the strategic analysis. In this library, these items are addressed as part of the
next major section "Setting Strategic Direction".)
Environmental Scan (taking a wide look around)

Basics
Taking Stock (very basic overview of environmental scanning)
25 Driving Forces Effecting the Future (useful tool for looking at various futures)
example of an environmental scan
Various Views on Future

Success in the 21st Century
Future Flux: An Outlook of Change
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT Analysis)

Note that this activity can be helped a lot if you've already been following good practices
of organizational performance management. For more information, see Organizational
Performance.
Basics
Developing Your Effective SWOT Analysis
The SWOT Analysis
SWOT: Strategic Planning Process Worksheet
Some Basics for Identifying Strategic Issues and Goals (from SWOT, etc.)
Example
Example of a SWOT analysis
Various Organizational Assessments

The following assessments might be useful in helping you to take a wide look at your
organization.
Organizational Assessments for For-profits
Organizational Assessments for Nonprofits
Identifying Strategic Directions

Note that many writers discuss the identification of strategic goals concurrent to the
identification of the associated methods, or strategies, to achieve those goals.
Consequently, materials referenced from section often address both goals and strategies.
Strategizing (Goals and Methods/Strategies to Achieve Goals)

(Note that skills in Creative Thinking and Innovation are very important when
strategizing, or setting overall organizational goals and how they will be reached.)Some
Basics for Identifying Strategic Issues and Goals (from SWOT, etc.)
Basics of Strategizing (from identified issues and goals)
What is Strategy?
Strategy Is ...
Strategy: Definitions and Meaning
Three Forms of Strategy
Setting Goals and Objectives
The Goals Grid -- A Tool for Clarifying Goals & Objectives
Also consider these topics:

Organizational Change (guidelines for organization-wide change)
Organizational Performance Management (generally about aligning goals throughout
org.)
Management-by-Objectives (specifics about aligning goals throughout org.)
Project Management (thorough planning and tracking to reach goals)
Developing/Updating a Mission Statement

Basics in Developing a Mission Statement
Pillars of Planning Mission, Vision and Values
Mission / Vision Exercise
What should our mission statement say? (presented in context of nonprofits)
Suggestion: Use your browser to do a search for "mission statements". This likely will
result in numerous links to a wide variety of organization's mission statements that you
can review as samples of mission statements.
Developing/Updating a Vision Statement

Creating an Organization's Vision
Basics in Developing a Vision Statement
Strategic Visioning Process
Framework for Conducting a Visioning Meeting
Creating a Vision
Building a Visionary Organization is a Do-It-Yourself Project
Creating and Implementing Visions
Suggestion: Use your browser to do a search for "vision statements". This likely will
result in numerous links to a wide variety of organization's vision statements that you can
review as samples of vision statements.
Developing/Updating a Values Statement

Basics in Developing a Values Statement
Suggestion: Use your browser to do a search for "values statements". This likely will
result in numerous links to a wide variety of organization's values statements that you
can review as samples of values statements.
Action Planning (objectives, responsibilities, timelines)

Strategic planning can be exhilarating when coming up with new visions and missions
and values, talking about long-standing issues in the workplace and coming up with new
and exciting opportunities. But without careful action planning -- and diligently ensuring
actions are carried out -- the plan ends up collecting dust on a shelf. Basics of Action
Planning (as part of strategic planning)
Also see:
Setting Employee Goals

Too often, strategic plans end up collecting dust on a shelf.

As stated several times throughout this library topics (and in materials linked from it), too
many strategic plans end up collecting dust on a shelf. Monitoring and evaluating the
planning activities and status of implementation of the plan is -- for many organizations --
as important as identifying strategic issues and goals. One advantage of monitoring and
evaluation is to ensure that the organization is following the direction established during
strategic planning. That advantage is obvious. However, another major advantage is that
the management can learn a great deal about the organization and how to manage it by
continuing to monitor and evaluate the planning activities and the status of the
implementation of the plan. Note that plans are guidelines. They aren't rules. It's OK to
deviate from a plan. But planners should understand the reason for the deviations and
update the plan to reflect the new direction.
Basics of Monitoring, Evaluating and Deviating from the Plan
GENERAL RESOURCES
General Resources
Strategic Planning: numerous articles organized in order of planning process
Learning Institute for Nonprofit Organizations numerous articles regarding nonprofit
planning

Appreciative Inquiry
Business Planning
Capacity Building (nonprofits)
Chaos Theory
Decision Making
Marketing
Problem Solving
Program Management
Project Planning
Systems Thinking
Strategic Planning
(in nonprofit or for-profit organizations)
(Information in this topic is about strategic planning in nonprofit and for-profit

organizations. The information about nonprofit strategic planning was adapted from a
small portion of the guidebook, Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and
Facilitation.)
Simply put, strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next
year or more, how it's going to get there and how it'll know if it got there or not. The
focus of a strategic plan is usually on the entire organization, while the focus of a
business plan is usually on a particular product, service or program.
There are a variety of perspectives, models and approaches used in strategic planning.
The way that a strategic plan is developed depends on the nature of the organization's
leadership, culture of the organization, complexity of the organization's environment, size
of the organization, expertise of planners, etc. For example, there are a variety of strategic
planning models, including goals-based, issues-based, organic, scenario (some would
assert that scenario planning is more a technique than model), etc. Goals-based planning
is probably the most common and starts with focus on the organization's mission (and
vision and/or values), goals to work toward the mission, strategies to achieve the goals,
and action planning (who will do what and by when). Issues-based strategic planning
often starts by examining issues facing the organization, strategies to address those
issues, and action plans. Organic strategic planning might start by articulating the
organization's vision and values and then action plans to achieve the vision while
adhering to those values. Some planners prefer a particular approach to planning, eg,
appreciative inquiry. Some plans are scoped to one year, many to three years, and some
to five to ten years into the future. Some plans include only top-level information and no
action plans. Some plans are five to eight pages long, while others can be considerably
longer.
Quite often, an organization's strategic planners already know much of what will go into
a strategic plan (this is true for business planning, too). However, development of the
strategic plan greatly helps to clarify the organization's plans and ensure that key leaders
are all "on the same script". Far more important than the strategic plan document, is the
strategic planning process itself.
NOTE: Much of the following information is in regard to goals-based strategic planning,

probably the most common form of strategic planning.
NOTE: For a more recent breakthrough on strategic planning, see the topic Appreciative
Inquiry.
Categories of information on this page include
Gaining Understanding of Strategic Planning
Recommended Approach to Understanding Strategic Planning
Various Overviews (basics, key terms, special topics, samples, various models, skills to
have, etc.)
Conducting Strategic Planning

- - - Guidelines to Keep Perspective During Planning
- - - Need Consultant or Facilitator to Help You With Planning?
- - - Who Should Be Involved in Planning?
- - - How Many Planning Meetings Will We Need?
- - - How Do We Ensure Implementation of Our New Plan?
Strategic Analysis (environmental scan and SWOT analysis)
- - - Environmental Scan (taking a wide look around)
- - - Looking at Organization's Strength's, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
(SWOT)
- - - Organizational Assessments (methods to make measurements in the organization)
Setting Strategic Direction (purpose, values, vision, top-level goals and
methods/strategies)
- - - Strategizing (strategic goals and methods/strategies to achieve the goals)
- - - Developing/Updating Mission Statement (the purpose of the organization)
- - - Developing/Updating Vision Statement (depiction of future state of organization and
customers)
- - - Developing/Updating Values Statement (overall priorities in how organization
operates)
Action Planning (annual plans, objectives, responsibilities and timelines, etc.)
General Resources
General Resources

This topic is also included in the Free Micro-eMBA learning module, Developing Your
Strategic Plan. This complete, "nuts and bolts", free training program is geared to leaders,
managers and consultants who work with for-profit organizations.

Developing Your Strategic Plan. This complete, "nuts and bolts", free training program is
geared to leaders, managers, consultants and volunteers who serve nonprofit
organizations.

GAINING UNDERSTANDING OF STRATEGIC PLANNING

Recommended Approach to Learn Strategic Planning
First, a Point About For-Profit and Nonprofit Strategic Planning
Major differences in how organizations carry out the various steps and associated
activities in the strategic planning process are more a matter of the size of the
organization -- than its for-profit/nonprofit status. Small nonprofits and small for-profits
conducted in large organizations. On the other hand, large nonprofits and large for-profits
conducted in small organizations. (The focus of the planning activities is often different
between for-profits and nonprofits. Nonprofits tend to focus more on matters of board
development, fundraising and volunteer management. For-profits tend to focus more on
activities to maximize profit.)
Also, in addition to the size of the organization, differences in how organizations carry
out the planning activities are more a matter of the nature of the participants in the
organization -- than its for-profit/nonprofit status. For example, detail-oriented people
may prefer a linear, top-down, general-to-specific approach to planning. On the other
hand, rather artistic and highly reflective people may favor of a highly divergent and
"organic" approach to planning.
Therefore, the reader is encouraged to review a variety of the materials linked from this
page, whether he or she is from a nonprofit or for-profit organization. Items below are
marked as "nonprofit" in case the reader still prefers to focus on information presented in
the context of nonprofit planning. (Readers from nonprofits might consider getting the
"Facilitators Guidebook for Nonprofit Strategic Planning", which is one of the few (if
any) books which include focus on assessing if the board is ready for planning and on
getting and working with a planning facilitator. Call (651) 647-1216.)
Recommended Approach for the Reader to Learn Strategic Planning

The reader should first read Guidelines for Successful Planning. This document provides
a very basic overview of the general planning process -- a process that is the basis for
almost any form of planning (strategic planning, business planning, project planning,
etc.). It also suggests a basic framework and set of guidelines to ensure success in any
form of planning.
Next, read A Basic Description of Strategic Planning (goals-based). This document

provides a basic overview of the major activities and key terms in strategic planning.
Then the reader should return to polish their understanding of strategic planning by
reviewing the materials referenced by the links below.

Strategic planning serves a variety of purposes in organization, including to:
1. Clearly define the purpose of the organization and to establish realistic goals and
objectives consistent with that mission in a defined time frame within the organization’s
capacity for implementation.
2. Communicate those goals and objectives to the organization’s constituents.
3. Develop a sense of ownership of the plan.
4. Ensure the most effective use is made of the organization’s resources by focusing the
resources on the key priorities.
5. Provide a base from which progress can be measured and establish a mechanism for
informed change when needed.
6. Bring together of everyone’s best and most reasoned efforts have important value in
building a consensus about where an organization is going.
Other reasons include that strategic planning:

7. Provides clearer focus of organization, producing more efficiency and effectiveness
8. Bridges staff and board of directors (in the case of corporations)
9. Builds strong teams in the board and the staff (in the case of corporations)
10. Provides the glue that keeps the board together (in the case of corporations)
11.Produces great satisfaction among planners around a common vision
12. Increases productivity from increased efficiency and effectiveness
13. Solves major problems

The scheduling for the strategic planning process depends on the nature and needs of the
organization and the its immediate external environment. For example, planning should
be carried out frequently in an organization whose products and services are in an
industry that is changing rapidly . In this situation, planning might be carried out once or
even twice a year and done in a very comprehensive and detailed fashion (that is, with
attention to mission, vision, values, environmental scan, issues, goals, strategies,
objectives, responsibilities, time lines, budgets, etc). On the other hand, if the
organization has been around for many years and is in a fairly stable marketplace, then
planning might be carried out once a year and only certain parts of the planning process,
for example, action planning (objectives, responsibilities, time lines, budgets, etc) are
updated each year. Consider the following guidelines:
1. Strategic planning should be done when an organization is just getting started. (The
strategic plan is usually part of an overall business plan, along with a marketing plan,
financial plan and operational/management plan.)
2. Strategic planning should also be done in preparation for a new major venture, for
example, developing a new department, division, major new product or line of products,
etc.
3. Strategic planning should also be conducted at least once a year in order to be ready for
the coming fiscal year (the financial management of an organization is usually based on a
year-to-year, or fiscal year, basis). In this case, strategic planning should be conducted in
time to identify the organizational goals to be achieved at least over the coming fiscal
year, resources needed to achieve those goals, and funded needed to obtain the resources.
These funds are included in budget planning for the coming fiscal year. However, not all
phases of strategic planning need be fully completed each year. The full strategic
planning process should be conducted at least once every three years. As noted above,
these activities should be conducted every year if the organization is experiencing
tremendous change.
4. Each year, action plans should be updated.
5. Note that, during implementation of the plan, the progress of the implementation
should be reviewed at least on a quarterly basis by the board. Again, the frequency of
review depends on the extent of the rate of change in and around the organization.
Various Overviews of Strategic Planning (basics,

models, skills to have)
NOTE: Although there are separate sections listed below for many of the major activities
in strategic planning (for example, the sections "Developing a Mission", "Developing a
Vision", etc.), this section "Various Overviews of Strategic Planning" also includes
information about developing mission, etc.
General Overviews
Basic Description of Strategic Planning (this link is also referenced above and is in
reference to goals-based planning)
FAQ on Strategic Planning (general and focused on top-level questions)
Strategic Planning: A Ten-Step Method (very basic, general, top level)
What is Strategic Planning? (presented in the context of a nonprofit)
Strategic Planning Tools (touches on various phases of planning)
Planning for Change and Technology (includes excellent overview of aspects of
planning)
Support Center for Nonprofit Management provides a comprehensive overview of
strategic planning in the context of nonprofits. (At this Web site, go to the section
"Answers" and then select the topic "Strategic Planning" from the menu next to the
"Open Sesame" button.)
National Endowment for the Arts presents extensive tools and in the typical order of the
planning process. Presents planning in the context of a nonprofit..
Basic Overview of Variety of Planning Models

A Basic Overview of Various Planning Models
One Example, Basic, Overall Approach

Part One - What Are We Doing?
Part Two - Reaching Your Goals
Part Three - Do I Have The Right Team?
Special Topics
Organizational Change: Strategic Planning
Innovation Through Accidents and "Controlled Chaos"

Vision and Strategic Plans-- Who Needs Them
Forecasting the Future - Strategic Management Thinking
Samples of Plans
Strategic plans come in a wide variety of formats, depending on the nature and needs of
the organization.
sample plan
sample plans
sample strategic plan worksheet
Useful Skills to Have When Strategic Planning

It's best to have a team of planners conduct strategic planning. Therefore, it's important to
have skills in developing and facilitating groups.
Committees (for example, may have committees do environmental scan, get input from
others)
Consultants (you may want to use a consultant to help you plan and carry out strategic
planning)
Creative Thinking (very important when setting goals and how they will be reached)
Innovation (very important when designing strategies, or methods to reach goals)
Decision Making
Facilitating On-Line Groups (virtual communities)
Focus Groups (get input from internal & external customers to identify issues, goals,
methods)
Meeting Management
Problem Solving
Time Management
Valuing Diversity (it's best to get a wide variety of perspectives when planning)
PREPARATION FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING

Guidelines to Keep Perspective During Planning
Many managers spend most of their time "fighting fires" in the workplace. -- their time is
spent realizing and reacting to problems. For these managers -- and probably for many of
us -- it can be very difficult to stand back and take a hard look at what we want to
accomplish and how we want to accomplish it. We're too buy doing what we think is
making progress. However, one of the major differences between new and experienced
managers is the skill to see the broad perspective, to take the long view on what we want
to do and how we're going to do it. One of the best ways to develop this skill is through
ongoing experience in strategic planning. The following guidelines may help you to get
the most out of your strategic planning experience.
1. The real benefit of the strategic planning process is the process, not the plan document.
2. There is no "perfect" plan. There's doing your best at strategic thinking and
implementation, and learning from what you're doing to enhance what you're doing the
next time around.
3. The strategic planning process is usually not an "aha!" experience. It's like the
management process itself -- it's a series of small moves that together keep the
organization doing things right as it heads in the right direction.
4. In planning, things usually aren't as bad as you fear nor as good as you'd like.
5. Start simple, but start!
Need Consultant or Facilitator to Help You With Planning?

You may want to consider using a facilitator from outside of your organization if:
1. Your organization has not conducted strategic planning before.
2. For a variety of reasons, previous strategic planning was not deemed to be successful.
3. There appears to be a wide range of ideas and/or concerns among organization
members about strategic planning and current organizational issues to be addressed in the
plan.
4. There is no one in the organization whom members feel has sufficient facilitation
skills.
5. No one in the organization feels committed to facilitating strategic planning for the
organization.
6. Leaders believe that an inside facilitator will either inhibit participation from others or
will not have the opportunity to fully participate in planning themselves.
7. Leaders want an objective voice, i.e., someone who is not likely to have strong
predispositions about the organization's strategic issues and ideas.
(Also consider Consultants (using).)
Who Should Be Involved in Planning?

Strategic planning should be conducted by a planning team.
Consider the following guidelines when developing the team.
corporations.)
1. The chief executive and board chair should be included in the planning group, and
should drive development and implementation of the plan.
2. Establish clear guidelines for membership, for example, those directly involved in
planning, those who will provide key information to the process, those who will review
the plan document, those who will authorize the document, etc.
3. A primary responsibility of a board of directors is strategic planning to effectively lead
the organization. Therefore, insist that the board be strongly involved in planning, often
including assigning a planning committee (often, the same as the executive committee).
4. Ask if the board membership is representative of the organization’s clientele and
community, and if they are not, the organization may want to involve more representation
in planning. If the board chair or chief executive balks at including more of the board
members in planning, then the chief executive and/or board chair needs to seriously
consider how serious the organization is about strategic planning!
5. Always include in the group, at least one person who ultimately has authority to make
strategic decisions, for example, to select which goals will be achieved and how.
6. Ensure that as many stakeholders as possible are involved in the planning process.
7. Involve at least those who are responsible for composing and implementing the plan.
8. Involve someone to administrate the process, including arranging meetings, helping to
record key information, helping with flipcharts, monitoring status of prework, etc.
9. Consider having the above administrator record the major steps in the planning process
to help the organization conduct its own planning when the plan is next updated.
Note the following considerations:

10. Different types of members may be needed more at different times in the planning
process, for example, strong board involvement in determining the organization’s
strategic direction (mission, vision, and values), and then more staff involvement in
determining the organization’s strategic analysis to determine its current issues and goals,
and then primarily the staff to determine the strategies needed to address the issues and
meet the goals.
11. In general, where there's any doubt about whether a certain someone should be
involved in planning, it's best to involve them. It's worse to exclude someone useful then
it is to have one or two extra people in planning -- this is true in particular with
organizations where board members often do not have extensive expertise about the
organization and its products or services.
12. Therefore, an organization may be better off to involve board and staff planners as
much as possible in all phases of planning. Mixing the board and staff during planning
helps board members understand the day-to-day issues of the organization, and helps the
staff to understand the top-level issues of the organization.
How Many Planning Meetings Will We Need?

Number and Duration of Planning Meetings
1. New planners usually want to know how many meetings will be needed and what is
needed for each meeting, i.e., they want a procedure for strategic planning. The number
of meetings depends on whether the organization has done planning before, how many
strategic issues and goals the organization faces, whether the culture of the organization
prefers short or long meetings, and how much time the organization is willing to commit
to strategic planning.
2. Attempt to complete strategic planning in at most two to three months, or momentum
will be lost and the planning effort may fall apart.
Scheduling of Meetings
1. Have each meeting at most two to three weeks apart when planning. It's too easy to
lose momentum otherwise.
2. The most important factor in accomplishing complete attendance to planning meetings
is evidence of strong support from executives. Therefore, ensure that executives a) issue
clear direction that they strongly support and value the strategic planning process, and b)
are visibly involved in the planning process.
An Example Planning Process and Design of Meetings

One example of a brief planning process is the following which includes four planning
meetings and develops a top-level strategic plan which is later translated into a yearly
operating plan by the staff:
1. Planning starts with a half-day or all-day board retreat and includes introductions by
the board chair and/or chief executive, their explanations of the organization's benefits
from strategic planning and the organization's commitment to the planning process, the
facilitator's overview of the planning process, and the board chairs and/or chief
executive’s explanation of who will be involved in the planning process. In the retreat,
the organization may then begin the next step in planning, whether this be visiting their
mission, vision, values, etc. or identifying current issues and goals to which strategies
will need to be developed. (Goals are often reworded issues.) Planners are asked to think
about strategies before the next meeting.
2. The next meeting focuses on finalizing strategies to deal with each issue. Before the
next meeting, a subcommittee is charged to draft the planning document, which includes
updated mission, vision, and values, and also finalized strategic issues, goals, strategies.
This document is distributed before the next meeting.
3. In the next meeting, planners exchange feedback about the content and format of the
planning document. Feedback is incorporated in the document and it is distributed before
the next meeting.
4. The next meeting does not require entire attention to the plan, e.g., the document is
authorized by the board during a regular board meeting.
5. Note that in the above example, various subcommittees might be charged to gather
additional information and distribute it before the next planning meeting.
6 Note, too, that the staff may take this document and establish a yearly operating plan
which details what strategies will be implemented over the next year, who will do them,
and by when.
7. No matter how serious organizations are about strategic planning, they usually have
strong concerns about being able to find time to attend frequent meetings. This concern
can be addressed by ensuring meetings are well managed, having short meetings as
needed rather than having fewer but longer meetings, and having realistic expectations
from the planning project.
How Do We Ensure Implementation of Our New Plan?

A frequent complaint about the strategic planning process is that it produces a document
that ends up collecting dust on a shelf -- the organization ignores the precious information
depicted in the document.
The following guidelines will help ensure that the plan is implemented.
corporations.
1. When conducting the planning process, involve the people who will be responsible for
implementing the plan. Use a cross-functional team (representatives from each of the
major organization’s products or service) to ensure the plan is realistic and collaborative.
2. Ensure the plan is realistic. Continue asking planning participants “Is this realistic?
Can you really do this?”
3. Organize the overall strategic plan into smaller action plans, often including an action
plan (or work plan) for each committee on the board.
4. In the overall planning document, specify who is doing what and by when (action
plans are often referenced in the implementation section of the overall strategic plan).
Some organizations may elect to include the action plans in a separate document from the
strategic plan, which would include only the mission, vision, values, key issues and goals,
and strategies. This approach carries some risk that the board will lose focus on the action
plans.
5. In an implementation section in the plan, specify and clarify the plan’s implementation
roles and responsibilities. Be sure to detail particularly the first 90 days of the
implementation of the plan. Build in regular reviews of status of the implementation of
the plan.
6. Translate the strategic plan’s actions into job descriptions and personnel performance
reviews.
7. Communicate the role of follow-ups to the plan. If people know the action plans will
be regularly reviewed, implementers tend to do their jobs before they’re checked on.
8. Be sure to document and distribute the plan, including inviting review input from all.
9. Be sure that one internal person has ultimate responsibility that the plan is enacted in a
timely fashion.
10. The chief executive’s support of the plan is a major driver to the plan’s
implementation. Integrate the plan’s goals and objectives into the chief executive’s
performance reviews.
11. Place huge emphasis on feedback to the board’s executive committee from the
planning participants.
Consider all or some of the following to ensure the plan is implemented.

12. Have designated rotating “checkers” to verify, e.g., every quarter, if each
implementer completed their assigned tasks.
13. Have pairs of people be responsible for tasks. Have each partner commit to helping
the other to finish the other’s tasks on time.
CONDUCTING STRATEGIC PLANNING

Strategic Analysis (Environmental Scan and SWOT)
A frequent complaint about strategic plans is that they are merely "to-do" lists of what to
accomplish over the next few years. Or, others complain that strategic planning never
seems to come in handy when the organization is faced with having to make a difficult,
major decision. Or, other complain that strategic planning really doesn't help the
organization face the future. These complaints arise because organizations fail to conduct
a thorough strategic analysis as part of their strategic planning process. Instead, planners
decide to plan only from what they know now. This makes the planning process much
less strategic and a lot more guesswork. Strategic analysis is the heart of the strategic
planning process and should not be ignored.
(Note that some planners prefer to identify/update the mission, vision and values
statements before conducting the strategic analysis. Others prefer to identify/update these
items after the strategic analysis. In this library, these items are addressed as part of the
next major section "Setting Strategic Direction".)
Environmental Scan (taking a wide look around)

Basics
Taking Stock (very basic overview of environmental scanning)
25 Driving Forces Effecting the Future (useful tool for looking at various futures)
example of an environmental scan
Various Views on Future

Success in the 21st Century
Future Flux: An Outlook of Change
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT Analysis)

Note that this activity can be helped a lot if you've already been following good practices
of organizational performance management. For more information, see Organizational
Performance.
Basics
Developing Your Effective SWOT Analysis
The SWOT Analysis
SWOT: Strategic Planning Process Worksheet
Some Basics for Identifying Strategic Issues and Goals (from SWOT, etc.)
Example
Example of a SWOT analysis
Various Organizational Assessments

The following assessments might be useful in helping you to take a wide look at your
organization.
Organizational Assessments for For-profits
Organizational Assessments for Nonprofits
Identifying Strategic Directions

Note that many writers discuss the identification of strategic goals concurrent to the
identification of the associated methods, or strategies, to achieve those goals.
Consequently, materials referenced from section often address both goals and strategies.
Strategizing (Goals and Methods/Strategies to Achieve Goals)

(Note that skills in Creative Thinking and Innovation are very important when
strategizing, or setting overall organizational goals and how they will be reached.)Some
Basics for Identifying Strategic Issues and Goals (from SWOT, etc.)
Basics of Strategizing (from identified issues and goals)
What is Strategy?
Strategy Is ...
Strategy: Definitions and Meaning
Three Forms of Strategy
Setting Goals and Objectives
Also consider these topics:

Organizational Change (guidelines for organization-wide change)
Organizational Performance Management (generally about aligning goals throughout
org.)
Developing/Updating a Mission Statement

Basics in Developing a Mission Statement
Pillars of Planning Mission, Vision and Values
Mission / Vision Exercise
What should our mission statement say? (presented in context of nonprofits)
Suggestion: Use your browser to do a search for "mission statements". This likely will
result in numerous links to a wide variety of organization's mission statements that you
can review as samples of mission statements.
Developing/Updating a Vision Statement

Creating an Organization's Vision
Basics in Developing a Vision Statement
Strategic Visioning Process
Framework for Conducting a Visioning Meeting
Creating a Vision
Building a Visionary Organization is a Do-It-Yourself Project
Creating and Implementing Visions
Suggestion: Use your browser to do a search for "vision statements". This likely will
result in numerous links to a wide variety of organization's vision statements that you can
review as samples of vision statements.
Developing/Updating a Values Statement

Basics in Developing a Values Statement
Suggestion: Use your browser to do a search for "values statements". This likely will
result in numerous links to a wide variety of organization's values statements that you
can review as samples of values statements.
Action Planning (objectives, responsibilities, timelines)

Strategic planning can be exhilarating when coming up with new visions and missions
and values, talking about long-standing issues in the workplace and coming up with new
and exciting opportunities. But without careful action planning -- and diligently ensuring
actions are carried out -- the plan ends up collecting dust on a shelf. Basics of Action
Planning (as part of strategic planning)
Also see:
Setting Employee Goals

Too often, strategic plans end up collecting dust on a shelf.

As stated several times throughout this library topics (and in materials linked from it), too
many strategic plans end up collecting dust on a shelf. Monitoring and evaluating the
planning activities and status of implementation of the plan is -- for many organizations --
as important as identifying strategic issues and goals. One advantage of monitoring and
evaluation is to ensure that the organization is following the direction established during
strategic planning. That advantage is obvious. However, another major advantage is that
the management can learn a great deal about the organization and how to manage it by
continuing to monitor and evaluate the planning activities and the status of the
implementation of the plan. Note that plans are guidelines. They aren't rules. It's OK to
deviate from a plan. But planners should understand the reason for the deviations and
update the plan to reflect the new direction.
Basics of Monitoring, Evaluating and Deviating from the Plan
GENERAL RESOURCES
General Resources
Strategic Planning: numerous articles organized in order of planning process
Learning Institute for Nonprofit Organizations numerous articles regarding nonprofit
planning

Appreciative Inquiry
Business Planning
Capacity Building (nonprofits)
Chaos Theory
Decision Making
Marketing
Problem Solving
Program Management
Project Planning
Systems Thinking
Career Planning
(Note there are many related topics in the Free Management Library. Be sure to scan the
list of topics below in Related Library Links. Start with subtopics in the topic Career
Development.)
Categories include
Basics
The Success Series articles
100 Things I've Learned
Unorganization: The Individual Handbook (an alternative point of view)
Career Development Manual
Career Development Library
Using the Internet

Self Improvement Online
Using the Internet for Career Education
Career Planning on the Internet
Career Development Library
lots of career development tools

Career Development (be sure to scan the many, closely related subtopics in this topic)
Dress for Success
Interpersonal Skills
Interviewing for a Job
Job Satisfaction
Job Searching
Job Sources (on-line)
Networking
Personal Development
Personal Productivity
Personal Wellness
Resumes

Liszt: CAREER-MGMT
Risk Management

etc.
accidents, etc.
the workplace.)

Introductory
Fire Protection
Security Systems
Disaster Planning

General Resouorces
Introductory




General Resources

Crisis Management

Risk Management

etc.
accidents, etc.
the workplace.)

Introductory
Fire Protection
Security Systems
Disaster Planning

General Resouorces
Introductory




General Resources

Crisis Management

Management Development Planning
Leaders Circles peer-training/coaching groups (nonprofits) | Authenticity Circles peer-training/coaching
(for-profits)
First-timers | Library home page | Library index of topics | Contact us
Simply put, management development is an effort (hopefully, planned in nature) that

enhances the learner's capacity to manage organizations (or oneself). Very simply put,
managing includes activities of planning, organizing, leading and coordinating resources.
A critical skill for anyone is the ability to manage their own learning. The highly
motivated, self-directed reader can gain a great deal of learning and other results from
using the guidelines and materials in this library topic.
(Some of the following materials is adapted from the Field Guide to Leadership and
Supervision.)
(Note that there are separate sections about Leadership Development Planning and
Supervisoral Development Planning.)

Preparation for Learning
Optional -- Suggested Previous Reading
Before Management Development, Get Impression of What "Management" Is
What Does Management Development Look Like?
Strong Value of Self-Directed Learning
Informal Activities to Learn About Management in Organizations

Attempt to Go Beyond Reading Books ...
Ideas for Activities to Learn About Management
Customizing Your Own Management Development Program

Preparation for Designing Your Management Training Plan
Determining Your Overall Goals in Management Training
Determining Your Learning Objectives and Activities
Developing Any Materials You May Need
Planning Implementation of Your Management Training Plan
Evaluating Your Management Training Plan and Experiences
Follow-Up After Completion of Your Plan
Basic Guide to Leadership and Supervision

Basic Guide to Leadership and Supervision (html)
Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision
General Resources
On-Line Glossary of Business Terms
To Form Local Learning Communities to Design and Implement Development Plans

To Form Local Learning Communities, eg, to Learn This Topic
(at http://www.authenticityconsulting.com/pubs.htm)

organizations.


PREPARATION FOR LEARNING

Optional -- Suggested Reading as Preparation
To gain broad perspective on management development, the reader would benefit most
from first reading the following information.
Introduction to Organizations (read the section titled the "Basics")
Basic Definitions and Roles in Management
Training Basics -- Getting Most from Training and Development
Training Basics -- Ways to View Training and Development
Before Management Development, Get Impression of "Management"

The first place to start learning about management is to get some sense of what
management is -- in particular, understand get an impression of the areas of knowledge
and skills recommended for effective management in organizations. Review information
in:
Management (Introduction)
Skills and Practices in Organizational Management

Let's Look at Some Programs
If you read the information in the section Training Basics -- Ways to View Training and
Development listed above, you learned about training programs that are informal and
formal,and other-directed or self-directed. Management development programs come in
all of these combinations, as well. You can learn about management in informal
"programs", for example, by reading some articles, discussing management with a friend,
etc. You can attend formal training, for example, a course, seminar or workshop. At this
point, it might help you to get some perspective on the nature of management
development programs by looking at some. See
Examples of Management Development Programs
History of Management Development

It might be interesting for you to get a brief overview of the history of management
development, in order to give you broader perspective and understanding of current
management development methods.
Brief History of Management Training and Development
What the Future Holds for Management Development Programs

As organizations have faced a new paradigm (see New Paradigm in Management),
management development organizations must embrace a new paradigm as well. To get an
impression of changes that must be made, read
Leaders' Often Unmet Needs from Training and Development Programs
Future of Management Development and Education

The ability to manage one's own learning is an increasingly critical skill. Bouchard
explains, “Over the years, it has become increasingly clear that traditional approaches to
[training] program design and delivery in the workplace and in associative organizations
present some important weaknesses. Problem areas include: coping with the short life
span of useful knowledge; passing down acquired competencies to succeeding cohorts;
accommodating the demands of productivity while providing for a continuity of learning;
[and] enabling learners to pursue activities that correspond to their learning styles and
needs” (in Self-Directed Learning in Organizational Settings (working paper), Concordia
University, Montreal, Canada, p. 1).
This topic in the library provides an excellent opportunity to begin managing your
learning. To learn more about self-directed learning, see
Strong Value of Self-Directed Learning in the Workplace
INFORMAL ACTIVITIES TO LEARN ABOUT MANAGEMENT

Informal Activities to Learn About Management
There are a wide range of everyday and on-the-job activities from which you can learn
about management and even enhance your management skills. Informal methods can
include, for example, reading books, having discussions with friends, on-the-job training,
keeping a diary with thoughts about management, etc. One of the more insidious ways to
avoid learning to manage is by reading lots of books about management, rather than
actually implementing any of the advice offered in any of them. You're not likely to
develop much for management skills merely by reading, talking or attending a course
unless you actually apply new materials and methods, and continue to reflect on what
you're learning along the way.

One of the most effective and reliable ways to learn is to do so consciously, in a planned
fashion. Therefore, be sure to consider customizing your own management training plan.
Complete guidelines are provided in the next section, Customizing Your Own
Management Development Plan.
The following table includes numerous ideas for activities from which to learn about
management, including planning, organizing, leading and coordinating resources.
(Get guidance and assistance:) (Some workplace activities for learning:)

· Seek to find a mentor · Start (and stick to) a new project at work or
· Hire a personal/professional coach in your life
· Ask your supervisor, peers and subordinates
(Readings to consider:) for ideas to develop your management skills
· Read articles on management · Ask to be assigned to a management
· Read major function -- planning position
· Read major function -- organizing · Regularly solicit feedback from others
· Read major function -- leading about your management skills
· Read major function -- coordinating
· Read free Basic Guide to Management and (Other sources for learning:)
Supervision · Identify traits and behaviors of your favorite
· Read books on management managers
· Review the basics of organizational change · Consider these development methods
· Design a personal development plan
· Review the self-management for new · Take strong participation in a course,
managers and supervisors apprenticeship or internship that involves
planning, organizing, leading and/or
(Skills to practice:) coordination activities
· In your next assignment or in a personal · Take a leadership or management role in a
plan, design and word goals to be management association
SMARTER · Volunteer to lead a work or community
· Learn to be a mentor project, or join a board of directors
· Learn to coach others
· Give a presentation (Capturing your learning:)
· Practice basic skills in delegation · Schedule (and stick to) ongoing periods for
· Practice basic skills in listening and sharing private reflection; record them in a journal
feedback · Consider designing a formal training plan
· Customize personal guidelines for some (see below)
basics in leading, for example, problem
solving, decision making and planning · (also consider Ideas for Activities to Learn
· Plan a meeting and facilitate a meeting About Supervision)
· Clarify your personal values and how you · (also consider Ideas for Activities to Learn
live them out -- develop your codes of About Leadership)
ethics and codes of conduct
CUSTOMIZING YOUR OWN MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Your are much more likely to learn useful skills in management if you develop and
implement a training plan. The following sections will guide you to develop your own
complete, highly integrated (and performance-oriented) management development plan.
Each section includes reference to particular sections in the Complete Guidelines to
Design Your Training and Development Plan (hereafter called the "Guidelines"). That
document includes guidelines for you to identify your overall training goals and the
learning objectives and activities to achieve the goals. Guidelines are also provided for
carrying out the learning activities and evaluating your entire learning experience.

Read the following two initial sections of the Guidelines (up to "Determining Your
Overall Goals in Training") and then return to the next section below.
Directions to Use "Complete Guideline ..."
Preparation for Designing Your Training Plan
Identifying Your Overall Goals in Management Training

Purpose of this Section
This section helps you identify what you want to be able to do as a result of
implementing your training plan, for example, qualify for a certain job, overcome a
performance problem, meet a goal in your career development plan, etc. Learners are
often better off to work towards at most two to four goals at a time. There are a variety of
ways to identify your training goals, depending on what you want to be able to
accomplish as a result of implementing your training plan.
Begin Identifying Your Training Goals

Consider Performance Gaps, Growth Gaps or Opportunities Gaps
Performance gaps are areas of knowledge and skills need to improve performance and are
usually indicated during performance reviews with your supervisor. Growth gaps are
areas of knowledge and skills need to reach a career goal. Opportunity gaps are areas of
knowledge and skills needed to take advantage of an upcoming opportunity.
Conduct Self-Assessments
The following on-line, self-assessments may help, as well, by helping you assess certain
areas of your own management abilities.
Needs Assessments for Management Training and Development
Collect Input From Others

Ask others for ideas to improve your management skills. Try get their input in terms of
behaviors you can show. Consider input from performance reviews. See
Performance Reviews / Appraisals
Performance Reviews: 360-Degree
Reference Lists of Areas of Knowledge and Skills Needed in Variety of Roles and
Function
Competencies are lists of the general abilities needed to perform a role. Consider the
following lists for managing yourself and carrying out major functions in management.
List of Knowledge Areas and Skills Associated with Management Activities
Reference Books and Other Materials About Management

There is a vast amount of information available regarding management and management
skills. However, much of it is in regard to character traits that managers should have.
When determining your training goals, translate these character traits to behaviors that
you and others can recognize. See
Various Suggestions for Knowledge and Skills Needed in Management
Look at Goals and Objectives of Management Development Programs

These programs can offer good ideas about traits and characteristics needed by managers,
and methods to achieve those traits and characteristics. Be careful not to simply adopt
suggestions and methods without first considering if they'd really be useful to you.
Don't Forget to Manage Yourself!

Developing skills in management involves changing yourself, stretching yourself.
Therefore, you may want to include developing skills in
Managing Yourself
On to Refining and Writing Your Training Goals in Your Plan ...

The Guidelines provides additional advice for identifying your training goals. Follow the
steps in the following section of the Guidelines until you come to its section titled
"Determining Your Learning Objectives and Activities " and then return to the next
section below.
Determining Your Overall Goals in Training

The purpose of this section is to identify the various learning objectives you should
achieve and learning activities you should undertake in order to achieve the overall
training goals in your plan.
Identifying Your Learning Objectives

Carefully consider each of your training goals. What specifically must be accomplished
(that is, what objectives must be reached) in order for you to reach those goals? Which of
these objectives require learning new areas of knowledge or skills? These objectives are
likely to become learning objectives in your training plan. To get a stronger sense for
learning objectives, see
Basic Guidelines and Examples for Writing Learning Objectives.
Identifying Your Learning Activities

Learning activities are the activities you will conduct in order to reach the learning
objectives. The activities should help you work toward your training goal, accommodate
your particular learning styles, be accessible to you and be enjoyable as well. The
following link might help you.
Useful Methods for Management Development
On to Refining and Writing Your Learning Objectives and Activities in Your Plan ...
The Guidelines provide additional advice for identifying your learning objectives and
activities. Follow the steps in the following section of the Guidelines until you come to its
section titled "Developing Any Materials You May Need" and then return to the next
section below.

Developing materials might include, for example, getting books, signing up for courses,
reserving rooms, getting coaches, etc. The Guidelines provides additional guidance to
develop any materials you may need. Follow the steps in the following section of the
Guidelines until you come to its section titled "Planning Implementation of Your
Training Plan" and then return to the next section below.

During implementation, you should think about whether you're really understanding the
materials or not, need additional support, etc. The Guidelines provides additional
guidance to you during implementation of your plan. Follow the steps in the following
section of the Guidelines until you come to its section titled "Planning Quality Control
and Evaluation of Your Training Plan and Experiences" and then return to the next
section below.
Planning Implementation of Your Training Plan

Evaluation includes assessing and making value judgments on whether you achieved
your training goals or not, and on the quality of the process to reach those goals. Follow
the steps in the following section of the Guidelines until you come to its section titled
"Follow-Up After Completion of Your Plan" and then return to the next section below.
Planning Quality Control and Evaluation of Your Training Plan and Experiences

Follow the steps in the following section of the Guidelines until you come to its section
titled "Related Library Links".
Related Links in this Library
Introduction to Management
Introduction to Organizations
Leadership Development Planning
Overview of Leadership
Overview of Supervision
Supervisoral Development Planning
Training and Development -- Overview

On-Line glossary of busness terms

Search Now:
Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Copyright 1999, Authenticity Consulting, LLC

Library and its contents are not to be used to generate profits
Reprint permission
Management Development Planning
Leaders Circles peer-training/coaching groups (nonprofits) | Authenticity Circles peer-training/coaching
(for-profits)
First-timers | Library home page | Library index of topics | Contact us
Simply put, management development is an effort (hopefully, planned in nature) that

enhances the learner's capacity to manage organizations (or oneself). Very simply put,
managing includes activities of planning, organizing, leading and coordinating resources.
A critical skill for anyone is the ability to manage their own learning. The highly
motivated, self-directed reader can gain a great deal of learning and other results from
using the guidelines and materials in this library topic.
(Some of the following materials is adapted from the Field Guide to Leadership and
Supervision.)
(Note that there are separate sections about Leadership Development Planning and
Supervisoral Development Planning.)

Preparation for Learning
Optional -- Suggested Previous Reading
Before Management Development, Get Impression of What "Management" Is
Informal Activities to Learn About Management in Organizations

Customizing Your Own Management Development Program

Determining Your Overall Goals in Management Training
Basic Guide to Leadership and Supervision

Basic Guide to Leadership and Supervision (html)
Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision
General Resources
To Form Local Learning Communities to Design and Implement Development Plans

To Form Local Learning Communities, eg, to Learn This Topic
(at http://www.authenticityconsulting.com/pubs.htm)

organizations.


PREPARATION FOR LEARNING

Optional -- Suggested Reading as Preparation
To gain broad perspective on management development, the reader would benefit most
from first reading the following information.
Introduction to Organizations (read the section titled the "Basics")
Basic Definitions and Roles in Management
Training Basics -- Getting Most from Training and Development
Training Basics -- Ways to View Training and Development
Before Management Development, Get Impression of "Management"

The first place to start learning about management is to get some sense of what
management is -- in particular, understand get an impression of the areas of knowledge
and skills recommended for effective management in organizations. Review information
in:
Management (Introduction)
Skills and Practices in Organizational Management

Let's Look at Some Programs
If you read the information in the section Training Basics -- Ways to View Training and
Development listed above, you learned about training programs that are informal and
formal,and other-directed or self-directed. Management development programs come in
all of these combinations, as well. You can learn about management in informal
"programs", for example, by reading some articles, discussing management with a friend,
etc. You can attend formal training, for example, a course, seminar or workshop. At this
point, it might help you to get some perspective on the nature of management
development programs by looking at some. See
History of Management Development

It might be interesting for you to get a brief overview of the history of management
development, in order to give you broader perspective and understanding of current
management development methods.
Brief History of Management Training and Development
What the Future Holds for Management Development Programs

As organizations have faced a new paradigm (see New Paradigm in Management),
management development organizations must embrace a new paradigm as well. To get an
impression of changes that must be made, read
Leaders' Often Unmet Needs from Training and Development Programs
Future of Management Development and Education

The ability to manage one's own learning is an increasingly critical skill. Bouchard
explains, “Over the years, it has become increasingly clear that traditional approaches to
[training] program design and delivery in the workplace and in associative organizations
present some important weaknesses. Problem areas include: coping with the short life
span of useful knowledge; passing down acquired competencies to succeeding cohorts;
accommodating the demands of productivity while providing for a continuity of learning;
[and] enabling learners to pursue activities that correspond to their learning styles and
needs” (in Self-Directed Learning in Organizational Settings (working paper), Concordia
University, Montreal, Canada, p. 1).
This topic in the library provides an excellent opportunity to begin managing your
learning. To learn more about self-directed learning, see
Strong Value of Self-Directed Learning in the Workplace
INFORMAL ACTIVITIES TO LEARN ABOUT MANAGEMENT

Informal Activities to Learn About Management
There are a wide range of everyday and on-the-job activities from which you can learn
about management and even enhance your management skills. Informal methods can
include, for example, reading books, having discussions with friends, on-the-job training,
keeping a diary with thoughts about management, etc. One of the more insidious ways to
avoid learning to manage is by reading lots of books about management, rather than
actually implementing any of the advice offered in any of them. You're not likely to
develop much for management skills merely by reading, talking or attending a course
unless you actually apply new materials and methods, and continue to reflect on what
you're learning along the way.

One of the most effective and reliable ways to learn is to do so consciously, in a planned
fashion. Therefore, be sure to consider customizing your own management training plan.
Complete guidelines are provided in the next section, Customizing Your Own
Management Development Plan.
The following table includes numerous ideas for activities from which to learn about
management, including planning, organizing, leading and coordinating resources.
(Get guidance and assistance:) (Some workplace activities for learning:)

· Seek to find a mentor · Start (and stick to) a new project at work or
· Hire a personal/professional coach in your life
· Ask your supervisor, peers and subordinates
(Readings to consider:) for ideas to develop your management skills
· Read articles on management · Ask to be assigned to a management
· Read major function -- planning position
· Read major function -- organizing · Regularly solicit feedback from others
· Read major function -- leading about your management skills
· Read major function -- coordinating
· Read free Basic Guide to Management and (Other sources for learning:)
Supervision · Identify traits and behaviors of your favorite
· Read books on management managers
· Review the basics of organizational change · Consider these development methods
· Design a personal development plan
· Review the self-management for new · Take strong participation in a course,
managers and supervisors apprenticeship or internship that involves
planning, organizing, leading and/or
(Skills to practice:) coordination activities
· In your next assignment or in a personal · Take a leadership or management role in a
plan, design and word goals to be management association
SMARTER · Volunteer to lead a work or community
· Learn to be a mentor project, or join a board of directors
· Learn to coach others
· Give a presentation (Capturing your learning:)
· Practice basic skills in delegation · Schedule (and stick to) ongoing periods for
· Practice basic skills in listening and sharing private reflection; record them in a journal
feedback · Consider designing a formal training plan
· Customize personal guidelines for some (see below)
basics in leading, for example, problem
solving, decision making and planning · (also consider Ideas for Activities to Learn
· Plan a meeting and facilitate a meeting About Supervision)
· Clarify your personal values and how you · (also consider Ideas for Activities to Learn
live them out -- develop your codes of About Leadership)
ethics and codes of conduct
CUSTOMIZING YOUR OWN MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Your are much more likely to learn useful skills in management if you develop and
implement a training plan. The following sections will guide you to develop your own
complete, highly integrated (and performance-oriented) management development plan.
Each section includes reference to particular sections in the Complete Guidelines to
Design Your Training and Development Plan (hereafter called the "Guidelines"). That
document includes guidelines for you to identify your overall training goals and the
learning objectives and activities to achieve the goals. Guidelines are also provided for
carrying out the learning activities and evaluating your entire learning experience.

Read the following two initial sections of the Guidelines (up to "Determining Your
Overall Goals in Training") and then return to the next section below.
Directions to Use "Complete Guideline ..."
Preparation for Designing Your Training Plan
Identifying Your Overall Goals in Management Training

This section helps you identify what you want to be able to do as a result of
implementing your training plan, for example, qualify for a certain job, overcome a
performance problem, meet a goal in your career development plan, etc. Learners are
often better off to work towards at most two to four goals at a time. There are a variety of
ways to identify your training goals, depending on what you want to be able to
accomplish as a result of implementing your training plan.
Begin Identifying Your Training Goals

Consider Performance Gaps, Growth Gaps or Opportunities Gaps
Performance gaps are areas of knowledge and skills need to improve performance and are
usually indicated during performance reviews with your supervisor. Growth gaps are
areas of knowledge and skills need to reach a career goal. Opportunity gaps are areas of
knowledge and skills needed to take advantage of an upcoming opportunity.
Conduct Self-Assessments
The following on-line, self-assessments may help, as well, by helping you assess certain
areas of your own management abilities.
Needs Assessments for Management Training and Development
Collect Input From Others

Ask others for ideas to improve your management skills. Try get their input in terms of
behaviors you can show. Consider input from performance reviews. See
Performance Reviews / Appraisals
Performance Reviews: 360-Degree
Reference Lists of Areas of Knowledge and Skills Needed in Variety of Roles and
Function
Competencies are lists of the general abilities needed to perform a role. Consider the
following lists for managing yourself and carrying out major functions in management.
List of Knowledge Areas and Skills Associated with Management Activities
Reference Books and Other Materials About Management

There is a vast amount of information available regarding management and management
skills. However, much of it is in regard to character traits that managers should have.
When determining your training goals, translate these character traits to behaviors that
you and others can recognize. See
Various Suggestions for Knowledge and Skills Needed in Management
Look at Goals and Objectives of Management Development Programs

These programs can offer good ideas about traits and characteristics needed by managers,
and methods to achieve those traits and characteristics. Be careful not to simply adopt
suggestions and methods without first considering if they'd really be useful to you.
Don't Forget to Manage Yourself!

Developing skills in management involves changing yourself, stretching yourself.
Therefore, you may want to include developing skills in
Managing Yourself
On to Refining and Writing Your Training Goals in Your Plan ...

The Guidelines provides additional advice for identifying your training goals. Follow the
steps in the following section of the Guidelines until you come to its section titled
"Determining Your Learning Objectives and Activities " and then return to the next
section below.
Determining Your Overall Goals in Training

The purpose of this section is to identify the various learning objectives you should
achieve and learning activities you should undertake in order to achieve the overall
training goals in your plan.
Identifying Your Learning Objectives

Carefully consider each of your training goals. What specifically must be accomplished
(that is, what objectives must be reached) in order for you to reach those goals? Which of
these objectives require learning new areas of knowledge or skills? These objectives are
likely to become learning objectives in your training plan. To get a stronger sense for
learning objectives, see
Basic Guidelines and Examples for Writing Learning Objectives.
Identifying Your Learning Activities

Learning activities are the activities you will conduct in order to reach the learning
objectives. The activities should help you work toward your training goal, accommodate
your particular learning styles, be accessible to you and be enjoyable as well. The
following link might help you.
Useful Methods for Management Development
On to Refining and Writing Your Learning Objectives and Activities in Your Plan ...
The Guidelines provide additional advice for identifying your learning objectives and
activities. Follow the steps in the following section of the Guidelines until you come to its
section titled "Developing Any Materials You May Need" and then return to the next
section below.

Developing materials might include, for example, getting books, signing up for courses,
reserving rooms, getting coaches, etc. The Guidelines provides additional guidance to
develop any materials you may need. Follow the steps in the following section of the
Guidelines until you come to its section titled "Planning Implementation of Your
Training Plan" and then return to the next section below.

During implementation, you should think about whether you're really understanding the
materials or not, need additional support, etc. The Guidelines provides additional
guidance to you during implementation of your plan. Follow the steps in the following
section of the Guidelines until you come to its section titled "Planning Quality Control
and Evaluation of Your Training Plan and Experiences" and then return to the next
section below.
Planning Implementation of Your Training Plan

Evaluation includes assessing and making value judgments on whether you achieved
your training goals or not, and on the quality of the process to reach those goals. Follow
the steps in the following section of the Guidelines until you come to its section titled
"Follow-Up After Completion of Your Plan" and then return to the next section below.
Planning Quality Control and Evaluation of Your Training Plan and Experiences

Follow the steps in the following section of the Guidelines until you come to its section
titled "Related Library Links".
Related Links in this Library
Introduction to Management
Introduction to Organizations
Leadership Development Planning
Overview of Leadership
Overview of Supervision
Supervisoral Development Planning
Training and Development -- Overview

On-Line glossary of busness terms

Search
Now:
Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Copyright 1999, Authenticity Consulting, LLC

Library and its contents are not to be used to generate profits
Reprint permission
Personnel Planning
Assembled by Carter McNamara, PhD | Applies to nonprofits and for-profits unless noted

Succession Planning
How to Determine Your Workforce Future Needs
Plan Today for Unexpected Tomorrow
HR Planning Tools

Benefits and Compensation
Employee Law
Employee Performance Management
Employee Wellness Pprograms
Human Resources Management -- An Overview
Staffing, which includes:
- - - Workforce planning (including succession planning)
- - - Specifying Jobs and Roles (analysis, description and competencies)
- - - Recruiting (sourcing and advertising)
- - - Outsourcing (having services performed by non-employees)
- - - Screening Applicants
- - - Selecting (Hiring) New Employees
- - - Retaining Employees
- - - Outplacing and Downsizing (laying off employees)
- - - Exit Interviews
Strategic Planning
Training Basics for Supervisors and Learners


Types of Plan

Cargado por

Información del documento

Descripción original:

Derechos de autor

Formatos disponibles

Compartir este documento

Compartir o incrustar documentos

Opciones para compartir

¿Le pareció útil este documento?

¿Este contenido es inapropiado?

Copyright:

Formatos disponibles

Types of Plan

Cargado por

Copyright:

Formatos disponibles

http://www.mapl.com.au/planning/plan2.

For example plans can be made for:

• The organisation (e.g. strategic plan, service plans, financial plan)

Project Financial Plan

Team Work Plan

Individual Work Plan

Individual Service Plans / Case Management

A typical large organisation

Very small organisations

The Different Types of Business Plans

Some of these specific case differences lead to different types of plans:

Business planning is often conducted when:

• Starting a new venture (organization, product or service)

Basic Guidelines for Successful Planning Process

Basics and Planning

Thus, in a governmental context, "planning" without any qualification is most likely to

Common, Major Types of Plans

Other Types of Plans

Business planning is often conducted when:

• Starting a new venture (organization, product or service)

Overall, the contents of a business plan typically aim to:

1. Describe the venture (new or current organization, product or service), often

Categories of information include

Basic Introduction (for for-profits and nonprofits)

Note to Nonprofits -- to Translate For-Profit Plans to Nonprofit Plans

Sample Business Plan

For-profits also see

Nonprofit Business Planning

Sample Business Plan

Preparation for Planning a Business Venture (nonprofit or for-profit)

(Some of the following information is adapted from the guidebook,

Categories of information include

Typical Overall Phases in Planning

Guidelines for Successful Planning and Implementation

Basic Guide to Management and Supervision

Free, Complete, On-line Training Programs That Include This Topic!

For Nonprofit Organizations:

Tell Friends! Local Professional Organizations! Spread the Word!

Planning in its Larger Context -- Working Backwards

Quick Look at Some Basic Terms

Basic Overview of Typical Phases in Planning

1. Reference Overall Singular Purpose ("Mission") or Desired Result from System

2. Take Stock Outside and Inside the System

3. Analyze the Situation

5. Establish Strategies to Reach Goals

7. Associate Responsibilities and Time Lines With Each Objective

8. Write and Communicate a Plan Document

9. Acknowledge Completion and Celebrate Success

Guidelines to Ensure Successful Planning and Implementation

Involve the Right People in the Planning Process

Write Down the Planning Information and Communicate it Widely

Build in Accountability (Regularly Review Who's Doing What and By When?)

Note Deviations from the Plan and Replan Accordingly

Evaluate Planning Process and the Plan

Recurring Planning Process is at Least as Important as Plan

Nature of the Process Should Be Compatible to Nature of

Critical -- But Frequently Missing Step -- Acknowledgement and Celebration of

Categories of information include

(Notice these closely related topics in the library:

Categories of information about risk management include

Additional Information for Nonprofits

Disaster Planning (Regarding Facilities, Not Computing, etc.)

Disaster Planning and Recovery