Are you ready?

Before you start a strategic planning process, do you have the following things in place?

1. A rationale

Are you and your colleagues clear what your organisation wants from a strategy? What is your motivation for writing a strategic plan? Before you start to plan the process, make sure you and a few others in your organisation are committed to developing a strategic plan. Knowing what you want out of a plan will help you make choices about how you develop it, the tools and exercises you use to generate ideas and how you go about writing the final plan.

2. A strategic planning team

Do you have a manageable number of people who have agreed to help lead the planning process? Think about all your internal stakeholders and the roles you want them to play in the process, from trustees, senior managers, and other staff, to volunteers and users. Are you sure you have the right people in the team? Each team member should also have a clear idea of what their role and responsibilities are. Find out more about involving people in your work.

3. A realistic budget

You'll need to draw up a budget and agree how much you can spend on developing your strategy. It is important to think about the cost of the whole process, from consultation exercises, to implementation. Did you know it's possible to include a proportion of your organisational development costs in bids to funders? Find out more about working with funders.

4. Support from senior managers and board

You don't need everyone in your organisation to be excited at the idea of strategic planning at the start, but you will need commitment from the chief executive and all the board to support your project team through the process.

5. An achievable timetable

A timetable will help your team keep track of the planning process and ensure that you can complete all the activities you want to in the time available.

Find out how you can make the most of the strategic planning process.