Quick ways into strategy

You can select just one of these to find a way in without having to commit to a full strategic planning process.

If you are completely new to the idea of strategic planning and our four phase strategic planning process  seems a bit much at the moment, here are three simple ideas for getting started. 

Have a chat

Get a small group of your staff and volunteers together for a coffee and a discussion about the organisation's purpose and the reason it exists. If you have a vision and mission already, you could ask people what they like or dislike about it, whether they think it fits with how the organisation works and how it affects the way they work. If you haven't got a vision and mission you could ask people to brainstorm ideas about the organisation's goals, who your organisation's users are and the change you work to create. Once you've captured a few ideas you could try asking yourselves which ones you think are the most accurate and helpful.

Investigate some drivers

Research your organisation's operating environment. At the next meeting of your board, perhaps you could give your trustees homework to find out more about the big trends and forces (drivers) that are likely to affect your organisation in the future. Find out more about drivers from NCVO's Third Sector Foresight website.

Get some feedback

Interview a few of your users and stakeholders, over the phone or face-to-face. Draft a short list of questions that will help you to understand what their needs are, how they view your organisation and your relationship with them, as well as how they think this will change over the coming years. To find out more about how to run a focus group, take a look at our Achieve More magazine, issue 4.

Read more about involving people in your work.