MODULE 10: NATURE OF THE PLANNING
Define or review the organization's
PROCESS
Source: Strategic Planning – A 10-Step Guide
Long-Range Planning
 The process by which the leaders of an
organization determine what the
organization wants to look like at the
end of a specified period of time –
usually three to five years – then use
that vision to establish multi-year goals
and objectives which describe what the
organization wishes to accomplish, and
develop programs, tasks, and timelines
for achieving them.
 Predicts future conditions and realities,
internal and external, and plans how
the organization can function effectively
within them
Strategic Planning
 The process by which leaders of an
organization determine what it intends
to be in the future and how it will get
there.
 they develop a vision for the
organization's future and determine the
necessary priorities, procedures, and
operations (strategies) to achieve that
vision
 generally considered to place a greater
emphasis on strategies – on how the
organization will achieve its vision –
while long-range planning places
greater emphasis on determining the
vision.
Strategic Planning Process
1. Agree on a strategic planning process
2. Carry out an environmental scan
3. Identify key issues, questions, and
choices to be addressed as part of the
strategic planning effort
4.
values, community vision, and mission
 Organizational Core
Values/Operating Principles -
those beliefs or principles that
guide the organization
 Community Vision - your image
of what the community you
serve would be like if your
values were shared and
practiced by everyone
 Mission - organization’s public
statement of the contribution it
promises to make to help
accomplish the community
vision
5. Develop a shared vision for the
organization
6. Develop a series of goals or
organizational status statements which
describe the organization in a specified
number of years – assuming it is
successful in addressing its mission
7. Agree upon key strategies to reach the
goals and address key issues identified
through the environmental scan.
8. Develop an action plan that addresses
goals and specifies objectives and work
plans on an annual basis.
9. Finalize a written strategic plan that
summarizes the results and decisions of
the strategic planning process.
10. Build in procedures for monitoring, and
for modifying strategies based on
changes in the external environment or
the organization.
Source: Models of School Development
Planning
1. Foundational Model
 focuses first on laying the
foundations for development
planning and on developing an
appropriate planning
 infrastructure, before
addressing full-scale
development planning per se
2. Early Action Planning Model
 focuses first on the rapid
identification of a small number
of immediate priorities and the
initiation of action planning to
address them
3. Three-Strand Concurrent Model
 focuses on the issue of the
planning time frame
 recognizes that school
development has a long-term, a
medium-term and a short-term
dimension
Source: Basic Overview of Strategic Planning
Models
Conventional Strategic Planning
 most common model of strategic
planning
 ideal for organizations that have
sufficient resources to pursue very
ambitious visions and goals, have external
environments that are relatively stable,
and do not have a large number of
current issues to address
Phases:
1. Develop or update the mission and
optionally, vision and/or values
statements.
2. Take a wide look around the outside and
a good look inside the organization, and
perhaps update the statements as a
result.
3. Select the multi-year strategies and/or
goals to achieve the vision.
4. Develop action plans that specify who is
going to do what and by when to achieve
each goal
5. Identify associated plans (e.g., staffing,
facilities, marketing, and financial plans)
6. Organize items 1-3 into a Strategic Plan
and items 4-6 into a separate one-year
Operational Plan.
Issues-based Strategic Planning
 works best for organizations that have
very limited resources, several current
and major issues to address, little
success with achieving ambitious goals,
and/or very little buy-in to strategic
planning
Phases:
1. Identify 5-7 of the most important
current issues facing the organization
now.
2. Suggest action plans to address each
issue over the next 6-12 months.
3. Include that information in a Strategic
Plan.
Organic Strategic Planning
 based on the premise that the long-
term vision is best achieved by
everyone working together toward the
vision, but with each person regularly
doing whatever actions that he or she
regularly decides to do toward that
vision.
Phases:
1. With as many people as can be
gathered, articulate the long-term
vision, and perhaps values to work
toward the vision.
2. Each person leaves that visioning,
having selected at least one realistic
action that he or she will take toward
 the vision before the group meets
again.
3. People meet regularly to report the
actions that they took and what they
learned from them. The vision might be
further clarified during these meetings.
4. Occasionally, the vision and the lists of
accomplished and intended actions are
included in a Strategic Plan.
Real-time Strategic Planning
 suited especially for people who believe
that organizations are often changing
much too rapidly for long-term, detailed
planning to remain relevant
 best suited, especially to organizations
with very rapidly changing
environments outside the organization.
Phases:
1. Articulate the mission, and perhaps the
vision and/or values.
2. Assign planners to research the external
environment and, as a result, to suggest
a list of opportunities and of threats
facing the organization.
3. Present the lists to the Board and other
members of the organization for
strategic thinking and discussions.
4. Assign planners to evaluate the internal
workings of the organization and, as a
result, to suggest a list of strengths and
of weaknesses in the organization.
5. Present these lists to the Board and
other members of the organization for
strategic thinking and discussions,
perhaps using a SWOT analysis to
analyze all four lists.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 regularly, for example,
every six months or year and document
the results in a Strategic Plan.
Alignment Model of Strategic Planning
 Ensure strong alignment of the
organization’s internal operations with
achieving an overall goal, or to
successfully integrate a new cross-
functional system, such as a new
computer system.
Phases:
1. Establish the overall goal for the
alignment.
2. Analyze which internal operations
are most directly aligned with
achieving that goal, and which are
not.
3. Establish goals to more effectively
align operations to achieving the
overall goal.
4. Include that information in the
Strategic Plan.
Inspirational Model of Strategic Planning
 sometimes used when planners see
themselves as having very little time
available for planning and/or there is
high priority on rather quickly
producing a Strategic Plan document
Phases:
1. Attempt to gather Board members and
key employees together for planning.
2. Begin by fantasizing a highly
inspirational vision for the organization
-- or by giving extended attention to
wording in the mission
3. Brainstorm exciting, far-reaching goals
to serve customers and clients even
more effectively.
4. Include the vision and goals the
Strategic Plan.
Source: Public Participation in Community and
Regional Planning
Importance
 Public participation is a national ethical
standard for professional planners
 Citizen participation is the cornerstone
of democracy and an essential part of
American culture
 Understand the social context of a
community or region
 Improve public projects and the quality
of decisions through knowledge sharing
 Maintain legitimacy in decisions and
build trust between the government
and community members
 Make public value choices with the
public
 Produce long-term citizen support for
public projects
 Prevent delays, fees, and frustrations
 Inform the public about community
issues and facilitate quality public
opinion
 Enhance citizenship and participation
 Balance individual and community
needs
 Respond to complex problems and
resolve community conflicts through
collaboration and consensus
 Build social capital and an ethic of
mutual aid