Strategic Planning
According to John Bryson, Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, strategic planning is, “A disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does and why it does it.”
As a Chapter, NAIFA does rely on you to bring the National Strategic Plan to life at the Chapter level. To have success in doing that, you will want to tangibly make the NAIFA plan relevant to your Chapter. State and Local Chapters should host their own strategic planning session every three to five years.
Developing a Chapter-specific plan that compliments the national plan ensures you are providing purposeful focus on your unique needs and goals which should make the work you are doing at the Chapter level even more meaningful and rewarding. Below is a simple three-step approach to strategic planning.
1. Advanced Prep: Prep in advance by planning for the process and engaging participant surveying in advance pays huge dividends on the planning day.
- Be realistic about the time it will take to prepare, host the planning day itself and execute/implement the plan.
- Survey in advance to determine how much discussion will be needed when the group meets, and specifically, what you are going to be talking about.
- Communicate the overall timeline to all participants to avoid false expectations.
2. One-Day Session: On the day of the planning session, begin by simply confirming the purpose of the Chapter and summarizing what was learned through the pre-survey work.
- Use the survey work to simplify identifying the key strategies the Chapter will focus on to make each of the NAIFA goal areas relevant and tangible for your Chapter.
- Spend the bulk of your energies that day on prioritizing and strategizing what the Chapter will focus on over the next 3-5 years.
- Ensure you are being realistic about the resources available, including people, time, and money.
3. Implementation: Managing implementation of the plan requires an effective partnership between your board, staff, and key volunteers to make NAIFA’s goals a reality.
- Appropriately communicate the plan to your Chapter’s members and use the plan to maintain the Chapter’s focus over the next 3-5 years.
- As a board, you will need to keep the plan a priority by making at least some piece of the plan a part of each board meeting.
- The plans should have both strategic advocates, as well as tactical responsibility.
Strategic Advocates = Board Tactical Accountability = Individuals/Groups
If your Chapter is interested in having a NAIFA staff member facilitate your strategic planning, please email leadership@naifa.org.
Quick Links
Chapter Strategic Plan Timeline
Law of Diminishing Return
Sample NAIFA Strategic Planning Participant Survey
