When Strategic Planning Is a Journey, Not a Destination
by Rumbidzai Mufuka, Ph.D.
A recent client asked for an “updated” strategic plan and a refreshed mission statement. She said that their old plan was mostly fine and that their mission just needed some tweaks to better reflect what they do. Although she acknowledged the need for community input, she already had ideas about what they would say: “We need more of your services.”
Instead of designing a process that confirmed her expectations, we stuck to our iterative and generative process. The result challenged her assumptions about the community, board, and staff and shifted her responses from defensiveness to curiosity. In this case, a new willingness to acknowledge and communicate that they cannot meet every community need was actually a relief! The strategic plan likely will be more narrowly focused and their mission statement more specific. Our open-minded approach allowed them to explore all the ways they could meet their mission and choose the best fit.
When considering a strategic planning process, ask yourself:
Is your strategic planning process designed as a means to an end? Do you already know what you want it to say?
Will the process allow the board, staff, and community to explore all the possibilities (even the scary ones!) that will strengthen your ecosystem and further the mission?
Are you at a point where all options need to be on the table – from merger to partnership to asset transfer to dissolution? Can you create the right environment for these conversations to be productive?
If you answered, Yes, No, and Maybe - you're not alone! Everyone in our sector is living through another moment of profound uncertainty. Like the aftermath of COVID, today's nonprofit landscape demands a strategic approach that's less a fixed roadmap and more a dynamic compass—pointing toward mission, but flexible about the journey.
Strategic planning is an opportunity to design a generative process that invites organizations to "lift their gaze," to imagine possibilities that might have seemed unthinkable just moments before. At Tangelo Tree, we've learned that the most transformative moments emerge when we can facilitate radical honesty and expansive thinking.
Totally new business model? Potential merger? Spin off a program to another entity? All of the above? Put it all on the table, without judgement, and powerful new possibilities can emerge.
In times of uncertainty, the strategic planning process becomes a tool for exploration, while the resulting plan serves as both an anchor and a sail. It grounds an organization in its core purpose while allowing the winds of change to propel movement.
Instead of following a predetermined route, we explore the entire landscape of organizational potential and co-create a new map.
Sometimes that includes paths that were never initially considered: a merger that amplifies impact, a collaboration that extends reach, or a strategic wind-down that ensures a mission thrives through another vehicle.
Ready to reimagine your strategic potential? Let's talk. Our team at Tangelo Tree specializes in guiding nonprofits to navigate uncertainty with purpose—where exploration matters as much as the destination.