Client Stories

NEW APPROACHES TO STRATEGIC PLANNING

Strategic Planning: The Scenario Method
CHP&M worked with a small planning group of staff members at a national nonprofit organization to develop four highly differentiated, compelling scenarios of what the future might look like based on the organization's current mission. The two-page scenarios were disseminated to the board and staff prior to a series of small focus group discussions to get input from both current and potential stakeholders. Based on the feedback, the planning group created a single, focused scenario that provides a framework and financial strategy for the organization's work over the next 3 years.

Strategic Planning: The Group Method
Recognizing the time constraints on its faculty, a graduate school altered its strategic planning process. Instead of multi-day planning sessions with everyone required to attend, CHP&M facilitated a series of several half-day sessions for a small planning group of department heads and administrators. Group members conducted both internal data collection with the faculty and external research with peer schools and academic societies to identify the key strategic issues to be addressed in advance of the initial planning session. During the first session a document was produced that provided the framework for the strategic plan. Then every three to six weeks the planning group met for a few hours to revise the document, continually narrowing the focus until the draft plan was ready for review and input by the faculty as a whole. The process was deemed a success as it both resulted in a solid plan for the future and made efficient use of everyone's time.

Strategic Planning: The Consistent Method
Often the success of strategic planning lies in consistency. Since 1995, CHP&M has planned and facilitated an annual strategic planning session for a mid-size business. The purpose of the day-and-a-half meeting is to perform an annual checkup, provide a forum for discussions about the company, and agree on priorities for the future. The planning process has dual benefits: it helps to build a common "corporate understanding" among managers and it provides the leadership team with a foundation for setting strategy and allocating resources to most effectively meet the corporations goals. The success is apparent: the company has recently expanded into a new market segment and revenue is up almost 200 percent in the last 12 months.

Strategic Planning: Back to Basics
An association experiencing rapid growth felt that its focus had become fuzzy. CHP&M worked with the executive team to clarify their thoughts about the association's mission, programs, and membership structure. As part of the analysis, staff and resource commitments were identified for each program and compared to the goals identified in its strategic plan. The results of the process were a realization that the organization had strayed too far from its core work, a decision to re-focus on its primary goals, and an agreement to eliminate the association's affiliated membership category and its related programs.