A vision is a clear and ideal picture of what your organization will look like in the future. Many organizations have a vision. For some it is represented by a vision statement, for others it a written description. Regardless of how your organization articulates its vision, one of the common challenges is translating that vision into action.
Although vision can be translated into action in a variety of ways, the most common way is through a 3-step process. This 3-step process assumes that you have already articulated your vision. Once your vision is articulated the three steps are to:
- Develop strategic priorities.
- Determine objectives within each strategic priority.
- Establish action steps.
Step 1 – Develop Strategic Priorities
Strategic priorities are also called strategic thrusts, strategic focus and sometimes goals. Regardless of the term used, they are essentially high level, broad statements that outline something that needs to be achieved in order for the organization to experience its vision.
Generally there are between three and five strategic priorities for any organization. This limit on the number of strategic priorities is often a source of confusion and frustration. This confusion and frustration is caused by the need to make choices about what the organization should focus on and what it should not focus on. Setting strategic priorities are as much about deciding what the organization won’t do as is it about deciding what the organization will do.
The reason for the limitation on the number of strategic priorities is due to the limitation on the available resources your organization has at its disposal. With limited resources you can’t do everything, so you have to choose. The reason for no more than five is because of the cascade effect. The cascade effect is explained after the sections on objectives and action steps.
Step 2 – Determine Objectives
Objectives should be set within each strategic priority and provide a basis for measuring the organization’s success. The idea is these objectives help measure the organizations progress towards fulfilling its strategic priorities.
Objectives are short concise statements that are realistic, time limited and measurable. For example, “raise $10,000 more in the 2003 annual campaign” would meet these requirements as long as the $10,000 number was deemed realistic. On the other hand, “improving our image within the community” would not be an objective because it doesn’t have a time limit nor is it measurable. In discussing if an objective is measurable it is important to know that most things can be measured either directly or indirectly at a cost. For example, “improving our image within the community” can be measured if you agree on the definition of community, definition of image and undertake a survey to measure it. This would be costly. So, in determining an objective, it is important to think about the cost of measuring it. The cost of measuring the objective shouldn’t out weigh the benefit of the information.
Also, when setting objectives the measurement should be impartial. In other words anyone should be able to come along, repeat the process and come up with the same answer. If this can’t be done, the results associated with each objective will lack credibility. Without credibility the result will be discounted and therefore is of no value in helping measure whether your organization is moving towards its vision or not.
Finally, please don’t set 20 objectives. Having a large number of objectives is not the aim of the strategic planning process. The aim of the strategic plan is to help improve the performance of your organization. Objectives help guide your actions and to measure your success along the way. The golden rule in setting objectives is don’t have two when one will do. Having 20 objectives may be appropriate for a multi-divisional national organization but for most not-for-profits a much smaller number is better. You should be spending your time building the organization and improving its performance not measuring it.
Step 3 – Establish Action Steps
Action steps are the specific things that individuals within your organization will do to achieve each of the objectives that you outlined above. Action steps answer the 3 questions of “what is it that will be done”, “who will do it”, and “when will it be done”?
It is important to assign an individual to be responsible for each action item (i.e. the what question). Try not to avoid the trap of saying the Board, staff, volunteers, committee, etc. It is individuals that will drive actions forward. Even though it may well be a committee, for example, that will do the work, put the committee Chair’s name down as the individual responsible for ensuring that it gets done. We have found during the many hours we have spent developing strategic plans for organizations that the probability of success dramatically improves when a single individual is named.
In determining the “when” it is best to put a specific date, i.e. day, month and year as opposed to end of the summer, fiscal year end, etc. You would be surprised how many different interpretations you can get if you’re not specific.
The Cascade Effect
The cascade effect is the outcome of not saying No. Lets say, for example, that you don’t like the idea of limiting your organization to three to five strategic priorities and instead decide that you want ten. Having ten strategic priorities allows the organization to do everything and keeps everyone happy. Now let’s say that you are more focused in setting objectives and develop an average of four objectives for each strategic priority. This way you know if you’re making progress and moving the organization forward on each of those strategic priorities. So now you have about 40 objectives (10 strategic priorities x 4 objectives) that are being measured.
The nice thing about measuring something is that people can be held accountable and as such are more likely to try and get it done. Next you develop your action steps, i.e. the “whats” that need to be done to achieve each of these 40 objectives. We have found that there is usually more than one action step associated with each objective. So for the purpose of this example let’s assume that there are only two action steps on average per objective. Even though some action steps may help achieve more than one objective, you are still looking at anywhere from 40 to 80 action steps that need to be taken.
So with ten strategic priorities, we end up with 40 objectives and up to 80 action steps. This is the cascade effect and it is dangerous if you have limited resources and want to make any meaningful accomplishments. Remember that the action steps that come out of a strategic plan often add to the work that already is being done on a day-to-day basis. You are far better off, making a meaningful improvement in two or three areas than having a minor or no effect on ten.
Key Points to Remember
- Keep the strategic priorities strategic; the fewer the better.
- When setting objectives ensure they are time limited and measurable.
- Only measure what you need, don’t use two objectives when one will do.
- When developing action steps, set specific dates and assign a single individual to be responsible for driving the achievement of each action. By the way, putting the ED down for all of them won’t work either.
Ron Robinson is the president of ABARIS Consulting Inc. He can be reached at (519) 472-9788 or rrobinson@abarisconsulting.com. This article is provided free of charge, for information purposes only and is not intended, represented or to be inferred as providing advice. ABARIS Consulting Inc. makes no warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability for accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information provided in whole or in part within this article.
