Strategic Planning through Appreciative Inquiry

 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

- Mark Twain

 

For many, many years, strategic planning was performed by the top leaders of organizations without any input or participation by the people who actually carry out the plans.  Leaders used a method of assessing an organization’s Strengths and Weaknesses (internal matters) along with Opportunities and Threats (external matters) to craft the plan; the SWOT approach.

Best practice offers two fundamental changes to this conventional approach.  First, involve as much of the organization as possible, in appropriate ways.  Utilize the experience and wisdom of the entire organization, not just the owners or leaders.  Common sense, you might say.

Secondly, rather than using the SWOT as the foundation for planning, best practice suggests a more positively focused approach.   Turn the SWOT into SOAR, as in Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations (what is our preferred future) and Results (what will it look like when we’ve succeeded).  This intentionally positive, future-focused approach has a number of benefits: it is more results-oriented, creative vs. fearful, values-based as opposed to reactionary and optimally leads to open dialog and meaningful conversations.

The process has four main steps:

1.      Establish the Organization’s Core Values

2.      Create the Vision or Future State

3.      Define the Core Purpose or Mission

4.      Develop the Strategic Objectives and Action Plans to get there

Steps One and Four are usually performed by the owners, leaders and/or management team of the organization, while Steps Two and Three are as inclusive of the entire organization as possible.  The initial planning process might involve a series of meetings/retreats over a period of a few weeks or months, and then the actual work of implementing or operationalizing the plan occurs throughout the year-long cycle of doing business.

The strategic planning process starts by focusing on the strengths of an organization and its stakeholders’ values and shared vision.  The implementation of the plan relies on a steady, real-time assessment of measurable results and a willingness to make necessary adjustments and corrections.  The strategic plan revisions are then based on current conditions (almost always changing) within the framework of the organization’s core values and strengths (rarely or never changing).