Strategic Planning 101
Strategic Planning
The process of self-examination,
the confrontation of difficult
choices, and the establishment of
priorities.
Strategic Planning
The process of self-examination,
the confrontation of difficult
choices, and the establishment of
priorities.
It’s all about making decisions!
Strategic Planning
The process of self-examination,
the confrontation of difficult
choices, and the establishment of
priorities.
It’s all about making decisions!
Staying relevant!
Strategic Planning
The process of self-examination,
the confrontation of difficult
choices, and the establishment of
priorities.
It’s all about making decisions!
Staying relevant!
And planting the seeds for future
success.
Strategic Planning
“The lottery is great, because it's easy. Not
certain, but easy. If you win, the belief goes,
you're done. Medical school is great
because it's certain. Not easy, but certain. If
you graduate, the belief goes, you're done.
Most people are searching for a path to
success that is both easy and certain. Most
paths are neither.”
- Seth Godin
Fundamentals of the Process
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Structured
Inclusive
Transparent
Measurable
Flexible
Data-driven
Integrated – throughout the org.
Tied to Assessment and Budget
A continuous cycle
Situation
Assessment
Evaluate
BELIEF
SYSTEM
Plan
THEORY:
It starts with strategic thinking
• The best executives have the clearest vision of
where they are headed, and the greatest capability
of communicating that vision, even if they don’t have
all the answers on how to get there!
• Skills in reading the forces and how they are
aligned, and controlling the forces to select an
approach and guide the organization toward the
goal.
Planning Requires
Futuring Skills
• Consequential
thinking
• Critical thinking
• Creative thinking
Consequential thinking
• Long-term results rather than immediate
benefit
• What will happen if…
Critical thinking
• Examine costs and benefits associated
with particular activities
• Don’t do it just because “everyone else is
doing it…”
• Rational
What Would YOU Do?
Runaway Train #1
A runaway trolley is racing down the
track, with 5 people working
on the tracks straight ahead. You are in
the switching booth and see
that if you switch the trolley to the other
track that there is only 1 person
working there. Thus 1 person would be
killed instead of the 5 who will be
killed if you take no further action.
Runaway Train #2
A runaway trolley is racing down the
track, with 5 people working
on the tracks straight ahead. You are
on the overhead walkway next to a fat
man with a backpack. You see that if
you push the fat man to the tracks it will
derail the trolley and only 1 person
would be killed instead of the 5 who
would be killed if you take no further
action.
Runaway Train
1. A rational response: cost-benefit
2. An emotional response: reactive
and visual
This is fought out in your
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex
Creative thinking
• Leads to creative
problem solving
• Everyone is involved
• Most important in
dealing with change
Practice: Building the Plan
Build the Plan: Who Does It?
In the not-for-profit world, Boards are
intimately involved in long-range planning
while the staff are more strategic/tactical.
Generally they work together.
Create Context
Understand the Environment
Situation Analysis
–Strengths
–Weaknesses
–Opportunities
–Threats
Understand the Environment
Situation Analysis - Internal
–Strengths
–Weaknesses
–Opportunities
–Threats
Understand the Environment
Situation Analysis - External
–Strengths
–Weaknesses
–Opportunities
–Threats
Long-Range Planning
(The Belief System)
• Where are we
headed?
• What should we be
addressing?
• What are the rules?
• Requires
organizational
stability
Belief System
Conceptual Flow: Long-Range Plan
Externally Focused
Vision
Mission
Belief System
Internally Focused
Vision
Goals
Core Values
Vision
• The expression of
the ideal future that
gives us purpose.
• A future that we
have to create to be
successful and
relevant in a
changing
environment.
• A shared sense of
direction.
Belief System
Vision – 2 types
Belief System
Externally focused
The gift of seeing clearly what may be. The more we
see, the more we can achieve. The more we can
achieve, the grander our vision. Idealistic, emotional
– unusual.
Steve Jobs: “A computer in every home.”
Internally focused
The tangible expression of the future organization
from the perspective of the present. Often included
in the mission statement.
Externally focused vision
• What is it that drives the organization?
• What are we trying to accomplish?
• What bigger thing are we a part of?
Through transformational service and
civic responsibility, the Service
Collaborative of WNY is designing a
sustainable future for our nation’s
communities.
Internally Focused Vision
Personal vision exercise
Belief System
• The organization’s role in
achieving the Vision.
• Describes what business
we are in.
• Boundaries of operation
– a guide to all policy
development.
• The touchstone for every
decision.
The Service Collaborative of WNY, an
independent non-profit organization,
creates opportunities for all individuals
to serve, challenging citizens to turn
their ideals into action and their
passion into positive change.
Core Values
• Core values are the beliefs we hold most
closely.
• Knowledge of beliefs and values must come
before policies, processes, goals and
strategies.
• These statements serve as the "rules" of
doing business and guides to strategy
development; the fundamental ethical
standards and the basis of the culture of the
organization, or what should they be.
Belief System
Core Values
“The customer is always right”
Core Values: Strong Implications
“The customer is always right”
POSITIVE:
1. Convince customers that they will get good service in
this organization
2. Convince employees to give customers good service
Core Values: Strong Implications
“The customer is always right”
NEGATIVE:
1. Makes employees unhappy, and unhappy
employees give bad customer service!
2. Gives unfair advantage to abrasive customers;
some customers are just bad for business.
3. Sometimes customers are just plain wrong.
Discuss - Core Value
“All people have a right to full access to all
levels of health care.”
What are the implications of this statement
from a strategic point of view?
Goals
• Broad statements of
proposed achievement
that, when
accomplished,
significantly contribute
toward the achievement
of an organization’s
mission.
• Broad enough aims to
be something toward
which the organization
is always moving.
Belief System
Goals
1. The quality of health care provided at all levels of service will
meet or exceed community expectations.
2. Our organization will attract and retain the most capable and
supportive professionals to ensure its continued excellence in
serving the region above expectations.
3. Residents of the region will value our agency as an important
partner in maintaining the quality of life in the region.
4. Human service professionals will perceive our agency and the
community as an environment supportive of personal and
professional growth.
5. Consumers will have a high level of satisfaction with their
experiences at our agency.
6. We will generate sufficient working capital and contributed
income to ensure the continuing ability to re-invest in our
facilities and new services that benefit the region.
Goals
1. The quality of health care provided at all levels of service will
meet or exceed community expectations.
2. Our organization will attract and retain the most capable and
supportive professionals to ensure its continued excellence in
serving the region above expectations.
3. Residents of the region will value our agency as an important
partner in maintaining the quality of life in the region.
4. Human service professionals will perceive our agency and the
community as an environment supportive of personal and
professional growth.
5. Consumers will have a high level of satisfaction with their
experiences at our agency.
6. We will generate sufficient working capital and contributed
income to ensure the continuing ability to re-invest in our
facilities and new services that benefit the region.
Vision  Mission 
Core Values  Goals
Long-Range Plan
where we are heading
Strategic Plan
How we will get there
Strategic Planning
Vision  Mission 
Core Values  Goals
Long-Range Plan
(where are we heading)
Strategic Intent
Strategic Plan
How will we get there?
Strategic Intent
Strategic Intent
Situation Assessment
(Environment)
Strategic
Intent
Belief System
Resources Available
Strategic Intent
• What our strategies are going to
accomplish in real and measurable terms
• An inspiration along the way to overall
success
• Unambiguous, clear and simple
Strategic Intent
• Roswell Park Cancer Institute:
– Be a top 10 cancer center
• University at Buffalo
– Be a great public research university with
10,000 more students and 250 more faculty
• Kaleida Health
– Become the area’s university teaching system
Vision  Mission 
Core Values  Goals
Long-Range Plan
Where we are heading
Strategic Intent
Strategic Plan
How we will get there?
Driving Strategies 
Imperatives  Objectives
 Strategies  Tactics
Strategic Plan
Strategy
• A plan to get from some point in the
present to some point in the future.
– More art than science
• An intuitive process
• Alternatives
• Based on knowledge of the customer, the
competition, and the environment
• Resources
Good strategy
• Only as good as its assumptions
• Flexible enough to be modified if the
market or competitors demand that it be
changed
• Connects with the market
Driving Strategies
• Broad approaches to achieve the intent
• Lowest cost provider, highest quality
provider, most flexible in meeting
consumer needs, shape the market, react
to competitors, etc.
• Should clearly differentiate from
competitors and potential alternatives
Imperatives
• Issues, concerns or problems that confront the
organization now, or will soon;
• Will affect several major components of the
organization;
• Will require strategic rather than administrative
or short-term action to resolve;
• Will have serious consequences if not resolved;
• Has not yet been resolved.
Develop the strategic plan
around the imperatives
Implicit that we make resource decisions
within this construct.
Implicit that we hold people accountable
for success within each imperative.
Planning around imperatives
• Define the problem or issue that must be
addressed;
• Consensus on a definition of success, and
how we will know if we are successful;
• Strategies for overall success of the
initiative;
• Measurable objectives with time frames;
• Action plans for objectives.
Strategic Plan
Mission
XXXX provides an array of comprehensive services that assists individuals with mental health problems and/or addictions to
make choices that improve their quality of life and achieve their personal recovery goals.
Core Values
•Person-centered
•Recovery
•Respect
•Quality
•Integrity
•Personal Growth
•Fiscal Responsibility
•Diversity
•Personal Health and Wellness
Vision
The XXXX Group of Companies is working toward a
future where the behavioral health system is providing
effective treatment to anyone in WNY who needs and
wants it, and where people can access the system without
fear of stigma or stereotype.
In this future individuals with behavioral health issues
are included within their communities, and with the help
of effective recovery and rehabilitation programs, are
living renewed and productive lives.
Driving Strategies
•Most nimble
•Newest programs
•Best people delivering services
Strategic Intent
Building on our shared passion for helping people change
and make a difference in their lives, our intent is to
become the preferred system of care for our consumer
population, and a place where people feel good receiving
services and enjoy working. Everyone will take pride in
their association with XXX and will be supporting the
organization privately and publicly.
Imperatives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Goals
1. The Best Quality and Measurable Outcomes
Everyone associated with the XXXX Group of
Companies will have a commitment to excellence and
professionalism. Customer service and achievement
of consumer goals define our success. We will be
accountable for our clinical and service outcomes.
2. Recovery: Every person served by XXX will have
an opportunity to achieve his or her personal recovery
goals.
3. Recognition/Awareness: XXX will be recognized
and valued in every community as a trusted resource
for consumers and their families. We will be viewed
as experts in the behavioral health field, and an
agency to which anyone would feel comfortable
referring a family member.
4. Financial Stability: XXXX will have the financial
resources to support its growth and develop/ improve
its services.
5. Seamless, Person-Centered Services: XXX’s
integrated service delivery system will empower
consumers and support their pursuing their hopes and
dreams for recovery.
6. Human Resource Development: The most
capable and responsible individuals will be attracted
to XXXs professional atmosphere.
Learnings over 35 years
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Narrow the agenda
Measure outcomes
Accountability
Don’t plan to plan – make
decisions
• Making decisions is a
process that includes
understanding
alternatives