Boards play a critical role in strategic planning success
When you hear the words strategic planning, do you envision a bunch of executives or consultants sitting in a room and whiteboarding a new plan? One that lists all the goals the organization or business hopes to achieve over the next 1-3 years, that will likely, after being presented to the staff and board, sit on a shelf until it’s time to see how the organization measured up? This is not only a waste of time, but it’s a morale killer, deflating all the excitement and energy built within the team during the process. At Mapt Solutions, our goal is to change this broken process.
At Mapt, we have experience, and a strong track record, of helping organizations develop well-informed and actionable strategic plans. The strategic plans we develop start with a deep dive to analyze data and the broader environment in which an organization operates. Each partnership ends with a clear plan and a supporting roadmap for how the organization will implement their strategic plan — including who's on first for what, how they'll measure success and the critical resources needed to execute.
Board engagement is crucial to the strategic planning process, as boards can often make or break these efforts. When an organization’s board is genuinely engaged, the board members bring outside knowledge, wisdom and input that pushes and enhances organizational thinking. But too often, boards aren't engaged; they operate on the periphery, and, as a result, can inadvertently hinder or block important progress.
Here are a few ways you can bring your board into the strategic planning process.
1. Phase 1 Discovery
We engage board members from the start to gather their current perspective and what they aspire for the organization, and then pull them in to broader industry and landscape reviews. This helps ground them and provide important industry and organizational context that makes them better positioned as a board member to support the organization. Pro tip: These landscape reviews and analyses are often packaged as a resources for new board member onboarding, too.
2. Strategic Planning Workshops
Instead of talking at your board, empower them to help you make decisions. We routinely host strategic planning workshops with our clients, providing interactive ways for board members to come up to speed on current organizational issues, help identify priorities and evaluate the resources needed to effectively execute. Having the board engaged in a hands-on way makes it easier for executives to discuss the real issues at hand and gain their board members’ expertise in solving. It also builds important knowledge for where the organization is heading so your board can better support you when implementation comes.
3. Communication and Expectation Management
Every board is built differently, with their own personalities and expectations for engagement and communication. Unfortunately, these expectations are often unstated, which can lead to tension or unproductive working relationships between board members, leaders and staff. (This can be especially true for younger professionals and/or new leaders, which can be particularly unfortunate as it may influence their tenure or limit their passion and creativity.) We help organizations navigate these dynamics by helping to surface and align expectations, develop standard reporting and communication practices that are authentic, comfortable and confidence-building for both parties. These efforts accelerate the acclimation process for new leaders and/or can help smooth things out for those seeking to strengthen connection during a strategic planning cycle.
4. Transparent Progress Tracking
Boards want to be sure the organization is solid, progressing and staying on track, and they want to be sure the executives have a good handle on the wheel. But they’re also busy because, well, they have day jobs too. We’ve helped clients build transparent (and sometimes even interactive) progress tracking tools that reassure the board while also equipping leaders to efficiently and effectively share progress. These tools help to focus board discussions and shine a light on the amazing work executives and their teams are doing to advance the organization’s mission.
5. Strategic Plan Reviews
Strategic plans are meant to be living and breathing documents. They’re meant to be revisited and refreshed as you get things done or as you see changes in the landscape. We help clients recognize this and bake regular reviews into their board engagements, including using them as opportunities to expand the board’s understanding of changing climates, push organizational performance and thinking, and more. This keeps plans top of mind and gives board members a real chance to help guide and inform your thinking for today – and the future.
If you need help with engaging your board in strategic planning, Mapt is here to help.