I pulled together a simple framework to help leaders implement a strategic planning process. The materials include the 5 key strategic planning steps, methods of including innovation within that process, and some trade-offs of time, buy-in and speed to think about as you implement your own process.

1. Strategic Planning & Innovation
Chris Griggs
December 4, 2014

2. Today’s Discussion
• A Five Step Process for Strategic Planning
• Two Simple Ways to Think About Innovation
• The Iterative Nature of Planning
• Trading-off Buy-in, Transformation, and Speed
• Questions and Discussion
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3. Although there are many ways to do strategic planning, you can
break it down into a 5 step process
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What’s the
best plan?
What are your
best options?
What options
exist for each
challenge?
What is the
nature of your
challenges?
What
challenges do
you face?
• What are my
“customers”
telling me?
• What keeps me
up at night?
• What are other
organizations
doing that I am
not doing?
• What do my
other
stakeholders
tell me?
Example Questions (Not Exhaustive):
• How big is the
challenge or
opportunity?
• How fast is it
changing?
• What happens
if I do nothing?
• How does it
impact my
stakeholders?
• What can I
start, stop,
continue or
modify?
• How can I
change
Structure,
Systems, Style,
Staff, Skills,
Strategy, or
Shared Values?
• What are the
tradeoffs of
each? (i.e.
Cost, Client
Impact,
Community,
Fund raising,
etc.)
• What sequence
of activities
allow me to
implement the
best options?
• What resources
are needed?
• Who will do
what, when?

4. There are many ways to innovate; a good way to get started is to
brainstorm and raise hypotheses for each step in the process
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• Whatare all of the possibilities?
• Can you rule out any quickly?
• How do you pick the bestone?
Brainstorming
Hypotheses
• Whatdo you believe to be true?
• How do you test if it is true?
• If you are right/wrong whatare the implications?

5. A good strategic planning process uses innovation to both move
forward and iterate as you learn new things
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What’s the
best plan?
What are your
best options?
What options
exist?
What is the
nature of your
challenges?
What
challenges do
you face?

6. There is a tradeoff between stakeholder buy-in, transformation
and speed
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Number of
Participants
Time
Many
Few
Less Buy-In;
Potential Transformation;
Fast
More Buy-In;
No Transformation;
Fast
More Buy-In;
Some Transformation;
Slow
Excellent Buy-In;
Less Transformation;
Slow

7. Questions and Discussion
• What areas have you struggled with?
• How have you found success?
• What did we not cover?
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