Nonprofit Strategic Planning or Navigation Planning
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I recently had a conversation with a nonprofit leader about strategic planning and as they outlined their goals I asked, “at this point, do you need a strategic plan or a navigation plan?” When they asked for clarification, I realized that there may be some confusion between the two planning processes.
In my opinion, whether written down or not, every nonprofit organization has a strategic plan. Writing the plan is the act of committing the intentions into an accountable document. A written strategic plan casts a three to five year vision for a nonprofit organization. In essence, the plan closes the gap between where the organization is today and where they want to be in the future. It includes a mission statement describing what the agency does to move towards their vision. The plan then fills in programs, resources and evaluation measures or milestones needed to keep the plan accountable.
A navigation plan addresses short term challenges and transitions that a nonprofit may be facing. A planned departure of the Executive Director or retooling a fundraising strategy are examples of when a navigation plan may be required. A crisis, such as the radical disruption of public policy, funding, and government control also requires a navigation plan.
A strategic plan tells the story of how you create change and why it is important (visually represented in a logic model or theory of change), and maps out a strategy to track progress. When that plan is interrupted by a short term challenge or crisis, a navigation plan is the equivalent of the GPS in your car rerouting you around an accident or other road delay. Once that obstacle is navigated the GPS puts you back on track towards your destination. So in today’s environment, many nonprofits are seeing their funding streams being completely challenged by radical shifts in public policy. Those changes may impact how you implement your strategic plan but the fundamental “theory of change” contained in your strategic plan stays the course. Your task is to navigate around the funding disruptions.
The distinction between a strategic plan and navigation plan is an important one because, conflating the two will waste time, money, energy and focus at a time when these four resources are in scarce supply. A navigation plan focuses narrowly on the obstacle in front of you. It is contained to solving a near-term challenge not casting a long-term strategy. The important step of a navigation plan is to focus on creating alternatives and selecting the most likely path forward. I think it is useful to borrow two tools from the strategic planning toolbox to create a navigation plan.
Planning for Uncertainty: The first resource is a deep dive into planning for uncertainty. Perhaps the single most important reading on this subject is a Harvard Business Review article with the title Strategy Under Uncertainty (1) that is a brilliant and succinct planning tool. The article introduces a model of four levels of uncertainty and describes how to manage each in a navigation strategy.
Scenario Thinking: The second resource is a workbook on scenario planning that was designed for use by nonprofits (2). Scenario planning was developed for the military by the RAND corporation in the 1950 and has become a standard fare of business school training. Scenario planning combines data and trends to create alternative futures and then to take action empowered by the insights that emerge from the process.
Using the planning for uncertainty model and/or scenario thinking will yield the alternatives that can inform the navigation planning process. Both tools are designed to be focused, facilitated and help bring clarity, objectivity and improve confidence in the decision making process.
In summary, strategic plans are concerned with mission vision, programs, capacity, revenues and evaluation that will move a nonprofit organization forward. A navigation plan identifies a specific challenge, examines the alternatives, and creates a pathway forward. Understanding which planning process is called for will help nonprofits focus on, and cope with, the turbulent times we are in.
Resources:
(1) Courtney, H., Kirkland, J., & Viguerie, P. (Nov-Dec 1997). Strategy Under Uncertainty. Harvard Business Review. Note: Hugh Courtney later turned the article into a book 20/20 Foresight: Crafting Strategy in an Uncertain World (now out of print).
(2) Scearce, D., Fulton, K. (July 2004) What If? The art of scenario thinking for nonprofits. Global Business Network.
I have spent my career building connections and supporting collaborative work. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to systems thinking as part of my graduate work in public health and have used community development skills in virtually every position I have held. If you need a meeting facilitator, trainer or someone to help design a process, the reach out and connect.
