The Organic Model of Strategic Planning

What Is an Organic Approach?

Organization and management sciences today are placing a great deal of attention to naturalistic approaches to development. One of the most prominent approaches is called “self-organizing” systems. These are systems that develop primarily according to certain values, rather than according to specific procedures.

Biological systems (people, plants, animals, etc.) are fine examples of self-organizing systems. They might grow in any variety of ways – ways which are rarely sequential in nature. However, these biological systems always develop according to certain key principles or values, such as propagation of their species and self-preservation.

Contrast to the Traditional Approach to Strategic Planning

Contrast that naturalistic, unfolding approach with the traditional approach to strategic planning, which is usually linear, or sequential, in nature. In the traditional approach, planners might:

1. First identify broad mission, vision and/or values statements
2. Conduct a situational analysis involving external and internal assessments
3. Establish broad goals in accordance with the mission and results of the assessments
4. Identify strategies to achieve those goals (small organizations often skip these strategies)
5. Develop specific action plans (objectives, schedules, responsibilities and resources) to achieve each of the goals.

This linear approach is not well suited to all types of organizations. Some organizations might prefer a more naturalistic planning process that allows all perspectives and activities in an organization to unfold over time. This planning process might be deemed “organic”, that is, it emerges like that in natural systems, such as plants, animals and people. Some might prefer to call it “holistic.”

What is an Organic Approach to Strategic Planning?

This is a rather unconventional approach to planning – certainly, an approach that some might argue is not strategic at all. However, the value of this approach is that it can match the nature of certain types of organizations much more closely than the traditional, linear approaches. It might even be argued that the linear approaches can even hurt these types of organizations as their members struggle to conform to a planning process that is quite contrary to their nature.

Step #1: Clarify stakeholders’ vision and values

In meetings of perhaps half a day, stakeholders clarify their common vision and values. Here are various methods to clarify vision and values. The types of stakeholders depend on the purpose of the planning. For example, neighborhood development planning might include members of the neighborhood, potential funders and community leaders.

Step #2: Each person establishes personal action plan

At tables of 4-6 people each, each person identifies a relevant and realistic action that he/she can take, and by when, in order to work toward the vision and according to the values. Actions might be derived from telling stories about “the best time that we …” or “my wish is that …” This approach is well developed in the emerging field of appreciative inquiry.

Step #3: Each person reports results of actions; all update vision and values

In the next meeting, at each table, each person reports the results of his/her actions, including progress toward the vision and any learnings that he/she gleaned. After each person has reported, a spokesperson for that table shares a summary of the actions and learnings with the entire group.

The group can use the same process used in Step #1 to update the vision and values based on the results of the actions and the associated learnings.

The group repeats steps 2-3 until the group agrees sufficient progress has been made toward the vision.

When Should Organic Strategic Planning Be Considered?

Organic strategic planning might be suited to your planning if one or more of the following is true:

1. The vision for your organization and its stakeolders applies to a large group of people, and might take a very long time to achieve.
2. The effort to achieve the vision might involve lots of very diverse people.
3. The culture of the organization is quite averse to conducting orderly, sequential activities.
4. The role of vision and values in your organization is extremely important.
5. The culture of the organization highly values the working from the positive and telling of stories.
6. If your organization expects funding from investors or donors, it has confidence that it can obtain that funding without presenting a conventional strategic plan document with goals and strategies.

The focus of the process needs to be on the interaction among stakeholders as much, or more, than on achieving certain, specific results.

What do you think?

Here’s many more resources about strategic planning.

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250
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Carter McNamara