My Concern About the Use of Strategic Planning “Templates”

Written by Carter McNamara | Edited by Rory Hart
Sections of this topic
    A worried businessman with a laptop in an office

    It seems that the use of “templates” in strategic planning is on the rise. People want a simple and straightforward way to get the strategic planning templates written and finished. They want a “roadmap” that applies to every organization with everyone all the time and everywhere.

    I’m seeing them mentioned more often lately for strategic planning, Boards, marketing, and fundraising. We’re getting more calls from potential clients who want us to use a certain template.

    Some of the Advantages of Templates

    1. They very quickly depict a certain approach to doing a seemingly complex activity.
    2. They sometimes promise a very quick way of doing a seemingly prolonged activity
    3. They can quickly orient people to a certain way of doing that activity.

    Disadvantages of Templates

    1. Might minimize the time needed for critically important strategic analysis, thinking, and discussions.
    2. Can give the illusion that all planning and plans can be the same, regardless of the different purposes of planning.
    3. Might suggest a “quick fix” to the challenge of allocating sufficient time and resources to good planning.
    4. Indirectly suggest that a nonprofit should have a certain structure and certain Board committees.
    5. They don’t orient planners to the different variety of models for planning, i.e., don’t enhance the internal planning capacity of planners.

    Some Mistaken(?) Assertions in Templates

    Some:

    1. Specify which Board committees a nonprofit should always have.
    2. Specify the maximum limit of committees for all nonprofits.
    3. Specify certain procedures for solving problems and making decisions.
    4. Specify the time frame that a Strategic Plan should be.
    5. Specify that sufficient planning can be done in a certain number of hours.
    6. Assert that mission, vision, and values must always be looked at first in planning.

    However, Assertions Are Not Always True.

    They depend COMPLETELY on the nature and needs of the nonprofit. For example:

    1. The number and types of committees might depend on the number and complexity of strategic priorities.
    2. The way that decisions are made and problems are solved depends on the culture of the organization, e.g., some prefer a highly rational breakdown of the issue, while others prefer a more unfolding, naturalistic, but inclusive approach.
    3. The time frame of a Plan should depend on, e.g., how rapidly the environment is changing around the nonprofit and the range of its resources.
    4. There are occasions where mission, vision, and values are not the best to start planning with — if an organization’s programs and clients have not changed, but it has many internal issues, then address those first.
    5. The role of templates has its advantages. But I wish that the authors of templates would do more to caution the users on the purposes, limitations, and considerations of using those templates.

    ??? What do you think?

    Carter McNamara