Questions for Leaders

• Relevance -“Value Proposition”– What will make this association relevant to its

members in the future.• Renewal - “Plausible Promise”

– What will renew this association for the 21st Century. What could we become?

• Resilience –”Deep Capacity and Values Resolution”– What will make this association resilient - developing

a deep capacity for strategic planning/thinking.• Need to be “strategic” in a continuous status

which will allow you to thinking in a innovation mode.

What Makes an Issue “Strategic”?

• When it materially effects (today or going forward) the viability or sustainability of the enterprise/system.

• When it effects the whole system of operation (within other systems).

• It’s not just a “value” issue – it’s a “values” issue. The intrinsic commitment is more important than the extrinsic outcome.

Quotes to Keep In Mind!

• “If we’re growing – good for us, but nothing lasts forever!”

• “Are we reaching a point where we are running out of our original momentum?”

Questions That We Must Answer

• How Do We Maintain the “Strategic Goal” in a Continuous Process?

• What is “Thoughtful Strategic Design”?

• To answer these questions one must think of our organization as a “living organism”.– 70% is current systems maintenance– 20% is on going projects (extensions)– 10% is the future of the organization

Strategic Planning vs Planning Strategically

• Strategic Planning – Assumes a Stable and predictable

environment.– No one system (including this organization) is

ever in this situation!– If this is true – why do we continue to use a

model that depends on a stable and predictible environment?

• WE NEED TO “PLAN STRATEGICALLY”!

Strategic Planning vs Planning Strategically

• Strategic Planning– Creates multi-tasking activities that provide

opportunities for an organization screw more things up at the same time.

– Creates a highly fragmented environment.– Is used as a method of control by the board

of directors.– Its evaluation happens at the periphery

(members) not at the board level.– Key Focus: Stability, Predictability, Control

Planning Strategically

• You Cannot Plan Your Way into the Future!

• Develop a very strong statement around what the organization believes in and let our efforts to support this message grow from that statement.

• We need to be “stewards” of the organization, not “protectors” of it.

Principles of an Organization

• What are the 5 or 6 things we agree upon as an organization.

• Explicit or Tacit– 99% of the time the goals of the organization

are tacit.– Principles (the 5 or 6 things we agree upon)

need to be “explicit”.

• Strategies for these explicit principles should drive the budget.

What We Need to Do

• Identify our 5 or 6 core principles stated using no more than the front and back of single page!

• Keep the core principles short and explicit. If you cannot articulate the strategies to others in 10 words or less – you’re not going to be able to articulate it to the stake holders of the organization!

Planning Strategically – Taking The Next Step

• Take the following materials home with you:– Jeff De Cagna’s Article “Building Your

Association’s Strategic Capacity by Design”– The Power Point Hand out– The NDCEL Strategic Plan

• Read/Review all three in the above order

Some Things to Think About

Planning Strategically – Taking The Next Step – Assignment 2

• Over the next ten days, challenge yourself to investigate “The Unthinkable” and think about the future of NDCEL.

• Go over the NDCEL Strategic Plan and:– Identify (with a 1) the 5 or 6 core principles that you think should drive

NDCEL in the future. You can add core principles of your own – but remember you can have no more than six! (think 10%)

– Identify (with a 2) those items that you think are “on going projects” or extensions. (think 20%)

– Identify (with a 3) those items that you think are “maintenance of the current system”. (think 70%)

• Mail the Results to Doug by August 15th in the envelop provided.• Doug will review the results and develop our plan of “Strategic

Capacity” based on your efforts for presentation at the October Board meeting.