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Strategic Thinkingfor Social Change

The New

Israel Fund Initiative for Social Change

Strategic Thinking for Social Change

What is strategic thinking and planning for social change? How can you plan for change when you do not know what the future

holds? To plan and think strategically is not only about articulating your mission and vision or trying to anticipate what the future will be. It is about verbalizing and agreeing upon the basic assumptions that guide your work. Being strategic is about setting priorities, thereby ensuring that organizational efforts are coordinated and resources are allocated accordingly. It is about understanding what your organization will and will not do, and making difficult choices about using limited resources to achieve your mission. It is about determining, based on a candid assessment of your organization’s strengths and weaknesses, how to take advantage of opportunities and challenges that inevitably come up along the way.

This handbook introduces basic principles and shares insights that we have learned from our work at Shatil in both strategic planning and strategic thinking. Our goal is to guide you in carrying out strategic planning processes and to support your efforts to create “strategic conversations” that are sustained over time in your organization. Designed for nonprofit staff, board members and other organizational volunteers, this handbook is based on the experiences of organizational consultants at Shatil as well as on the experiences of a variety of nonprofit practitioners of social change organizations in Israel. It also draws on interviews with leading researchers in the field and nonprofit capacity builders, and incorporates existing literature on strategy and organizational development.

Shatil, The New Israel Fund’s Initiative for Social Change, was established in 1982 to strengthen civil-society entities and promote democracy, tolerance, and social justice in Israel. Each year, Shatil provides more than 1000 nonprofit organizations with consulting services, training, coalition-building assistance, and general support. Shatil also reaches out to disadvantaged populations- such as new immigrants, Arab citizens of Israel and residents of development towns- to help them realize their rights and play an active role in determining policies that affect their lives.

Shatil Jerusalem - POB 53395, Jerusalem 91533, Tel: 0732-44100 Shatil Haifa - POB 9195, Haifa 31090, Tel: 0732-445300

Shatil Beersheva - POB 17060, Beersheva, Tel: 0732-445400www.shatil.org.il | [email protected]

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Strategic Thinkingfor Social Change

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Written by | Nancy Strichman with Jabir Asaqla, Dror Eytan, Yossi Goldman, Fathi Marshood,

Edited by | Hamutal Gouri (Hebrew), Stephen Donshik (English)

Designed by | Majd Art, Haifa

Copyright © 2011 by Shatil

Printed in Israel

ISBN

ISBN 978-965-7036-10-5


Gabi Neiman, Hagit Shacher, Shahira Shalabi, Michael Sternberg

Ghada Abu Jaber-Nijem (Arabic)

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements iv

Preface v

Introduction 1

Chapter � » Focusing the Effort 6

Chapter 2 » Articulating Your Organizational Identity 20

Chapter 3 » Understanding Your Organizational Context 38

Chapter 4 » Expanding Your Toolbox for Strategic Decision-Making 51

Chapter 5 » Managing Change 70

Chapter 6 » Summing Up 84

Endnotes 89

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Acknowledgements

This handbook is an entirely collective effort and based on the contribution of many. First and foremost, I would like to thank the steering committee, whose input and expertise

as organizational consultants have made this effort possible. Each committee member’s ongoing encouragement and invaluable knowledge have allowed this handbook to take shape. It has been a tremendous privilege to work with a group of such talented and good-humored individuals who have accompanied me on this journey:

| Jabir Asaqla | Dror Eytan | Yossi Goldman | Fathi Marshood | Gabi Neiman | Hagit Shacher | Shahira Shalabi | Michael Sternberg |

I would like to thank our three editors in Hebrew, Arabic and English: Hamutal Gouri, Ghada Abu Jaber-Nijem and Stephen Donshik. After working with Hamutal on several publications, I have come to the conclusion that there is really no point in writing anything unless you can be certain that Hamutal will be editing it! I am grateful to Ghada Abu Jaber-Nijem for her significant experience and understanding of how to both write about and apply these concepts in practice. Stephen Donshik provided crucial guidance and support, and his excellent judgment and editorial skills have made this handbook much stronger.

I would also like to express my appreciation to all our colleagues who so generously gave of their time to review various drafts of this handbook. We are grateful for their efforts and thank them all for their candid and constructive feedback:

| Aaron Back | Prof. Barbara Burstin | Dr. Jennifer Cohen | Prof. Victor Friedman | Avivit Hai | Emily Gantz McKay | Naomi Orensten | Rabbi Jennie Rosenn | | Prof. Deborah Schmueli | Shelly Sharon | Carlos Stiglyc | Gail Zucker |

Finally I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the over thirty nonprofit practitioners who have been willing to openly share their stories, observations and deep wisdom. This handbook is the product of the experience and expertise of inspiring people who are working hard to effect positive social change.

Nancy Strichman, Ph.D.

November, 2011

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Preface

Every year, Shatil receives a variety of requests from organizations that would like to engage in strategic planning processes. Indeed, since the 1980’s, strategic planning

has become widespread in the nonprofit sector and is considered one of the main capacity building activities carried out by all types of organizations.1

Why are more and more organizations choosing to initiate strategic planning processes? A variety of reasons are cited, such as an expressed desire to enhance organizational impact, to respond to changing conditions in the community, or to cope with new financial pressures. An increasing number of funders, based on the understanding that strategic planning can improve organizational effectiveness, are asking for strategic plans from the organizations that they fund. Moreover, nonprofits have become willing in recent years to adopt strategic planning activities that are currently recognized as ‘best practices’. And the use of strategic thinking (based on the elements of strategic planning but carried out as part of the ongoing work) is an even more effective way of making sure that nonprofits maximize their impact.

This handbook introduces basic principles and shares insights that we have learned from our work at Shatil in both strategic planning and strategic thinking. Our goal is to guide you in carrying out strategic planning processes and to support your efforts to create “strategic conversations” that are sustained over time in your organization.2 Designed for nonprofit staff, board members and other organizational volunteers, the handbook is intended to be both practical and user-friendly. This handbook is based on the experiences of organizational consultants at Shatil as well as on the experiences of a variety of nonprofit practitioners of social change organizations in Israel. It also draws on interviews with leading researchers in the field and nonprofit capacity builders, and incorporates existing literature on strategy and organizational development.

Throughout the handbook, mini case studies from social change nonprofits in Israel are included in boxed sidebars. We continue to be inspired by countless activists and nonprofits all over the country and we would like to specifically thank the organizations cited for their willingness to share their stories. It is our hope that this guide will contribute in some small measure to the critical work being carried out by so many nonprofits working to bring about a more just and vibrant civil society.

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Introduction

What is strategic thinking and planning for social change? How can you plan for change when you do not know what the change will be and what the future holds?

To plan and think strategically is not only about articulating your mission and vision or trying to anticipate what the future will be. It is about verbalizing and agreeing upon the basic assumptions that guide your work, which are often subtle and not necessarily discussed openly. (For example, How do individuals in our organization define terms such as ‘social change’ or ‘equality’? What do we believe about the nature of our society and its leadership, about social processes, about current trends?)3 Being strategic is about setting priorities, thereby ensuring that organizational efforts are coordinated and resources are allocated accordingly. It is about understanding what your organization will and will not do, and making difficult choices about using limited resources to achieve your mission. It is about determining, based on a candid assessment of your organization’s strengths and weaknesses, how to take advantage of opportunities and challenges that inevitably come up along the way.

When you take the time to reflect on your work and strategically plan your efforts, you are asking yourself questions such as: What is our organization’s unique contribution? Are we carrying out our work effectively? Are we using our volunteer leadership and professional staff in the best possible way?4 Operating in a dynamic environment, nonprofits do not have the luxury of reflecting on these issues only once every few years.

With growing competition for resources and legitimacy, diminishing funds and increasingly complex social problems, organizations are challenged to set themselves apart and sustain their effectiveness over time. Both the external environment as well as the internal organizational context (due to factors such as turnover of staff) are characterized by constant change. Organizations are frequently required to respond promptly to unexpected developments and make decisions for which there may be no precedent.

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”

John Lennon, from the song “Beautiful Boy.”

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In the midst of this ever- changing reality, it is necessary to ensure that the multiple actions that take place on a regular basis by a variety of organizational stakeholders work to promote the organizational goals. It is the result of these multiple actions - the “sum of reactions,” that often define your organization’s strategic direction.5 Your “sum of reactions” should make up a strategy that reflects your organization’s values and priorities, while enhancing your overall impact.

Why is this important for your work?

Strategic thinking helps an organization to:

• Focus the attention of key decision makers on fundamental issues facing your organization, thereby increasing the likelihood that you are equipped to identify and respond to your organization’s most important opportunities and challenges.

• Develop a coherent language that is shared by your organization’s stakeholders, which encourages clarity when addressing organizational issues, provides a framework for addressing strategic concerns, and offers a more effective basis for decision making.

• Assess both your organization’s strengths and weaknesses and identify resources both internal to the organization and external within the larger community. The process inevitably leads you to examine the role of the organizational leadership, especially your board of directors, and how it is involved in the development of the organization, the implementation of strategic priorities and the expansion of resources.

• Create opportunities to build a sense of teamwork, promote learning and build commitment among organizational stakeholders. Implementation of strategy is facilitated when those who will be acting on the decisions are involved in the process and have a stake in its success.

[Stakeholders are individuals who have or can have an influence on the development of the

organization and may be possible supporters or contributors. It includes members of your

target population, representatives from other community organizations, current and potential

funders and community leaders, among others.]

• Align your organizational goals with how your programs are carried out, how organizational capacities are developed and how organizational resources are allocated. Clear strategies can promote a coordination of activity throughout the organization that helps you to get from where you are to where you want to be.

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• Ensure that your organization has the ability to anticipate change and respond to it more effectively by preparing your stakeholders to be open to the unexpected and unplanned circumstances that inevitably occur along the way.

While the ‘toolbox’ for these processes may overlap, strategic thinking among social change organizations is fundamentally very different from strategic thinking among organizations in the private sector. The ability of your organization to sustain itself over time most likely does not come primarily from profit or outputs (i.e., the willingness of a customer or client to buy goods or services). Your sustainability comes in large part from a coalition of stakeholders who are willing to invest in the organization and/or provide legitimacy or support because they believe it is accomplishing some social good.6 Without minimizing the importance of concrete outcomes, one of the key challenges for your organization is maintaining the belief in your work on the part of primary stakeholders.7

“Strategic conversations” are a critical component for continually reaffirming the belief that the organization’s activities are, in fact, contributing to the desired social good. It is therefore a key aspect to strategic thinking and underscores the importance of wide engagement in the strategic thinking processes outlined in this handbook.

How can you use this handbook?

With an emphasis on providing ideas and user-friendly tools, this handbook offers techniques that strengthen your organization’s ability to think and act strategically. We offer a menu of options to use depending on your current context. You may find that certain techniques become more relevant at different stages of your organization’s life cycle.

While your strategies will need to be revisited regularly, sometimes you will only need to do ‘fine tuning’. At other times, a more fundamental rethinking of your organization’s assumptions and way of working is needed. The types of processes you create based on suggested tools should be fitted to your organization’s needs, experience and style. You will want to adapt the worksheets according to the size of your organization, the time available, the number of people and groups involved in the processes. The techniques are designed so that they can be presented and carried out separately or in conjunction with other activities.

Introduction

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Chapter One: Focusing the Effort provides a brief introduction to the concepts of strategic thinking and strategy.

1. Defining Strategy

a. Organizational Strategy

b. Programmatic Strategy

c. Operational Strategy

2. Where Do We Focus First?

Chapter Two: Articulating Your Organizational Identity presents techniques to facilitate discussion of your organization’s identity.

1. Crafting a Mission Statement

2. Clarifying Core Values

3. Reviewing Organizational History

4. Articulating a Vision Statement.

Chapter Three: Understanding Your Organizational Context reviews how to assess your current context in terms of both its internal and external environment.

1. Facilitating Scenario Thinking

2. Carrying out PEST (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological) & SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis

Chapter Four: Expanding Your Toolbox for Strategic Decision Making explores techniques for framing strategic issues and facilitating informed decision making processes.

1. Prioritizing Strategic Concerns

2. Developing a Theory of Change

3. Designing Criteria to Assess Strategic Options

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Chapter Five: Managing Change addresses challenges of implementation and the efforts needed to ensure that strategies are converted into action.

1. Developing Implementation Guidelines

2. Creating a Workplan

Chapter Six: Summing Up reflects on organizational capacities that are developed in order to plan, think and act strategically.

Remember, strategic thinking is a continuous process - an ongoing cycle of reflection, planning, and implementation. While outside consultants can certainly help in guiding the process, many of the ideas outlined in the following pages are part of a skill set that you will want to nurture at your organization. We encourage you to utilize this handbook with your professional staff, members of the board and board committees, and other volunteers at your organization. As this is an overview of a variety of strategic thinking tools, we strongly suggest that you refer to cited resources for more detailed information and instructions on carrying out these techniques.

Introduction

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Focusing the Effort

Thinking strategically does not have a defined endpoint. It does not start or finish when you engage in a strategic planning discussion or utilize a suggested tool in this guidebook.

It is about creating processes, challenging assumptions, and facilitating ongoing “strategic conversations” that help to guide your organization over time. By creating these opportunities, you are strengthening your organization’s ability to learn, to innovate and to adapt as needed to changing circumstances. It is helping to ensure that the “sum of reactions” that are carried out by organizational stakeholders on a regular basis creates maximum impact.

“We think in order to act, to be sure, but we also act in order to think. We try things, and those experiments that work converge gradually into viable patterns that become strategies. This is the very essence of strategy making as a learning process.”8

Strategic concerns for nonprofits are ongoing. As such, the goal is not to try to predict the future or develop the ‘perfect’ strategic plan. Everyone knows that the future is full of surprises; plans can easily become outdated. With such a dynamic reality, you are only able to chart a course of action that provides guidance on how to make decisions and respond to your external environment.

Your strategies ultimately are a combination of what your organization plans to do- your intended strategy, as well as what actually occurs over time- your emergent strategy.9 Some strategies are planned, staffed and funded (i.e., an awareness-building campaign or community mobilization effort) and some may be spontaneous or informal (i.e., efforts to network, identify key ‘players’ or build alliances in your community).

Chapter �

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Your strategies tend to be based on a combination of factors, including the vision of the organizational leadership, intuition, past strategies that have worked, as well as prior efforts at strategic planning. While your strategies are derived from various sources and developed from experience over time, one of the challenges is to clearly articulate the strategies so that they are fully understood by the community, board members and volunteer leadership and the professional staff. With a clear understanding of where your organization is focusing its energy, you are better able to ensure that your efforts are in sync with organizational resources.

“Strategy may be thought of as a pattern of purposes, policies, programs, actions, decisions, and resource allocation that defines what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it.”�0

The idea of strategy as a “pattern” is key because it reflects a consistency in your organization’s behavior over time. This “pattern,” while it is dynamic and fluid, represents an ongoing effort to create alignment between how your organization uses its resources and what you aspire to achieve. Seeking this alignment does not hold you to a particular way of doing things, but rather it is a continuing effort to make sure that major strategies are supported in all aspects of the organization’s work.11

When you have carefully articulated strategies, your priorities are fully understood by organizational stakeholders. Your programs represent a linked set of activities that are complimentary and do not compete with each other. Your strategic decisions serve to further your overall goals by channeling all of your organizational efforts in the same direction.

�. Defining Strategy

“Strategy in its broadest sense, in the context of organizations, is intended to define their raison d’être, their enduring goals, their criteria for resource allocations, and their framework for ensuring consistency of decisions and direction...”��

Chapter 1 » Focusing the Effort

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It is useful to examine your strategies on three levels:

A. Organizational strategyB. Programmatic strategyC. Operational strategy

These three levels of strategies can be conceptualized as a pyramid.13 This pyramid, however, is built from the top: your strategy begins first with determining your organizational strategy because everything else flows from it. Next is the programmatic strategy, followed by the operational strategy. When you are thinking strategically, you are carefully considering each of the three levels of your strategy and how they are interrelated.

The Strategy Pyramid (see La Piana, 2008).14

If in alignment, programmatic choices and organizational resources will fully support your organizational strategy.

As mentioned in the introduction, you should feel free to modify the tools presented in this handbook to suit your organizational needs. If you are carrying out a full strategic planning process, you will be reviewing all aspects of your organizational, programmatic and operational strategy. If you are carrying out a short-term strategic planning process or interested in everyday strategic thinking, you may only need to review your programmatic or operational strategy. Either way, a major part of your ongoing “strategic conversations” will be to check the interrelationship of these three types of strategies.

ProgrammaticDecide on approaches, programs and activities to achieve

specific outcomes related to the target audiences

OperationalAdminister systems, policies, and staff in areas such as finance, human resources,

communications, and information technology

OrganizationalDetermine mission, vision,

trends, partners,and niche in the community

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A. Are You Considering a Shift in Your Organizational Strategy?

Your organizational strategy, also known as “grand strategy,” represents the strategy taken to advance your organization’s mission.15

You may find that there is a need for your organization to focus on fundamental strategic questions such as:

• How do we define ourselves as an organization? How would we describe our organizational identity?

• How well are we achieving our mission with our programs? How can we enhance our impact?

• What is the added value of our work? Do we need to re-consider our organization's unique contribution to the community?

• Are we anticipating the most compelling issues in our field? Are we taking into account how future social and political trends will affect us?

• How are we sustaining ourselves and adapting over time? How are we sustaining ourselves financially?

Of course, organizations that engage in strategic thinking on an ongoing basis continually ask these types of questions; organizational reflection is not limited to once every few years during a structured strategic planning process. These are dynamics in your organization that should be pro-actively explored on a periodic basis. The frequency in which you will need to review such questions largely depends on both your organization’s internal and external context.

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Shift in Organizational Strategy: Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI)��

Prior to the 1990’s, the work of what was considered the environmental movement was primarily associated with the preservation of open spaces, deserts and natural ecosystems. SPNI (http://www.teva.org.il/), Israel’s most veteran environmental organization that was founded in 1953, had traditionally been known for these types of preservation efforts.

Over the past twenty years, as SPNI has increasingly emphasized the link between creating livable cities and preserving open spaces, a shift in its organizational strategy has taken place. A primary organizational focus at the current time is on strengthening Israeli metropolitan areas. This strategic shift is based in large part on the understanding that sustainable development in urban areas has become one of Israel’s most pressing environmental issues. Ensuring a high quality of life for city residents can best protect existing open spaces by reducing the need for suburban sprawl.

Efforts to support this shift in organizational strategy have included:

• Opening local ‘SPNI Communities’ in five cities across Israel.

• Focusing on ‘quality of life’ issues in urban areas as it relates especially to environmental issues.

• Empowering local environmental groups and activists, while providing a platform to establish coalitions that address environmental and planning concerns.

• Establishing an urban planning unit that works with local ‘SPNI Communities’ to promote ideas of sustainable development and the effective management of urban growth.

Together with other environmental organizations, SPNI has helped to spark the “the urbanization of the green movement.” The idea of the environment as a significant, dynamic factor that affects Israelis’ everyday lives has become a part of the public consciousness.

B. Is There a Need to Adjust Your Programmatic Strategy?

Programmatic strategy, also referred to as “service strategy,” represents the work that is carried out by your organization in order to advance your mission in the most effective way.17

Generally you have a variety of choices of which programs to offer. Your programmatic strategy signifies your organization’s current thinking on which activities can best promote

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your organizational goals. This set of activities is designed to achieve particular desired outcomes that are outlined in your organizational strategies.

You may find that it is time for your organization to reflect on questions such as:

• Which approach is most likely to help us achieve our mission? Which programs are considered as a main priority?

• Are our programs consistent with the vision and mission of the organization as articulated by the board and staff and agreed to by our stakeholders?

• Are we doing what we are uniquely qualified to do?

• Should we reconsider how we define the target population for our programs?

• What should be the scale and scope of our work?

A strategic organization views its current program choices and activities as adaptable and flexible, rather than permanent. Your programmatic strategies can be changed as needed in order to most successfully carry out your mission. Do not let your organization “assume that you are what you do.”18 Openly acknowledging this always requires courage. It requires a willingness to honestly evaluate and review the success of existing programs, even those programs that are considered as ‘flagship’ projects of your organization.19

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Adjusting Programmatic Strategy: Women Against Violence�0

Since its founding in 1992, Women Against Violence (WAV) (http://www.wavo.org/) has sought to advance the status of Palestinian women who are citizens of Israel. WAV was the first organization in Israel to establish shelters and a rape crisis center for Arab women. In 2005, it began to re-organize its programs following a strategic thinking process. The advocacy efforts of WAV and other women’s organizations over the past few years have led public institutions to take a greater responsibility in providing violence prevention and treatment programs. In light of these advancements in the field, WAV decided, while keeping in line with its original mission to advance the status of women, to expand its work beyond violence prevention.

Efforts to support this shift in programmatic strategy included:

• Promoting employment opportunities for women.

• Establishing programs for women’s leadership development.

• Creating dialogue with community and political leaders to enhance women’s involvement in public life.

• Strengthening its networks and coalitions (i.e., the Working Group on the Status of Palestinian Women , the Salma Regional Network) to advocate for women’s rights on issues such as promoting access to civil courts for religious women and raising the legal age for marriage.

While keeping its programmatic strategies flexible, WAV continues to proactively identify new organizational priorities for improving the status of women.

C. Is it Time to Focus on Your Operational Strategy?

Operational strategies, also known as “functional strategies,” refer to issues such as financial management, staffing, administrative process, facilities and information technologies.21 They address how your organization functions on a daily basis - how its infrastructure and systems support both your organizational and programmatic strategies.

Questions that reflect typical concerns related to operational strategy include:

• What are the resources needed for the upcoming year? How should we diversify our funding sources?

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• How are we assessing our volunteer leadership for the tasks that they will need to fulfill? Does our board represent both the community and our commitment to social change? 22

• Is it necessary for us to redesign our current administrative policies and procedures?

• Do we have qualified staff for our new project and/or do we need to consider additional staff training?

• Is our current technological support sufficient? How are we enhancing our ability to collect data on our work?

Altering Operational Strategy: Ne’emanei Torah V’Avodah��

Ne’emanei Torah V’Avodah, (http://www.toravoda.org.il/) has been operating for over thirty years, since 1978. It seeks to promote the values of tolerance, equality and justice in the Orthodox Jewish community. Following a strategic planning process in 2004, Ne’emanei Torah V’Avodah welcomed the leadership of the younger generation and subsequently underwent a significant organizational transformation. One of the new priorities was to adjust the focus and style of its activism in order to be more effective in raising public awareness and advocating for policy change.

Efforts to support this shift at the operational level included:

• Hiring a spokesperson to carry out joint campaigns with other like-minded organizations.

• Developing the organizational capacity to utilize new forms of social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

• Establishing a ‘rapid-response team’ so the staff could better respond to pertinent media reports.

Ne’emanei Torah V’Avodah’s has strengthened its ability in recent years to engage the media and draw attention to important social issues such as equality of women within Orthodox society and the need to promote values of democracy in religious education.

It is essential for organizations to periodically review their management of everyday functions and check that organizational and programmatic strategies are best supported by the existing organizational infrastructure.

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�. Where Do We Focus First?

It definitely can seem overwhelming at first to decide how to proceed. Navigating issues relating to the planning and development of strategy is generally not so simple, nor is bringing any type of change to your organization going to be easy. Refining the work or implementing new strategies can be complicated even in the best of circumstances. Yet while it may challenge your organization’s abilities and resources, it is well worth the effort.

How do you determine what type of strategic thinking process you would like to engage in? Various factors will impact on your decision, including:24

• The level of planning experience of key leadership, as well as the content and extent of preparation needed to get the volunteer and professional leadership ready to engage in this process;

• The degree of understanding and commitment to the current organizational mission and vision;

• The degree of agreement on overall direction and allocation of organizational resources;

• The commitment of the organization to allocate the needed resources to begin and continue the process;

• The amount of new information that will need to be gathered in order to make decisions; and

• The organization’s strategic thinking capabilities (see Worksheet 1).

The process is also shaped by additional factors, including the amount of stakeholder involvement, the degree of organizational stability, the size of your organization and the extent to which there is a strong working relationship between the staff and board. Depending on your organizational needs, you may consider if you would benefit from an outside facilitator or consultant to help carry out certain processes.

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Worksheet 1 » Self - Assessment Tool for Strategic Thinking25

You can use this self-assessment tool in order to reflect on what types of processes your organization may like to engage in at the current time. You can decide to simply discuss the topics or use a rating system. {Rating (0 í5) where 0 = we do not experience this in our organization, 5 = we strongly experience or observe this in our organization.}

My Organization…. Rate 0 ™ 5 Comments

The organization’s mission guides our regular decision making processes.

We have a connection between our declared values and how we operate.

We take the time to collectively reflect on our past experience and use these insights to guide our future strategies.

Our vision of the future enables organizational stakeholders to understand what we aspire to achieve.

We continually evaluate our external environment in order to anticipate change.

When planning strategies, we readily consider the risks and opportunities present in each potential option.

There is a willingness to candidly assess and address both our strengths and weaknesses.

We are able to define and prioritize our strategic concerns.

There is a shared understanding of how we can make progress and measure this progress toward our desired goals.

Our organization has structured, participatory processes that are used when assessing strategic alternatives.

When new strategies are introduced at our organization, they are accompanied by a detailed implementation plan.

We regularly use some type of workplan to monitor our progress.


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

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Following an assessment such as offered in Worksheet 1, your organization can consider what type of process to focus on in an effort to strengthen your strategic thinking capabilities.

Every question raised in Worksheet �: Self-Assessment Tool for Strategic Thinking will be addressed in depth in the upcoming chapters. Each question number in Worksheet 1 is associated with one of the following worksheets that appear throughout the handbook.

Question # # and Title of Worksheet Page # in Handbook

1. Worksheet # 2: Crafting a Mission Statement p. 22

2. Worksheet # 3: Clarifying Core Values p. 26

3. Worksheet # 4: Reviewing Organizational History p. 30

4. Worksheet # 5: Articulating a Vision Statement p. 34

5. Worksheet # 6: Facilitating Scenario Thinking andWorksheet # 7: PEST & SWOT Analysis

p. 45 ,47

6. Worksheet # 6: Facilitating Scenario Thinking andWorksheet # 7: PEST & SWOT Analysis

p. 45, 47

7. Worksheet # 7: PEST & SWOT Analysis p. 47

8. Worksheet # 8: Prioritizing Strategic Concerns p. 53

9. Worksheet # 9: Developing a Theory of Change p. 61

10. Worksheet # 10: Designing a Criteria to Assess Strategic Options

p. 67

11. Worksheet # 11: Developing Implementation Guidelines p. 77

12. Worksheet # 12: Creating a Workplan p. 82

You can review the next four chapters and consider the different tools. Certain techniques will be familiar; others may be new. While some of the tools are more focused on planning, other tools address the issues of decision making processes and the implementation of change. You can consider them as part of your ‘toolbox’ for strategy development.

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Getting Organized

“Strategy making is not an isolated process. It does not happen just because a meeting is held with that label. To the contrary, strategy making is a process interwoven with all that it takes to manage an organization.”��

Keep in mind that your efforts to develop strategy take place within an existing organizational context. Dynamics within your organization, both those that are constructive and those that are not, will come into play and influence your process of designing and implementing strategy. Not surprisingly, your organizational leadership is of critical importance here.

The tone set by the leadership sends a signal to the rest of the organization on how to handle organizational issues and how decisions are made (i.e., whether or not there is a genuine openness to new ideas; whether there is a willingness to ask tough questions, and whether creating a ‘shared ownership’ of the organization is a genuine priority). Leadership is also responsible for developing strategic processes that are inclusive and that actively engage both the staff and board.

The most effective way to develop a sense of ownership and commitment will be to create broad participation in strategic planning and thinking processes. Keep in mind that your board of directors and other volunteer leadership help to provide your organization with its ‘social legitimacy’; they are accountable for setting the policies and the finances of the organization.27 Similarly, the professional staff provides a knowledge of the inner workings of your organization and an understanding of how these policies are implemented on a day to day basis. Thus it is necessary to understand the nature of the contribution that both volunteer leadership and professional staff can make and then to develop appropriate roles for them in the process. You will want to consider how you will engage other organizational stakeholders as well.

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If You Are Carrying Out a Structured Strategic Planning Process, You Will Most Likely Want To Do the Following:

Select a Steering Committee to Coordinate the Process A strategic planning committee usually includes the executive director, board representatives, key staff members, and other organizational stakeholders. The committee is generally responsible for outlining the proposed process, selecting outside consultants (if needed), monitoring the process and ultimately overseeing the development of the strategic plan.

Decide if Outside Help is NeededDepending on your experience with planning, you can consider an outside consultant. A consultant can help to keep the process on track while also helping to free up the time of key leadership to be able to actively engage in the discussion. As an outsider, a consultant can also provide a neutral voice and does not come with any ‘organizational baggage.’28 At the same time, it is important to consider how much of the internal organizational capacity you would like to build up to carry out these processes.

In determining whether or not to hire an outside consultant, remember that you can use the consultant for different stages in the process. Either way, be sure to define ahead of time the expectations and consultant’s role.

You will also want to consider other resources. For example, you may be able to find a volunteer facilitator to engage in the process. It may also be helpful to consult with other organizations that have carried out strategic planning processes and learn from their experience.

Outline a Planning Process that Suits Your NeedsYou will want to make sure to design a process that fits your organization’s specific context. Remember to keep in mind your ability as an organization to commit in terms of time and resources available. You will also have to decide which individuals and groups should be involved. Consider the question: “Whose ideas and support are needed to develop and implement a plan?” The answer to this question can guide you in determining how and when to involve board members, staff, members of your target population, community representatives, funders and potential partners.29 Throughout the process, there will be different stages during which you can involve your stakeholders (i.e., serving on committees, participating in group discussions, gathering information). Remember that participation can be on many levels.

Ensure the Commitment of Your Organizational LeadershipYou will not want to begin the process without having the support and commitment of board members and key staff. It will be worthwhile to openly air concerns and how they may be addressed in the design of the process. You will also want to outline some of the critical issues that you expect the planning to address and discuss what the planning process may accomplish for your organization.

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While it is important to have leadership with strategic thinking skills, it is an even greater asset to build your entire organization’s capacity to plan, think and act strategically.

Creating participatory “strategic conversations” increases the likelihood that good ideas and new insights are brought into the process.30 The board and staff can feel energized by posing and answering important strategic questions. You will not only further a sense of teamwork, promote learning and build commitment at all levels, but you will also have a stronger organization for it.

Is it possible to carry out strategies that are not planned, articulated or necessarily deliberate? Of course! You can rely on the intuition of the leadership to set a strategic direction or simply “muddle through,” without engaging in strategic processes.31

It is unlikely, however, that individual leadership can create the same kind of commitment to an organization’s strategic direction that a group process involving organizational stakeholders tends to be able to do. Moreover, it is rare that one individual has all the information needed to develop a successful organizational strategy that is sustainable over time.

In developing your strategy, keep in mind:

“The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”��

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Articulating Your Organizational Identity

“We function best when we can take some things for granted, at least for a time. And that is the major role of strategy in organizations: it resolves the big issues so that we can get on with the little details.”��

One of the most important aspects of strategic planning, and certainly of strategic thinking, is understanding who you are as an organization. You need to “resolve the big issues” of

your organizational identity first.

An essential part of acting strategically is doing so based on the knowledge of what distinguishes your organization, what are its organizational capacities and its accomplishments, and how it fits into its external environment. Whether you are an emerging organization or a veteran organization, this awareness starts with an understanding of your organizational identity.34

What makes up your organization’s DNA? It is what is “central, enduring and distinctive about an organization.”35 In this chapter, we will review tools for reflecting on four key aspects of your organizational identity:

1. Mission Statement

2. Core Values

3. Organizational History

4. Vision Statement

Chapter �

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�. Crafting a Mission Statement

Your mission statement should answer the question,

“What good, for whom?”��

A mission statement outlines the fundamental reasons why your organization is doing the work that it does; it is “the who, what, why and how of your organization’s work.”37 The mission statement communicates to the outside world the kind of contribution that your organization is seeking to make and what sets you apart from other like-minded organizations.

When a mission statement is simple and powerful, it can play a significant part in promoting your organizational goals. Your mission statement ideally should represent the legitimacy granted to your organization by the community and delineate the unique added value of your work.38 While it provides clarity to both your external and internal stakeholders, your mission statement is essential in helping you determine what to do as well as what not to do. A mission statement enables your organization to think more strategically, prioritize the work, and engage only in those activities that further your goals.

Your mission statement succinctly explains why there is a need for what you do and why people are committed to the organization. It should not define the work too narrowly or it can be limiting. On the other hand, if your mission statement is too broad, it can lead to confusion or conflict when you are formulating strategies.

Chapter 2 » Articulating Your Organizational Identity

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Worksheet 2 » Crafting a Mission Statement39

1. If you are articulating your mission statement for the first time, consider the following questions:

a. Who are we? What is the purpose of our organization?

[To note: the purpose of your organization describes the ultimate result that you are hoping to achieve (i.e., to eliminate poverty; to enhance the quality of air in urban areas). This should be distinguished from the methods to achieve those results (i.e., offering job training skills; promoting public transportation).]

b. What distinguishes us as an organization?

c. What is our public value? What are the social issues that we seek to address?

d. What are the assumptions that form the basis for our work?

(You can ask questions such as: What are the values you hold important in guiding the organization? Why do you believe that the organization’s work is essential? How do you perceive the nature of the external reality in which you work?)

e. What are the methods we use to accomplish our purpose?

f. If already articulated, write down your organization’s vision.*

2. If there already is an articulated mission statement, explain any questions or ideas you have about it (i.e., How have we used our mission statement, both externally and internally, since it was first articulated?40 Does it reflect the changing realities? Is it still grounded in our values? Does it still communicate who we are? Is it clear and well stated?).

3. Write down your mission statement for the organization. If this has already been done, please note any suggested changes to it.

*For developing a vision, see Worksheet # 6. There are various perspectives with regard to whether a mission statement or vision statement should be articulated first by an organization.41 Based on the idea that the process of creating a vision naturally follows after organizational capacities and abilities have already been defined, we have placed the crafting of your vision statement at the end of this chapter. As with all the tools in the handbook, you can use these flexibly and in the order you prefer.

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Ideally, your mission statement should be concise, memorable and easily stated by board, staff and volunteers. It should be visible to all members of organization, having a “physical presence” in the organization.42 Your mission statement should be included in your newsletters, website and brochures. By prominently displaying your mission, you will easily be able to communicate to your target population, community partners and other stakeholders the answer to the questions - “What good?” and “For whom?”43

Articulating a Mission: The Campus-Community Partnership��

The Campus-Community Partnership (http://law.huji.ac.il/merkazim) seeks to bridge the work of social change nonprofits with academia, while cultivating the next generation of social change leaders. The Partnership, which is hosted by the Faculty of Law of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was established in 2006 and serves institutions of higher education all over the country. Supporting university courses that combine academics with social action, the Partnership seeks to enhance the commitment of college students, institutions of higher education and the wider community to social justice and human rights in Israeli society.

The Campus-Community Partnership’s mission statement refers specifically to the three different target populations for their work. The Partnership “seeks to:

Re-engage Israeli institutions of higher learning with the pressing social issues of the day;

Develop the intellectual and social change capabilities of a new generation of students who will go on to become engaged civic actors in their communities;

Bring the academic knowledge, useful to social change efforts, into deeper engagement with community organizations.”

The above mission statement outlines the organization’s goal of promoting the mutual commitment of these three different groups to work for greater social justice and human rights. It has clearly articulated: “what good” and “for whom.”

It will be worthwhile to periodically review your mission statement in order to make sure that you have clarity and agreement on what really matters. Essentially it is about what the mission statement reflects. Ask yourselves: “What does it say about who we are and how we are unique?”

Your mission statement generally should serve as an important guide in developing your organization’s strategic approach.45 It should be an integral part of any decision making

•

•

•

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process. As with other strategic thinking tools, it is helping your organization to create a shared vocabulary - a vital element in setting your organizational direction.

Establishing a Coherent Language: The Jerusalem Open House��

The Jerusalem Open House (JOH) (http://www.joh.org.il/) is an activist center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people in Jerusalem. The establishment of JOH in 1997 provided a much-needed ‘safe space’ and community infrastructure. Over the years, the community went through a period of empowerment and began to expand its efforts beyond providing direct support services to the LGBT community.

Within a few years, the leadership at JOH felt it was imperative to sharpen its goals, especially after hiring its first director in 2000. JOH had reached a stage of development where it became necessary to clarify its role in providing direct support services for the LGBT community and in advocating for LGBT rights in Israeli society at large.

A concise re-conceptualization of itself as a “community organization for social change” provided needed clarity to the work. JOH would be about community-focused empowerment for the LGBT community, and it would also be about making a difference in the greater society. The mission was stated as follows:

Community Support: To provide direct support services for the LGBT community in Jerusalem and to foster cooperation and unity among those of differing faiths, sexual orientations, genders and worldviews.

Social Change: To advocate for social change on issues related to LGBT community, taking action to promote the values of tolerance and pluralism.

As explained by leadership involved in the process, “For us it was a strategic revolution because the language now made clear the place of both service and advocacy. We could now easily explain what we do. Everyone now understood the strategic connection between, for example, supporting youth groups and our annual Jerusalem Pride marches.”

Strategic thinking is cultivated by conversations that create a shared understanding and a common language regarding your work. Just as your mission statement should be clear and concise, all aspects of this common language used to address strategic issues should be simple and easily understandable to everyone.

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like “What about lunch?”

Winnie the Pooh47

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•

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�. Clarifying Core Values

Core values drive your organization’s culture and its priorities. These values underpin how you function as an organization and inform everything from the mission statement to activities and policies. For social change organizations, values and guiding principles play an especially significant role in the life of the organization. Often, there is a very close correlation between the personal values of individual stakeholders and the values of the organization. This only serves to strengthen stakeholder commitment and motivation.

A values statement explains the principles on which the organization is built. It answers the question, “What do we believe in?”48

It is essential to consider the impact of your values and beliefs on your daily work and on how you develop strategy. You will want to reflect upon which aspects of everyday practice at your organization support or do not support your values and beliefs.


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Worksheet 3 » Clarifying Core Values49

1. What are the beliefs that individuals in our organization consider the most compelling and important? What do we really care about? How do we want to conduct ourselves as an organization? How do we want to treat each other and our external stakeholders such as our target population and community partners?

2. How should these values be reflected in our mission statement?

3. How does the way we operate reflect these values?

4. How would we articulate (or update) our organization’s core values? Are there values we would like to change/add?

5. Is there anything else that we should do in order to ensure that these values are put into action in all aspects of our work?

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Articulating your values is a critical piece of developing your organizational strategies. They should be discussed, debated and updated as needed. Once your values are made explicit, then the mission statement reflects these values and the organization’s board and staff affirm them in the way they implement their explicit roles. The board does this through its approval of the organizational policies and budgets, and the staff does this through its implementation of the programs.50 The organization’s identity is strengthened by the alignment of values, policies, and practices. (For example, if your organization thrives on its collaborative style of work, you will not want to take on a project that is in direct competition with a community partner).

To ensure success, your organization will want to select strategies that are compatible with your philosophy and values. When your actions are not consistent with your values, then you will likely have a breakdown in the chain that will ultimately impede efforts to implement your strategies.51 Your organization’s values shape the criteria by which you judge whether certain strategic actions are right and proper for your organization (for more on developing criteria in decision making, see Chapter Four).

Passionate about Your Values? Be Prepared for some Heartfelt Discussions…

It will most likely be a challenge (especially if it is the first time) for board and staff members to articulate the values that guide your organization. Core values are considered as the “foundation of your work.”52 As with many of the other discussions, there may be strong emotions expressed when people are talking about something that is so important to them.

Values have drawn individuals to your organization; it is unlikely that they will be neutral on this topic.53 While your organization will probably not be able to equally represent all of the values held by its primary stakeholders, an open discussion on the topic can help to build the commitment of the board and staff.54 Facilitating constructive conversations on this issue also helps to support the alignment of behaviors and policies with the articulated values of the organization.

Organizations that are focusing on the essential task of creating a consistency of organizational, programmatic and operation strategies make certain that their policies are designed accordingly. When there is full alignment, policies related to both the internal operations and the delivery of services reflect core values and strategies (i.e., an environmental organization that refuses to take money from polluting industries; a women's rights organization that ensures its management policies provide support for working mothers).


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Integrating Core Values: Isha L'Isha��

Isha L’Isha, (http://www.isha.org.il/) established in 1983, is the oldest grassroots feminist organization in Israel. One of its core values is to empower women and to build a society “in which women’s voices are heard.” Significant value is placed on inviting multiple and diverse perspectives, and on the need to respect the ability and contribution of each woman. Nurturing a shared sense of ownership and commitment among organizational members is another guiding principle.

With an organizational structure that reflects its feminist stance, Isha L’Isha makes every effort to have its values consistent with its organizational practices. Strategies that reflect these values include:

• There is a flat decision making structure: the organizational ‘collective’ determines the organization’s policies and each woman in attendance (including staff, board members or volunteers) is given equal vote.

• The commitment and contribution of volunteers are considered integral to the functioning of the organization.

• As part of its belief in ‘empowerment’, Isha L’Isha seeks to empower feminist organizations as well as individual women.*

* An indication of the success of this approach can be seen in the large number of organizations that initially began as projects at Isha L’Isha, including Kayan, Mahut, Economic Empowerment for Women, and the Emergency Shelter for Battered Women.

As discussed in later chapters, your values should help to provide the criteria by which your organization determines its strategies and outcomes.

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�. Reviewing Organizational History

“Past is prologue.” Shakespeare in Tempest.56

In articulating your organizational identity, it is important to have an awareness of how your organization has evolved. Organizational stakeholders should have shared insights into how and why your organization was established. This is the basis for your current infrastructure, stage of development and key strategies.

Why should your organization’s history be a part of everyone’s reference? It helps to ensure that you continue to learn from previous experience and encourages “sensemaking” at your organization.57 “Sensemaking” is about understanding your place in the world. This process of reflection and making sense of your organizational context is an essential step in your organization’s capacity to think and act strategically.58 It is about having a grasp of both your organization’s current situation and its history in order to be able to create a future strategy. By documenting this, you are keeping knowledge within the organization and helping to ensure that collective learning and reflection can take place.59

Your organization is renewing itself by reviewing its mission, purposes, goals, and programs, while maintaining its ongoing commitment to the community and to the individuals whom it serves.60 This represents a continuity in the organization’s functioning, in that it reinforces the values that are important to your stakeholders and to the wider community. It is this ‘story’ of how your organization evolved that the stakeholders tell themselves and others, which in turn promotes a collective sense of history and pride.61


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Worksheet 4 » Reviewing Organizational History62

1. What are the significant turning points or milestones that have occurred at our organization? How have they influenced our organization? What have been causes of stability or instability?

2. In recent years, where have we primarily focused our organizational energy and resources? Which efforts have played a central role in bringing us to our current stage of organizational development?

3. What have been our key guiding strategies as an organization, both strategies that have been officially articulated and those that have emerged over time?

4. Which past opportunities have we taken advantage of? Which ones have we missed?

5. Which organizational challenges have we handled well or not so well?

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Your organizational work most likely includes a variety of strategies, programs and activities. As you reflect on major strategic choices made in the past, remember to note both intended strategies as well as those that have simply emerged over time. Take into consideration not only your ‘official’ strategies but also where your energies and resources have actually been focused in recent years.

As part of the discussion, you can outline your organizational strategies, programmatic strategies and operational strategies. Many of your internal stakeholders may be surprised at how highly informative this process is.

Reflecting on Organizational History: B'Tselem��

B’Tselem (http://www.btselem.org) has been working since 1989 to promote human rights in the West Bank and Gaza. After twenty years of operation, B’Tselem underwent an extensive strategic planning process that included a review of its history and an evaluation of its organizational impact. Various insights were gained through this process of assessing past strategies and history. While acknowledging successes, B’Tselem came to the understanding that it needed to reassess one of the major assumptions held since its establishment -“that information will itself bring about change.”

As part of its new theory of change (this tool is discussed in Chapter Four), B’Tselem decided that it will continue to serve as an information center - documenting, investigating, and distributing information on violations of human rights. At the same time, however, it resolved to be more pro-active in its advocacy and media outreach, and work toward achieving concrete outcomes such as promoting greater accountability among the military and security services.

When considering your organization’s future direction, it will be instructive to review the patterns of how your organization has developed programs and allocated its resources. Reflecting on the effectiveness of past strategies is an integral part of strategic thinking. This process will help to ensure that you are learning from your experience and recognizing the potential implications for setting future strategies.


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Your organization’s previous experiences provide a lens through which accomplishments are viewed; your organizational outcomes are examined with a broader perspective.64 This lens - rather than limiting you - should serve to better inform your efforts to determine your organization’s future direction.65

“Good forecasting, for strategic purposes, requires constant attention to the present, informed by a strong sense of history and a close connection to the failed and successful outcomes of strategies informed by previous forecasts.”��

�. Articulating a Vision Statement

A vision is used to guide your organization’s strategic decisions and actions. You are articulating a clear view of how society would be improved or changed if your organization was able to achieve its purpose.

Why is it important to have a clear picture of how your organization envisions success? It tells everyone what your organization stands for and what you aspire to achieve. Your organization’s strategy is rooted in the way you define success through your vision and your assumptions about the way to get there.67

When there is a shared vision, everyone can easily answer the question “What do we want to create?”68 Articulating this will help ensure that your organization has a full understanding of how and why you are taking a particular approach to addressing social issues. A vision statement allows your internal and external stakeholders to see the desired future that your organization strives to achieve.

Whereas your mission statement is an expression of your organization’s purpose (why do we exist and what do we do?), your vision statement focuses on how the future will look if your organization achieves its mission (what will be the impact of our work?).

“One approach is to consider your vision as what the community/society will look like if your values are widely shared. Your mission is the ‘public promise’ of the part of the vision that you will help to make real.”��

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Your vision statement indicates the change that you ideally would like to see in your community or the larger society. [You can also articulate a vision for your organization that describes what you want it to look like in the future, in terms of size, strategies, influence, etc.]

Together the mission statement and the vision statement should be used as the basis for designing strategy and setting organizational priorities.

How can you begin to build a vision for your work?Here is a start:�0

It is five years from now. A major newspaper has published a headline article about your organization.

Ask yourselves:

• What would be the headline of the article?

• What is the story about?

• Who would be quoted and what would the quote say?

• What is the accompanying picture?

When an organization's vision of success is created collectively with the active participation of staff, board and other organizational stakeholders, the process helps to create a strong sense of commitment to the organization and a sense of ownership over its direction. As with other expressions of your organizational identity, your vision should be rooted in a shared set of values.


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Worksheet 5 » Articulating a Vision Statement71

1. If you are articulating your vision for the first time, consider the following questions: [The first question refers to your vision for the community/society and the last two questions address your organizational vision.]

a) What will be different (i.e., in our target population, community, society) in the long term if our organization achieves its purpose?

b) What role will our organization play in creating that difference?

c) What will our organization be known for in three to five years? What makes us unique? What is our public value?

2. If you already have a vision statement, explain any questions or ideas you have about your current vision (i.e., Have we progressed toward this vision since we first formulated it? If not, why? Does it reflect the changing realities? Is it still grounded in our values? Is it clear and well stated?).

3. Write down your vision for the organization. If there already is an articulated vision, please note any suggested changes.

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Your vision is considered your “inner core”, and acts as a steady compass that keeps everyone on course.72 It informs stakeholders and provides guidance to organizational members. Staff members are able to better understand “how they fit into the organization’s big picture”. Within this framework they are therefore able to experiment and improvise as needed.73 By necessity, you are regularly adjusting your strategies, as required in a dynamic environment. A vision provides for you a clear direction in the midst of organizational adaptation and change.

Is your vision an everyday part of your organizational life or is it an “organizational artifact”?��

As with many of the traditional ‘products’ of strategic planning, your goal is not to create a document in order to cross it off your ‘to do’ list. Your vision is only meaningful if it provides a context for decision making and for the development of strategy.

With an understanding of the vision, you are able to focus on the essential task of creating a consistency in your organizational, programmatic and operation strategies. When there is full strategic alignment and a ‘pattern’ of how you work, an outsider can come to your organization and easily articulate your vision, without having to see it in print.

A shared vision, which can be both meaningful and inspirational to your organizational stakeholders, can be an important guide to helping you determine your strategic direction. To create a vision that is possible, you have to consider your organization’s history, capacities and potential funding.

With a collective vision of what your organization intends to accomplish, you are likely to spend less time debating the ‘what’ and ‘why’.75 A vision that provides a clear understanding of both the organization’s direction and expectations for behaviors can potentially reduce organizational conflict. You can then spend more time on figuring out ‘how’ to achieve your vision through the design of your organizational, programmatic and operational strategies.76

This is not to say, of course, that any type of conflict should be avoided in articulating a shared vision. If conflict is handled competently, it can be a very constructive, if not essential, part of the “strategic conversation”.77 There are various types of conflicts (i.e., conflicts over goals or values, conflicts over strategies). It can be worthwhile to surface any of these potential conflicts, or at least, differences (in terms of definition of success/goals) at the outset.78 This can help guarantee that each stakeholder’s voice is included and that differences are openly


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discussed and negotiated up front. Keep in mind that avoiding conflict is not the same as agreeing to live with ambiguity.

Sometimes it is absolutely necessary to leave the ‘what’ in your vision a little vague. There are situations when creating a consensus on a vision is not possible or even desirable.79 Under some circumstances, too much clarity in your vision can underscore differences that are ultimately irreconcilable.

Building a vision together with stakeholders can generally help to nurture consensus. Yet, when it is necessary to leave a little ambiguity in your vision, it does not mean that you cannot develop effective strategies. It means that it just may be more constructive to primarily focus on the ‘how.’

In considering this issue, you can keep in mind that:

“Agreement on strategy is more important than agreement on vision or goals. Simply finding a way to frame and deal with a few of the strategic issues the organization faces often markedly improves organizational effectiveness.”80

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An Organizational Vision that Works: Sikkuy8�

Sikkuy was founded in 1991 as a Jewish-Arab advocacy organization (http://www.sikkuy.org.il/) that seeks to advance equality between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel. Following a strategic planning process in 2005, Sikkuy developed a new vision statement:

“Sikkuy aspires to create a society in Israel where there is equality, in every field and at every level, between Jewish and Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel, while preserving human dignity for all.”

Sikkuy has found that its new vision, while acknowledged to be a “compromise,” does not hamper its effectiveness in achieving stated organizational goals. It enables them to successfully promote those organizational priorities that are agreed upon, while deliberately leaving untouched certain issues on which it may be difficult to reach agreement. For example, there is a question of how each individual in the organization may define equality between Jewish and Arab citizens (i.e., does promoting equality naturally mean that one would support the right of return for Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war? Will it ever be possible to achieve full equality for Arab citizens in a Jewish state?).

As at Sikkuy, sometimes an organization’s vision statement can stay “deliberately vague” in order to maintain organizational cohesiveness. The shared vision is then built around areas of consensus and strategy is designed accordingly to maximize impact.

The process of articulating a vision, by its very nature, tends to be optimistic. Your vision is designed to both inspire and motivate those who are part of your change efforts. To ensure that your vision is grounded in reality, it is useful to build it based on a full understanding of your organization’s context. Your vision should be compatible with other important aspects of your organizational identity, including your mission statement, core values, capacities, resources and external context. [To note: In order to promote this compatibility, we are introducing the process of creating a vision at this stage. While we have presented it in this particular order, there are many options as to when an organization can develop a vision statement. You can see what works best for your organization.]

The following chapter addresses another key component of understanding your organizational identity - the fit of your organization with its environment. Recognizing that there are inevitable changes in your organizational context will help you to develop both strategies that continue to evolve and programs that are sustainable over time.


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Setting strategy is all about determining the right “fit” regarding your organizational mission, your organization’s capacities and your external challenges and opportunities.82

Well-informed strategic decisions should be based in part on a clear understanding of your organization’s capabilities and should reflect an awareness of what the best fit is between your organization and its environment.

In this chapter we explore tools that can help you gain insight into a wide variety of factors, both inside and outside your organization, that influence your ability to achieve your mission. By inviting feedback from your organizational stakeholders and community partners, you can gain a more complete picture of your organization’s current situation. With this knowledge, you will be better able to anticipate changes in your surrounding environment.

“One of the key aspects of strategic planning and management is being proactive - making decisions that take advantage of strengths and opportunities, overcoming weaknesses, and trying to turn threats into opportunities.”8�

Whether on a formal or informal basis, you will frequently want to carry out some type of assessment of your organization’s assets and core competencies. The self-awareness gained through an assessment of your organizational context is essential for making strategic choices.84 The challenge is to identify needs, build on strengths and formulate strategies in order to better achieve your mission. With limited resources, efforts to focus on highlighting your “distinguished competence” often can involve trade offs.85

Understanding Your Organizational Context

Chapter �

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How Do You Act Strategically? Part of it is Recognizing Your Core Capacities and Your Distinct Contribution: Adva Center8�

Adva Center (http://www.adva.org/) is a policy analysis institute that examines Israeli society from the perspective of equality and social justice. Established in 1991, Adva carries out research and advocacy on topics such as public allocation, taxation and social services. Adva started a project in 2007 to encourage participatory policy making through the engagement of unemployed women. In collaboration with a community partner, it worked with a group of women on policy suggestions for making governmental professional training more accessible to low-income women.

After a year or so, Adva decided that “while the project is a good idea, even successful, we may not be the organization to do it.” Adva decided that it does not have right staff (i.e., social workers) or the right organizational background to support this type of community-based project. This decision was based on a candid assessment of its organizational infrastructure and capacities as a research institute.

As the director emphasized, “Every year, we ask ourselves - ‘Why are we doing this? Does this meet a need? Does this fit our organizational capacities?”

This process of examining your internal and external environment is known by many terms, including environmental scan, stakeholder analysis and organizational assessment. You will first want to decide what information will be most useful in assessing your organizational context and the best way to collect the data. It will be important to ensure that you have enough information to make strategic decisions, but not so much information that you get overwhelmed.

What are your sources of information?

• Internal stakeholders (board, staff and volunteers). Your internal stakeholders are the individuals most familiar with the work of your organization. One of the many productive outcomes of involving internal stakeholders in strategic thinking processes is building your capacity to clarify core competencies that distinguish your organization. These discussions can also shed light on the link between your present strategies and current performance.

Chapter 3 » Understanding Your Organizational Context

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Why should you actively engage your stakeholders?

It helps you to:8�

• Open up channels for ongoing feedback and communication.

• Invite diverse perspectives and new ideas in order to create better strategies.

• Create a shared understanding of the organization’s current and future direction.

• Ensure that those implementing organizational strategies understand them and their rationale.

• Nurture a commitment to the work of your organization.

• Strengthen the connection to external stakeholders and open up the possibility for enhanced collaboration.

• External stakeholders (i.e., members of your target population, community partners, community leaders, funders). Gathering input from outsiders opens your organization to new perspectives and insights into current trends in the field. It can also help in building your networks and alliances. For social change organizations that are addressing complex social problems, it is especially essential to collaborate with external stakeholders.

• Analysis of existing information. Remember that you will want to have both objective and subjective data in helping to inform your decision making processes. In addition to receiving feedback from your stakeholders, you should also utilize other information in carrying out activities such as PEST and SWOT. Other sources include the following:

° An analysis of your current organizational financial situation is a critical piece in understanding your possibilities or limitations. Questions that you may consider include: Do we have a sufficient financial management system in place? Are resources being used to support current strategies? When we examine the actual allocation of our resources, how are they invested? How critical is the need to diversify funding? Do our board members understand their role in assuring the financial sustainability of the organization?88

° Evaluation processes, including feedback from your target population, can help you to better understand which programs are most effective in achieving desired outcomes. With data on your performance, you are better equipped to make well-informed decisions regarding your strategic direction.89

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° Both a survey of literature for best practices and interviews with comparable organizations can help you learn from those with similar experience.

Periodically carrying out “strategic conversations” based on the findings of an organizational assessment helps you to identify key factors that are contributing to your success and better equips you to handle strategic challenges.

Carrying out Focus Groups�0

A useful way to hold “strategic conversations” with both internal and/or external stakeholders is to carry out group interviews or focus groups. It gives you an opportunity to talk to a number of people in a relatively short amount of time. In focus groups, small groups of people (usually 8-12) are brought together to discuss specific topics under the guidance of a moderator.

Focus groups can be used to engage individuals who are knowledgeable or have a valued perspective on your organization and its function in the community. You can create a focus group with participants from one or from a variety of ‘sectors’ (i.e., board members and volunteer leaders, staff members, funders, community representatives). Participants are invited to freely express their views and engage in dialogue with each other about issues that are important to your organization.

Each meeting should be held for about 1 ½ hours and notes are often written on a flip chart or compiled by a note taker and analyzed after the meeting. What is learned in the focus groups then becomes part of the later discussion when your organization defines and frames its strategic concerns.

We will review various techniques for helping your organization to engage in “strategic conversations” about its internal and external environment.

1. Facilitating Scenario Thinking

2. Carrying out PEST (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological) & SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis

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�. Facilitating Scenario Thinking

“We think ‘from the inside’ -the things we can control- out to the world we would like to shape. For a nonprofit that is in a cycle of responding to needs as they emerge, the realm of control is very narrow, as is the organization’s peripheral vision - making it highly vulnerable to blindsiding.”��

As an ongoing part of strategic thinking, you should be aware of your changing organizational context in order to remain adaptable. For “outside-in thinking”, as encouraged in scenario thinking, you do not just consider your organization or your immediate working environment (i.e., changes in target populations, shift in community partners). You also should take into account the contextual environment and broad forces such as changing social norms, demographic shifts, and technological advances. Like other strategy tools such as SWOT and PEST, scenario thinking encourages your organization to think “from the outside”, not only “from the inside.”92

With scenario thinking, your organization asks itself, “What if?”93 You then create a set of stories, usually a set of four, that include a wide range of possibilities for the future. These scenarios can be optimistic or pessimistic, expected or unexpected. By considering many options, the process invites you to stretch your thinking about what is possible. Indeed, scenario thinking is considered one of the more effective methods for organizations to use in order to understand and cope with inevitable uncertainty.

“When in doubt, talk.”��

By encouraging you to weigh the possibility of multiple futures, scenario thinking checks your “official future” as articulated by your vision. Organizations that assume it is possible to take things for granted and are not willing to challenge their “official future” can easily be blindsided.95 Through the discussion of each scenario, you can reflect on possibilities for the future, and the risks and the opportunities that may be inherent in each of the strategic directions your organization may take. You can rehearse for what possibly may be the future and you will then be more ready to act as needed.

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Example of Scenario Thinking to Cope with Crisis

During a significant economic downturn in 2009, Shatil consulted with a variety of social change organizations on how to manage the financial crisis.96 Many of the foundations from abroad were allocating less funds and rethinking their traditional funding priorities. Moreover, the dollar had declined in value quite dramatically, especially affecting those nonprofits that received a large percentage of their funding from American foundations. To help nonprofits consider effective strategies for dealing with the financial uncertainty, scenarios were often used to frame the discussion. Two major uncertainties that could fit into potential scenarios were:

• Whether there would be a fast economic recovery or a gradual economic recovery.

• Whether foundations would once again have significant funding or whether funding would become even more sparse.

The discussion on potential scenarios drew attention to the importance of diversifying funding sources. In reflecting on all the potential scenarios, organizations often came to the conclusion that it was time to begin considering how to reduce their dependence on one funding stream (primarily foundations) and explore new revenue sources.

The goal of creating a set of scenarios is not to figure out how to predict the future, but rather to enable your organization to think imaginatively and be more agile in responding to changes in the environment. Scenario thinking invites you into a process of storytelling that can easily

Significant funding

available

“Searching for Funding” An intermediate possibility, in which the economic crisis is nearing its end, but leaves a lasting impact on potential for future funds.

“World is Our Oyster” The most favorable scenario, in which the economic crisis ends quickly and the impact is minimal. Funding resources become available again.

“Armageddon” The most threatening scenario, in which the economic crisis continues for years and has a deep impact on the financial world. Funding resources are minimal.

“Rethinking Our Model” An intermediate but very different possibility in which the economic crisis lasts for an extended period of time. The impact on funding is not dramatic but the possibility remains that it will not improve in the future.

Slow economic recovery

Minimal funding

available

Fast economic recovery

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engage your stakeholders in addressing issues facing your organization. With the chance to reflect on all types of factors that may influence the future, individuals bring in a variety of perspectives and possibilities to the conversation.

Discussions on scenarios can help you identify and consider potential strategic issues. Old issues may get reframed and your existing assumptions are most likely challenged.97 It will be constructive to keep multiple scenarios in mind and pinpoint key indicators that will tell you when significant changes are taking place.

“People should have a sense of urgency even if things seem to be pretty good. My sense of urgency doesn’t come from impending crisis; it comes from a need to be prepared for anything, including opportunity.”�8

Understanding Future Dynamics: Aligning Fundraising Strategies with Organizational Strategies at Hiyot ��

Hiyot (http://www.hiyot.org/) was established in 2001 by Ethiopian Israeli women who had a vision to help integrate the Ethiopian Israeli community into all aspects of Israeli society. One of its primary programmatic strategies is to help improve opportunities for Ethiopian youth through family support and early educational intervention.

In recent years, Hiyot has increasingly come to understand that if it wants to make a change in the Ethiopian community, it is essential to strengthen its cooperation with mainstream Israeli society. Hiyot has also enhanced its outreach and partnership with the Ethiopian community, which has undergone a process of empowerment since their arrival to Israel in the early 1990’s.

As a reflection of Hiyot’s greater focus on cooperation and collaboration, it decided in 2010 to hold its first-ever community fundraiser. For Hiyot, diversifying its funding sources and reducing its dependence on donors from abroad represented an opportunity to align an organizational strategy with fundraising practices. Since 2009, Hiyot has recognized that in any of the potential scenarios for the current economic crisis, a decrease in funding from abroad is very likely to continue. There is a recognition that the best way to ensure the sustainability of its work is to continue creating opportunities to involve the local Ethiopian community and mainstream Israelis in its fundraising and networking efforts.

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Worksheet 6 » Facilitating Scenario Thinking100

While there is no standard way of developing scenarios (generally, four scenarios are created to structure a conversation), a common way of developing scenarios is to create an axis and fill in the stories.

1. Select a question that is of importance to your organization at this time (i.e., Should we expand our work from legal advocacy to community organizing? What will be the needs of our community in five years?).

2. Choose two uncertainties, each of which represent different ends of the spectrum (i.e., weak 1 strong economy; state of war 1 state of peace; religious fanaticism 1 moderate views on religion; reduced governmental role in social welfare programs 1 increased governmental role in social welfare).

3. After you have determined four alternative scenarios based on the two uncertainties, place them on the axis. For example:

4. Review two or more of the possible scenarios. Discuss the implications of each of the scenarios for your organization's future.

Increased governmental rolein social welfare programs

Reduced governmental rolein social welfare programs

Weak economy

Strong economy

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After the scenarios are created, you will want to facilitate a discussion that includes questions such as:

• What strategic issues would we need to deal with if a particular scenario is the future? What would be worthwhile for us to consider in our decision making process that would enable us to prepare for such a future?

• Are there strategic responses that we should consider in order to help create a desirable future, or alternatively, reduce the harmful impact of a negative future?

• Are there strategic issues that are relevant in each of the four scenarios? What strategic choices raised in each of the scenarios do we need to address?

The conversations that are sparked by considering each of the potential scenarios can lead to new insights, allowing your organization to stay attuned to shifts in its surrounding environment and to shape its strategic priorities. It also helps to create a shared understanding inside your organization of what each scenario means and how to possibly identify its characteristics in the future. Your stakeholders are then better able to acknowledge when your organization has moved from the current reality into one of the potential scenarios and to act accordingly.101

�. Carrying out PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological) and SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis

“Being clear about what is can be an extraordinary prelude to what ought to be.”�0�

Processes such as an analysis of PEST and SWOT are often used in a strategic planning process to gain better insight into an organization’s overall capacity and the context in which it operates. In carrying out a SWOT analysis, you will be gathering information on the following two categories:

• Internal factors – The strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization.

• External factors – The opportunities and threats presented by the external environment to the organization.

The use of the PEST analysis, which identifies political, economic, social and technological factors, can be especially helpful in setting the context for your discussion. Conversations on scenario thinking can certainly inform this process as well. This analysis can then be used as the basis for analyzing your external context as part of SWOT.

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Worksheet 7 » PEST & SWOT Analysis103

1. In assessing external forces, invite your organizational stakeholders to consider the following PEST factors:

a) Political situation (i.e., current political parties in power, shifts in political support, new legislation.)

b) Economic situation (i.e., the international market, state of the local economy, funding trends.)

c) Social (i.e., demographic changes, cultural trends, social-economic gaps.)d) Technological (i.e., innovation in information and internet use, media access,

new methods in the field.)

2. Reflect upon and fill out the following chart based on the categories of SWOT:

3. How do these factors influence our organization and its activities?

Strengths

• What are our organization’s strengths? (i.e., high morale, well-connected board, professionally experienced staff.) What are the resources or capabilities that help us to accomplish our mission?

• What are we doing well?

Weaknesses

• What are our organization’s weaknesses? (i.e., poor internal communication, high turnover, inadequate resources.) What resources or capabilities are we lacking that hurt efforts to accomplish our mission?

• What are the things that we could improve?

Opportunities

• What external opportunities exist for us? (i.e., potential funding source, upcoming national elections, new community partner.) What are the outside factors or situations that we can take advantage of to promote our mission?

• How may these changes enhance our ability to achieve our mission?

Threats

• What external challenges are we facing? (i.e., growing competition, financial crisis, negative image in the community.) What are the outside factors or situations that negatively affect efforts to fulfill our mission?

• How may these changes hinder our effectiveness in pursuing our mission?

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Setting strategy is all about determining the right “fit” among your organizational mission, your organization’s capabilities and your external challenges and opportunities.104 In using PEST and SWOT to frame your strategic issues, you will want to be careful to address your internal context and your external environment together.105 Four separate lists based on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats will be of limited value; what is important is analyzing the interplay of these factors.

Finding the Fit (see Barry, 1997)106

An analysis of opportunities and challenges, together with strengths and weaknesses, naturally raises an important question: How does your organization ensure that it is able to differentiate itself and demonstrate a unique public value? All nonprofits ‘compete’ for resources, including funding, community support, staff and board members and media attention. Understanding the interaction between these elements enables you to better define your distinct organizational advantage.

Sometimes “finding the fit” will require you to take a realistic assessment of your current capacities as well as your limitations. Doing so can only strengthen the effectiveness of your efforts.107

“What are you capable of doing?”

“What is needed and feasible in your service area?”

Opportunities and Threats• Needs of the target population and other

stakeholders• Competitors and allies• Social, economic, political, and

technological forces

“What do you hope to accomplish?”

Mission

THE FIT

Strength and Weaknesses

• Capabilities• Resources

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Discussing a “Strategic Junction” with Organizational Stakeholders: Tsofen�08

Tsofen (http://www.tsofen.org/) was established in 2008 in an effort to advance equal opportunity and to integrate Israeli Palestinians into the high-tech industry. There are multiple strategies that can be adopted by Tsofen to achieve its goal of promoting the establishment of high-tech centers in Arab communities. While its vision has remained clear, Tsofen has found itself having to make a number of strategic decisions as a ‘start-up’ social venture. At one of these “strategic junctions” in May 2008, Tsofen invited a variety of external stakeholders, experts and high-tech business people to reflect on its next steps.

Using the SWOT analysis, Tsofen highlighted issues such as

Based on the outcomes of the SWOT exercise and subsequent discussion, it was determined that the most feasible thing would be for Tsofen to continue with training courses and the placement of Israeli Palestinian academics in high-tech companies. Opening high-tech centers in the Galilee that provide software development services to Israeli companies would eventually follow, once Tsofen successfully proved the availability of local engineering talent.

The full day session led them, as the Tsofen leadership described it, to be “pragmatic”; “We wanted to start big, but we realized that we had to start small and create momentum...” Since 2009, Tsofen has been able to move forward with its more ambitious plans; a high-tech industry is taking hold in the region with two software companies establishing locations in Nazareth over the past year.

Strengths• Proven experience in

placement of academics• Trust among target population• Ability to raise money abroad

and attract government resources

• Ability to attract volunteers

Weaknesses• Not enough marketing and

positioning of organization in the field

• Relatively small budget• Target population for job

placements that lacks experience

• Difficulty in recruiting major companies as catalysts

Opportunities• Openness of philanthropic

circles• High quality Arab candidates

for jobs• Openness to outsourcing• Willingness of industry to be an

equal opportunity employer

Threats• Competition • Change in government regulations

for encouraging development in the periphery (such as the Galilee)

• High-tech economic crisis both nationally and globally

• Reduction of political support for subsidies

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The recognition that there are inevitable changes in your context will help you both to develop organizational strategies that continue to evolve and to implement programs that are responsive and sustainable over the long term. With a clear strategy, you can improvise according to the circumstances without losing a sense of the “big picture.”109

As summarized by top leadership at Tsofen,

“We do not believe in separating thinking from acting- you need to do both. Life is more complicated than what is planned in a closed room…Strategy has to be developed together with work: we plan our strategies, then zigzag to get to our overall goals in tandem with reality. We then review the strategy and start the cycle again.”��0

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Expanding Your Toolbox for Strategic Decision-Making

“In effect, organizations are always called upon to develop three agendas: what they will keep and improve, what they will initiate that is new, and what they will stop.”��

In this chapter we will be reviewing various techniques to enhance strategic thinking at your organization by:

1. Prioritizing Strategic Challenges

2. Developing a Theory of Change

3. Determining Criteria for Assessing Strategic Options

Being able to identify fundamental challenges and opportunities for your organization is a key step in strategic thinking. Your ability to focus the attention of organizational leaders on these critical issues will have a major effect on the choices made and, ultimately, on your organization’s success.

Why is focusing on strategic issues so essential? There is the likelihood that leadership in your organization may fall victim to the “80-20 rule.” The “80-20 rule” is that “key decision makers usually spend at least 80 percent of their time on the least important 20 percent of their job.”112 By identifying strategic concerns you are helping to ensure that your organization focuses on what is of most significance. Even if your organization does nothing else, finding a way to identify and deal with a few of your most pressing strategic issues in a timely way can significantly enhance your organization’s performance.113

Chapter �

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What does it mean to make the leap from strategic planning to strategy design and implementation?

Your organizational stakeholders have been asked at some point along the way to dream big, to articulate a vision, and to carefully examine your organization’s capacities and external environment. Equipped with self-knowledge of your organizational identity, it will be easier for you to develop strategy as needed.

When the time comes to make key choices about your organization’s direction, what do you have in your ‘toolbox’? Having tools that facilitate decision making processes can promote your organization’s ability to think strategically. And, of course, it is not only about the actual decisions. It is also about making decisions that can earn the commitment of your organization’s stakeholders. “Sensemaking” helps to ensure that there is a belief among your stakeholders in the ability of your organization to achieve its desired outcomes and accomplish some social good.114 This can also be important since the work in social change organizations tends to be very demanding, fast-paced and labor intensive. Such conversations can help re-energize a somewhat weary staff.115

By continuing processes that encourage “sensemaking”, you are strengthening your organization’s ability to successfully adapt to change and sustain itself over time.

�. Prioritizing Your Strategic Challenges

What kinds of strategic questions may be your priority right now? What types of issues have emerged as the greatest concerns?

• Is it your organizational strategies? (For example, are you considering how to cooperate or possibly merge with another organization that is carrying out similar programming in order to best use limited resources and enhance overall effectiveness?)

• Is it your programmatic strategies? (For example, are you rethinking your approach to a particular governmental ministry that, after years of successful advocacy on your part, has become a partner in promoting your cause?)

• Is it your operational strategies? (For example, are you deciding how to better engage your board and better clarify the decision making roles between staff and board?)

Whatever the strategic concern, you will need to determine the most compelling issues for your organization to address at this time. You will first want to begin by properly framing the topics and then prioritizing them in terms of importance. Only after you have clarified your most pressing needs is it time to begin considering what kind of organizational action should be taken.

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Chapter 4 » Expanding Your Toolbox for Strategic Decision-Making

Worksheet 8 » Prioritizing Strategic Concerns 116

1. What is a strategic issue that has been raised recently?

2. What makes it a compelling strategic issue for our organization?

3. How is this strategic issue related to our mission and vision?

4. Is this something that our organization can influence?

5. What would happen if our organization did not address this strategic issue? What would be the consequence of not doing anything about it?117

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With the need to remain flexible, an important strategic capacity is knowing how to identify and carefully weigh your options. Recognizing whether you have to alter a strategy or adopt a new one is the next step.

Try to resist the tendency to quickly jump to solutions!

When you begin to identify strategic concerns, make sure that you give your organization the time to focus first on defining the issues. Often conflicts may arise over possible solutions before the problem itself has been defined properly by your organization.118

First clarify the strategic question. It then becomes much more important to your stakeholders to respond to the issue at hand. By exploring the issue and properly framing the strategic question, you can resist the temptation to immediately come up with solutions. Your discussion can first focus on your options and the consequences of addressing or not addressing certain issues.

Identifying a Strategic Concern: Itach – Maaki��

Itach- Maaki: Women Lawyers for Social Justice (http://www.itach.org.il) has promoted the empowerment and legal rights of women from marginalized groups since 2001. Following a strategic planning process held in 2010, Itach decided that it was imperative to raise its own visibility as an organization and the awareness on the part of the public to the issues it is addressing.

By reflecting on how to frame its strategic concerns, Itach considered very broadly what that meant for the work of the organization. Raising the visibility of its work required more than just improving the communication strategy to garner more media attention. Itach framed its strategic issue in a way that necessitated a more fundamental change at the level of its programmatic strategy. The organization decided that it was a natural step at its current stage to move beyond individual case work, a hallmark of its work over the years, and focus on activities that solidified its role as a leading advocate for disadvantaged women.

As part of its newly implemented strategies, Itach has begun to strengthen its capacity to carry out activities such as writing position papers, promoting legislation, appearing on television and radio and publishing opinion pieces. Itach’s revised approach requires the organization to use its accumulated expertise and credibility to become ‘spokespeople’ for the topics. By taking on a more significant role in the national public dialogue on issues related to the legal rights of women, Itach hopes to have greater impact.

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This stage of strategy development can be a real test for your organization. It takes courage to question the status quo and to consider change; it opens up the possibility of conflicts or differences over how to address strategic issues. Often you are required to make difficult decisions with incomplete information and a great deal of uncertainty. These strategic choices may also bring change that may not be welcomed by all stakeholders in your organization. Not surprisingly, leadership is essential for navigating this critical stage of determining your strategies and organizational priorities.

Decision making tools that can help your organizations to structure these important discussions include the development of a theory of change and the outlining of criteria for assessing strategic options.

�. Articulating a Theory of Change

Part of thinking strategically is channeling the passion and energy that is expressed in your organizational goals toward a focus on impact. Articulating your ‘theory of change’ enables you to consider in greater depth how you set your organizational direction and evaluate your progress along the way.

In recent years, the use of a ‘theory of change’ has become increasingly popular among nonprofits and funders. A ‘theory of change’, which builds upon your organization’s articulated vision and mission, reflects your organization’s view of how change occurs. An understanding of your desired impact, as articulated by a ‘theory of change’, will strengthen your organization’s capacity to frame strategic concerns, set its strategic direction, and assess progress.

The term ‘theory of change’ is often used interchangeably with other terms, such as pathway of change and theory of action. It is a strategic planning technique that offers a visual representation of what you are trying to achieve, thereby enabling you to clearly outline the underlying logic of your work. A ‘theory of change’ is also a “way of thinking” that can help your organization to improve its capacities for making strategic decisions.120

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Already, a quick caveat.

As with all of the techniques presented in this handbook, how you use them largely depends on your specific context. If, for example, your organization is just starting out, the formality of some of these processes may not suit your way of working. There are also circumstances when the most critical step for an organization is to demonstrate progress quickly.

Certainly at times the momentum gained by the ‘doing’ is of first priority. You may not always have the time to outline a ‘theory of change’ or a detailed plan of action. This is especially the case if there is a ‘window of opportunity’ such as an election or heightened public interest in a topic. For social change organizations operating in the Israeli reality, the situation is especially fluid; crises, as well as opportunities, abound. Recognizing the specific context in which you are operating is, of course, an essential strategic capacity.

Strategy Design ‘On the Go’: Forum for Immigrant Families

Forum for Immigrant Families in the North (http://www.forumolim.org.il) was founded in 2007 following the Second Lebanon War.121 The founders, a group of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, were professionals in fields such as social work and psychology. They had witnessed first hand the difficulties facing new Russian immigrants, especially in times of national emergency and war. The Forum was established in order to promote more culturally sensitive social services to immigrant populations.

With this overall goal in mind, the Forum decided to have a conference as a way of taking advantage of the public attention on these issues in the aftermath of the Lebanon War. There was little time for visioning exercises or any type of extensive planning. As explained by top leadership, “We knew our strategic direction, but stayed flexible on the tactics… We were able to take advantage of the opportunities because we were clear about our message. With this clarity, we were able to provide answers to the unexpected questions that came up along the way.”

And, indeed, in less than two years, the Forum has created a network of immigrant organizations and is currently developing, together with the Ministry of Social Welfare, a training program for social service providers.

Sometimes it is best to go with the momentum and demonstrate that progress is possible. You will never want to miss unexpected opportunities that come along. And after you take advantage of that ‘window of opportunity’, you can make the time to consider the specific steps that you may want to take to reach your overall vision.

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Why is articulating your theory of change considered a vital aspect of strategic thinking? Planning tools such as a theory of change can help to:

• Focus your organization and its capacities (i.e., staff, funds, community relationships) on those strategies and methodologies that are clearly aligned with your understanding of “how change occurs” and are geared toward creating impact.

• Ensure that your current or future strategies represent a set of actions that are linked.

• Encourage your organization to be realistic and to manage expectations about what can be achieved.

• Communicate to stakeholders what your organization seeks to accomplish and outline the specific steps that are necessary to take as part of the change effort.

As we all know, social change can be messy, chaotic and unpredictable. It is not always simple to recognize, let alone measure success. A theory of change can help you both in identifying and demonstrating your progress to your community and other stakeholders.

Can you act strategically without a theory of change? Of course.122 You many find, as with other tools suggested throughout, that it does not fit your current way of working. Yet even though change does not occur in a linear way as may be implied by these structured planning tools, a theory of change can better enable you to ‘make your case’; you are able to show how you are advancing toward your ultimate goals.123

The main elements of a theory of change generally include:124

1. A ‘pathway’ that illustrates the relationship between the outcomes and how they each contribute to a long-term goal (i.e., your organizational vision);

2. The strategies that are used to bring about each of the desired outcomes that lead up to your long-term goal;

3. Measures of success for each outcome; and

4. Assumptions about how change occurs, what factors influence individuals or societies to take appropriate or inappropriate action, and why your strategies will work.125

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At its most basic, a theory of change enables you to map your work. The following example represents a very simple outline for a program that

includes both service delivery and advocacy activities: We believe that…

Our assumption is that there are local at-risk youth whose educational success and life opportunities would improve significantly as a result of after-school activities, as indicated

by best practices in the field and based on our community needs assessment.AND

Our assumption is that mobilizing both public and political support can enhance the likelihood that the issue of at-risk youth would be recognized as a key policy issue that

should be effectively addressed.So, we do this…

We provide a warm environment during after-school hours for at-risk youth, so they can use their time constructively by being involved in educational, recreational and cultural

activities.AND

We are seeking to work collaboratively with a variety of stakeholders, including representatives of academia, government and media in order to increase the general

awareness and to effect policy.So that…

We can achieve the following short-term outcomes:Achievements at the individual level by our service program will include: participants will receive personal attention from caring adults; participants will develop a sense of

belonging to a group; participants will improve their attitudes about school;AND

Achievements at the community level by our advocacy activities will include: the development of collaborations with universities and policy institutes to initiate research in

order to be able to better inform the public of the importance of this issue; the nurturing of relationships with policymakers to educate them and develop ‘champions’ for this cause;

the promotion of media exposure in order to raise public awareness and knowledge. So that…

We can achieve the following intermediate outcomes: Achievements at the individual level by our service program will include: attendance of

participants at school will improve; participants will enjoy higher academic achievement and have an interest in furthering their education; participants will develop a stronger self-

image; participants will have fewer disciplinary problems.AND

Achievements at the community level by our advocacy activities will include: shifts in attitudes and knowledge about the topic, widened base of support for policies and increasing number of policymakers, researchers, and other partners who are

‘championing’ the issue.So that…

We can achieve the following long-term outcomes:At-risk youth from disadvantaged economic backgrounds in the community will have equal

opportunities to achieve.AND

With a significant number of partners, high levels of collaboration, and numerous ‘champions’, there will be sustained public and political will to support policies to enhance

the opportunities of at-risk youth.

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The process of articulating your theory of change is designed to help illustrate how complex change may unfold over time. By exploring the question of “So that?” you are asking yourself what actions your organization is taking that will potentially lead to desired outcomes.127 In articulating outcomes, you are required to be precise about the type of change that you want to achieve and to consider what progress must be made in order to meet your goals. Outcomes are the changes that you expect to occur as a result of your work; they answer the question: “What difference do our activities make?”

In general, it is important to recognize that the desired outcomes of your work will not all be achieved at the same time. You will want to distinguish between short-term, intermediate and long-term outcomes.128

Your short-term outcomes are the most direct results of your activities (for example, participants in an economic empowerment program learn how to establish a business). In general, they are the results you expect to achieve within less than one year after initiating your program. Intermediate outcomes (generally within 1-5 years) usually build on the progress of short-term outcomes (for example, participants establish a business that provides steady income).

Short-term and intermediate outcomes generally take place at the individual, family or neighborhood level and include changes in:129

• Attitude • Health• Knowledge • Education level• Awareness • Social condition• Skills • Economic status• Behavior

Your Desired Outcomes Are Likely to Evolve Over Time: Sidreh��0

Sidreh (http://www.lakiya.org) is an organization that has worked with women from the Bedouin community in the Negev desert in Israel since its establishment in 1998. It has initiated a variety of innovative projects over the years including the Lakiya Negev Weaving project, a sustainable income generating project, and the first women’s newspaper in the Negev, with over 10,000 copies distributed per month. Sidreh has also pioneered the growing efforts among women’s organizations to pro-actively engage men in a wide variety of organizational activities.

For over ten years, Sidreh has been promoting more effective ways to improve literacy rates among women, reduce school drop-out rates and increase women’s role in the educational system. Sidreh realized over time that in addition to advancing the condition of Bedouin women (i.e., change of skills, educational level), it was essential to work on changing the attitudes of men in the community. Originally, each time that Sidreh wanted to initiate a women’s literacy program in a new location, for example, it would negotiate with the male leadership in order to secure their approval. Today, Sidreh leads efforts to engage with men that go beyond merely gaining approval; rather, they seek to raise awareness and recruit men as partners in the process of enhancing women’s status.

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Long-term outcomes (also referred to as impacts) are those that result from the achievement of your short-term and intermediate outcomes, usually over a period of 5 to 10 years (for example, the economic status of the participants’ families improves). In general, they are outcomes that are out of your direct sphere of influence. They tend to be broad outcomes that take place on an organizational, community or system level. These include changes in:131

• Visibility of issues in the media • Political will• Community norms • Policies • Public perceptions • Regulations • Public will • Business practices

Adapting Your Theory of Change: Adam Teva V’Din��

Thinking strategically leads you to consider all the potential levers of change. Adam Teva V’Din (http://www.adamteva.org.il), a membership-based organization with over 4,000 members, has been a pioneer in Israel’s environmental movement since 1990. A variety of strategies have been employed over the years. Efforts include advocacy for environmentally sound policies and legislation, the provision of legal counsel to victims of environmental hazards, and the spearheading of community- wide campaigns to further environmental goals.

As a key player in successful efforts over the past few years to pass environmental legislation, including the Clean Air Act and the Freedom of Information Law, Adam Teva V’Din decided to focus on a major barrier to protecting the environment in Israel. It was understood by the organization that, despite progress in passing legislation, the lack of enforcement of environmental laws represented one of the most significant challenges to accomplishing its long-term goals. The organization’s working assumption regarding the efficacy of passing legislation had to be re-examined. As a result Adam Teva V’Din initiated a program in 2009 that now focuses exclusively on developing policy recommendations for strengthening the system of environmental enforcement at the national, regional, and local level.

By carefully defining your desired outcomes with a theory of change, you can then be more strategic about directing your organization to those actions needed to further your mission. Your organizational stakeholders become better equipped to measure and ultimately identify success when they see it. It thereby helps to strengthen the meaning that individuals have for their daily work, because they are able to see the link between their actions and intended results.133

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Worksheet 9 » Developing a Theory of Change134

1. Define the problem or issue that you seek to address. Specifically note the needs or assets that have led you to focus on this problem or issue.

2. Clarify the long-term outcome or goal that you want to achieve; define what success looks like. The long-term outcome should identify at which level of change is the focus (i.e. individual, family, community). [Your long-term outcome will likely be related to your organizational vision versus a specific project.]

3. Identify short-term and intermediate outcomes that relate to the ultimate long-term outcome. Create a pathway that indicates what are the necessary steps or preconditions that must occur in order to make progress toward the desired long-term outcome.

4. Map your significant strategies or programs that are expected to contribute to each outcome. (Include each of your activities such as public awareness efforts, community organizing, capacity building and programmatic strategies.) Consider what type of intervention is needed to reach each of the desired outcomes.

5. State your underlying assumptions. Articulate the assumptions that underlie your belief in the success of these interventions: how and why the identified strategies will achieve the desired outcomes.135

6. Ask the “So that” question. Make sure that each strategy is linked to a specific desired outcome. You will likely have multiple strategies that are ultimately linked to achieving your long-term outcome.

7. Articulate your theory of change by linking your strategies to the desired outcomes. When doing so, consider additional factors that may influence progress toward the desired outcomes (i.e., political environment, economic situation).

8. Discuss how you would identify success at each step in the process. Determine ways to measure progress in the short-term and long-term.

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In developing your theory of change, you will want to test its logic and the link between the strategies and desired outcomes. A facilitated discussion could include questions such as:

• Is our planned intervention enough to achieve our intended impact? Are other outcomes required to reach our long-term goal? Is it realistic that we alone can achieve this or must we complement our efforts with the work of others?

• Is it possible that there may be unintended outcomes or potentially negative outcomes due to our work? If so, what are they and how should we take them into account?

• How will conditions that are not within our control affect our ability to produce our desired outcomes?

• Do we have sufficient resources to effectively achieve our desired outcomes?

The discussion of a theory of change requires you to be explicit about what organizational resources will be used and what may be feasible in terms of the scale and output that can be achieved. These types of conversations can help you “find the balance between idealism and realism.”136 New insights are likely to emerge. (For example, it may become clear that there are outcomes beyond the reach of your work and it is worthwhile to partner with another nonprofit in order to more effectively achieve these desired outcomes).

Developing a theory of change together with organizational stakeholders is especially valuable in that it encourages you to question your assumptions about why the organization’s activities and programs will lead to the desired results. Your organization can be as specific as possible in the definition of long-term outcomes; it will help make sure that your idea of success is de-constructed or “unpacked.”137 Strategies can then be incorporated to ensure that your programs are more likely to have the desired impact.

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Guided by a Theory of Change: Economic Empowerment for Women��8

Economic Empowerment for Women (EEW) (htpp://www.womensown.org.il)has been working since 1997 to assist women from disadvantaged communities in achieving greater economic independence. EEW focuses on helping women to acquire resources (knowledge, skills and financing) to start small businesses. A basic premise that underlies EEW’s efforts is that financial independence is a prerequisite for a woman’s ability to empower herself in her household, her community and/or in the wider society.

Over the years EEW has identified and monitored a variety of desired outcomes related to the financial success of participants (i.e., level of income earned, change in family income each year, level of dependence on social welfare funds and ability to save money each year). The personal empowerment of the participants is also part of EEW’s theory of change, and is measured through outcomes such as the extent to which former participants pursue further education. With an articulated theory of change and desired outcomes that are tracked among participants, EEW has been better able to identify needs, check its assumptions and adapt its programs. EEW has subsequently expanded upon its original theory of change, which has resulted in programmatic adjustments and new strategies over time. Working assumptions that have been added to EEW’s theory of change include:

Women feel more empowered when they have mutual support. As such, EEW utilizes mentoring programs and offers micro-entrepreneur training in group settings.

Ongoing support of women entrepreneurs is essential. Business incubators, mentors, available loans and savings advice have been included as part of EEW’s programs over the years.

Supportive government policies can significantly contribute to the economic sustainability of micro-businesses. EEW also seeks to affect change at the policy level in order to support its work.

Through an articulated theory of change, EEW is able to define and measure success, adjust its strategies as needed and effectively demonstrate progress.

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Just as your strategies and programs are continually being adapted, your theory of change will evolve over time as well.

How else can we use the concept of theory of change? You can easily link your strategies to specific outcomes in all aspects of your work.

Below is the guided process developed by Agenda: Center for Strategic Communications (http://www.agenda.org.il/).139 Agenda works with social change organizations to design effective communication strategies that are geared toward impact. In developing a media strategy, Agenda encourages organizations to consider the following questions:

�. What is our goal? (i.e., to raise community awareness, to change public discourse, to attract funding, to promote a policy change).

�. Who is our target population in reaching out to the media? Whom do we want to inform? (i.e., journalists, women in poverty, legislators). Who is our target audience in reaching our goal? (i.e., neighborhood leaders, policy makers, school teachers).

�. Depending on our strategy, where would we like to focus our efforts? The type of media (i.e., radio, television, internet, print media) and the specific target population should be identified. Once this is determined, options for media outreach include everything from professional journals, trade conferences, business magazines to general daily newspapers and websites. (For example, to target the local community, we should focus on local newspapers and local radio stations; to reach teachers, we should outreach to teachers’ magazines; to reach key decision-makers, we should utilize mainstream national media outlets).

�. What are our resources? (i.e., financial resources, in-house ability to write letters to the editor, spokespersons).

�. How do we build our message? What is the “take away”? What do we want our audience to understand? (i.e., statistical analysis, a personal story, a specific recommendation to policymakers, suggested legislation, promotion of a particular project).

The use of the question, “So that?” can be applicable in many areas of your work.140 What happens, for example, when you strategize about outreach to the media? As outlined in Agenda’s guided process, designing your communication strategy enables you to take a pro-active stance to working with the media. It requires a discipline that encourages you to focus on a specific outcome, a specific ‘angle’. It ensures that you outline the steps needed to attract attention to a particular aspect of your work and carefully articulate what you are seeking to achieve from the media exposure. Designing a plan and carefully considering desired outcomes can help you to be more effective.

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Does Everything Have to Be Geared Toward Impact? Are We Allowed to Just Protest and Shout Too?

Of course! What matters is that your organization does so with the self-knowledge of how it fits into your strategy.141 You will simply want to have it be a part of your overall understanding of how you are working to achieve success.

As discussed previously, B’Tselem underwent a significant strategic planning process in 2009.142 After developing a theory of change as part of the process, B’Tselem subsequently began to focus its primary efforts on specific desired outcomes such as enhanced accountability of the military and security forces. At the same time, B’Tselem determined that it would continue to serve as a “moral voice.” There was an understanding that this aspect of its work might not lead to a specific desired outcome. Regardless, B’Tselem felt this important role was an absolutely essential piece of its work and should continue.

A theory of change, while guiding you to think through the importance of impact, should enable you to keep things flexible. It is not intended to introduce too much rigidity into the process or into your thinking... or take away your right to shout!

�. Determining Criteria for Assessing Strategic Options

Part of advancing strategic thinking at your organization will be to create an ‘infrastructure’ for decision making processes. The use of criteria for selecting strategies is another example of this type of effort; similar versions of this technique are referred to as an opportunity matrix or a strategic profile.143 These tools can be used to help you articulate the criteria upon which your decisions are based.

Your criteria of how you should evaluate key strategic options should naturally reflect an understanding and knowledge of your organization’s identity and values. This helps ensure that there is alignment among your organizational, programmatic and operational strategies.

How does all this work? You begin by deciding on criteria before it is time to make a critical decision. You invest time first in developing techniques that help to structure your decision making processes. As such, your organization has the time to carefully articulate criteria that are consistent with its priorities. Each organization develops its own criteria as it reflects its own specific perspective and values. While the set of criteria for each organization will differ,

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they generally include five to ten selected factors. These criteria then become part of your ‘toolbox’ of a decision making process.

The goal in developing criteria is not to introduce rigidity into your decision making but rather to help facilitate important discussions about your strategic direction. An explicit set of criteria helps to bring others along in the process. Your organizational stakeholders are better able to understand how decisions are made over time.

A set of criteria for decision making processes helps to:144

• Give your organization the chance to reflect on its priorities without having pressure to respond immediately;

• Enable you to better examine the relative value of various strategies, programs, or activities;

• Promote a discipline of constructively addressing fundamental organizational questions;

• Empower your organizational stakeholders to understand the rationale behind strategic choices and the link between strategy and action;

• Create an organizational memory that articulates the rationale for strategic decisions.

When it is time to respond to a challenge or an opportunity, you have the self-knowledge and understanding as an organization to conduct an effective decision making process. At the time that a strategic decision needs to be made, you can discuss each option relative to the criteria. Alternatively, you can rank each option numerically and take a tally at the end.

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Worksheet 10 » Designing Criteria to Assess Strategic Options145

1. Review the following criteria that can be used to assess strategies. You will want to select from the list those questions that are of foremost importance, or add your own criteria to the list. It is suggested that you choose on average five to ten criteria.

*Every organization should select its own unique criteria based on its values and priorities.146

• Does this further our mission? Does it enhance our impact?

• Will we be able to fund and support this work?

• Do we have the organizational capacity to carry this out?

• Are we the most able, best positioned among like-minded organizations to do this? Are we uniquely qualified?

• Does this meet a vital community need?

• Will this help to raise the visibility of our work?

• Does this complement existing programs?

• Does this enhance our sustainability?

• Will this help us to further our networking with potential partners?

• Is this level of risk acceptable level for us?

Other appropriate criteria: (Fill in your own.)

2. Once you have selected your criteria and it is time to consider a strategic option, you can lead a conversation with the following questions:

a. What is the proposed strategy and what is the goal of the strategy? b. What is the issue that this strategy addresses? c. How does this proposed strategy fit our criteria for evaluating strategic

choices?

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Designing criteria that reflect the priorities and values of your organization helps you to communicate what is important. It can especially be useful when complex issues come up and there is a lack of clarity on how to proceed.

Using these types of decision making tools can help to structure the discussion, potentially defusing tensions. And it can help to ensure that not ‘everything’ is open for discussion each time a strategic decision needs to be made.147 With certain things agreed in advance, the discussion can stay focused on the issues at hand; this discipline is essential because one of the biggest challenges is to choose what your organization will do and will not do.

Developing Criteria for Selecting Topics: Megama Yeruka��8

Megama Yeruka (Green Course) (http://www.green.org.il/), established in 1997, is one of Israel’s largest environmental volunteer organizations with over six thousand student volunteers on campuses across the country. Megama Yeruka leads national campaigns and supports the work of local chapters on campuses.

In an effort to better synthesize the work, it was decided in 2005 that Megama Yeruka would select two or three major topics every two years. These selected topics, voted on by the organization’s general assembly, then would become the main focus of the local, regional and national efforts. To help structure the discussion and guide the decision making process, Megama Yeruka subsequently developed criteria for the selection of these topics.

Every two years at the general assembly, each of the potential topics is judged based on the following questions:

1. Is it environmentally important?2. Is it a “hot” topic?3. Is it likely to bring about change?4. Will it attract activists?5. Are other organizations working on this topic?6. Can the public identify with this issue?7. Does it fit our organizational character as an activist

organization?8. Will this topic interest the media?9. Can we connect this topic to each of our local chapters?

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Being able to explain why you are making a specific decision and articulate your assumptions are important strategic capacities. The use of tools such as those discussed above can help to engage, persuade and educate other stakeholders of your organization.

Once We Design a Set of Criteria, Do We Always Have To Follow It? What If Using Criteria is Too Rigid for Us?

Like all the techniques described in this handbook, the use of criteria can be adapted and simplified as needed. Each of the techniques presented may be used flexibly to fit your organization.

Perhaps your organization has spent time designing a set of criteria and then found that it was not useful in the decision making process. You can first check to see that your criteria are still relevant. As your organization naturally evolves, its priorities change. You will want to update as needed.

And of course, your organization may have decided to do something that did not fit the criteria you have outlined. Even when you do this, you are still able to openly acknowledge and document your choice.

By structuring discussions and making the process of decision making more transparent, you are able to communicate the rationale behind your decisions. This is part of the cycle of strategically planning, acting and learning.

Strategies cannot be successfully implemented unless there is an organizational will and an ability to implement them as planned. Enabling more of your organizational stakeholders to be engaged in how strategy is developed may lead to more debates, but ultimately you will have more committed individuals who are focused on pursuing your organizational mission.

You will also want your staff and board to be equipped with the knowledge and information needed to adopt desired changes - an essential step in managing new strategies at your organization. The challenge of moving from strategy formation to implementation is discussed in the following chapter.

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Managing Change

Perhaps after identifying pressing strategic issues, your organization has decided not to resolve these issues in order to avoid facing potential conflict. But if your organization

has chosen to refine or change its organizational, programmatic and/or operational strategy, the next step is a critical stage in the process. Strong organizational leadership and the commitment of your key stakeholders are both needed to guide you through the next phase of change.

In this chapter we will address the challenge of bringing change to your organization through the use of techniques such as implementation guidelines and workplans. This is the stage when you see how ‘courageous’ and committed your organization actually is, and if it is willing to “take the leap” to act on the insights and learning gained from your strategic thinking.149

“Remember the old children’s riddle: Five frogs sat on a log. One decided to jump off, so how many are left? The right answer is not four but five- there is a big difference between deciding to jump and actually taking the leap!”��0

The entire leadership of the organization will need to be on board with the process - both volunteer leadership (as represented by the members of the board and board committees) who are responsible for setting policy and the professional staff who are responsible for implementing the programs.

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As emphasized throughout, leadership sets the tone for creating an organizational culture that is inclusive and builds your capacity for strategic thinking. It is at this stage that ongoing support for the process from leadership will ensure that valuable ideas and strategic choices are successfully translated into action.

What is required of leadership during this phase includes the willingness to:151

• Navigate potential conflict, contain the tension that arises without ‘sweeping it under the rug’, and hold critical discussions that ultimately lead to some type of agreement regarding the desired strategic direction.

• Guide the organization through difficult decisions about what not to do and ensure that it stays focused on top priorities.

• Translate the strategies into objectives, work plans and budgets for the upcoming year.

• Keep everyone well informed on what is planned and engage people to determine how the change should occur.

• Maintain a sense of momentum and mark progress while allowing time for a transition to the new way of doing things.

It will be a challenge for the organizational leadership to successfully guide the transition from identifying strategic issues to applying new strategies in practice. However, if the strategies have been developed with implementation in mind and with the active participation of those who will be involved in the implementation, success is more likely.

When you are managing change processes, you should be able to outline three to five core strategies that are seen as the best way for your organization to achieve its mission.152

Ideally these selected strategies will make sense to your organizational stakeholders. The probability of this is greater if organizational stakeholders have been engaged in the decision making process and have contributed their ideas all along. Hopefully the use of strategic thinking techniques, such as those suggested throughout the handbook, has created a series of “strategic conversations.” It is these series of conversations that can create a shared language and commitment, and serve as a catalyst for change.

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When you are determining how to manage the implementation of new strategic priorities, it is important to keep track of: 153

1. Strategies that are being maintained and possibly improved upon;

2. Strategies that are to be initiated; and

3. Strategies that are not to be continued.

Your organization should keep these three different types of actions separate because “what is currently being done is likely to drive out what is new and make it harder to stop what has been planned to be stopped.”154 The status quo is usually much easier to maintain.

Everyone knows stories of planned strategies that were not successfully implemented. We can all easily come up with a long list of potential pitfalls along the way: ��

• Little specificity on precise steps for implementation;

• Underlying organizational culture and behaviors that are not addressed in change effort;

• Lack of organizational leadership and commitment of stakeholders;

• Current infrastructure that does not meet new needs (i.e., staff do not have the necessary training, staff are overcommitted to other activities);

• Few incentives to change;

• Insufficient resources and administrative support;

• Strategy that is no longer an organizational priority.

Most of all, strategies are likely to fail to be implemented “when there is no alignment or consistency between what an organization says, what is pays for, and what it does.”156

To effectively address the variety of possible obstacles to your change efforts, you will want to deal with implementation issues directly. The strategic choices that are selected should be readily explained by the organizational leadership and should be choices that your organizational stakeholders are easily able to imagine as possible. Ideally, board and staff members are able to envision their role in the process and understand what actions are needed to support the articulated strategies.

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Chapter 5 » Managing Change

Enhancing Sustainable Impact: Kayan��

Kayan-Feminist Organization, (http://www.kayan.org.il) which promotes the status of Arab women in Israel, bases its work on the belief that direct activism with women in their communities is vital for social change. Since 1998, Kayan has offered workshops on personal empowerment and group dialogue, as well as guidance on the establishment and development of community projects. In 2007, a major organizational transition took place- Kayan shifted its focus from empowering individual women through group settings to empowering community activists.

Kayan’s vision of empowering women to bring about social change remained constant even as it took on a new strategic direction. In shifting its focus to working directly with a much smaller, select number of women with significant leadership potential at the community level, a major change was required in both programmatic and operational strategies.

What are some of the factors that have enabled a successful implementation?

The leadership has stayed fully committed throughout while acknowledging that transition is not easy or free of tension.

Evaluations in mid-2006 showed that the majority of the women empowerment groups ceased their activities when Kayan ended its hands-on guidance. The results demonstrated to everyone that there was a need to address the problem of sustainability and to reconsider the relative effectiveness of its current strategy. It has been easier therefore to rally support for a new direction.

The organization’s resources are invested to support the new programmatic strategy and are focused on efforts that nurture the skills and capacity of local leaders.

Implementation plans clearly guide the transition process at the operational level. Job descriptions have been rewritten, new staff has been hired, and professional training has been carried out for the existing staff.

Kayan over the past few years has been able to successfully navigate through the transition in order to enhance both its impact and the sustainability of its work.

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A written strategic plan, which includes many of the tools and techniques discussed throughout, can be helpful for providing direction to your organization. A strategic plan outlines your strategy, enables you to keep track of progress, and helps in communications and public relations for both internal and external audiences. In general, a successful strategic plan is both usable and adaptable.

What if we would like to produce a strategic plan?

You strategic plan will primarily be the compilation of all of the findings gathered from many of the worksheets suggested throughout this handbook. While there is variation, strategic plans generally include the following:158

1. Executive Summary

2. Mission, Vision and Values Statement

3. Organizational History

4. Summary of Core Strategies

5. List of Goals and Objectives

6. Appendices may include items such as:

° Summary of SWOT and PEST Assessment

° Theory of Change

° Summary of Program Evaluation

° Board Membership

° Long term Budget Projection and Resource Development Plan

Keep in mind that “knowing where you are going and why is essential; the way it gets portrayed and written up is optional.”159

If you are developing a strategic plan, it will be important to have a defined process for ensuring its official adoption by your board. You will want to work with all the key leaders of the organization who may have been involved in varying degrees with the process, to ensure they are fully informed. Similarly, staff needs to be engaged throughout the process. If processes have been developed and “strategic conversations” have been held over time, there should be no surprises and there will be a familiarity on the part of organizational members with the recommended actions. This engagement of staff and volunteer leadership is a key factor in your organization’s ability to implement its strategic decisions.

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You can also consider using the concept of a “strategic principle” to convey the outcome of a strategic planning process.” What is a “strategic principle”? It is a statement that succinctly summarizes your organization’s strategy for action. A “strategic principle” can increase the chances that your designed strategies are implemented consistently throughout your organization.160 Communicating the organization’s strategy in ‘shorthand’ helps to guide staff in understanding the essence of the organization’s strategy and empowering them to act.

Using Strategic Principles: Shatil��

Starting in 2009, Shatil underwent a major strategic planning process, which included the articulation of a new mission and a re-design of the organizational structure. The new mission at Shatil is as follows:

“Shatil is leading social change in Israel, promoting a society based on social, economic and environmental justice, human and civil rights, and cultural and religious pluralism. Shatil’s work strengthens Israel’s democracy by increasing citizen involvement in the processes of government and the quest for social equality and justice.”

Whereas the new mission statement was to help guide strategy, Shatil also developed strategic principles which were more “action oriented.”162 Three strategic principles were selected to reflect the new direction at Shatil. They are relevant whether staff is working on capacity building projects, creating networks, developing a coalition or recruiting new partners in the effort to bring about social change. The principles are as follows:

Shared Society

Collaboration with New Partners

Holistic Approach (i.e., enhanced cooperation among departments)

The strategic principles provide explicit guidance for the staff on how to make choices that are consistent with the organization’s strategy. Moreover, in order to ensure that these three principles are reflected throughout all aspects of the work, each workplan has to include how program activities serve to promote these three principles.

Strategic principles can help to maintain an alignment among different parts of the organization while at the same time giving staff the freedom to experiment and tailor strategies as needed.


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In addition to the ideas addressed above, essential techniques that can help introduce change to your organization include:

1. Developing Implementation Guidelines2. Creating a Workplan

These tools, discussed in the following sections, both enhance the likelihood of successful implementation and ensure that you continually work to engage stakeholders at each step in the process.

�. Developing Implementation Guidelines

“Calculated strategies have no value in and of themselves… strategies take on value only as committed people infuse them with energy.”��

Your organization's strategy is implemented by people; its success depends upon the capabilities and commitment of the individuals in your organization.

Engaging your internal stakeholders, a key element in enhancing your organization’s strategic thinking capacities, is naturally a critical part of strategy implementation. Yet even after you have involved staff and board in a process of articulating your organizational identity and in building a general consensus on your organizational direction, there will still be challenges. Change tends not to be easy. It can shake up the dynamics in the organization, including the existing patterns of interaction and the current way in which ‘things get done.’164

The possibility of strategic shifts in the organization can understandably lead to fear or anxiety among staff, volunteers, and stakeholders. This will especially be the case if there are actions that present a challenge to the current way your organization operates. To maintain a sense of motivation and commitment during times of transition, you will want to help organizational stakeholders deal with these difficulties through communication and support.

Once you have decided what you want to do, you will have to carefully outline how you want to get there. It is not enough to make a list of goals and objectives. In order to make the transition from strategy development to action, you will want to carefully articulate guidelines for implementation. Otherwise your strategy design can easily stay as “good intentions” but without any chance of impacting on your work.165

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Worksheet 11 » Developing Implementation Guidelines166

1. What steps need to occur over the next six months for this strategy to succeed? In addition to outlining specific steps related to implementation of the strategy, consider the preparation of the organization on all levels (i.e., Do we need to recruit new staff or carry out professional training for current staff? How should we change our administrative policies or internal communications to support the implementation? Are there issues related to our organizational culture that should be addressed?).

2. What are the necessary resources to implement this strategy? Are we willing to commit what is needed to support it?

3. How do we integrate this strategy with other existing strategies?

4. What are the barriers to effective implementation? What can we do to help overcome these barriers?

5. How can we track implementation of this new strategy?

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Consider creating a committee of internal organizational stakeholders to monitor the implementation of new strategies. This committee can track the progress of the implementation and continue to work along with the staff in making the changes necessary to ensure its success.

It is worthwhile to assess how you are dealing with all aspects of change, from your capabilities and infrastructure to your organizational communication system and style of work. This is an important task that a newly established committee could take on. Because of a strong tendency toward inertia, it is essential to consider what incentives exist for your organizational members to make changes.

For social change nonprofits that often have little flexibility in financial compensation, it is essential to explore how staff members are rewarded for taking on new responsibilities, embracing new directions or instituting new patterns of behavior. Several options that should be weighed include staff training, formal mentoring opportunities, improved supervisory practices and communication protocols.

So what does work? What does promote strategy implementation? Here is what we have found:167

First and foremost…

• Organizational leadership is committed to the new strategy and ready to guide it through.

• Challenges of implementation have been considered in designing the strategy. Workplans have been developed to support the strategic goals.

It is important to check among stakeholders to be sure that…

• A shared understanding exists among organizational stakeholders of expected outcomes.

• The strategy fits with the values of all those who are ‘key implementers’. • Conceptually, the strategy is clear to organizational stakeholders and simple to grasp

in practice. For staff especially, there is an understanding of what the change entails; “individuals have a chance to see what they are supposed to do before they have to do it.”168

You will want to build in the following…

• Start-up period that sets aside time for the transition and for the development of new norms and routines.

• Ongoing feedback from staff members and others involved in the implementation that allows for needed modifications to the workplans and the planned strategy.

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And it is essential to continually monitor that…

• Alignment exists between the organizational, programmatic and operational strategies. The operational strategy in particular may need to be adjusted (change in organizational structure, training offered to staff) along with resources, including staff time and financial support.

A Question of Organizational Alignment: ACRI��

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) (http://www.acri.org.il/) addresses human rights and civil liberties issues in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza. Operating since 1972, ACRI underwent a significant change in 2009 by realigning its entire organizational structure. Their original structure included four departments: litigation and legal advocacy, education, public outreach and international relations. As the current director explains, “Our previous organizational structure was based on how we do our work, not what we do.”

A strategic decision was made to re-organize the departments to reflect what ACRI does; departments became designed around content versus tactics. The re-organization supports existing efforts by the staff to work in multi-professional teams around its advocacy campaigns. The new departments, which are based on five key topics, are as follows: Civil Liberties; Human Rights in West Bank and Gaza; Rights of Arab Minority in Israel; Social and Economic Rights; and Education for Human Rights.

What added benefit has this transition given ACRI? As outlined by the leadership, it has enabled ACRI to:

Encourage greater strategic thinking as related to each key topic, and to benefit from the input of a multi-professional team.

Allow for transparency of organizational priorities. ACRI can easily measure how much it invests in each issue.

Strengthen cooperation with community partners. ACRI’s partners can more easily navigate with ‘one address’ at the organization for each issue.

Enhance the relationship with board members, as each board member can connect with particular topics.

ACRI was able to institute a major organizational change which ensured that one of its high priorities – efforts on behalf of multi-professional teams – was supported by the organizational structure.

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�. Creating a Workplan

An essential step of strategy implementation is the formulation of workplans or action plans that support the strategic vision. It is through this tool that the link between action and strategy becomes explicit.

“Vision without action is merely a dream; Action without vision just passes time; Vision with action can change the world.”��0

While your mission and vision statements may serve to inspire your organizational stakeholders, shape your organizational identity and drive your organizational culture, your strategies ultimately need to be action oriented. Through efforts such as a theory of change and implementation guidelines, you are working to translate strategies into specific steps that should be taken to reach long-term goals.

In creating a workplan, you are explicitly listing your organization’s measurable objectives for the upcoming year. Whereas your goals outline the long-term desired outcomes that you want to accomplish, your objectives are concrete steps that you can take to achieve them.

What Is an Example of a Workplan Format?*

While there is a variety of formats in designing your workplan, here is a sample from a nonprofit seeking to enhance its public profile on policy issues.171

Goal #�: To be the recognized expert on issue X

Objective A: To be recognized by the media as a primary source of accurate information and thoughtful analysis on issue X

Objectives and Measures of

Progress

Tasks/Activities Responsibility Timeline

Newspaper Y uses our data and analysis in covering government policy proposals regarding issue X

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By translating broad goals into tangible, detailed objectives, your workplans show board, staff, and volunteers what they need to do to achieve desired outcomes. Workplans address the specifics (i.e., what are the tasks that need to be accomplished, who is responsible for them, how and when they should be completed). Drawing up workplans together with budget plans helps ensure that sufficient resources are available and are allocated in a way that reflects the new organizational priorities.

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Worksheet 12 » Creating a Workplan

Generally workplans, which vary in their degree of detail, can include the following information:

1. Goals and objectives of the program.[Each goal usually has at least two or more objectives. An objective is a specific and measurable result, with a time frame, that supports the achievement of the goal.]

2. The individuals responsible for carrying out the action.

3. The individuals responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of the action.

4. The resources (i.e., human, physical/facilities, and financial) committed to supporting the action.

5. Identifiable intermediate milestones involved in implementing the action/program.

6. Intended results if the action is successfully implemented.

7. Time Frame.

8. Status as of (enter date).

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Workplans should be monitored and modified as needed to reflect changing circumstances or new insights. This will be especially important because, as noted previously, “realized strategies are a mix of what is intended and what emerges in practice.”172 Your strategies will not stay static; rather they will develop based on organizational experimentation and experience.

“There is the 80-�00 rule: You are better off with a strategy that is 80% right and �00% implemented than one that is �00% right but does not drive consistent action throughout [your organization].”��

Your organization is able to outline detailed steps toward progress through the use of planning tools such as workplans and a theory of change. By clarifying your specific goals and desired outcomes of your programs, strategies and actions, you are building a shared vocabulary for your organization. This helps to ensure a mutual understanding of how things should work, which will reduce ambiguity and allow you to monitor progress.

As discussed throughout this handbook, what counts most is developing your organization’s ability to think, act and learn strategically. Your measure of success will be your ability as an organization to create and implement strategies that advance your mission.

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Summing Up

You have asked your organizational stakeholders at some point along the way to dream big and to articulate a vision for a more just, democratic and tolerant society. When the time

comes to make key choices about your organization’s direction, you can review what you have in your ‘toolbox’. Consider the following questions: Does your organization have the ability to carefully examine at its internal capacities and external environment? Is it equipped with the self-knowledge of its organizational identity? Does your organization encourage decision making processes that promote its ability to think strategically? Are you able to measure the “sum of your reactions”?

While the ‘toolbox’ for these processes may be similar, strategic thinking among social change organizations is fundamentally very different from strategic thinking in other sectors. For social change organizations, it is not only about the strategic decisions that are ultimately taken, but it is also, as discussed throughout this handbook, about making decisions that can earn the commitment of your stakeholders. Why is this so critical? It is because your sustainability comes in large part from a coalition of stakeholders who support your organization because they believe it is accomplishing some social good.

As we all know, thinking strategically does not have a defined starting point or ending point. We have introduced a variety of activities in this handbook designed to initiate processes, challenge assumptions, and facilitate ongoing “strategic conversations” that can help guide you over time. By creating these opportunities, you are enhancing your organization’s ability to learn, to innovate and to adapt if necessary to changing circumstances.

Chapter �

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This organizational capacity is especially important because a key aspect of being strategic for a social change organization is recognizing the need to welcome multiple perspectives and maintain an ongoing dialogue with both your internal and external environment. Strategically-minded organizations engage in an ongoing process of “sensemaking”, which helps them to understand their place in the world and their unique contribution in the midst of constant change.

“As tempting as it may be, we can never answer yes to the question: ‘Are we there yet?’”��

“Sensemaking” will always need to take place at your organization. It will be an ongoing and continuous effort to find the fit among your mission, capabilities and organizational opportunities.

While complex social change takes time, very little remains static. Social change organizations are required to cope with uncertainty and surprising developments on a regularly basis. In your change efforts, your strategies are ultimately a combination of what your organization plans to do- your intended strategy, as well as what actually occurs over time- your emergent strategy. As reiterated throughout this handbook, it is important to keep in mind that while your strategies may be derived from various sources and developed over time from experience, one of the challenges is to make these strategies explicit.

When you have articulated strategies, your priorities are fully understood by organizational stakeholders. There is a clear understanding of where your organization is focusing its energy and how key decisions are made. And of course, your impact is greater when there is alignment between how your organization uses its resources and what you aspire to achieve.

So What Are Some Key “Take Aways”?

As we addressed in our introduction of this handbook, strategic thinking provides your organization with the ability to effectively do the following:

• Focus the attention of key decision makers on fundamental issues facing your organization, thereby increasing the likelihood that you are equipped to identify and respond to your organization’s most important opportunities and challenges.

Chapter 6 » Summing Up

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You can ask yourselves questions such as:

» How much is the question of organizational strategy a focus during our board and staff meetings? How often does our key leadership examine organizational impact and reflect on the organization’s changing context?

» What decision making processes do we have in place for setting organizational directions and strategies?

• Develop a coherent language that is shared by your organization’s stakeholders which encourages clarity when addressing organizational issues, provides a framework for addressing strategic concerns, and offers a more effective basis for decision making.


» Do individuals in our organization, regardless of their position, feel comfortable giving a brief description of the organization's vision, mission and main strategies for achieving this mission?

» To what degree is the language of our vision, mission, theory of change and defined strategies part of the organization’s terminology? Do we distinguish among organizational, programmatic and operational strategy?

• Assess both your organization’s strengths and weaknesses and identify resources both internal to the organization and external within the larger community.


» Do we have a full understanding of what our unique organizational capabilities are? How do we ensure that our capacities are adjusted as needed to fit our strategy?

» How often do we reflect on the issue of the “fit” with our mission, capacity and context by considering the following questions: What do we hope to accomplish? What are we capable of doing? What is needed and feasible in our field?

• Create opportunities to build a sense of teamwork, promote learning and build commitment among organizational stakeholders. Implementation of strategy is facilitated when those who will be acting on the decisions are involved in the process and have a stake in its success.

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» Do we create collaborative opportunities for critical reflection and assessment of our current practices and strategy?

» How do we ensure that we have new ideas coming from all levels of the organization? How do we learn from past experience and apply that to our work?

• Align your organizational goals with how your programs are carried out, how organizational capacities are developed and how organizational resources are allocated. Clear strategies can promote a coordination of activity throughout the organization that helps you to get from where you are to where you want to be. You can ask yourselves questions such as:

» To what extent do we use the organization's vision/mission as a guide for planning, setting priorities, and making important decisions related to our work? Does the allocation of resources reflect our organizational priorities?

» How do we ensure that our actions and policies are consistent with our organizational values?

• Ensure that your organization has the ability to anticipate change and respond to it more effectively by preparing your stakeholders to be open to the unexpected and unplanned happenings that inevitably occur along the way. You can ask yourselves the questions such as:

» Do we challenge the status quo of our work? Are we continually checking the relevance of what we do and staying connected to the community in which we operate?

» How do we actively plan for the future and anticipate how the external environment (our target population, policy climate, etc.) may change over the next few years?

In considering the questions cited above, keep in mind that: “To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered.”��

Chapter 6 » Summing Up

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We move in the direction of the questions that we ask.176 We can steer organizations toward success by guiding them through strategic processes and strengthening their ability to plan, think and act strategically. In reflecting on this, it may be helpful for you to consider strategic planning and thinking as “the organization of hope, as what makes hope reasonable.”177 By “organizing hope,” you can improve your chances to have the impact you wish for and create meaningful social change.

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1. Light, P. (2004) Sustaining Nonprofit Performance. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. 2. Van der Heijden, K. (1996). Scenarios: The Art of Strategic Conversation. New York: Wiley. 3. Interview with Avivit Hai, November 2010.4. Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, September 2010.5. Gadiesh, O. & Gilbert, J. (2001) “Transforming Corner –Office Strategy into Frontline Action”. In Harvard Business Review on Advances in Strategy. Harvard Business School Press. Reprint R0105 p. 162. 6. Interview with Prof. Victor Friedman, November 2010.7. Interview with Prof. Victor Friedman, November 2010.8. Mintzberg, H. “The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning”. Harvard Business Review. January- February, 1994. p. 111.9. Mintzberg, H., Ahlsrtand, B. & Lampel, J. (1998). Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour through the Wilds of Strategic Management. New York: Free Press. 10. Bryson, J. (2004). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. 3rd Edition. John Wiley & Sons. San Francisco. CA. p. 183.11. Interview with Yossi Goldman, August 2010.12. Camillus, J. (2002). “Strategic Planning: Positioning Identity, Values and Aspirations”. The Forbes Fund. (www.forbesfunds. org) Vol. 1: 9. p. 4. 13. La Piana, D. (2008). The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution. Fieldstone Alliance. St. Paul, Minnesota. p. 26.14. La Piana, D. (2008), P. 26.15. See Bryson, J. (2004). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations and La Piana, D. (2008).16. This section is based on an interview with Nir Papai, November 2010.17. See Bryson, J. (2004) and La Piana, D. (2008).18. Bryson, J. (2004). p. 114.19. Interview with Avivit Hai, November 2010.20. This section is based on an interview with Aida Touma-Suliman, June 2010.21. See Bryson, J. (2004) and La Piana, D. (2008).22. Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, September 2010.23. This section is based on an interview with Shmuel Shattach, June 2010.24. For more details on this topic, see Allison, M. & Kaye, J. (2005). Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations. 2nd Edition. CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. John Wily & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, N.J. p. 27. and Barry, B. (1997) Strategic

Endnotes

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Planning Workbook for Nonprofit Organizations. Fieldstone Alliance. St. Paul, Minnesota.25. Interview with Gabi Neiman, August 2010.26. Mintzberg, H. “The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning”. Harvard Business Review. January- February, 1994. p. 114.27. Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, September 201028. Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, September 201029. Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, September 201030. For more on participatory organizational processes see Strichman, N., Marshood, F. & McKay, E.G. (2008). Asking Your Way to Organizational Success. Published by Shatil. Jerusalem, Israel.31. Lindbloom, C. E.” The Science of Muddling Through.” Public Administration Review. (1959). 19, 79-88. 32. Cited in Bryson, J. (2004). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. Quote attributed to Nobel Laurete Linus Pauling. p. 211.33. Mintzberg, H., Ahlsrtand, B. & Lampel, J. (1998) Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour through the Wilds of Strategic Management. p. 17. 34. Interview with Fathi Marshood, August 2010.35. Camillus, J. (2002). “Strategic Planning: Positioning Identity, Values and Aspirations”. The Forbes Fund. p. 8.36. Cited in Angelica, E. (2001). Crafting Effective Mission and Vision Statements. Fieldstone Alliance. St. Paul Minnesota. Quote by John Carver. p. 537. Based on Shatil strategic planning materials. 38. Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, September 2010.39. See also Angelica, E. (2001), and Barry, B. (1997). Strategic Planning Workbook for Nonprofit Organizations. 40. Interview with Avivit Hai, November 2010.41. Interview with Ghada Abu Jaber-Nijem, October, 2010.42. Bryson, J. (2004). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. p. 121.43. Cited in Angelica, E. (2001). Quote by John Carver. p. 5.44. This section is based on a conversation with Daphna Golan, October 2010.45. Interview with Gabi Neiman, August 2010.46. This section is based on an interview with Hagai El-Ad, June 2010.47. Quote by Winnie the Pooh in Pooh’s Introduction Book, Inspired by A.A. Milne and published in 1995.48. See Angelica, E. (2001) 49. See also Allison, M. & Kaye, J. (2005).Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations. 50. Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, September 2010.51. Interview with Dror Eytan, August 2010.52. Allison, M. & Kaye, J. (2005).p. 114.53. Allison, M. & Kaye, J. (2005), p. 114.54. Interview with Gabil Neiman, August 2010.55. This section is based on conversations with Ruti Gur and Hannah Safran, June 2010 and September 2010.56. Cited in Bryson, (2004). p. 264.57. Weick, K. (1995) Sensemaking In Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Interview with Gabi Neiman, February, 2010.58. Weick, K. (1995).59. Interview with Naomi Orensten, December 2010.60. Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, September 2010.61. Interview with Avivit Hai, November 2010.62. See also Allison, M. & Kaye, J. (2005).63. This section is based on an interview with Jessica Montell, May, 2010.

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Endnotes

64. Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, September 2010.65. Interview with Dror Eytan, August 2010.66. La Piana, D. (2008). p. 13.67. Interview with Gabi Neiman, August 2010.68. Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday. p. 206.69. Quoted from Emily Gantz McKay, Mosaica. Interviewed in November, 2010.70. See Angelica, E. (2001) Crafting Effective Mission and Vision Statements.71. See Angelica, E. (2001) and Bryson, J. (2004). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. 72. Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline.73. Interview with Fathi Marshood, February 2010.74. Interview with Gabi Neiman, August 2010.75. McKinsey & Company, (2001). Effective Capacity Building in Nonprofit Organizations. Reston, VA: Venture Philanthropy Partners. (http://www.venturephilanthropypartners.org/usr_doc/full_rpt.pdf). p. 33.76. McKinsey & Company, (2001).77. Interview with Prof. Victor Friedman, November 2010.78. Interview with Prof. Victor Friedman, November 2010.79. Interview with Jabir Asaqla, February, 2010.80. Bryson, J. (2004). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. p. 225.81. This section is based on an interview with Ron Gerlitz, May, 2010.82. Barry, B. (1997) Strategic Planning Workbook for Nonprofit Organizations. 83. Allison, M. & Kaye, J. (2005), p. 137.84. For more information on carrying out an organizational self-assessment, see Strichman,N., Marshood, F. & McKay, E.G. (2008). Asking Your Way to Organizational Success: A Guide to Becoming a Learning Organization.85. See Bryson, J. (2004). 86. This section is based on an interview with Barbara Swirski, May, 2010.87. For more information on engaging stakeholders in evaluation and organizational self- assessment see Strichman, N., Marshood, F. & McKay, E.G. (2008). Asking Your Way to Organizational Success. and Strichman, N. & Marshood,F. (2007). So How Are We Doing?: Introducing Evaluative Processes to Your Organization. Published by Shatil. Jerusalem, Israel. For an alternative model to engage stakeholders see http://www.futuresearch.net/. “Future Search,” developed by Marvin Weissbourd, represents an action research approach to strategic thinking that seeks to involve stakeholders early in the process. 88. Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, September 2010.89. For more information on integrating evaluation into your organization, see Strichman, N. & Marshood,F. (2007). So How Are We Doing?: Introducing Evaluative Processes to Your Organization.90. For more information about focus groups, see University of Arizona’s Using Focus Groups for Evaluation byMarczak & Sewell at http://ag.arizona.edu/fcs/cyfernet/cyfar/focus.htm or Focus Group Interviewing athttp://www.tc.umn.edu/~rkrueger/focus.html; Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, September 2010.

91. Scarce, D. & Fulton, K. (2004). What If? The Art of Scenario Thinking for Nonprofits. Emeryville, CA: Global Business Network). http://www.gbn.com/articles/pdfs/GBN_What%20If.pdf (Downloaded December 2010). p.12.92. Scarce, D. & Fulton, K. (2004), p. 12. 93. See Scarce, D. & Fulton, K. (2004).94. Cited in Zucker, G. (2004) Facilitating Strategic Planning Workbook. Published for United Jewish Communities Planners Institute. Quote Attributed to Hubert H. Humphrey, p. 34.95. Schwartz, Peter. The Art of the Long View: Paths to Strategic Insight for Yourself and Your Company. Second edition. New York: Doubleday, 1996.96. Gabi Neiman and Hagit Shachar introduced the use of scenario planning during these sessions. Interview with the facilitators in February 2010.97. See Scarce, D. & Fulton, K. (2004). and Deeper News, Volume 7, Number 1. http://www.gbn.com/consulting/article_details.php?id=35

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98. Cited in Scarce, D. & Fulton, K. (2004). Quote by writer Betty Sue Flowers. p.19.99. This section is based on an interview with Shlomo Berihun, June, 2010.100. See Scarce, D. & Fulton, K. (2004). and La Piana, D. (2008). The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution.101. Interview with Avivit Hai, November 2010.102. Bryson, J. (2004). p. 42.103. See Allison, M. & Kaye, J. (2005). Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations. and Barry, B. (1997) Strategic Planning Workbook for Nonprofit Organizations.104. Barry, B. (1997) Strategic Planning Workbook for Nonprofit Organizations. 105. Kearns, K. “From Comparative Advantage to Damage Control: Clarifying Strategic Issues Using SWOT Analysis.” Nonprofit Management & Leadership. 3/1 Fall. 1992.106. Barry, B. (1997). p. 7. 107. Barry, B. (1997).108. This section is based on an interview with Smadar Nehab, May 2010.109. Interview with Gabil Neiman, August 2010.110. Interview with Smadar Nehab, May 2010.111. Bryson, J. (2004). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. p. 155.112. Bryson, J. (2004). p. 186 113. See Bryson, J. (2004) 114. Interview with Prof. Victor Friedman, November 2010. 115. Interview with Avivit Hai, November 2010.116. See Bryson, J. (2004). 117. See Bryson, J. (2004) for a variety of tools that ask these types of questions. 118. Fisher, R. & Ury, W. (1981) Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. New York: Penguin Books.119. This section is based on an interview with Keren Shemesh-Perlmuter, June 2010.120. Interview with Yossi Goldman, August, 2010.121. The following paragraphs are based on an interview with Marina Zamsky, June 2010.122. Interview with Dror Eytan, September, 2010.123. Interview with Ghada Abu Jaber -Nijem, 2010.124. See Anderson, A. The Community Builder’s Approach to Theory of Change: A Practical Guide To Theory Development. The Aspen Institute. http://www.theoryofchange.org/library/guides.html (Downloaded December 2010) and Mapping Change: Using a Theory of Change to Guide Evaluation and Planning. http://www.grantcraft.org/ (Downloaded December 2010).125. Interview with Emily Gantz McKay, November, 2010.126. Organizational Research Services (2004). Theory of Change: A Practical Tool for Action, Results and Learning. Prepared for Anne E. Casey Foundation. http://www.organizationalresearch.com/publications_and_resources.htm#tocm .(Downloaded December 2010).127. Organizational Research Services (2004). Theory of Change: A Practical Tool for Action, Results and Learning.128. Cited from Strichman, N. & Marshood,F. (2007). So How Are We Doing?: Introducing Evaluative Processes to Your Organization.129. For examples, see Organizational Research Services (2004). 130. This section is based on written communication with Hala Abu Shareb, September, 2010.131. For examples, see Organizational Research Services (2004).132. This section is based on written communication with Amit Bracha and Keren Halperin, October 2010.133. Interview with Dror Eytan, September, 2010. For more on the link between measuring success and staff engagement, see Strichman, N. & Marshood,F. (2007). So How Are We Doing?: Introducing Evaluative Processes to Your Organization.134. See Anderson, A. The Community Builder’s Approach to Theory of Change: A Practical Guide To Theory Development.135. Interview with Emily Gantz McKay, November, 2010.

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Endnotes

136. Contributed by Dr. Stephen Donshik, November, 2010.137. Anderson, A. p. 11.138. This section is based on an interview with Khawla Reihani, June 2010. 139. This section is based on an interview with Anat Saragusti, June 2010.140. Organizational Research Services (2004). Theory of Change: A Practical Tool for Action, Results and Learning.141. Interview with Gabi Neiman, February, 2010.142. Interview with Jessica Montell, May, 2010.143. See Bryson, J. (2004). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations and Camillus, J. (2002). “Strategic Planning: Positioning Identity, Values and Aspirations”. (www.forbesfunds. org) 144. See Bryson, J. (2004), Camillus, J. (2002), and La Piana, D. (2008).145. See Bryson, J. (2004), Camillus, J. (2002), and La Piana, D. (2008).146. Interview with Dror Eytan, August 2010.147. Interview with Avivit Hai, November 2010.148. This section is based on an interview with Gil Yaacov, June 2010.149. Interview with Dror Eytan, August 2010.150. Cited in La Piana, D. (2008). p. 32. Quote by Feldman and Spratt. (1999). Five Frogs on a Log. New York. Harper Collins.151. Interview with Pepe Goldman, May 2010. For more on leadership, see Bacharach, S.(2005) Get Them on Your Side: Win Support, Convert Skeptics, Get Results. Platinum Press. 152. Bryson, J. (2004).153. Bryson, J. (2004). p. 196.154. Bryson, J. (2004). p. 196.155. See Beer, M. & Eisenstat, R. “The Silent Killers of Strategy Implementation and Learning”. Sloan Management Review Summer 2000 (p. 29-40). Interview with Pepe Goldman, May 2010.156. Bryson, J. (2004).p. 184.157. This section is based on an interview with Rula Deeb, May 2010.158. See Barry, B. (1997) Strategic Planning Workbook for Nonprofit Organizations.159. La Piana, (2008). p. 111.160. Interview with Hagit Shachar, March 2010. 161. This section is based on an interview with Hagit Shachar, May 2010.162. Gadiesh, O. & Gilbert, J. (2001) “Transforming Corner –Office Strategy into Frontline Action”. p. 158 163. Mintzberg, H. “The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning”. Harvard Business Review. January- February, 1994. p. 109.164. See Bryson, J. (2004). for more details on challenges to implementation. 165. Beer, M. & Eisenstat, R. “The Silent Killers of Strategy Implementation and Learning”. Sloan Management Review Summer 2000 ( p. 29-40). P. 30.166. See Bryson, J. (2004). for more details on the development of an implementation plan. 167. See Gladwell, M. (2000). The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Boston: Little, Brown. and Camillus, J. (2002). “Strategic Planning: Positioning Identity, Values and Aspirations”. (www.forbesfunds. org). Interview with Pepe Goldman, March, 2010.168. Bryson, J. (2004). p. 251.169. This section is based on an interview with Hagai El-Ad, June 2010.170. Cited in Zucker, G. (2004) Facilitating Strategic Planning Workbook. Published for United Jewish Communities Planners Institute. Quote Attributed to Joel Barker. P. 45.171. Contributed by Emily Gantz McKay, November 2010.172. Mintzberg, H., Ahlsrtand, B. & Lampel, J. (1998). Strategy Safari. p. 17.

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173. Gadiesh, O. & Gilbert, J. (2001) Transforming Corner –Office Strategy into Frontline Action. In Harvard Business Review on Advances in Strategy. p. 157. Interview with Hagit Shachar, March 2010.174. Cited from Strichman, N., Marshood, F. & McKay, E.G. (2008). Asking Your Way to Organizational Success. p. 10.175. Attributed to John Ruskin.176. Cited from Strichman, N., Marshood, F. & McKay, E.G. (2008). Asking Your Way to Organizational Success. p. 4.177. Bryson, J. (2004). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. p. 32.

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