Chapter ElevenStrategic Planning

Robert H. Rich, PhD, CAE

In a recent study, highly successful associations and other nonprofits reported that strategic planning has high impact on overall organizational success.1 These organizations conduct strategic planning as a routine periodic process. Low-success organizations, by contrast, don't think strategic planning is as important.

Strategic planning is both a powerful tool and a much-maligned symptom of industrial-age management practices. How can both of these be true? It comes down to definitions. When done well, strategic planning

  • Aligns the association from top to bottom
  • Is agile and responsive to the latest external trends
  • Focuses limited resources on the most important outcomes
  • Represents ...

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