Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, 5th Edition

CHAPTER THREEInitiating and Agreeing on a Strategic Planning Process

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

—Plato, The Republic

The purpose of the first step in the Strategy Change Cycle is to develop an initial agreement about the overall strategic planning effort and main planning steps among key internal decision makers or opinion leaders (and, if their support is necessary for the success of the effort, key external leaders as well). This agreement represents a plan for planning—or specific process design—intended to point the way toward the ultimate end of creating significant and enduring public value. As Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon (1996, p. 111) says, “Everyone designs who devises a course of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”

The support and commitment of key decision makers are vital if strategic planning and change in an organization are to succeed. They also supply information vital to the planning effort: who should be involved, when key decision points will occur, key requirements for a successful process, and what arguments are likely to be persuasive at various points in the process. And they can provide critical resources: legitimacy, staff assignments, a budget, and meeting space.

Every strategic planning effort is in effect a drama that must have the correct setting; themes; plots and subplots; actors; scenes; beginning, middle, and ending; and interpretation (Bryant, 2015). Only key decision makers ...