Strategic Planning

For this experiential learning assignment , you’ll develop the basic components of a strategic plan for the organization you’ve chosen to focus on this term. Though this will not be a full-fledged strategic plan developed by stakeholders, this will allow you to have first-hand experience in setting the stage for an organization to successfully begin their strategic planning process.

Note: this assignment will be based on your recon work about the organization–the intel YOU have gathered and the strategies YOU have come up with. Don’t use or submit the organization’s strategic plan, if they have one–this must be your original work.

The Strategic Plan Summary Document will be the deliverable for this project, and it will contain the following sections:

I. Executive Summary: Less than one page discussing what you will present in the analysis.

II. Introduction: Introduce the purpose of the analysis. Describe the overall role of strategic planning in public and non-profit sectors.

III. Describe the organization and its mission: Introduce the organization, its historical context, mission and purpose. Include the current mission statement and assess it in light of Bryson’s guidelines (the 6 questions). If the mission statement does not conform to these guidelines, rewrite the mission statement for the organization.

IV. List of formal and informal mandates: Identify the externally imposed formal and informal mandates placed on the organization. For example, this might include legislative, federal, existing organizational rules, regulations and policies and informal mandates. Discuss the impact of these mandates to the organization’s planning process.

V. Identification of stakeholders both internal and external: Identify the internal and external stakeholders. Do not just list them – provide an explanation of why you selected them.

VI. Proposed members of the strategic planning team: Provide a list of who should be on a strategic planning team (which is different than stakeholders). Include why these particular individuals should be involved. Base your choices on what you’ve learned in your readings.

VII. SWOT analysis: Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats the organization should consider (include a SWOT table as well as a written discussion of the strengths, weaknesses, etc.).

VIII. Identification of one strategic issue. Identify one key issue the organization is facing, and justify your choice of that issue through citations (research, interviews, organizational reports, etc.). WHY is this an important issue for the organization? Clearly highlight the consequences of failing to address the issue.

IX. Strategy Development. Provide one or more strategies to solve the problem, as well as an action plan (what, why, who, where, when). The strategy/strategies should be based on your best practices research.

X. Performance Measurements and KPI. How will you know if the strategy succeeded? Discuss how you will measure success and what performance measurements, KPI or benchmarks you might use.

XI. Conclusion: Provide a summary of your paper and concluding remarks about the organization and strategic planning.

XII. References: (Sources used)

Format: There’s no page limit, but most papers are around 12-14 single-spaced pages, excluding references. Use the headings above in the paper (and feel free to use subheadings). Incorporate and correctly reference your readings and research in the paper.