Five steps to ALTER your organization’s path
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Most organizations and nonprofits have the desire to reach a more impactful, “preferred” future, yet find themselves on the path to a more probable one. The latter is influenced by the history and direction that has brought them to their present state. So how do you make the leap to bridge the gap between the probable destination and the preferred one? I encourage organizations to use the five steps represented in the ALTER acronym.
I enjoy helping boards navigate strategic planning steps and determine their future direction. Typically, the initiatives surface in a board retreat where we bring together information from an environmental scan, stakeholder input, and much more. Normally, many more potential objectives surface than an organization can effectively handle. We then prioritize the initiatives they will address in their final plan. I recommend doing that by using the following points composing the ALTER acronym.
Avoid Groupthink, Influence, & Politics
It’s certainly not easy, but I encourage groups to avoid falling into the groupthink trap. Many facilitators will utilize “visual vote” systems e.g. utilizing dots, checkmarks, or stars to choose the top three, six, etc. One can soon see the groupthink influence as the more “popular” objectives attract more votes. Anonymous, written votes or technological options will often provide a more balanced outcome.
Influence and politics are frequent drivers of prioritization decisions and are typically led by the most vocal personalities. Choosing future objectives should be buoyed by the potential benefits to the organization and guide it to the preferred future and not meeting someone’s personal agenda.
Limit the Number of Strategies
Getting to an organization’s preferred future may require multiple objectives over two or three years. Recognize that we can’t accomplish them all at once. A board should limit the number of goals and objectives to five to seven over the next year. This allows the board and staff to be more focused in its planning and evaluation while dealing with the normal day-to-day operations. It’s important to include a “quick win” or two to build momentum for the plan.
Transformational Impact Wins
When prioritizing goals and objectives for the future an organization should choose those that have the most transformational impact. In today’s competitive environment, we can’t afford to be wasting time on objectives that don’t move the needle. Instead, prioritize initiatives that can transform the organization or its way of doing business.
Evaluate Your Abilities
During board retreats, there are always pet projects and unique ideas that pique the interest of the attendees. They can be trendy, or even on the “bleeding edge” of technology. In being realistic, we can prioritize these selections by evaluating our abilities. We need to stick with “doing what we do well.” Attempting to take on a new initiative that requires excessive training can result in mission drift or our spending time and resources that we don’t have. Organizations are wise to choose their most direct and capable route for now. Save the other ideas for the future and gradually shift to head in a different direction if that’s the choice. Ultimately, an objective that doesn’t advance the preferred future is an unnecessary distraction.
Refer to the Mission, Vision & Values
I often refer a fractured board, attempting to prioritize goals and objectives, back to its mission, vision, and values for clarity. A strong mission always points you in the right direction, especially when evaluating a wayward objective that could get the organization off track.
Prioritization of goals requires an organization to ensure that the mission reflects the organization’s current and anticipated future “why.” It reinforces the need to spend time reviewing the appropriateness of the mission at the beginning of a planning session. We can also eliminate other possible objectives by testing the alignment of the selected goals with the organization’s vision for the future.
In the end, prioritizing a few goals from a dozen or more “great ideas” can be challenging. However, keeping the ALTER acronym in mind while making these important decisions can make the job a bit easier and provide choices that help guide the organization to its preferred future.
David J. Fry is Founder/CEO of Effective Advancement Strategies in Greensburg and author of Build a Nonprofit Castle, He consults with businesses and nonprofits throughout Indiana. He may be contacted at strategies@etczone.com