A strategy is needed only when you have a goal and it is not obvious how you will attain it.
The process of creating a strategic plan helps an organization clarify what it should be doing, why, how, and what resources are needed. It answers the questions of:
• Where are we now?
• Where exactly do we want to be and by when?
• How will we get there and what is blocking us (why aren’t we there already)?
• How will we measure our progress and whose job is it to do what?

It’s important to not let the process of creating a plan be overly complex or laden with jargon. The goal is not to have a beautiful document that never gets acted upon. The goal is to think through a smart plan of action, and execute that plan.

Components of a strategic plan can vary, but generally should include:

- Vision:  What actually changes in the world if we are successful?
- Mission: What are the general methods/tools we use to achieve our vision?
- Core values: How should our staff work together and what are the values that should inform and be reflected in all we do?
- Our value to stakeholders: Who are our key stakeholders and what value do we provide to them?
- Current landscape:  Who else is working in our area? What can we learn from them? Who is working to thwart us?
- Theory of change:  What is our hypothesis about the steps needed to reach our vision, and how can our efforts fit into that in the most leveraged way possible (ideally the area that is most neglected and/or matches best our expertise)?
- SWOT analysis: What are our organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, especially in regards to how these things might affect our place in our theory of change?
- Sustainability/Funding: How do we currently obtain funding, and what other methods of funding might be possible?
- Key Performance Indicators: What are the measures/KPIs that would prove progress towards our vision?
- Three year goals: Set three-year specific goals (ideally based on those KPIs) that are specific, measurable and time-bound.
- Annual goal: Set one-year goals that will lead to those three-year goals.
- Accountability: Be clear about who is accountable for what and create system of checkins: Accountability here does not mean who is to blame if goals are missed. Smart goals are neither easy nor impossible, but are challenging, and as such, are not always met. Accountability means knowing who is responsible for what, and a commitment to understanding why things worked or did not work.

Recommended steps to creating a plan:

1. Compile and share with whoever will participate existing Vision and Mission, financials, successes and failures, and any competitive research.
2. Have an all-day meeting to go over all the components of a strategic plan listed above, finishing with a “pre-mortem”. A pre-mortem is a thought experiment in which each participant is asked to imagine that it is three years in the future, and the organization has failed to attain its goals. Then each person is asked to say why this might be the case? This can reveal potential problems that can then be avoided.
3. Write up the results of that meeting which becomes the outline of the strategic plan.
4. Followup with staff and meeting participants to set tentative measurable three-year and one-year goals. Goals should be clear, time-bound and measurable.
5. Reality-check all activity areas and goals against expected funding and resources. If needed, adjust areas of work and goals.
6. Create a plan for increased funding if needed, and then adjust areas of work and goals based upon reasonable assumptions.
7. Finalize the goals and distribute the plan.