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| Path: Main Street > Resources/Library > Research Articles > Feature Article |
Who should be involved in the strategic planning process?By Ron Robinson, President of ABARIS Consulting Inc.
The question is not just who, but how!
January 7, 2001
One the first questions that come to mind when an organization decides to develop a strategic plan are who should be involved? For many organizations itØs generally the Board and senior management team. Yet there are so many other stakeholders that have knowledge and information that would be beneficial to have included in the strategic planning process.
Stakeholders by their very definition are important to an organization; however, for practical reasons itØs not possible to include all stakeholders in the actual strategic planning sessions. Although all key stakeholders cannot be involved in the actual planning sessions, they should all be involved in the process. So how do you make sure that your key stakeholders are involved and have the opportunity to provide meaningful input?
There are several methods that we have used successfully to garner meaningful input from stakeholders. They include:DonØt restrict or omit obtaining input from key stakeholders because they canØt all be included in the actual planning sessions. Use one or more of the tools mentioned above to obtain critical and meaningful input from all your key stakeholders.
- Focus groups
- Facilitated meetings
- Written questionnaires (including open and close-ended questions)
- Telephone interviews
- In-depth one-on-one interviews
Who should obtain stakeholder input?
Determining who should collect stakeholder input (i.e. a consultant or the organization) is situation specific and depends upon many things, including, but not limited to:In summary, make sure that you not only identify your key stakeholders, but also have them involved in the process by providing meaningful input. This not only improves the quality of your strategic plan, it also improves their buy-in.
- The level of trust between the stakeholders.
- The level of trust between the stakeholders and management.
- The geographic dispersion of the stakeholders.
- The political issues currently taking place within the organization.
- Importance of the outcome to the stakeholders.
- The timeline for obtaining the input.
- The resources available within the organization to undertake the work.
- The skills sets within the organization to undertake the information gathering and compilation process.
- The probability that stakeholders will provide honest and complete feedback if the information is sent to the organizationØs management for compilation.
- The process for ensuring and managing the response rate.
- The level of knowledge specific to your business needed to understand the responses.
Ron Robinson is the president of ABARIS Consulting Inc. He can be reached at (519) 472-9788 or rrobinson@abarisconsulting.com. This article is provided free of charge, for information purposes only and is not intended, represented or to be inferred as providing advice. ABARIS Consulting Inc. makes no warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability for accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information provided in whole or in part within this article.
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