I’ve been wondering about strategic plans lately… during the course of my career I have been part of many strategic planning teams, both writing and executing.
Some plans looked like a football play, with lots of arrows and lines designating who was doing what and when and for how long.
Some strategic plans were gorgeous infographics, with colors and icons and benchmarks to outline what actions are being taken to reach an end goal.
And others were a text document with charts and tables that outlined the steps, the due dates, and the expected outcomes.
Truth be told, it doesn’t matter how it looks.
What matter is how it’s lived, how it embodies the culture of the organization, and the alignment of the goals to the organization values and purpose.
Does the plan reflect the learning and evolving that happens within a people organization or is it a testament to a static moment in time that gets filed on a bookshelf?
Is it a PDF owned by one or a Google Doc shared by many?
Would love to hear how strategic plans function within your organization, and how they impact the work you do every day.
Laura K Spencer, Ed.D. 