Join The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution
Real-Time Strategic Planning SM in a Rapid-Response World

The focus of traditional strategic planning is to produce a formal written document, within a preset time frame, that will “endure” for a predetermined length of time (usually three years), and cover a predetermined list of areas with very specific (and often distant) goals and objectives. This focus is just not compatible with the formation of effective strategy in a nonprofit functioning in the rapid-response real world of today.

To address this problem, La Piana Associates has developed, through our four-year foundation-funded Strategy Formation research project a Real-Time Strategic Planning SM methodology that engages participants, addresses the Big Questions facing the organization, and creates an atmosphere where ongoing  strategic thinking and action can flourish. Our clients report that this is much better than the traditional approach they have used in the past, which often results in a written document that sits on a shelf gathering dust. Using our Real-Time approach, we can help you to determine how best to address your Big Questions in the context of your mission. We can:

• Take you through a one-day kick off session in which you articulate your organizational identity from elements such as your organization’s geographic, programmatic and customer scope, competitive advantage and market conditions.
• Use informal and formal market research techniques to gather and analyze intelligence from a variety of stakeholders, including clients, funders, competitors, colleagues, public policy makers, and former board members and employees
• Help you foster an environment in which decisions are made from a strategic perspective
• Strategize with you about your organization's enduring values, mission, and vision for the long-run
• Identify and focus on the top opportunities and challenges facing your organization, its Big Questions, which we can then address aggressively
• Develop a Strategy Screen that enables you to set out criteria for strategic decisions before the decision is on the table, thus expediting your strategic response to merging opportunities and challenges
• Embed within your organization a methodology for identifying and addressing future Big Questions as they emerge, rather than only once every planning cycle.
• Leave you with dozens of simple but often quite powerful tools you can choose from as you continue to enhance your organization’s ability to anticipate and respond to strategic challenges.
• Document your decisions in accessible language, in an easily changeable format that includes strategies for monitoring and evaluating the outcomes you achieve over time
• Develop effective promotion and communication strategies for addressing both internal and external constituents, and for achieving an optimal market position