e-Newsletter: Connect to Solutions
You Wrote the Plan, Now What?
by Jeff Vengrow, Director of CNE Solutions, Center for Nonprofit Excellence
It takes a lot of time, and diligence to craft a useful business plan. It’s a common tragedy, particularly in the hectic world of nonprofit organizations, that once the plan is drafted, it becomes the destination rather than the roadmap for a journey.
What are some ways to keep the plan on your navigation screen?
1. Use the plan as a communication tool with the board.
Take a section of the plan and use it as a discussion tool at board meetings. This can be an effective way to both inform and engage the board without inviting excessive intervention in operating matters.
2. Review the business plan with current or potential donors.
The existence of a well drafted business plan certainly is one indice of a well managed organization. In addition to building credibility you can solicit feedback and incorporate useful suggestions and insights when you revise the plan later. The plan is more than just a stage prop, however. It is an effective tool to engage others in support of your mission and the impact you intend to make on the community.
3. Align the business plan goals with a staff performance management system.
Performance management is an important component to the success of any organization. However, when the goals of the staff are not explicit or when there is no clear line of sight between individual goals and those within the business plan, staff may be doing a great job at the wrong things.
4. Establish regularly scheduled reviews of performance milestones
Since the business plan is a “roadmap”, do you know where are you along the way? Are you making good time on the trip? What is slowing you down or what could help you speed up progress? What are some unforeseen barriers that might require an adjustment to the plan? If circumstances have changed, it’s important to have the agility and flexibility to find another way, and be willing to change the plan. Solicit the input of staff and keep them engaged since they are at “ground zero” and will likely have an important perspective. In the current economic climate, using resources efficiently and effectively is more important than ever.
There are often choices on the journey to reach any destination. The business plan reflects one set of those choices. Effectively using a business plan as a useful road map rather than a destination makes all that effort worthwhile.
Contact Jeff Vengrow, Director of CNE Solutions at (330) 762-9670 or vengrow@cfnpe.org for more information or to speak with one of our staff.