Strategic Planning That Puts People First: A Human-Centered Approach to Lasting Impact.
I recently spoke with an executive director who said their sector needs to focus advocacy efforts on the outcomes for people rather than the organization's sustainability.
It left me thinking that it starts with strategic planning and building a culture
of engagement.
Here is what it looks like in action.
🔷Conduct Stakeholder Research: Understand the needs, pain points, and aspirations of those directly impacted and invested in the organization.
🔷Map Experiences: Create user personas or journey maps to visualize different stakeholder experiences, helping the organization empathize with their perspectives and understand their challenges.
🔷Involve Diverse Stakeholders: In workshops and discussions, include various voices—beneficiaries, staff, partners, politicians, and funders—to ensure the strategy is built collaboratively and reflects various needs and ideas.
🔷Co-Creation Workshops: Facilitate sessions where stakeholders collaborate to generate ideas and solutions. This promotes shared ownership of the plan.
🔷Align Strategy with people's needs: Based on insights gathered, define strategic priorities directly linked to improving stakeholder experiences, addressing their most pressing challenges, and achieving their goals.
🔷Prioritize Impact: Ensure that the goals and initiatives focus on maximizing positive outcomes for the people served rather than purely internal or operational objectives.
🔷Pilot Initiatives: Before fully launching any new strategy, test initiatives on a small scale with stakeholder input. Use these pilots to gather real-time feedback and assess whether the proposed solutions effectively address the needs identified.
🔷Iterate: Based on feedback, refine the strategies to ensure they’re genuinely impactful. This step ensures flexibility and responsiveness to people’s evolving needs.
🔷Monitor and Adapt: Once the strategy is implemented, create feedback loops with stakeholders to ensure it meets its goals.
🔷Remain Flexible: Adjust the strategy as you learn from ongoing feedback, ensuring it addresses people’s needs as circumstances change.
🔷Share Progress and Celebrate Wins: Keep stakeholders informed about the strategy’s progress and how their input influenced decision-making.
👋Hi, I am Lori. As a strategy consultant, I help nonprofits focus on what matters most and turn challenges into strategic opportunities to elevate their social impact and sustainability.
