Notes from 49th International STC Conference
Nashville, Tennessee, May 5-8, 2002

Thinking Strategically for the Future

Mary Merrill
Merrill Associates

Mary Merrill, with Merrill Associates in Columbus, Ohio, specializes in strategic planning for non-profit organizations. She has a down-to-earth understanding of the practical realities that must be considered if an organization is to bridge the gap between theory and realit--in a word, to not only "talk the talk" when it comes to strategic planning, but also "walk the walk."

Session Description: The speaker discussed four major challenges that must be met in order to operationalize a strategic plan within an organization and make it real. She then encouraged the STC committees and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to put these principles into practice in breakout sessions, tying their own strategies, goals, objectives, and tactics to the Society's 2002-2007 Strategic Plan, within the context of the four challenges discussed below.

• Traditional planning does not work in today's virtual environment.
• To make strategic planning effective in that environment, an organization must meet four challenges:
   
1. Creating a shared vision
2. Identifying shared values and core beliefs
3. Identifying strategic direction
4. Building shared power.
• Shared visions build a commitment on where your organization is going.
   
• To lead effectively, leaders must have common goals (stressing the "where," not the "how").
• Dynamic leaders communicate their vision so well that the membership embraces it (to do this, they must also listen.
• Suggestion: hold a retreat to focus on vision. This can either be a physical retreat at a small conference center or a virtual retreat via NetMeeting or a listserve chat tool.
• Your organization's core values and beliefs explain why you are going there.
   
• One of STC's core values is a belief in the power of volunteerism.
• STC branding focuses on four key values:
   
1. Open-minded
2. Member-focused
3. Effective
4. Ethical
• These values need to be operationalized at the chapter and SIG levels.
• Identifying strategic direction charts the course for how your organization will get there.
   
• This challenge involves how to get from where you are to where you want to be.
• Webster's Dictionary defines "strategic" as "of great importance within an integrated role."
• Before strategy, then, comes role definition. Or redefinition, as the case may be.
• The speaker gave the example of public libraries, which are faced with a paradigm shift from a success metric of "how many books are checked out" to redefining themselves as 24-7 "portals of information" based on online information access as well as conventional physical resources such as books and magazines. Those that fail to make this shift are languishing; those who make it are flourishin – placing information kiosks in malls, developing outstanding user-friendly Web sites to help library members access information, in short, changing the very meaning of the word "library." The moral? Move with the times!
• To use its resources most efficiently, any organization – and in particular a non-profit organization that depends on volunteeris – must make strategic decisions that focus its activities.
• In making these decisions, an organization needs to ask, "What are the core things we need to focus on, and what activities will move us furthest and fastest in this direction?" In so doing:
   
• Keep the choices simple.
• Be realistic on the limits of volunteerism (mindful that we all face the growing challenge of "time poverty.")
• To gauge the effectiveness of its activities in meeting its objectives, the organization needs to develop measurable actions (metrics). Metrics tell you how successful you have been in reaching your strategic destination.
• Though hardly an original concept, used properly, committees still play a vital role in helping an organization achieve its strategic objectives. To get the maximum productivity out of committees, use them efficiently:
   
• Give them good, clear charges.
• Respect their work; don't redo it – and be diplomatic in requesting modifications.
• Give the committee a specific mission over a specific timeframe; "chunk" projects into manageable bytes that can be accomplished in a reasonable period of time without an excessive time commitment. People will be much more likely to volunteer their talents for a committee assignment if they fully understand the scope and schedule of their commitment.
• The organization's leadership should track committees' progress against their action plan--and, importantly, take time to celebrate successes: publically! It is amazing what a little recognition will do.
• Build shared power.
   
• Get help. Tap local resources to help support retreats, planning sessions, etc. There are more local resources available, many of them free of charge or of nominal cost, than you might realize.
• Delegate. Trust.
• Personally invite people to participate. Be specific on the reason for wanting them to join and the expectations the organization will have of them if they do (define and bound their commitment up front).
• "Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision is just passing the time." Combine the two, and then you really have something.

Strategic Planning and STC Committees and SIGs: Breakout Session

• Mission statements. To develop them, ask these questions:
   
• How do people describe you?
   
• Members?
• STC non-members?
• Outside?
• What are you about?
• Why do you exist?
• What are your goals for the year?
• What are your strengths?
• What are your stretch goals?
• Congruity of your committee or SIG's plan with the Society's Strategic Plan.
   
• Harmony
• Sharing
• Conflicts