A strategy and its associated goals and plans should be focused on a vision that is big, bold, and inspiring. Many strategies are based simply on an analytical forecast of the way things are currently headed. How dull. It was Goethe who said: Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men. In his presidential run, Robert Kennedy used to quote … [Read more...] about The 7th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “Not Ambitious Enough”
vision-setting
Analysis Cannot Answer the Question “Why?”
In my last blog, I made the case for the value of organizations setting their visions and goals without cluttering their minds with the constraints of the current reality – which are usually identified in a SWOT analysis. Today I offer a different perspective on the same theme. Systems Thinking pioneer, Dr. Russell Ackoff, was a Senior Fellow at Maryland’s Robert H, Smith … [Read more...] about Analysis Cannot Answer the Question “Why?”
The Classic SWOT Analysis: Better Backwards
The classic use of SWOT Analysis (a review of an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) has been around for a long time in the field of strategic planning, but it can be used in a far more helpful way if it is done backwards. In the classic approach to strategy, the first step of the strategy development process is SWOT Analysis. The purpose … [Read more...] about The Classic SWOT Analysis: Better Backwards