A Labor of Love: Putting your Plan into Action
It was beautiful -- birthed from many hours of labor. Sharon knew it wasn’t created from just her hard work, but the labor of her dedicated board members and staff.
Sharon received congratulatory texts and emails from fellow CEOs, board members, and family members. They knew the intensity of her work schedule in the past several months. The messages she received included:
“Well done! Now you can take a break.”
“Can’t wait to see your plan! Let’s schedule a time to talk it through.”
“Wow. Just imagine how this plan will grow your organization.”
After many months of research and debate and writing and revisions, it was finally complete. Sharon’s assistant printed it and placed it in folders. Sharon held it in her hands-- the brand-new strategic plan for her global nonprofit.
She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. And now, after a well-deserved week vacation with her family, Sharon sat in her office admiring her hard work. She knew it was time now to release it into the world. It was time to put their strategic plan into action. She knew it wouldn’t do anyone any good, especially the children who needed the food her nonprofit provided if it just sat proudly displayed on her bookshelf.
Sharon loved her work. She loved that children around the world were eating nutritious meals every day because of the ongoing work of her nonprofit. She loved that the mothers were learning how to care for their children in their homes and receiving life skills to know how to keep their families safe from hunger and disease. And the moms were receiving job skill training so they could contribute to the family income. It was such good work. But it was never-ending. There would always be more children to help. More mothers to teach. Especially now in the COVID-19 inflicted world. So much need. It would be easy to get lost in the magnitude of the millions of children on the verge of starvation.
She flipped through the pages of the document born from hours upon hours of work. She knew this strategic plan was essential at such a time – to take advantage of every resource, every person, every dollar donated, to feed more children and equip more families. Sharon had been in those villages and those homes. The look in the eyes of a child dying from starvation spurred her into action.
First things first. Time to organize committees that would create action plans for each strategic goal listed. https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/library/strategy-development/living-into-strategic-plan-implemention-guide/translate-goals The strategic planning team had meticulously examined their organizational history, discussed what had worked well and what didn’t, reworked their mission statement, revisited the role of each staff member, and discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the board.
For each goal, Sharon would create a team to nurture goals and grow them to maturity and measurable action. Their goals focused on: scope of programs; resources available; facility upgrades; communications enhancement, and staffing changes.
It was time for Sharon to share the load and trust the people around her. She couldn't lead every team, so she made a list of capable leaders to head each one. Each team would be formed from a mixture of board members, staff, volunteers, program leaders, and some community leaders. Sharon would rotate meeting with each team but chose not to lead any of them.
When the teams were formed, Sharon planned and announced a Strategic Plan Lunch and Launch meeting. As she prepped, she knew this was her time to shine -- to share the vision that the strategic planning team had formed. She would create a compelling case for the extra work involved and how it may impact their current operations. She knew that if each person didn’t see the need to implement the goals, the plan would be dead-on-arrival.
At the meeting, Sharon began with a story and a photo. “This is Purna, a little girl in a remote village in India. She’s breaking up rocks in this photo. She’s doing that because it’s her family’s job. There is nothing else for them to do but to labor in the rock quarry. She and her six brothers and sisters would go to bed hungry on this night if Purna didn't meet her quota of broken rocks. But because our organization saw the need, and you worked so hard to devise a plan, clearly communicate the need, enlist donors, supporters, and volunteers, soon, Purna and her family ate a hot meal. Soon, her mom learned how to make and sell soap to other mothers in her village. She earned enough to buy food each day. Let’s remember that Purna and all the other children in the countries where we work are why we are here today. Let’s commit together to feed more children and help more families. That’s why we are here today. To make what we do even better.”
Sharon explained the implementation plan. Teams organized around one of the strategic goals. They would determine objectives, decide how to achieve that objective, list activities to meet them, decide who would be responsible for each activity and when it would be accomplished. https://bloomerang.co/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-nonprofit-strategic-planning/ The team leaders would provide options for committee members to attend meetings – in person, online or on the phone. The leaders would then meet back with Sharon once a quarter to chart their progress, address problems, celebrate successes, and decide together on a way forward. It would be an ongoing process until the goals became reality.
As the group divided into planning teams, Sharon paused once again to remember Purna. Sharon knew it wasn’t the planning, organizing, fundraising, and communicating that mattered the most. It was Purna. Her mother had given birth to a little girl with the odds stacked against her. Baby Purna faced a life of insecurity, danger, disease, and early death. Sharon and her team worked hard to change her fate. And thankfully, that had been accomplished. It had been a labor of love.