Craig's question about Strategic Planning

[Lisa Heft]

Hello, Craig -

You wrote:
<I am trying to thinking through the concept of Strategic Planning.
...As I understand it, OS make space for it to emerge in a healthy way?
After a group senses an emerging order, does one plan, does one get out
of the way so it can happen, or a little of all?>

I have had clients do great work with strategic planning and Open Space.

One shining example was a client (a local Catholic Diocese) who
extensively surveyed their constituency for months before the Open
Space, to get at what were the critical issues that deserved attention
(therefore funding).  Via surveying and clustering, they narrowed these
down to 3 critical issues.

(by the way the 3 issues were
- Including Youth and Young Adults
- Including Lay People in the Church
- Living Catholic Social Teachings)

Then they invited whomever wanted to (115 people came - ages 14-75, 4
languages spoken) to two weekends (2 months apart) of Open Space - to
think of strategies and programs under these 3 headings.  Then they
converged them into 3 items in each of the 3 categories.  These were the
items/projects to be funded for the coming 2 years.   (they added a 4th
critical issue: infrastructure - in other words, they looked for and
made available the funding, staffing and other resources that would
support whatever would come of this 'Critical Issues Workshop'
(strategic planning process).  The results of these two Open Space
weekends' work became the strategic plan / the Pastoral Plan for the
next few years.

During these next several years they provided training to the
constituents on how to apply for funding for programs fitting into these
issue / funding areas, supported actions and programs coming out of all
this, and they're still going strong on those programs (which are
growing and changing with the times) a few years later.

So rather than an executive team getting together in a vaccum to write
funding structure around already existing programs/projects (hoping to
shore them up for the coming year with a vague idea of projected
growth/needs) they did some darn fine research, co-created a vision with
concrete strategies/programs supporting it, and strong funding behind
it, and at the same time the entire Diocese carried the seeds and
flowers of that plan back out into their community and their ongoing
work.

Dream client.

Cheers from Berkeley,
Lisa

___________________________
L i s a   H e f t
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
O p e n i n g  S p a c e
2325 Oregon
Berkeley, California
94705-1106   USA
+01 510 548-8449
lisaheft at openingspace.net
www.openingspace.net




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