Strategic Planning Checklist

Beryl Levinger

The following checklist can be used to assess the readiness of an organization to engage in strategic planning. Its primary utility is to plan for training and technical assistance that can help overcome the obstacles noted. Strategic planning is intimately related to organizational partnering in that partnerships can alter in very fundamental ways the relationship any organization has with the external environment in which it operates.

The organization is ready to engage in strategic planning if each of the following conditions prevails (record yes or no as appropriate):

1. There is a willingness to work toward developing the best fit between the organization and its external environment by examining the following questions:

• where are we going? (mission)

• how do we get there? (strategies)

• what is our blueprint for action? (budget)

• how do we know if we're on track? (control)

Yes___ No___

2. There is a high likelihood that consensus can be reached on the following issues:

• Who are we?

• What are the basic social and political needs we exist to fill?

• What do we do to recognize or anticipate and respond to these needs?

• Who are our key stakeholders and how should we respond to them?

• What are our philosophies and core values?

• What makes us distinctive or unique?

Yes___ No___

3. There is an absence of impending doom and crisis.

Yes___ No___

4. There is deeply held commitment on the part of top leadership to engage in strategic planning.

Yes___ No___

5. There is a shared understanding about the nature of strategic planning among organizational stakeholders.

Yes___ No___

6.. There is a competent group of people willing and able to serve on the strategic planning team.

Yes___ No___

7. There is ability within the organization to respond to problems with solutions that are politically, ethically, technically, and culturally acceptable.

Yes___ No___

8. There is agreement on the planning process/model to be used.

Yes___ No___

9. There is consensus regarding the organizational mandate given to the planning team.

Yes___ No___

10. There are adequate resources (including facilitators from either within or outside the organization) so that the planning team can do each of the following tasks:

• clarify organizational mission and values
• identify clients/stakeholders
• assess the external environment
• assess the internal environment
• identify the strategic issues it faces
• formulate strategies to manage these issues (options generation)
• establish an effective organizational vision for the future
• convert the vision into activity plans, budgets, and key result areas that can be monitored
• monitor performance "actuals" versus "expectations"
• make adjustments to the plan

Yes___ No___

11. There is access to data that reflect the political, economic, social and technological trends that effect the organization's clients, customers, competitors and collaborators.

Yes___ No___

12. There is access to data that reflect the organization's current resources and performance level.

Yes___ No___