Dreaming is a Valid Part of Strategic and Business Plans ...

sDreams Are Valid Parts of Strategic and Business Plans

George Bernard Shaw once said, ?You see things and you say, Why? But I dream things that never were; and I say, Why Not??

Too many organizations today, nonprofit and for-profit, have stopped dreaming. It seems impractical to plan beyond a few months or a year?s financial projections. I guess it?s an efficiency thing: ?Why plan since everything will change anyway.? That?s a mindset for those who will rather respond to the world than try to shape it.

Inherent in every start-up is the notion, spoken or silent, that the organization has a chance to make the world a better place. Being profitable at it (even nonprofits need reserves) does command attention yet, it is an essential byproduct of success. Dreaming?of what can be?is squashed by the pressures of money and markets and competition.

Here?s what you can do to make visions of a better world, the world your organization intends to affect, a part of your planning process:

1. Continue planning as you have been.
2. Add to your long-range plans ideas you have that are too far out to commit resources to achieving. For example, it?s been in your mind a while now to expand your efforts to a new territory but it?s premature to do anything about it. Put it in the plan with a completion year 8, or 9 or 10 years from now. Describe it concisely; add no other details or action steps for now.
3. Exercise your?visioning skills. Have your leadership team (the board and top management) exercise creativity by having conversations about what they would like to see decades ahead. Do not allow?discussions of?where known trends will take things. Instead, ask the question,??What should things be like decades from now?? Focus that discussion on the world around your organization and not the organization itself. Don?t burden these early efforts with work product ? no minutes or published notes; just have the discussions, limit the time for them (it?s an exercise not a decision meeting or planning event), and get back to normal work when the discussion is through.

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Source: http://boardgovernance.storeblogs.com/2011/08/19/dreaming-is-a-valid-part-of-strategic-and-business-plans

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