Planning+&+Financing


 * November 6, 2012**
 * Planning & Financing**

__**GROUP 1:**__ Based on your understanding of the readings, develop answers to the following queries. In all cases, don't just answer the questions from the text. Describe, analyze, and provide examples from both the readings AND personal, real-world experience to support your answers! Your group should complete your synthesis by **11:59pm on Sunday, November 4.**


 * 1. Both Bryson (2010) and Kouzes & Posner (2008) discuss the importance of “strategic thinking” as perhaps the most key component of the strategic planning process. In fact, K&P in chapter 6 state equivocally that strategic planning is NOT the same as strategic thinking. Describe the concept of strategic thinking as you understand it after reading these two perspectives.**

A good way to describe the difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning is summed up by a quote Bryson attributes to the great frontiersman, Daniel Boone. “No, I can’t say as I ever was lost, but once I was bewildered pretty bad for three days.” I love that quote! (BB) The reason this quote is good in summing up strategic thinking versus strategic planning is that you **can** plan to go nowhere. In other words, you can get into your car and put an address into your GPS, but is it the right address? So Strategic Thinking is really about seeing the possibilities and articulating a clear vision of what the organization can be....can strategic thinking happen at a more micro level? In the day to day aspects of a manager's job? (BB) Strategic thinking is determining the right address. Strategic planning is punching the numbers into the GPS to determine how to get there in an efficient way.

Kouzes and Posner seem to take a more individualistic approach, but the premise is the same. They tend to focus on values. They state that personal value clarity drives commitment. The bottom line for an individual or an organization is that why you exist matters! Ah yes - here is the application of strategic thinking at the micro level - leading from our values - and making decisions based on these values. This can apply to big and small decisions! (BB) Finally, Kouzes and Posner on page 65 state that “Unity is Forged, Not Forced”. The key to getting a good strategy according to Kouzes, and to some extent Bryson, is to first figure out who you are and why you are here When that is communicated effectively and passionately, people will follow where you lead. (This also applies to question 4.)

Finding out who you are leads to strategic thinking. Understanding who you are as an individual or an organization allows you to know what you would like to do in the future. That is the key to strategic thinking. Strategic thinking is all about coming up with the idea! Strategic planning is drawing the map to arrive!


 * 2. Bryson (2010) quotes Diane Ackerman (p. 231) where she says, “Make believe is at the heart of play and also at the heart of so much that passes for work. Lets make believe we can shoot a rocket to the moon.” This statement gets to the heart of the visioning process. In your group’s opinion, what are some of the big visions that youth development systems and/or organizations should be focused on? What is our profession’s equivalent of “shooting a rocket to the moon”?**

Who actually takes the time to sit down and think about what we as an organization, or on a larger scale, as a profession, could do if there were no constraints? Not enough of us! Seriously, there are studies that suggest almost 90% of a manager's time is spent fighting fires, and only 20% of Federal youth agencies work from an active strategic plan. (BB) Often we just focus on those constraints! Yet what is our profession’s equivalent of “shooting a rocket to the moon”? This question provides an opportunity to each of our organizations right now.

At every family get together that I can remember as I grew up, we would play some form of card game. A term that we used when we wanted to get every point in the deck was to “Shoot the Moon”, so in this question, we are going to “Shoot the Moon.”


 * As a profession we will have blast off focusing upon a youth’s ecological systems.**



To the moon! Youth Development Leadership as a profession exists to promote public policies and appropriate education and training of staff and leadership in order to create exemplary programs focused upon youth development, creating a unified vision and definition of success throughout the United States and then the globe (Well said! - BB) These programs will promote an interconnectedness between local schools, youth programs and neighborhoods, all buying into the youth development vision, in order to provide appropriate structures that will promote youth preparation and engagement. Within these programs, family participation will be encouraged in order to fully engage the youth within his or her context. Youth success rates will soar, exemplified by competent, confident, connected, caring youth who live out their values by contributing back to the community.

This can also be brought down to an organizational level. In the organization I (Chris Harris) work with, we have narrowed it down to five points. Is this a vision Chris? Or is does this describe what is currently happening with the organization? (BB)

1). Every youth in this community will be effectively mentored by a caring adult that provides support and guidance until they graduate college.

2). Each mentor will be professionally trained by a youth development specialist.

3). Each mentor will recognize that every youth in this community has internal motivation and they will try to support each youth in a manner that allows that internal motivation to flourish!

4). Every teenager will receive an education and educational support conducive to attending a 2-year, 4-year, or vocational college. No student will be turned away from college because of a lack of money. Yes! This is what I am trying to do here too!! I am supposed to hear back anytime if I won the grant from Kingdom Invesment Foundation. PRAY!!!

5). Single parent homes will be provided a place for their children to go and participate in positive activities, professionally designed by youth development specialist. Actually, this looks quite visionary to me!

The reason that these five points were chosen is because if we could accomplish these points, we could forever change the community. This would be a fantastic vision question for any organization.


 * 3. K&P provide a discussion on leadership vision in Chapter 5 (Envision the Future). According to K&P, how important is it for leaders to have a vision? What is the difference between a strategic leader and a tactical leader with respect to vision? Which type of leader would be in the best position to help a youth organization “shoot a rocket to the moon”? Why?**

It is essential for leaders to have a vision. They must understand and contemplate past experiences but continue to be forward looking. When one is forward looking and has a vision for the future they are much more likely to take the first step towards fulfillment of that vision. A strategic leader would be positioned well to help a youth organization “shoot a rocket to the moon”. A strategic leader has a much longer time orientatio n than a tactical leader, and because of this disposition, a strategic leader may be better suited to form lasting partnerships with key stakeholders. Additionally, a strategic leader will also visualize how both current successes and opportunities to learn can all work in concert to move the organization closer “the moon”. I nteresting point - this openness to learning is a real key here I think - strategic leaders are open to new information, they take good risks, and they learn from successes and failures. See Peter Senge's work (The Fifth Discipline) on this!


 * 4. Bryson (2010) claims that his Strategy Change Cycle, “bears little resemblance to the caricature of strategic planning found in the literature.” What are the 10 steps to Bryson’s Strategy Change Cycle? How does each step help to “promote mutual persuasion and learning among stakeholders about what to do, how, and why in order to fulfill an organization’s mission and meet its mandates” (p. 234)?**

Bryson’s 10 steps are: This step begins the process by persuading people to plan. Furthermore, it looks for agreement on the strategic planning process. It persuades both parties to participate because each party would most likely appreciate having input into how the process will be approached. It is likely many of the people involved in this process do not recognize informal mandates. Therefore, explaining and identifying organizational mandates can help provide and clarify expectations and, therefore, persuade and free up people to act. Empowerment! Within this give and take, mutual persuasion can occur. Furthermore, this assists in organizational learning by finding and explaining organizational mandates. When mandates are clear, they will more likely be met. “Clarifying purpose can eliminate a great deal of unnecessary conflict in an organization and can help channel discussion and activity productively (Thompson, 2001,; Nutt, 2002).” This is where buy in occurs. Getting everyone on board, persuading all involved of the mission’s value, creates unity and mutual trust. At this point, some may also opt to bow out, for if someone does not buy into the mission, maybe he or she should pursue other options at an organization that has a mission that he or she can follow. Furthermore, clarifying the mission attributes to organizational learning by laying the groundwork for the organization and making sure everyone knows why the organization exists. Who or what are we fighting against and in what areas are there opportunities. This is a classic SWOT analysis, and can greatly contribute to organizational learning. By recognizing the challenges, and organization can plan, thereby learning to overcome said challenges. Yet never underestimate the power of knowing the strengths and opportunities available to an organization! These are often integral to persuade those within that the mission is viable, persuading all to action. Bryson (2010) states that the first 4 steps in this process lead to the fifth step. Going through this step, organizations often need to revisit the previous four steps. [This makes the plan a "living document" - BB] They have to make sure that the mission is the right mission. Is there a conflict? Are there issues to be confronted? Identifying these can help in persuasion and organizational learning because the group has to investigate the conflict and determine how to proceed. Bryson goes on to identify 9 different approaches to the identification of these strategic issues: the direct approach going straight from the SWOT analysis to identifying strategic issues; the goals approach focusing on issues to be addressed before goals can be achieves; the vision of success approach which clarifies goals in practice and makes sure they match stated goals; the indirect approach which used brainstorming then identifying issues; oval mapping which maps optional issues, actions and perceived outcomes; the livelihood scheme which uses a causal map that focuses specifically on aspirations and links them to competencies; the alignment approach which clarifies issues and aligns them with mission, goals, resource allocation, etc.; the tensions approach which seeks to balance organizational tensions to better frame the issues; and a systems analysis which helps discern the best way to frame issues. This is an outstanding summary here - (BB) Creating an effective strategy to attack the issues is key. By working together to develop a strategy to manage the identified issues, the organization is learning. Persuasion seems like such a pushy word, but if you are part of the process of formulating a plan, hopefully, you feel persuaded to assist in the success of that plan. You are invested. Here is the learning paradigm again - so - is it safe to say that a PROFESSIONAL youth development leader is one who is committed to and capable of on-going learning - both individually and at the organizational level? (BB) This is when you make it official and officially adopt the strategic plan or plans. Are all the stakeholders, both internal and external considered? Are the goals correct? Is it the right strategy, if so, then moving forward can begin. This is included in the organizational learning process by reviewing the previous 6 steps and making sure that they all fit into this strategic plan. Once the strategies have been implemented, what should the organization look like? That is the question that needs to be answered in this point. This is mutually persuading because it takes agreement on what the organization wants to be when they “grow up”. Do you think its odd that Bryson has this step fairly late in the process? - BB Now, how are you going to get it done ? This is defining the actual process of implementing the new strategic plan. Bryson says this is the establishment of the new “regime”. That is an interesting way of putting it, but it may possibly be a good thing. The reason is because all of the previous steps have been agreed on together and the group of individuals hopefully are on board! Did we get it right? This is a very important part of the process because it is the evaluation of the plan. It also provides the opportunity to improve. - [Yes! Again, an opportunity for organizational learning! - BB]
 * 1.) **** Initiate and agree on a strategic planning process. **
 * 2.) **** Identify organizational mandates. **
 * 3.) **** Clarify organizational mission and values. **
 * 4.) **** Asses the external and internal environments to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. **
 * 5.) **** Identify the strategic issue facing the organization. **
 * 6.) **** Formulate strategies to manage the issues. **
 * 7.) **** Review and adopt the strategic plan or plans. **
 * 8.) **** Establish an effective organizational vision. **
 * 9.) **** Develop an effective implementation process. **
 * 10.)Reassess strategies and strategic planning process. **

These 10 steps are circular in nature! It is important to note: “Although the process is presented in a linear, sequential fashion for pedagogical reasons, it proceeds iteratively as group continuously rethink connections among the various elements of the process, take action, and learn on their way to formulating effective strategies,” (Bryson, 2010,p. 258)


 * 5. In Chapter 3, K&P suggest that to be effective, leaders need to find their voice. According to the authors, what are the two big ways that leaders find their voice?** **What is the relationship between clarity about personal values and clarity about organizational values? What does your group think about this conclusion?**

If a leader is to find their voice they must first understand their values.

One of the key avenues useful in finding values is the self-exploration process of writing a tribute to oneself. By doing so individuals reflect upon the ideal image of themselves: what they value and personal qualities they deem worthy of recognition.

The second activity suggested by K&P in a leader’s quest to find their values is to write a personal credo. The purpose of this activity is to better illustrate the principles that should guide actions and decisions in the event of the leader’s absence. The credo will serve as a guide to others of the beliefs and actions the leader deems worthy of practice.

K&P also mention that a key element of a leader’s attempt to finding their voice is ensuring that the words they choose to use are in synchronicity with what they desire to communicate. Ah, yes! Consistency in words and deeds! - (BB)

There is an interesting relationship between organizational shared values and personal values. Clarity of both organizational and personal values drives commitment. When a constituent is well aware of their personal values //and// the organizational values, commitment levels are at their highest. When organizational value clarity is low and personal value clarity is high, commitment it still strong. However, when organizational value clarity is low and personal value clarity is low, commitment significantly decreases. When organizational value clarity is high and personal value clarity is low, commitment is the lowest. (There is really no statistical difference within the organizational value clarity range. The most important factor is personal value clarity.)

We think the most significant message these relationships relay is that it is utterly essential to organizational commitment and wellbeing to encourage constituents and leaders alike to have a clear understanding of their personal values. With a better understanding of one’s personal values, improvements in communication and tolerance may result, thereby enhancing an organization’s ability to thrive.

At a faculty retreat, I was asked to bring a group of dissenting persons together to find common ground and mend ill-conceived notions of the intentions and loyalties of group members. My main objective of the in-service was to establish a sense of security within the organization and aid in more effective communication. Each group member was asked to privately identify an instance that had affected their ability to trust and communicate with their counterparts and the organization. The individual was then asked to propose a solution or alternative to that negative interaction. The group then got together and was given an opportunity to anonymously or publicly describe solutions. Solutions were boiled down to descriptive adjectives. Adjectives were delineated by importance and effectiveness through group consensus. The group came up with an acronym to refer to when working with others that have differing opinions and to help with effective communication. APACT: A-appreciate other’s opinions; P-processing time and passing; A-active listening; C-confidentiality; T-treat other’s with respect.

After reading K&P, this activity could have been enhanced if values were integrated. If individuals were more aware and clear of their personal values, perhaps they wouldn’t feel as threatened by a set of differing values.


 * 6. In Chapter 4, K&P expand on the congruence between individual and organizational values. Why are shared values so important for an organization? What are the things that a strong leader can do to build shared values?**

According to K&P shared values are essential if leaders are to successfully articulate and personify desirable behaviors and characteristics. Shared values enable groups of individuals to come together to become more passionately committed to a cause.

Shared values are also an essential framework leaders can refer to as they train constituents. Leaders can build strong, shared values by being mindful and accountable for their actions. In doing so, leaders communicate what is acceptable and what is not. Leaders need to be aware of how they are spending their time and ensure they are spending enough time focusing attention on value-oriented activities. Because time is a valuable, nonrenewable resource the quantity and quality of time spent attending to specific tasks speaks to the level one values that task. Leaders should ensure that their language communicates the importance of the shared values and encourage constitutes to strive to embody those values. Leaders should also ask purposeful questions that stimulate constituents to ponder how the shared values can be exemplified. Leaders should make sure that they provide meaningful feedback on how well values are being put into action. First and foremost, it is important for leaders to be able to model how to accept feedback in order for constituents to be more open to the process of personal and professional development. Leaders must also confront critical incidences, use the technique of story-telling, and reinforce desirable behavior as they work towards encouraging shared values.


 * 7. Great leaders build systems, not empires. Part of building a well functioning system means enlisting (and empowering) others to help. What are the key strategies that K&P suggest for enlisting others to act? In your own experiences and organizations – do these strategies work? **

Leaders who effectively enlist others to act are proficient at two specific practices: appealing to common ideals and animating the vision. Inspirational leaders motivate others by painting a vision filled with hope and the desire to do something great. According to Kouzes and Posner (2007), “Visions are ideals – hopes, dreams, and aspirations” (p. 133). By appealing to common ideal, leaders share how they are going to make a difference in the world and leave a lasting legacy. In order to successfully appeal to common ideals leaders must connect to what is meaningful to others, take pride in being unique, and align their dream with the dream of others. Leaders who connect with the innate desire to a part of something that is meaningful foster a sense of purpose within others. Leaders who effectively communicate the uniqueness of an organization and its vision encourage pride and loyalty. Leaders who align their dream with the dreams of others establish a deep connectedness between the leader and those being led.

In order to enlist others to act, leaders must bring the vision to life. Inspiration rarely comes from reading words written on a paper. An effective vision must become tangible and stir something deep within. Effective leaders must animate the vision to motivate others to action. There are five ways that leaders can animate a vision: use of symbolic language, make images of the future, practice positive communication, express emotions, and speak from the heart.

John McAuley, the CEO of Muskoka Woods, is extremely effective at animating the vision. When John speaks to our organization, he always uses powerful stories and illustrations to draw you into his message. He often uses acronyms or acrostics. As a visionary, his talks are full of images of the future – he frequently mentions how he sees our organization 2,5 or 10 years down the road. His message is always positive. His language is inclusive, uplifting, and full of hope. Many of his stories are personal. He is not afraid to share his emotions or appeal to the organization in a genuine way.

As part of our strategic visioning meeting last week, we hired a facilitator to literally “animate” our vision. While John was giving his opening address, the facilitator sketched his interpretation of what John was articulating. I have attached the final illustration as an example of how a leader can animate a vision.



//**8. The **** tension between "planning" and "thinking/decision-making" has been discussed in almost all of our readings this week. In fact, ****Bell (2010) states that in the world of nonprofit financial leadership, there is an "overemphasis on planning to the neglect of decision-making and execution" (472). What do you think this means? What are the chief differences between financial management and financial leadership, and why do those differences matter in the context of nonprofit organizations? What is the link between sound financial leadership and the ability of a youth development organization to fulfill its mission? **//

// Most strategic plans outline the organizational goals and objectives for next 3-5 years. Planning looks ahead into the future and charts a path for success. When Bell (2010) states that nonprofits often overemphasize planning at the expense of decision-making he is referring to the temptation to overlook how plans will get funded or implemented on a day-to-day basis. Financial leadership concentrates on making sound decisions based on current information. Three-year plans cannot forecast economic climate or unforeseen circumstances. The ability to navigate daily financial and organization challenges with responsiveness and adaptation is as significant as a solid strategic plan. In a successful organization, you cannot have one without the other. //

// Financial management concentrates on generating and gathering financial data. Financial leadership is about utilizing available financial data to make good decisions. Accounting firms or consultants can provide financial management services to an organization. Financial leadership comes from within. Drucker (2002) provides further clarity on the difference between management and leadership in his book //The Effective Executive//. He simply states that management is about doing things right and leadership is about doing the right things. Nonprofits must execute on both financial management and leadership. Without financial management, important decisions will be uniformed and may lead the organization in a dangerous direction. Without financial leadership, there is not direction at all. Nonprofits must consider both to be healthy and successful.//

// According to Bell (2010), “nonprofit leadership is essentially about sustaining deep mission impact by acquiring and deploying resources strategically” (p. 461). If a nonprofit does not consider financial leadership and management, they jeopardize the sustainability of the organization. In our organization we say “no margin, no mission….no mission, no margin”. Solid funding models and fiscal discipline ensures that resources are available to directly impact vision and mission. //

//** Drucker, P. F. (2010). **//**The effective executive.// New York (NY): Harper Collins.**


 * 9. Take a moment to describe the political, economic, and social challenges that youth development organizations are facing today. Choose 2 or 3 of the most pressing problems or challenges to the work that we do with youth. What are some tried and true managerial solutions that you can think of that might address these problems? **

Youth organizations and other non-profits are facing many of the same challenges they faced 10 to 15 years ago. These include a decrease in funding, an increase in service demands, greater competition among public sector and private nonprofit agencies, and an increased emphasis on cost and performance accountability and transparency (Hopkins & Hyde, 2002, pg.1) Hopkins and Hyde assert that many scholars claim current social problems have become more complex and harder to solve as demographics shift and the need for cost containment increases (2002, pg 2). In light of these challenges, not for profit agencies have a hard time retaining staff that suffers from burn out, stress and low morale as they see fewer results for harder work and less pay. As one underpaid staff member of an orphanage in Brazil stated recently, “I can get paid a lot more and abused a lot less working for a business!” In Hopkins and Hyde’s research, lack of funds to meet agency goals was found to be one of the challenges reported most frequently by nonprofit managers (2002, pg.6). Some of the tried and true responses to limited funding are fund raising and grant writing. Another is to begin charging a minimal fee for services, though this will alienate some receiving services. Another challenge facing non-profit agencies is increased competition among agencies. Many different agencies are providing similar services, all with the same goal in mind. For example, many organizations int eh downtown Greenville area, including churches, supply food to the poor and needy. Yet it has been discovered many of those registered to receive food at one church are also registered at four other churches plus United Ministries, public food stamps, etc. Funds could be better allocated if these organizations worked together to provide what was needed, thereby expanding their ability to provide further services, such as after school tutoring or adult education. An additional stated challenge is interpersonal conflict between workers and administration. The tried and true response based upon the interviews was to concentrate on staff recruitment. This reflects the statement made in Hopkins and Hyde’s research, “Often, solutions did not seem to match with the identified challenges…Managers did not seem to be responding to difficult internal and external challenges with effective, systemic solutions, as recommended by both management scholars and consultants (2002, pg. 10).” Simply recruiting different staff will not address this situation thoroughly.


 * 10. Hopkins & Hyde (2002) state that, “We have to move beyond solving systematic problems with symptomatic solutions” (p. 12). To translate – the same tired problems tend to give rise to the same tired solutions, and nothing seems to get better. Take a look at the problems and solutions you proposed in question 9. Are these similar to or different than the problems and solutions that H&H found in their article? If you could think strategically and divergently for a minute (i.e. “break the box”) – address one or two of the problems you mention above in a more systematic way.**

I think it is important we revisit the statement: “We have to move beyond solving systematic problems with symptomatic solutions” (p. 12). To clarify this, one can look at it biologically. Strep throat is caused by a bacterial infection and can cause a high fever. If we simply treat the fever (symptom) with Tylenol, we do not address the underlying cause- the infection (system). We need treat the system with a course of antibiotics to truly solve the issue.

The problems and solutions proposed in question 9 are similar to those in H&H’s article. However, the tact that the interviewed managers used to treat these challenges needs to be questioned.

1) Financial challenges. Non profit organizations facing financial challenges in the current financial climate must think outside of the box. Simple fund raising and grant writing are not enough. The competition has increased and what Dr. Brown said in his grant writing class used to be easy, receiving a grant, is now rare. Per Jean Bell in this week’s readings, non-profit organizations need to create a healthy culture of money. A not for profit organization can actually, legally, make a profit if that profit is re-invested in the organization. Reinvesting can mean paying for an underfunded program, covering raises for key personnel, paying for a new water heater, or designing a new marketing plan. Therefore, the challenge is to assess the possibilities of generating income within non-profit organizations. An orphanage that sells the bread made in its bread making school; 4H selling its prize livestock; thrift stores; space rented to a church on Sundays. All are endeavors that can increase a non-profit’s bottom line with the goal of making a year end profit. 2) Interpersonal conflict between workers and administration. Working in the non-profit sector does not include constant power struggles. At least it should not if management has done its job by creating a team atmosphere. What can management do to decrease conflict and, in addition, increase employee satisfaction which limits turn over? Based upon Hoskins and Hyde’s research, many managers view their organizations from a micro perspective. They concentrate on the fires that must be put out immediately and seem to keep popping up instead of looking beyond the flames to the fire break and the calm waters beyond. First, managers need to become educated in appropriate leadership techniques, then apply them using a macro perspective. It sounds simple, but is not. It must be a team effort. Chapters 1-5 in the book **The Leadership Challenge** by Kouzes and Possner lay the foundation, but chapter 6 gives the steps to make it so. The vision must be communicated and sold to all the team members. To do so effectively a leader must be able to cast a vision, listen deeply to his or her team members, reflect on what has gone wrong and what has gone right, be passionate about the vision of the organization, and commit to the cause being promoted. He must be able to communicate effectively and willingly exemplify all he is requesting for those he leads. He must allow them a voice. As a group, the team can determine how to get to their goals, furthering their cause-strategic change cycle! As all this is going on, he must remove any dead weight. If there are members of the team that have not bought into the commitment, they must be removed. One negative individual can affect the performance of the entire team.