Strategic and Succession Planning

This information from NCVO outlines why it’s useful to develop a strategy for your organisation, how to involve and engage key stakeholders in creating your strategy and provides a useful overview of a strategy creation process. It also covers how to create a theory of change and what’s involved in setting the direction of your organisation.

In this blog, Stephen Cahil from The Cranfield Trust explores six useful steps you can take to rework your organsation or group’s strategy.

This Learning Lab webinar from The Cranfield Trust offers a useful introduction to creating a theory of change.  Developing a theory of change can be a helpful step as part of strategic planning and setting goals and objectives for your organisation or group. It is also a useful tool for identifying what you want to measure and evaluate in order to understand the impact you are having and the difference you make.

Human and community centred design is an approach which is all about involving beneficiaries and communities in the process of designing new projects, services or resources. It can also be thought of as a creative approach to problem solving, that starts with people.

Refugee Action have compiled a range useful information about human and community centred design, including case studies of how VCSE organisations have used this approach and its impact. There are also links to useful resources that can support you as you try out this approach.

This resource from the Design Council explains the Double Diamond design process and includes a short video which explains how to use it.

This blog from A Brilliant Thing CIC explores how we can use design thinking to support with planning, overcome obstacles and to create actionable solutions.

An accessible toolkit which explores the importance of planning for leadership transition and incudes useful frameworks and planning frameworks. The toolkit is based on research with research with 20 non profit organisations and shares insights from the experience of these organisations of leadership transition and succession. Learnings are shared in the following areas:

• Strategic Planning
• Including Stakeholders
• Development and Investment in Leadership
• Key Roles, Responsibilities & Tasks
• The Role of Communications
• The Use of Values in the Process

This guide includes helpful information about succession planning and how to create strong succession plans for key leadership roles within your organisation.

This factsheet from CIPD explores how you can succession plan so that you are better able to fill roles in your organisation when staff leave or change roles. It also highlights the importance of nurturing talent within our organisations.