ACEVO member Alan Kinder reflects on the organisational strategies he developed at two education charities between 2012 and 2026.
Be clear about the need for a strategy
Given that you are reading this blog, you may already be convinced of the need for strategic planning at your organisation. Do not assume others feel likewise. Defining what you are trying to achieve by introducing or renewing a strategy can be a critical step in the process.
For example, in one charity I joined, the established practice was for big decisions to be taken by a small circle of central figures, based on their instincts rather than a long-term plan shared across the organisation. This approach, known as ‘implicit’ or ‘emergent’ strategising, can operate well enough, but it often concentrates power in just a few hands. An early action I took in this instance was to persuade board members that creating and publishing a formal plan would help us:
- revisit and reinforce who we are, what we stand for, what we do best and what we want to achieve over the medium to long term;
- communicate our purposes and priorities more widely, providing a ‘rallying call’ to encourage volunteer participation and attract external support;
- create a more inclusive and coherent way of working, through a roadmap that everyone (members, volunteers, staff, board members and CEO) contributes to and helps implement;
- streamline decision-making and resource allocation, reducing time spent adjudicating between the interests of various stakeholder groups.
Agree roles, responsibilities and timelines
In the organisations I led, which comprised networks of volunteers distributed across the country and further afield, strategic change is akin to ‘steering a supertanker’ i.e., hard and slow! In these contexts, another early task is to agree not only who will lead the development of a new strategy, but who will be invited to contribute ideas, submit information or offer feedback along the way. At the risk of labouring the supertanker metaphor: who should be aboard, who is on the lookout, and who is allowed into the wheel room? My preferred tool for planning and communicating this is a RACI matrix, which helps identify with precision those responsible, accountable, consulted or involved at each step along what is likely to be a process lasting several months or more.
I recommend paying particular attention to the respective roles and skills of the CEO and board. To fulfil their responsibilities for the strategic direction and well-being of the organisation, board members need structured opportunities to input meaningfully to strategy formulation and to absorb, discuss and approve the final version. Never assume that board members are well versed in strategic planning. An important part of the CEO’s work is drawing ideas together and building coherence from what is likely to start out as a kaleidoscope of perspectives and possibilities. This involves the expert use of strategic planning tools (see below). At the same time, the CEO needs to share their strategic insights – based on their intimate knowledge of organisational activities, performance data, partnership activity and competitor behaviour – in ways that are readily digestible and persuasive. Ideally, the process should feel like one of shared leadership, not a tug of war over ownership of the plan.
Anticipate the wider environment you’ll be working in
Looking beyond your immediate circumstances is demanding but nevertheless invaluable to devising a strategy that actually works. This isn’t about crystal ball gazing. It involves collecting authoritative information and using this to paint a picture of the environment in which you work, how this might change over the coming years, and what this will mean for your organisation. My preferred tool for this type of analysis is LoNGPESTLE. The first step is to tabulate the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors and trends of relevance to your organisation. Next, map the way these issues are likely to play out at your various scales of operation, from local to global. The final step is to identify the implications for your future strategic decisions and choices. I have found using this tool with staff and board members, and then publishing the results, to be a good way of stimulating debate across the community. See, for example: www.regionalstudies.org/rsa-blog/2024-blog-horizon-scanning/
Appraise your strengths, weaknesses and resources
Another way to ‘ground’ strategy in reality is to assess your organisational resources and capabilities, in order to identify areas of strength that can be built on with confidence, and to allocate sufficient resources to launch new initiatives or address areas requiring improvement. Given that both the organisations I led are membership associations, I have always treated member engagement exercises as particularly important sources of information for this type of work. The last two such exercises I led were conducted over several months and incorporated focus group interviews alongside member survey data. On both occasions, I was fortunate enough to have the support of academic members to assist with research design, data analysis and report authoring. This helped bring robustness, insight and legitimacy to the results and recommendations – see for example https://portal.geography.org.uk/shop/view/P9781899086403.
Create an inclusive and iterative process
We’ve probably all known organisations where strategy documents remain ‘on the shelf’ and divorced from the thinking, language or actions of staff and volunteers; or where the only person who can recall any of the contents of the strategy is the CEO. For strategy to have any meaning, it must be enacted – implying that people across the organisation understand it, believe in it and see how their everyday work (voluntary or paid) is linked to strategic progress. This is why effective strategies comprise simple, agreed and long-term objectives. It is also why developing a strategy takes time – because people need multiple opportunities to share their ideas about the future and to feedback on draft plans being crafted by the leadership.
There is no single way to achieve this. My most recent experience involved laying the groundwork through a series of away days with staff, where we analysed our programmes using all available data, and thought carefully about how our work could be more distinctive and impactful in the future. At the same time, a ‘listening’ exercise investigated the challenges our members faced in their professional lives, what they valued about our support and where else they went for help (https://www.regionalstudies.org/rsa-blog/2025-blog-researching-regions-the-professional-challenges-experienced-by-regional-researchers/). Once this data had been analysed, I created a small strategy working group of selected board members, which enabled progress to be made between board meetings and helped build consensus around our direction of travel. When a formal draft was available, I ran an open consultation exercise, inviting feedback from members, partners and others (https://www.regionalstudies.org/news/help-shape-our-future/). Approval of the final version of the document proved to be a swift and painless process – but it was the work done over many months that led to that success.
Conclusion
If I can squeeze a sixth ‘top tip’ in, as a conclusion, it would be to remain adaptable. Strategy development is a ‘non-routine challenge’. There are some well-founded principles involved, but the process never works the same way twice. For this reason, I have drawn on expert advice such as that available from Action Planning, one of ACEVO’s service partners. Doing so has helped me adapt my approach to different and changing circumstances (https://actionplanning.co.uk/case-studies/supporting-a-ceo-in-introducing-strategic-planning).