Strategic Planning – The Destination and a Journey

by Kathleen Brown

 Most people will agree that any museum needs a definitive plan: one that sets a course of action, articulates goals, step-by-step activities and time frames, describes resource requirements to achieve its goals and identifies measures by which progress is evaluated. Much like any journey, an institution’s means of getting to that destination requires a navigational map, a compass and a responsible captain. While the definitions of various kinds of planning and plans are subject to debate (sometimes endlessly so), a “Strategic Plan” is the term often employed both for this type of plan and for the planning process that produces it.

 What is a Strategic Plan?

 A relatively straightforward way to characterize strategic planning is that it concerns itself mostly with the leadership of a museum and sets the direction for it in the mid-term future (typically, three to five years). A strategic planning process is frequently initiated because a museum perceives the need for a change in focus or direction, often precipitated by a change in its operating environment. But it is also commonly initiated to refocus a museum’s efforts by setting priorities and allocating resources appropriately.  One always beneficial and important outcome of the strategic planning process is revitalization of the institution, renewing the commitment of directors, staff, community and supporters.

 As a contrast and to further elucidate, a business plan concerns itself with a museum’s management functions, particularly marketing, financial and delivery of the museum’s products or services. The business plan intends to improve the effectiveness of the museum, not necessarily to substantially change its direction or sharpen its focus. It may be used to translate the strategic plan into more immediate management control tools (for example, year by year budgets, cash flow projections and staff evaluation criteria, to name a few). Business plans and feasibility studies are also often required of start-up museums seeking seed funding to assess viability and sustainability.

 The Planning Process

 Strategic planning is frequently perceived as some mystical process conjured by initiates in some hidden-away place ─ but that notion is far from the reality of a productive, inclusive planning process. The strategic planning process is structured, focused and outcome-oriented, bringing together perspectives from both inside the museum and external to it, articulating key directions and strategies in which and with which to move the museum forward. As the diagram that follows indicates, there are five essential steps to the planning process. Each step is iterative, building on the one that comes before:

 

  1. Assessment of the museum’s external environment and its internal capabilities to respond to that environment. This set of tasks begins with a broad-based environmental scan, identifying trends and issues in the sector, industry, field or discipline. Next, analysis of the organizational context seeks to understand particular issues, opportunities and threats in the museum’s community or immediate environment. Market analysis focuses on understanding the characteristics, patterns and preferences of the existing and potential audience base. The internal assessment explores the strengths and weaknesses of the museum and its capabilities to address the needs of the marketplace effectively. In many cases, the assessment work elements are outsourced to ensure a measure of objectivity that is difficult to achieve by the museum itself. The results of the above analyses lead to the identification of the organization’s SWOTs (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) from which key issues are derived (those issues that must be resolved in order for the organization to succeed) and priorities developed in step 2.

 

  1. The next step is for the analyses and conclusions obtained in the assessment phase to be examined through the lens of the museum’s articulated mission, vision and values (and/or perhaps modifying them). This step is very much leadership oriented ─ that is, the museum’s governance or ownership body (the captain) is responsible for formulating and setting appropriate, prioritized direction that reflects upon the museum’s capabilities and its foundation statements and principles. This is usually accomplished through a series of discussions, workshops, or retreats in which leadership can thoroughly discuss the assessment results. When well-conducted, leadership comes to a consensus on what the museum should do to address and prioritize the issues that are now identified, articulate museum-wide goals that will move it forward and ensures that the identified goals are consistent with foundation statements and principles (mission, vision, values, guiding principles ─ the compass) and vice versa. This set of activities is the core decision-making “crossroads” of the strategic planning process and requires focused attention on the part of leadership to set the right course for the organization.

 

  1. Alignment of the organization as a whole is achieved through museum-wide goal setting and the coordination of objectives to meet them (strategy). Goals are defined as broad qualitative statements that describe what the museum hopes to achieve within the planning horizon; objectives will be practical, specific and measurable components that will achieve the goals identified. Objectives are usually specific to museum departments, but in many cases cross departmental lines, underscoring the importance of communication and coordination between work units. In the parlance of business, “what gets measured, matters,” so developing quantitative measures for assessing the achievement of objectives is important. What follows from objectives are required specific actions or tasks (sub-components of the objectives) and the identification of resource requirements and controls to achieve the objectives, usually expressed as budgets, schedules and milestones, cash flow projections, staffing plans and evaluation criteria, etc. These are all important tools essential to evaluating progress toward the achievement of the institution-wide goals.

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Implementation of the plan takes place over the course of the defined planning horizon. Most strategic plans are intended over 3-5 years, but they can encompass a period of shorter duration if the environment is particularly unstable during that period. It is possible that extraordinary circumstances occur in which the strategic plan requires a mid-cycle overhaul, as was true for many businesses and organizations during the recent economic downturn and the advent of the war on terrorism. Strategies that many institutions had in place ─ that assumed ambitious growth and easy access to cash ─ were quickly retooled to adopt more survival-oriented strategies and to respond to different opportunities and threats than were present at the cycle’s beginning.

 

  1. Evaluation is a key aspect of the plan’s implementation. Built into the plan itself are mechanisms for defining and measuring success, as noted above. Evaluation at regular intervals is critical to understanding how the individual employees, work units and departments are performing relative to the expectations articulated in the plan so that progress toward the achievement of museum-wide goals can be assessed. Periodic review is also important to adjust the plan and its implementation as changes occur, either external or internal to the organization. In light of the rapidity of change in today’s marketplace, it’s a safe bet to assume that adjustments will be needed over a 5-year horizon. Upon the conclusion of the implementation period, overall evaluation is needed to fully understand how the museum has progressed since the plan’s inception. At this point, the strategic planning cycle begins anew, utilizing the “baseline” established at the beginning of the cycle and building upon the museum’s experience over the planning horizon.

 

When Good Planning Goes Bad

Most successful strategic planning efforts are conceived of, agreed to and implemented by both leadership of a museum and the personnel who will be responsible for its implementation. Planning processes that fail typically have experienced one or more of the following:

·        Lack of institution-wide commitment and/or staff is not involved. An entire organization ─ leadership, management and staff ─ needs to be actively involved to produce a plan that is ultimately workable. A set of directives that comes from on high is generally not well received by those who have not had a stake in the process. If everyone feels that s/he has had a meaningful role in the outcomes, “buy-in” to the agreed-upon course of action is more positive.

·        Too many issues and goals. Strategic planning is fundamentally about setting priorities within a defined period of time. By taking on every issue an institution faces, energy and resources can’t be focused. This can be frustrating for participants. A museum that has ten priorities really has not prioritized at all!

·        Goals are not meaningful and objectives are not measurable. Organizational goals need to be stated broadly, but not so broadly that they lose focus on what needs to be accomplished. The details are in the development of appropriate objectives, which should be more specific and measurable.

·        The process takes too long and is too labor-intensive. Everyone already has a full-time job ─ adding strategic planning to someone’s plate is a sure way to kill interest and it’s easy to “put it on the back burner.” This delays any real progress, drawing out the process so that it is no longer meaningful or timely. The length of time and time investment required depends very much on the size and complexity of the museum, the depth of the analyses and the degree of involvement by staff and stakeholders. Finding the mix that’s right for your museum is the key. And engaging an outside facilitator is a great way to keep the process moving!

·        There is no follow-up process. As noted above, evaluation is an integral component of strategic planning that is all-too-often left behind. If there are no real mechanisms for assessing progress, the entire planning process can be seen as irrelevant to daily work at best and a total waste of time at worst. Follow-up is absolutely critical to knowing whether or not you have achieved what you set out to do.

Destination: Success

Strategic planning is a process by which museums can visualize and articulate a future and identify the means by which this future will be realized. While the notion of a “plan” that is set in stone is outdated, a clear direction and strategy is essential to a thriving, successful museum where stakeholders are aligned and working together toward common goals. A strategic plan is better described as a navigational map to rather a blueprint for success ─ a navigation map with a clear destination and a range of options to get there. The “right” option or strategy will depend in part on circumstances that arise, the unique attributes of the museum and its leadership and the engagement of those who will be responsible for implementing it.

Kathleen Brown is the principal of Atelier Kathleen Brown. She can be reached at kbrown@kb-atelier.com.