20 Questions - Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants

Strategic Planning y continued z11. How will the activities and programssupport the Vision and Mission?One of the final stages of strategic planning is to link the Vision and Mission toactivities and programs. This helps:• Confirm that the activities and programs support the organization’s Visionand Mission with the minimum of gaps and duplications• Confirm that the strategy uses the organization’s strengths to take advantageof opportunities and overcome weaknesses and threats• Confirm that strategies are compatible with the organization’s values and risktolerance• Provide guidance to staff and volunteers on how they will contribute to theorganization’s effectiveness and what they need to consider as they developtheir operational plans and budgetsRecommended practices• The strategies use the organization’s strengths to take advantage ofopportunities and overcome weaknesses and threats• The strategies are compatible with the organization’s values and risk tolerance• The strategic plan links the organization’s Vision, Mission and Values to itsactivities and programsOne way to do this is to use the word “by” as the link. For example:• We will serve our existing and prospective clients by continuing programs Aand B.• We will improve our service to clients by introducing a new program D inthe year after next. 5• We will free up funds for program D by discontinuing program C at the endof next year.• We will enhance our fund-raising capabilities by adding a developmentofficer on July 1 of next year.The result should be a concise but comprehensive description of what theorganization will be doing over the coming years. The emphasis is on significantchanges in what the organization does and how it does it, and how thosechanges affect service to stakeholders.The level of detail will vary with the size and complexity of each organization.Appendix 2 is an illustration of how one organization links the elements of itsplanning process.145 There should be an indication of the timing of changes – usually as a calendar date.