Engaging Your Stakeholders in Strategic Planning

Successfully developing and implementing an organization’s strategy hinges on the commitment, input, buy-in and hard work of a diverse range of stakeholders. For associations specifically, fostering a collaborative environment with board members, staff and other key contributors is essential to developing and then executing an impactful strategic plan.

Tricky, though, is defining who should be involved, when and how to involve them, and at what altitude their participation will be most impactful. 

This includes assessing formal and informal roles, understanding the influence and expertise each party brings, and recognizing how each may be affected by strategic decisions. 

Below, we explore these questions by stakeholder group to help associations effectively manage, involve and leverage stakeholder engagement throughout the strategic planning and implementation processes.

Board, Member and Staff Engagement

Board: An association’s board is instrumental in setting the strategic direction of an organization and must play a significant role in developing the strategic plan. As key decision-makers, board members provide critical insights and leadership that shape and sustain the organization’s long-term objectives. The board serves as a vital resource, offering perspective on the organization’s current state, performance and strategic opportunities. 

Frequent and structured touchpoints with the board are essential during the strategic planning process. These touchpoints, often accompanied by qualitative and quantitative research, enable board members to better understand challenges, opportunities and perspectives surrounding the organization and their industry. 

Moreover, promoting transparency and providing regular updates to the board empowers the board to develop a thoughtful strategy, prioritize resources, and make informed decisions that maintain alignment with the organization’s mission and vision. By actively involving the board throughout the planning process, organizations can create a strategic plan that is both actionable and sustainable, ensuring long-term success.

Members: Members are at the heart of an association’s mission. They provide valuable insights into industry trends, professional challenges and evolving needs. Their unique perspective can help shape the strategic plan to ensure it aligns with the realities of the profession or industry and the expectations of the association’s role in those challenges. Vice versa, their awareness and understanding of the organization's strategic priorities can help create a more engaged and loyal community dedicated to advancing the strategic plan.

Associations can engage members in a variety of meaningful ways, including surveys, interviews, focus groups and volunteer task forces. Volunteer task forces are often called upon to lend their insights, expertise and input throughout the development of the strategic plan before it is finalized by the board. In addition, maintaining regular, two-way communication with the full membership throughout the planning process promotes both transparency and trust in the process and the final plan.

Staff: Fostering staff buy-in of the plan is critical to the plan’s success and implementation. Staff are the individuals who operationalize the plan, allocate the investment of resources, and understand the day-to-day implications of the plan. Too often, organizations neglect to include staff in the planning process, which can lead to unexpected challenges during execution. 

Engaging staff early in the planning process helps foster a sense of alignment with and responsibility for the plan’s success. A few ways to include staff are by encouraging their participation in surveys, interviews and ideation sessions. Staff can also be included in meetings with the board and task force and afforded opportunities to review and meaningfully contribute to the plan.

This collaboration ensures that staff understands the strategic direction prior to being tasked with implementation and that the plan reflects staff expertise and knowledge, particularly regarding the levels of effort, impact and resources required for the goals outlined in the plan.

Staff are critical in the implementation of a strategic plan. While the board sets the strategic direction, the staff will primarily be implementing the strategic plan. An empowered, collaborative staff will be more successful in bringing the strategic vision to life than one that is siloed and kept out of the planning process.

Challenges in Strategic Planning and Implementation

Volunteer time constraints: Stakeholders, especially volunteers and board members, often have limited time to commit to the planning process. As such, it’s important to offer flexible engagement options that allow for participation through varied formats, such as virtual meetings, recorded presentations and brief surveys.

Make sure that all volunteer touchpoints are thoughtfully yet efficiently advancing the process. For meetings, ensure meeting objectives are clearly outlined and that post-meeting summaries are concise with clear action items. These practices seek to be respectful of stakeholder time while still maintaining active and meaningful engagement.

Opposing viewpoints: When managing multiple stakeholders, aligning viewpoints can also be challenging. Using data as a common ground helps depersonalize discussions and keeps everyone focused on the organization’s mission, vision, values and shared goals.

Unclear roles and opportunities for engaging: When setting off on strategic planning and implementation, it’s important for everyone to understand the intended role they will play and how their input will be used to advance the process. Establishing a process founded on transparency, communication and collaboration upfront sets a strong intention for how the planning and implementation processes will go.

The Power of Continuous Stakeholder Engagement

While there is no one-size-fits-all formula for stakeholder engagement in strategic planning and implementation, the key is to involve various stakeholders in the ways in which they can most meaningfully engage with the process. This approach creates a plan where volunteers feel heard, the staff understands the plan and is empowered to operationalize it, and the board is clear on the desired outcomes, objectives and priorities for the organization in the years ahead.

Engaging stakeholders in strategic planning is not a one-time effort. When associations approach strategic planning as a dynamic and collaborative process, they build a culture where staff, board and members remain invested over the long term. 

Associations can tap into the collective insight of their membership to drive sustainable growth by creating an environment that values their contributions. By continuously engaging all stakeholders throughout the planning process, associations can ensure the strategy is grounded in organizational realities while aligning with broader goals.

At McKinley Advisors, we’re passionate about building the systems and processes that drive meaningful stakeholder engagement from planning to implementation. Ready to take your strategic planning to the next level? Let’s start the conversation—connect with us today!