Bridgespan Unveils Six-Step Guide for Moving from Strategy to Implementation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) June 23, 2011 -- BOSTON, MA – June 23, 2011 - A newly released Bridgespan Group guide, "Living Into Your Strategic Plan" (http://www.bridgespan.org/living-into-your-strategic-plan.aspx) offers concrete ideas on translating strategic plans to tangible actions that will help nonprofit organizations achieve their goals. The guide was prepared after Bridgespan surveyed staff of more than 120 nonprofits and found that respondents gave their employers especially low marks on their ability to implement their strategies.

According to Bridgespan partner Jacquelyn Hadley, who led the work, “The guide shares Bridgespan client experiences as well as insights from other nonprofits that have excelled at building momentum as they moved from planning to implementation. Our goal was to understand better how they’ve successfully lived into their strategic plans and to distill and impart lessons from organizations that have moved from setting strategy to achieving impact.”

In outlining the path from strategy to implementation, Bridgespan identified the following six steps:

• Translate Strategic Goals into Actionable Initiatives: This means going through the process of translating the multi-year, high-level strategic goals articulated in your plan into specific initiatives that your organization will undertake in the coming 12-18 months.

• Create a Blueprint for Change: Sequence your initiatives and make sure that each leader and department understand their roles and see how they connect to others. It is important for everyone to see the big picture.
• Mobilize the Team: Since executing on your plan will require change, you need to mobilize your team by both communicating a compelling case for the change required and align individual staff members’ performance goals to your organization’s strategic priorities.

• Align Finances: Implementing your strategy will likely require shifting finances or acquiring new resources to support strategic goals. So, for example, organizations with small amounts of unrestricted financial support may need to put more resources into raising unrestricted dollars that can be applied to priority initiatives.
• Monitor Progress: Organizations that are effective at strategic implementation have strong processes in place for systematically measuring and evaluating progress toward their goals so that they can remain focused as they execute their strategies.
• Revisit and Repeat: Strategic plans should be viewed as anchors for what can be achieved not rigid guardrails. During implementation, it is important to continually revisit strategic plans and repeat the above steps.

Summarizing the findings, Hadley said, “Being purposeful about implementing a new strategy is never easy, but the result is well worth the effort. We believe that focusing on implementation as much as strategy development is what helps organizations achieve better results. When done right, effective implementation can make the difference between simply good intentions and truly great impact.”

For a full copy of the guide or to request an interview with Jacquelyn Hadley, contact Liz London at 646-562-8906 or at Liz.london@bridgespan.org.


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About The Bridgespan Group

Founded in 2000 and incubated at Bain & Company, the Bridgespan Group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that helps nonprofit and philanthropic leaders to make strategic decisions and to build organizations that inspire and accelerate social change. At the heart of our mission is the belief that a strong and effective nonprofit sector can be a powerful force for change as well as a source of human inspiration.

We believe that results are driven by three levers: solid strategy; access to appropriately structured capital; and talent that begins with leaders and senior managers. We exist to apply the best relevant thinking and tools to strengthen these levers and to help organizations deliver on their missions. Our services include strategy consulting, executive search, and philanthropy advising.

The Bridgespan Group’s Bridgestar initiative seeks to help nonprofits attract, connect, and develop strong leadership teams to strengthen the overall performance of the sector.

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