Leadership Plan Possibilities
As part of the application to our new Catalyst Partners Leadership Program interested charities submit a 3-5 year Organizational Leadership Plan.
For some this is a document they have at the ready and can simply convert to pdf and add to their application. But for the majority a leadership plan is little more structured than a couple lines in a strategic plan or a few vague ideas.
In the past I tried to create a universal template that charities could use to create a leadership plan, but I soon abandoned the idea as unwise.
The diversity of news and opportunities facing charities would require either a template far too detailed to be reasonable to far too vague to be complete. On top of that, nothing I designed could reflect the culture and style of each organization. In the end it was better to offer a broad overview of different people within or connected to the charity with some questions relevant to each group and include some resources we have seen as valuable. Setting that in a worksheet that provides space for identifying specific needs and interventions, budget, and room to lay out the plan proved more useful than anything else I could develop.
It is far from comprehensive and always in need of updating as we learn more, but it serves well to initiate good conversation and raise possibilities that may not have been considered. It also includes some focus on donors and fundraising that is not strictly leadership development but seems relevant.
Leaders have used the overview to discuss what should happen and then transferred the results to a format and style that fits their unique operating culture. Check out the latest version for yourself and let me know how we can improve it to better serve charity leaders.