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Coaching and Consulting

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Overview

The Alliance for Biking & Walking is currently accepting applications from member organizations to receive assistance creating a Whole System Strategic Plan. The Alliance will accept inquiry applications through Wednesday March 3rd from organizations interested in working with us to develop their strategic plan. In 2009, Alliance staff worked with two organizations to develop strategic plans, using the Whole System Approach, as part of a pilot project. Thanks to the generous support of New Belgium Brewing Company, all costs for this contract will be covered (an estimated $5,000 value) except for travel costs of Alliance staff.

Our Approach to Strategic Planning

As a bicycle or pedestrian advocacy group, your organization interacts with a variety of stakeholders and interest groups.  The success of your organization depends on understanding and addressing your stakeholders’ needs. The Whole System Strategic Planning approach creates an opportunity for your organization’s stakeholders to come together to establish a shared, clear, and compelling multi-year vision. The process helps participants craft a set of short-term and long-term actions to achieve their goals. The results include increased buy-in from the stakeholders, clearly defined and prioritized actions for moving forward, and energized commitment to the organization’s future.

Whole System Strategic Planning offers a new approach to the process of creating a strategic plan for your organization.  As opposed to the traditional, top-down method of strategic planning, the Whole System approach brings together staff, board, members, and other stakeholders to create a comprehensive and inclusive plan that addresses the needs and concerns of all parties.

Based on the principles of Whole Scale Change®, developed by Kathleen Dannemiller and Dannemiller Tyson Associates, the Whole System Strategic Planning Process offers several advantages to our organizations:

• An increased awareness of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the organization’s success;
• A compelling, thoughtful, and innovative strategy for the future of the organization;
• An increase in staff, board, volunteers, funders, and other stakeholders commitment to the organization’s strategy;
• Concrete and measurable action plans for implementing the organization’s strategy; and,
• A culture that encourages your stakeholders to take initiative, team together, and have pride in the organization’s strategy.

Guiding our strategic planning with Alliance organizations are the theories of Whole System Transformation and the DVF Model. Using this theoretical background, the Alliance helps organizations implement initiatives that are successful and appealing to its stakeholders. In turn, stakeholders who have participated in designing the transformation have a personal stake in the success of the organization, seek long-term solutions to problem-solving, and have a deeper level of involvement with the organization’s strategic transformation, mission, and goals.

Who Should Apply

• Is your organization struggling due to lack of a compelling or widely held vision by your board, staff, members, or other stakeholders?
• Are you looking for ways to increase your volunteers or membership?
• Are you looking to diversify your membership or to engage new audiences in your work?
• Are you looking to revisit your current strategy so that you can build a more inclusive and engaged membership?

If you answered “Yes” to any of the above questions, then apply to work with the Alliance to host a Strategic Planning Summit for your organization in 2010

You must be an Alliance member in good standing to be selected for this opportunity. If you have questions about your Alliance membership, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Application and Selection Process

The selection process for this opportunity is administered in three phases: inquiry, interview, and contracting:

Inquiry:

• If you are interested in exploring this opportunity, please submit an inquiry application by Wednesday, March 3, 2010: Download the application.
• Submit your completed application to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Your subject line should read: “Strategic Planning Inquiry Application-[your organization’s name]”
• If you have questions, please contact Jeremy at 614-519-3026 for immediate feedback prior to the deadline.
• Applicants will be notified of their status via email by March 8, 2010.

Interview:

• Selected applicants will be invited to a phone interview.
• Interview topics will include what the organization hopes to achieve with strategic planning, values held by the leadership of the organization, assessment of the organization’s readiness to proceed with strategic planning, the Alliance’s strategic planning process, etc.
• Interviews will be conducted by March 22, 2010 and applicants will be notified of their status by March 29, 2010.

Contracting:

• Organizations selected for the 2010 Whole System Strategic Planning summits will receive a contract request by March 29, 2010, from the Alliance for Biking & Walking, outlining:
  • The process that will be used to conduct the strategic planning;
  • Background, stakeholders, strengths, and weaknesses of the organization;
  • The purpose and outcomes that will guide the transformation of the organization through this process;
  • And, if required, a detailed break-down of any costs that will be required of the organization (such as reimbursement for travel).
• Organizations will be expected to work with the Alliance to iron out details and return the signed contract by April 5, 2010.

Looking for More Information

In addition to contacting Jeremy directly with questions on the process, these resources may shed some more light on the Whole System Strategic Planning approach:

Mead Summit Video (Dannemiller Tyson & Associates)

This video is a great example of the Whole System Transformation strategic planning model. In the video, the Mead School District (Washington State) held a 3-day strategic planning session with approximately 1,300 people representing all facets of the school system. Though this is an example of the model on a much larger scale, the video does a great job of explaining the benefits of using such a process when conducting strategic planning on all levels. (MPG Video) (158 MB)

Click here to automatically launch the video.
To save the video to your hard drive and watch later:

• PC: Click with the right mouse button and choose “save as”
• MAC: Choose “save as” from the shortcut menu

Sample Contract Outlining Project Scope & Approach

The following is an Excerpt from a contract for the Alliance to provide strategic planning services to one of our organizations. It is our hope that it will help applicants by identifying what this process could look like, should they be awarded the opportunity

Download the document.

The DVF Model: A Model that describes the conditions Necessary for Change (Steeve Cady, Ph.D.)

This one-pager is a quick overview of a guiding model for conducting strategic planning for your organization. Adapted from Dick Beckhard’s DVF Model (developed in 1968), it explains how to ensure that your organization is connected around your guiding strategy. (Word)

Download the document.