Strategic Planning Self- Assessment Questionnaire for Nonprofits and Associations

Strategic Planning Process Self-Assessment Questionnaire for Businesses Copyright © 1997-2007
This questionnaire is designed to help you critique your strategic planning and management process. It is structured to allow review of the process to determine which strategic planning steps the organization now performs well, not so well, or not at all. Even if your organization does no strategic planning at present, a review of this questionnaire should be instructive as the individual questions identify those considerations that are primary in designing and implementing an effective process. For each question below, enter the appropriate number to indicate the degree of improvement your organization needs in order to function effectively in that planning step or area.

Institutionalizing the Planning Function		Improvement Needed
Institutionalizing the Planning Function		Little		Some		Much

1	Do top executives take formal responsibility for the organization's strategic business planning?	1	2	3	4	5	6

2	Is strategic planning a top priority activity, performed on a regular basis, e.g., each year?	1	2	3	4	5	6

3	Does the organization provide resources (managers' time, money, staff support, etc.) earmarked specifically for strategic planning?	1	2	3	4	5	6

4	Does the organization follow a defined set of procedures in its strategic planning process?	1	2	3	4	5	6

5	Do all managers whose work might be affected significantly by strategic planning participate in the planning process?	1	2	3	4	5	6

Establishing the Strategic Foundation		Improvement Needed
Establishing the Strategic Foundation		Little		Some		Much

6	Does the organization have a written mission statement?	1	2	3	4	5	6

7	Are all management and higher-level staff aware of the mission? Do they understand it?	1	2	3	4	5	6

8	Does the organization have written longer-term (3-5 years) and short-term (1-year) goals?	1	2	3	4	5	6

9	Do the goals list quantified, measurable targets (e.g., volume, market share, growth rate, profitability)?	1	2	3	4	5	6

10	If appropriate, do the goals specify targets by location or geographic area?	1	2	3	4	5	6

11	When appropriate, do the goals list quality, time frame, and cost targets? Are they observable or measurable?	1	2	3	4	5	6

12	Do the goals appear realistic yet challenging, based upon experience and/or research?	1	2	3	4	5	6

13	Does the organization systematically measure actual performance vs. goals?	1	2	3	4	5	6

14	Do management and higher-level staff whose responsibilities are affected participate in setting goals?	1	2	3	4	5	6

Conducting the Strategic Situational Diagnosis		Improvement Needed
Conducting the Strategic Situational Diagnosis		Little		Some		Much

15	Does the organization periodically gather and analyze data about market and other external factors which affect the business?	1	2	3	4	5	6

16	Does the external/market analysis identify key threats to the business? Key opportunities?	1	2	3	4	5	6

17	Does the analysis include detailed analysis of market or other geographic and/or demographic and/or psychographic segments?	1	2	3	4	5	6

18	Are the business' performance and operational characteristics compared with those of competitors?	1	2	3	4	5	6

19	Are demographic, behavioral, and other consumer trends analyzed?	1	2	3	4	5	6

20	Does the organization assess the industry as a whole in terms of new competitors and concepts, new technologies, procurement practices, price trends, labor practices, etc.?	1	2	3	4	5	6

21	Does the organization assess institutional factors such as cost and availability of capital, government regulations and the economy?	1	2	3	4	5	6

22	Does the organization have knowledge of and access to sources of information about the industry, markets, and other external factors?	1	2	3	4	5	6

23	Does the organization analyze its own business objectively?	1	2	3	4	5	6

24	Does this internal analysis identify key strengths and weaknesses in the organization?	1	2	3	4	5	6

25	Does the analysis include profitability factor trends, e.g., after- tax earnings, return on assets, cash flow?	1	2	3	4	5	6

26	Does it include marketing/advertising?	1	2	3	4	5	6

27	Does it include pricing strategy and its effects on customer behavior?	1	2	3	4	5	6

28	Does it include quality of customer service and customer satisfaction/ loyalty/ defection data?	1	2	3	4	5	6

29	Does the organization assess its human resource development and management programs?	1	2	3	4	5	6

30	Does the organization's management information system provide relatively easy access to the internal data discussed above?	1	2	3	4	5	6

31	After completing its external and internal analyses, does the organization review the mission and goals in light of the apparent threats/ opportunities and strengths/ weaknesses?	1	2	3	4	5	6

32	Based upon such a review, does the strategic diagnosis culminate in identifying key strategic issues, e.g., outlet expansion, profitability improvement, positioning change?	1	2	3	4	5	6

Developing Strategic Plans		Improvement Needed
Developing Strategic Plans		Little		Some		Much

33	Does the organization use the strategic (situational) diagnosis to formulate strategic plan options?	1	2	3	4	5	6

34	Does it consider business performance options, e.g., cost reduction, alternative suppliers, production improvements, etc.?	1	2	3	4	5	6

35	Does it consider market penetration options, e.g., pricing/ promotion, market expansion, segmentation?	1	2	3	4	5	6

36	Does it consider organization and management options, e.g., restructuring, purchasing competitive businesses?	1	2	3	4	5	6

37	Does the organization consider product/ service enhancement options?	1	2	3	4	5	6

38	Is the planning process based on criteria by which options can be compared and selected?	1	2	3	4	5	6

39	Does the organization decide its strategic plan(s) based on feasibility and risk/return criteria?	1	2	3	4	5	6

Managing Strategic Plan Implementation		Improvement Needed
Managing Strategic Plan Implementation		Little		Some		Much

40	Does the organization make strategic decisions (implementation action plans) based upon the strategic plan?	1	2	3	4	5	6

41	Does the organization clearly assign lead responsibility for action plan implementation to a person or, alternately, to a team?	1	2	3	4	5	6

42	Are sufficient resources allocated for implementation?	1	2	3	4	5	6

43	Does the organization set clearly defined and measurable performance standards for each plan element?	1	2	3	4	5	6

44	Does the organization develop an organized system for monitoring how well those performance standards were met?	1	2	3	4	5	6

45	Does the organization review monitoring data regularly, and revise strategic decisions as appropriate?	1	2	3	4	5	6

46	Are individuals responsible for strategic planning and implementation rewarded for successful performance?	1	2	3	4	5	6

Optimizing Board Development and Utilization		Improvement Needed
Optimizing Board Development and Utilization		Little		Some		Much

47	Is the highest-and-best use made of individual board member time and talent?	1	2	3	4	5	6

48.	Is the highest-and-best use made of Board capabilities as a whole?	1	2	3	4	5	6

49.	Are efforts to cultivate the next generation of Board leaders effective?	1	2	3	4	5	6

50.	Is the Board engaged with and by staff to engage in effective strategic thinking?	1	2	3	4	5	6

Ensuring Continuous Improvements in Member Relations		Improvement Needed
Ensuring Continuous Improvements in Member Relations		Little		Some		Much

51.	Are periodic perception studies conducted to gauge member satisfaction?	1	2	3	4	5	6

52.	Are periodic perception studies conducted to identify member priority issues?	1	2	3	4	5	6

53.	Are there continuous improvements in strategies to bring association value closer to the members, e.g., regional customization of association offerings, industry/discipline specialization offerings, etc?	1	2	3	4	5	6

54.	Is technology be leveraged to the fullest extent possible for purposes of peer-to-peer consultation and collaboration, dissemination of best practices, comparative data/benchmarking, and similar initiatives?	1	2	3	4	5	6

Ensuring Strategic Program Development		Improvement Needed
		Little		Some		Much

55.	Do programs address the priority issues of members?	1	2	3	4	5	6

56.	Is there an integrated mix of products and services that addresses priority issues in a comprehensive manner?	1	2	3	4	5	6

Cultivating Long-Term Relationships with Neighboring Associations		Improvement Needed
		Little		Some		Much

57.	If appropriate, are common, multi-association themes developed and articulated, e.g., elevator speeches, legislative agendas, and the like?	1	2	3	4	5	6

58.	Does the organization's mission statement differentiate it sharply from neighboring associations?	1	2	3	4	5	6

59.	Does the organization engage in coordination and collaboration to maximize multi-association resource utilization, talents, and impact?	1	2	3	4	5	6

Scoring Summary
To perform a summary analysis of the quality of your organization's performance in each of the broad areas of the strategic planning process, calculate the average score for each of the Self-Assessment Questionnaire categories in accordance with the following instructions.

Institutionalizing the Planning Function (items 1-5)	Score
Total of numbers for items 1-5 = _____ divided by 5 =

Establishing the Strategic Foundation (items 6-14)	Score
Total of numbers for items 6-14 = _____ divided by 9 =

Conducting the Strategic Situational Diagnosis (items 15- 32)	Score
Total of numbers for items 15-32 = _____ divided by 18 =

Developing Strategic Plans (items 33-39)	Score
Total of numbers for items 33-39 = _____ divided by 7 =

Managing Strategic Plan Implementation (items 40-46)	Score
Total of numbers for items 40-46 = _____ divided by 7 =

Optimizing Board Development and Utilization	Score
Total numbers for items 47-50___ divided by 4

Ensuring Continuous Improvements in Member Relations	Score
Total of number for items 51-54__ divided by 4

Ensuring Strategic Program Development	Score
Total of numbers for items 55-56__ divided by 2

Cultivating Long-Term Relationships with Neighboring Associations	Score
Total of Numbers for items 57-59__ divided by 3

Examine the scores for the major categories. Those with relatively high scores (4-6) indicate that the organization needs significant improvement in these categories. Within the high-scoring categories, note any specific items that rated "5" or "6" for special attention.

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Copyright © 1997-2007 by Strategic Futures. All Rights Reserved. 113 South Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone: 703-836-8383 Fax: 703-836-9192 No part of this questionnaire may be reproduced, copied, transmitted, or disseminated in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author.

Strategic Planning ProcessSelf-Assessment Questionnairefor Businesses

Copyright © 1997-2007

Institutionalizing the Planning Function

Establishing the Strategic Foundation

Conducting the Strategic Situational Diagnosis

Developing Strategic Plans

Managing Strategic Plan Implementation

Optimizing Board Development and Utilization

Ensuring Continuous Improvements in Member Relations

Ensuring Strategic Program Development

Cultivating Long-Term Relationships with Neighboring Associations

Scoring Summary

Strategic Planning Process
Self-Assessment Questionnaire
for Businesses