Sustainability Strategies: Mid-Year Adjustments to Ensure Long-Term Success

As we shared earlier this week, according to Harvard Business School Professor Robert Kaplan, "90 percent of organizations fail to execute their strategies successfully." At Spark Group, we care deeply about helping our nonprofit partners create vibrant strategic goals and develop actionable plans to achieve them.

Strategies for Long-Term Success

1. Set Up Mid-Year Reviews

One way to enhance the success of your strategic plans is to establish mid-year reviews. It's crucial to schedule these reviews at the beginning of the year. Doing so keeps your strategic goals top-of-mind, which is especially helpful for busy nonprofit leaders. Mid-year reviews provide a structured opportunity to assess progress and make necessary adjustments.

2. Outline Long-Term Goals and Annual Plans

In your strategic planning process, outline your three to five-year goals and include annual plans for achieving them. This approach allows you to develop yearly metrics that guide your progress and inform you whether you are on track. During your mid-year review, you can use these metrics to determine if you should stay the course or make adjustments.

3. Be Ready to Pivot

 One of the most significant benefits of a mid-year review is that it helps you make corrections before it's too late. For example, if your organization has a five-year strategic goal of becoming financially stable and requires a 5% annual revenue increase to meet that goal, a mid-year review can highlight if you need to catch up. If so, you can rally the necessary resources and support to ensure a solid year-end performance.

Adopting strategic behaviors throughout the year can help you achieve long-term success. If you are looking for a consulting firm to partner with for your mid-year review or strategic planning process, contact Spark Group today. We are here for you!