Strategic plan worksheet for boards
Explore direction, competing priorities, and the tradeoffs your board and executive team need to discuss.
- Three pages
- Fillable PDF
- Free for boards and their staff
When this helps
The plan contains plenty of worthwhile work, but the priorities are unclear.
A strategic plan asks an organization to make choices about its purpose, resources, and attention. This worksheet helps directors and the executive team have those conversations before a list of activities becomes the plan.
What’s inside
A plan begins with choices worth making.
01
Direction that means something
Connect the people you serve and the change you want to make with the priorities that deserve attention now.
02
An honest look at trade-offs
Compare alternatives using the same questions about contribution, capacity, and the work that would wait.
03
A way to return to the choices
Agree what progress would look like, which evidence matters, and what could lead the board to change course.
Putting it to work
Bring the trade-offs into the conversation.
Begin with the direction
Invite the board and executive team to describe the change they want the organization to make before settling the wording of the plan.
Compare the possibilities
Use the same questions about contribution, capacity, and what would have to wait to explore competing priorities.
Keep the choices visible
Carry the agreed direction into the planning process and return to it as circumstances change.
Download the worksheet
Give your planning conversation a starting point.
Bring the worksheet to a live discussion about direction. Use the prompts that help your board see the choices more clearly.
- A practical starting point for your board
- Free for boards and their staff
Strategic plan worksheet for boards
Tool · Fillable PDFWant help putting these ideas to work?
A resource can give you a starting point. We can help with the questions and conversations behind it.