Planning to Plan: Strategic Planning Preparation
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Cal Lutheran - Oxnard Center
2201 Outlet Center Drive, Oxnard, CA 93036
Individual Members: No Additional Charge
Organizational Members: No Additional Fee
Non-Members: $55
About this event
The phrase “strategic planning” can spark fear and frustration with executive directors and boards of directors – but the process and product can be empowering for organizations that take the time to prepare before diving in. This workshop explores the transformational value of formalizing a strategic plan. The course inter-weaves case examples and exercises to give participants a practical understanding of how to apply their learning to situations in their own organizations.
Participants in the workshop will learn:
- Reasons to develop a strategic plan and ideal timing to launch the process
- Important steps in the strategic planning process and how to adapt them based on organizational needs
- Who to include in the strategic planning process, how to engage them, and key roles and responsibilities
- Core elements of a strategic plan deliverable
- How to communicate the strategic plan to stakeholders and make it relevant on a day-to-day basis
- How to bridge from a strategic plan into annual operating planning
- Strategies to track progress during the strategic plan’s lifecycle
The session will include ample time for discussion and interactive exercises. Participants will leave with concrete next steps in strategic planning for their organizations.
The instructor will also host office hours via Zoom from 11 a.m. to Noon on Friday, March 24.
Faculty
Jennifer Lobenhofer
As the principal at JSL community Strategies, Jennifer Lobenhofer guides mission-driven organizations in envisioning, planning, achieving, and measuring their greatest imaginable impact on the communities they serve. She has more than twenty years of experience providing capacity-building education, facilitation, and consulting to organizations in the public and nonprofit sectors, and her current consulting practice focuses on providing strategic planning and program evaluation support to nonprofit organizations.
Two decades ago, Jennifer began her career examining the outcomes of pilot programs demonstrating promising new responses to affordable housing and community development needs. She then directed a statewide community and economic development training and advising program for local government officials. Those combined experiences led her to the realization that nonprofit organizations engage in the most meaningful policy implementation, innovation, and “heavy lifting” of creating real social change in communities, and that they all too frequently face significant capacity challenges in maximizing their impact. Since then, Jennifer has dedicated herself to the belief that the greatest good can only be accomplished if it is done well, and she has built her consulting practice on that foundational philosophy.
Jennifer holds a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in Thousand Oaks, California, where she enjoys choral singing, attending live theatre, wine tasting, and creating handmade greeting cards.