Organisations need to find a way to express their strategy simply and understandably – but that way also needs to reflect the complexity of their relationships and activities. One increasingly popular framework to combine these qualities is the Strategy Map which developed out of original work on the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). At its simplest the strategy map describes how an organisation plans to deliver its strategic goals expressed as a one-page systems diagram.
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Bernard Ross
Most charities and not for profit organisations exist to bring about change in some way. Change for individuals, for societies, or for the world at large. Bringing about those changes often involves working within complex systems and for long periods of time. Theory of Change is an increasingly popular tool for organisations to describe how they believe that change happens, and to help focus their work on achieving their long-term goals.
Fundraisers are an emotional bunch. They care a lot about the bad stuff that’s happening in the world. And they desperately want everyone to care about it as much as they do. And they’re sensitive. So they spend a lot of time and effort listening to donors and supporters. Unfortunately, this leads them to think the way to understand donors is to listen to them. My thesis here is that if you listen too much to donors you’ll be at best disappointed, and at worst very distracted. Instead you need to study what they actually do.
Economists from Adam Smith onwards argue that people will buy whatever is cheapest when offered a choice between similar options – so acting in their own best interest.
Michael Porter has been the hottest (and most expensive) management consultant in the world. He has produced a number of ‘big ideas’. But perhaps his most famous is the Five Forces model which explores the situation in which you should consider entering or exiting a market. This article explains what this model is and why it might be useful to you.
In a quickly changing and uncertain world, it often feels like traditional strategic planning with its emphasis on analysis and projection isn’t quite covering all the bases. In this article we explain how scenario planning can enable you to create flexible strategies for uncertain futures.
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Clare Segal, Director
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