Ten-Step Transformational Planning Process

MTMLC proposes to follow a ten-step transformational planning process much like the one it has used successfully with many other agencies but tailored to fit the specific needs and wants of CAA staff and board.

Step One: Develop a Leadership Agenda
MTMLC staff will work with the agency Executive Director to begin to develop a leadership agenda that will direct the work of the agency for the next three to five years. This agenda will include not only a vision but also a case for change and potential high-impact strategies that may be adopted in order to move toward the vision.

Step Two: Build a Leadership Team
In order to be successful, the long term planning process requires ownership by a highly committed group of individuals. MTMLC will help the Executive Director identify who those most committed persons are-probably eight or ten people who are passionate about the process of developing a leadership agenda and who want to help bring it into being. These might be board members, top managers, line staff, community partners; the main criterion for membership in the Leadership Team is commitment to creating something new, something out of the ordinary, that will literally change people's lives. Throughout the year, as people become aware of and engaged in the long-range planning process, they may be invited to join the Leadership Team.

MTMLC's job is to support, encourage and provide direct, practical assistance to this Leadership Team as it directs the long-range planning process.

Step Three: Gather Compelling Data
The great enemy of change is the irresistible pull of the status quo, our comfort with the routine, our sense that things aren't so bad the way they are. The job of the change leader is to wake people up, show them the way things really are and create a sense of urgency, a demand for change.

At this stage of the process, MTMLC consultants will help CAA staff create a thoroughgoing needs assessment that will starkly illuminate the unmet needs of low-income people in its service area.

MTMLC consultants will offer a variety of tools to help CAA identify its strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats:

	The Organizational 360° Performance Appraisal tool helps organizations learn how they are perceived by their major stakeholders: staff, board, funders, policy makers, community partners and low-income persons. Such information can assist the organization to identify strengths and weaknesses
	The Environmental Scan allows the organization to fully assess what supports and resources are in place in the community for low-income people and where there are gaps or unmet needs. The Scan also helps organizations understand the gap between the federal poverty guidelines and the wage a head of household needs to earn in order to meet the basic needs of his or her family. Information from the Environmental Scan is useful in identifying opportunities as well as threats.
	Census Bureau data as well as information from the agency's intake forms identify low-income citizens' needs.
	MTMLC consultants will also offer advice about how to draw in low-income people in a meaningful way in the strategic planning process.

Step Four: Engage Board, Staff and Community
Once the Leadership Team has been assembled and the needs assessment completed, the agency is ready to gather as much input into the planning process as possible. MTMLC recommends an "all-staff, all-board plus invited partners" day in which the initial leadership agenda is shared and built on and ideas are gathered for the best, more creative ways to achieve it.

MTMLC consultants will provide advice, support and facilitation skills to CAA staff as they plan for and lead the event. Following the all-staff day, MTMLC consultants will help CAA staff analyze the data gathered and identify significant themes and issues for consideration at the next level of planning.

Step Five: Develop High Impact Strategies
During a two-day retreat, MTMLC consultants will assist the leadership team to clearly identify the outcomes it intends to achieve over a three to five year period for low-income families, the agency and the community.

Once the desired outcomes are established, the leadership team will evaluate the agency's current strategies in terms of their ability to lead to the desired outcomes. MTMLC consultants will provide the leadership team with examples of promising new strategies that have demonstrated big payoffs.

Step Six: Develop Indicators for Success
At the same retreat, the MTMLC ROMA consultant will assist the Leadership team to develop indicators so that the agency can measure the progress it is making toward its desired outcomes. By using the ROMA framework of outcomes, strategies and indicators, the agency will develop a plan that meets ROMA requirements and increases agency accountability to funders and the community.

Step Seven: Write the Transformational Plan
MTMLC consultants will produce a draft strategic plan that will include the following sections:

	The current reality/case for change (needs assessment data that establish urgency)
	The vision or preferred future
	Desired family, agency, community outcomes
	High-impact strategies
	Indicators

The Leadership Team will gather input from staff, board and community on the draft plan. MTMLC consultants will revise the plan as directed by the Leadership Team. MTMLC staff will continue to provide assistance until the plan is perfected and has the full agreement and commitment of the Leadership Team and the Community Services Department's Board of Directors.

Step Eight: Reorganize the Agency
MTMLC recognizes that getting a plan written and approved marks the end of one phase and the beginning of another. The great challenge for organizations is not to create a beautiful plan but to have the persistence to implement it, to measure the results obtained and to make changes in the plan that reflect what the agency is learning. Such ongoing stewardship requires extraordinary dedication on the part of both the staff and the board. MTMLC will assist the agency to:

	Reorganize the agency to bring positions and job descriptions into alignment with the desired outcomes and the new strategic commitments of the plan;
	Develop data collection and analysis systems so the plan can be closely monitored and staff can learn what is working and what isn't;
	Create new board by-laws and/or agency policies and procedures that will further embed the plan into the routines and structures of the organization.

Also, MTMLC will help the Leadership Team think through a one-year work plan that will specify the responsibilities of each person on the team for implementation of the plan. Each person will agree to take on certain roles and responsibilities in order to take the plan forward.

Steps Nine and Ten: Analyze Results, Alter Strategies, Sustain the Transformation
As your leadership team implements the transformational plan, you will change strategies that are not producing the results you want, and continue to develop new ones that you believe will be more effective. MTMLC provides ongoing support to facilitate your learning agenda and to help you prepare the next generation of leadership to sustain your transformational efforts.