"Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan" is the companion workbook to Bryson's landmark book, "Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, " a step-by-step guide to putting strategic planning into effect. Using revised, easy-to-understand worksheets, the authors provide clear instructions for creating a strategic plan tailored to the needs of the individual organization. With more material on stakeholder analysis, visioning, strategic issue identification, and implementation, this new edition is the best resource for taking leaders, managers, and students through every step of the strategic planning process.

What does strategic planning for public and non-profit purposes look like? How does strategic planning differ from other kinds of planning, and how can these different approaches be reconciled? How can strategic planning and implementation be linked effectively to create strategic management? How can strategic management for public and non-profit purposes be tailored to fit differing circumstances, including those facing governments, public agencies, state enterprises, privatized enterprises, and non-profit organizations? What is the proper role for elected or appointed policy boards when it comes to strategic management? How can participation by key stakeholders be managed? How should various planning tools be used in strategic planning?

This selection of papers from Long Range Planning-The International Journal of Strategic Management provides answers to these questions by presenting a variety of approaches to the improvement of strategic thinking and acting for all those who wish to sharpen their skills and improve their strategic planning and management efforts for public and non-profit purposes. It also describes some of the problems which can occur in the application of what is fast becoming a standard part of the management repertoire of public and non-profit organizations.

The essential planning resource and framework for nonprofit leaders Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations is the comprehensive, practical guide to building and sustaining a more effective organization. Solid strategy is now more important than ever, and this book provides a clear framework for designing and implementing an effective and efficient planning process. From identifying stakeholders and clarifying a shared vision, to implementing plans and revising strategies, the discussion covers all aspects of the process to help you keep your organization united and on track into the future. The field's leading authority shares insight, advice, helpful tools, and specific techniques, alongside a widely used and well-regarded approach to real-world planning. This new fifth edition includes new case studies and examples along with up-to-date resources and references, and new multimedia-related content. Innovation and creativity produce great ideas, but these ideas must be collected and organized into an actionable plan supported by a coalition of support to make your organization great. This book provides expert guidance and perspective to help you bring everything together into a workable organizational strategy. Discover an effective approach to the strategic planning process Identify issues, establish a vision, clarify mandates, and implement plans Manage the process with continual learning and revising Link unique assets and abilities to better accomplish the central mission Public and nonprofit leaders are forever striving to do more with less, and great strategic planning can help you build efficiency and effectiveness into your organization's everyday operations. Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations provides the framework and tools you need to start planning for tomorrow today.

We live in a complex world. We are constantly challenged by issues that seem at first to be simple, but on reflection turn out to have complicated causes and consequences that can dramatically affect our lives. Often, getting a handle on what the issues are is half the battle. Imagine a tool that can help you unravel the complexity of the decision-making labyrinth, a process that would allow you to:

• Make sense of challenging situations
• Tackle a large number of ideas and their interconnections
• Evaluate and explore values, goals, strategies and actions
• Link strategic thinking to action
• Develop effective action plans in response to the issues
• Create shared meaning and agreement
• Communicate strategies in ways that can be easily understood and acted upon
• Make people understand why an action is important and how they can help
• Help you move from 'winging it' to creating integrated strategies that are robust, both today and in the future, for your firm

Causal mapping is that process. A causal map links your ideas using a few simple rules to reflect causality and so reveal strategic options and goals. Visible Thinking shows you how to create causal maps for individuals and groups, and thereby to capture the power and broad applicability of causal mapping in a business, as well as a personal, context. Visible Thinking will revolutionize the way you approach complex situations and help you decide what you should do, how you should do it and why.

The causal mapping process is illustrated through a series of real cases - from tackling personal problems to strategy-change efforts in business, public and not-for-profit organizations. The cases are usedto present a comprehensive set of process guidelines designed to help you create your own action-oriented causal maps.

'Mapping has worked very well in enabling us get to grips with major decisions. The process brings issues and underlying assumptions to the surface, using the diverse perspectives of all members of the group. Then, most helpfully, it structures contributions so that the group reaches a shared understanding and can see the whole, rich picture.' Ros Micklem, Principal, Cardonald College, Glasgow, Scotland

'Bryson, Ackermann, Eden and Finn beautifully convert the bland noun "map" into the vivid managerial verb, "to map," and in doing so define a unique managerial capability that can provide new sources of order and meaning in chaotic times.' Karl E. Weick, Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology, University of Michigan Business School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Based on Bryson's comprehensive approach to strategic planning, this workbook provides tools, techniques, worksheets, and step-by-step processes to help successfully implement, manage, and troubleshoot an organization's strategy over the long haul. This updated workbook helps organizations work through the typical challenges of leading implementation for sustained change, picking up where the current workbook leaves the reader to focus on effective long-term implementation and leadership of a strategic plan. Implementation tools are provided for goal and objective-setting, budgeting, stakeholder analysis, priority reconciliation, strategies in practice, special leadership roles, cultural changes, and more.