06-11-2002 PTRC Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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• PLANNING ON PURPOSE: Engaging the Nonprofit Board in Real Planning William F. Henry Strategic planning is one of those functions in which the line between management and governance of nonprofit organizations or public agencies is quite bright. In most conceptualizations of governance, the board's role is seen as deciding the right thing for the organization to do -- that is usually captured in the statements of the organization's purpose and mission and in the development of a vision and strategies for the organization. In contrast, the role of management is to decide the right way to do that right thing. Clearly, management's decisions about the right way must follow the board's decisions about the right thing. As shown in the enclosed diagram, strategic planning can be seen as originating in two sets of considerations--the purpose of the organization (the answer to the question, "why does the organization exist?") and the current realities of the "community" served by the organization (the answer to the question, "what will the organization do to achieve that purpose?"). • In most organizations, the purpose is unchanging: whatever was in the minds of the founders -- and then often written in the articles of incorporation or even on the cornerstone-- still pertains. While the statement of that purpose may have been modified in a few planning documents or brochures over the years, with some discussion among the CEO and board, agreement could be reached on the principal purpose for the organization's existence. It is probably true that the purpose of a nonprofit hospital is "to enhance the health of the people of the community", and it is unlikely that this purpose will go away or require radical change in the foreseeable future. It is evident that,while the purpose remains constant, the ways in which an organization pursues that purpose -- identified in its mission --change as the realities of the community it serves change. Thus, for the moment, most hospitals serve their purpose by providing some mix of inpatient, outpatient, emergency, rehabilitation, and educational services. Those hospitals that existed 50 years ago (with the same purpose they serve today), would not have pursued their purpose with today's mix of services, largely because they would have been inappropriate to the realities of the communities they served. And, 50 (or 10 or 3) years from now, those hospitals will have to find new ways to pursue that purpose in response to changes that take place in the communities they serve, the resources they can command, or the technologies of health care. •