Participatory Strategic Planning is used when a group, team or organisation wants to make a long-term planning for their activities.
- Participatory – The process involves a group of people, like a (management) team, members of an organisation, or a working group.
- Strategic – During the process you analyse the current situation, strengths and weakness, possible obstacles and how to get over, or avoid them.
- Planning – The result of a Participatory Strategic Planning Workshop is a clear plan for the period chosen (min. 1 year, max. 5 years) and a detailed plan for the first quarter or two.
The method is designed in such a way, that the input of each participant has the same weight during the process. By using a lot of written input (post-its, small cards), the method provides space to express each participant’s opinion – also to those who may not be used to sharing their statements out loud in a group.
Often, the process of Participatory Strategic Planning is accompanied by short additional workshops, like a SWOT analysis, or Institutional Analysis.
It is of key importance that among those, who participate in the workshop, are people who can authorize decisions for their organisation.