How can not-for-profit CEOs and boards work together to develop a clear, evidence-based strategy that delivers meaningful community impact?

In this episode of The NFP CEO Podcast, Michelle and Danielle explore a recurring challenge in not-for-profit leadership: who is responsible for creating the organisation’s strategy?

Boards may expect management to develop a strategic plan for approval, while CEOs may expect the board to provide strategic direction. The result can be confusion about responsibilities, unrealistic timelines and strategic plans that lack genuine collaboration.

Michelle and Danielle discuss how to establish a clear process for co-creating strategy in not-for-profit organisations, bringing together board expertise, management insight and perspectives from staff, service recipients, funders and the wider community.

They also explain how CEOs can turn stakeholder feedback into strategic choices, assess competing priorities and build a decision-making framework that keeps the board focused on strategic outcomes rather than operational detail.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Clarifying CEO and board responsibilities: How to agree on who leads, contributes to and approves the strategic planning process.
• Building stakeholder input into strategy: How to gather meaningful insights from staff, service recipients, funders and external stakeholders.
• Making strategic choices: How to translate stakeholder feedback into options, priorities and clear organisational direction.
• Managing strategic planning timelines: Why organisations should avoid rushed planning processes and consider extending an existing strategy when more time is needed.
• Prioritising with a decision-making framework: How to assess strategic options against purpose, community impact, financial sustainability, organisational capability, risk and investment.
• Improving board reporting: How to connect reporting to strategic outcomes and keep board discussions at the right level.
• Reviewing strategy as conditions change: How to build regular review points into a strategic system so priorities can evolve when circumstances change.
• Testing whether a strategy is deliverable: Why boards and CEOs need to discuss organisational capacity, resources and realistic expectations before approving strategic priorities.

Who should listen?

This episode is particularly relevant to not-for-profit & for purpose CEOs, executive leaders, board chairs, directors and senior managers responsible for organisational strategy, governance, funding and service delivery.

Whether your organisation is developing a new strategic plan, reviewing existing priorities or navigating significant sector change, this discussion offers a practical approach to making strategy a shared, evidence-informed leadership process.

Listen to the episode to explore how your organisation can improve strategic planning, strengthen board–CEO collaboration and make better decisions about where to focus its resources.

Connect with us:

LinkedIn: The NFP CEO: Overview | LinkedIn

Website: thenfpceo.com.au

Michelle Cutler: Michelle Cutler | LinkedIn

Danielle Ballantine: Danielle Ballantine | LinkedIn