NONPROFIT  ·  EDUCATION  ·  CRISIS & LEADERSHIP TRANSITION

When crisis makes planning feel impossible — but the cost of not planning is higher

After a leadership removal, 50% program cuts, and the onset of a global pandemic, this educational nonprofit chose to plan anyway. The clarity it created changed everything.

 

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Is this your situation?

This engagement may resonate if your organization is experiencing any of the following:

Your organization has recently gone through significant leadership change, budget reduction, or operational disruption — and strategic clarity feels more urgent, not less

A new leader needs a planning process that simultaneously establishes their leadership charter and builds board confidence

You are uncertain whether to rebuild what existed before or redefine the mission based on new realities

External conditions are making conventional planning feel impossible, but the cost of not planning is growing
 
The Strategic Dilemma

Leadership removed. Programs halved. A pandemic arriving. Plan anyway.

Over recent years, this innovative and highly regarded educational nonprofit had expanded beyond its funding resources and reached an unsustainable point. After a tumultuous year — which resulted in the removal of their Executive Director and a 50% cut in their programs — the Board of Directors set a goal to establish their relationship with the newly hired ED through a collaborative update to their Strategic Plan.

Although unified in their decisions to change leadership and right-size the operating budget, there were many open questions as the organization looked toward its next fiscal year. The central unresolved question: would they rebuild their program offering back to its former level, or was the organization’s mission fundamentally changed based on the new realities of the funding environment?

In the winter of 2019, leadership selected Focused Momentum to lead the planning effort, and the first strategy session was scheduled for April 2020. Then a global pandemic forced a complete shutdown of normal operations.

 
The engagement and our approach

A renewed commitment to plan — fully remote, fully effective

A quick call in late March 2020 produced a renewed commitment to the planning timetable. The challenge of delivering within pandemic constraints was given to the FM team. The engagement process was immediately modified to deliver the same results with 100% remote engagement of stakeholders.

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Scenario planning for an uncertain future

Working closely with the new ED and Board President, the FM team clarified the core of the organization’s mission and drafted possible future scenarios — used during strategy sessions to explore how to deliver on the heart of the mission as funding was secured. 
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Deeper pre-session shaping

The complexity of the situation required Cecilia Lynch, FM’s chief strategist, to shape the strategy development discussions before group planning meetings to a greater degree than would be required in a conventional in-person engagement — ensuring sessions could move efficiently within compressed virtual formats.
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Virtual graphic facilitation

The FM team brought its graphic facilitation capability into the virtual format — maintaining the boost in strategic thinking that real-time visual artistry inspires, even across a screen.
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Split-session virtual design

Full-day meetings were restructured as two four-hour sessions to sustain deep engagement in the virtual environment — a format adaptation that, in practice, produced higher participation than typical board meetings. 

 

The Result

All deadlines met. Participation exceeded expectations. Clarity delivered.

All strategic plan deadlines were met. Participation in the virtual planning meetings exceeded that of typical in-person board meetings — a striking outcome given the circumstances.

The organization’s leadership felt a greater sense of clarity on its near-term focus and under what conditions it would entertain expansion. The new ED gained a deeper level of confidence in her leadership charter and was able to make rapid progress on the highest priorities with the clarity the strategic plan provided.

The FM team modified its strategic planning process to deliver the same level of strategic thinking insights and group engagement within the virtual planning environment — and the results reflected it.

The planning process didn’t wait for stability to arrive. It created stability — by giving leadership a clear direction to move toward, regardless of what the funding environment ultimately looked like.

 
What this means for you

The strategic principle behind this result

Organizations in crisis often defer planning — waiting for the dust to settle before investing in strategic clarity. This case illustrates why that instinct, however understandable, tends to extend the crisis. Clarity on direction is precisely what organizations in disruption need most.

The scenario planning approach used here was particularly powerful in an uncertain environment: rather than trying to predict one correct future, it built the leadership team’s capacity to make confident decisions across multiple possible futures. That resilience is the real deliverable.

If your organization is navigating disruption — leadership transition, budget reduction, a changed funding environment, or external shock — a strategic planning engagement designed for uncertainty can provide the clarity that makes decisive action possible.

 

Recognize your situation in this story?

Let's talk about what a strategic planning engagement with Focused Momentum would look like for your organization.

 

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