Realign or Redesign: The Nonprofit Response to Disruptors

A dynamic and effective nonprofit strategic plan is arguably one of the most integral parts of any organization’s viability and success in today’s landscape. But what do you do when disruptors challenge your mission and impact your sector? Disruptors come in many forms such as funding sources, talent acquisition and retention, technology, a pandemic, competition, supply chain delays, politics, inflation; the list goes on. External factors have always disrupted organizations but the pace of change is increasing, creating the need for quicker and more innovative ways for leaders to respond. 

In order to remain relevant in the rapidly changing environment, nonprofits must face the disruption, reassess their strategy, and decide on a path forward. Some disruptors may require just a heightened awareness while others may require a pivot in strategy. External factors are typically unpredictable and untimely so while an organization may have a solid strategic plan, is there a plan in place that allows leaders to be nimble enough to realign strategy to the shifting environment? The steps outlined below can help leaders assess the risk of external factors on their organization and determine how to best respond. 

1. Gain an understanding of the disruptor(s) in the context of the sector and the organization: There are several questions leaders can ask to determine the amount of attention they should give to a potential disruptor. For example: Does the organization have the expertise - either internal, within the board/advisory boards, network, consultants - to understand and assess the level of disruption this could cause the organization? What disruption could occur within the sector? What is the potential impact to the business, those served by the organization, staff? 

2. Conduct a SWOT analysis specific to the disruptor: Anyone who has been through the strategic planning process has gone through the exercise of identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the organization. While a typical SWOT analysis focuses on the organization, when external forces challenge an organization’s existing strategy, it may be helpful to do a SWOT through the lens of the disruptor. Assessing the risk, both immediate and long-term, allows leaders to determine the level of threat to their organization and/or business model as well as identify any opportunities that may exist so they can respond strategically rather than reactively.

3. Challenge the strategic plan: Using the information obtained through the SWOT, leaders can review the strategic plan against the context of the current environment. This will help leaders decide if goals are still relevant, if they are doing enough to address new challenges as they arise, or if they need to modify or reimagine their strategic goals. 

4. Course correct (or not): Once the above steps are complete, leaders should have sufficient information to help determine whether to maintain status quo or to realign or redesign their original strategy. There may be several reasons to continue moving forward as planned. For example, organizational capacity, capabilities, and/or financial resources may not be available or become strained if the organization were to pivot. Or upon assessing the level of disruption, leaders may determine that realignment of a specific strategic goal to the current environment is necessary. In this case, one particular goal or objective in the strategic plan could be modified to address the disruptor. For example, if a strategic objective was to improve workplace culture, this may need to be redefined for a remote or hybrid workplace. Lastly, some disruptors such as funding sources may cause leaders to completely rethink their business model or their strategic approach to partnerships in order to address the disruptor. This may require leaders to redesign their strategic plans by looking at new ways of doing business and scaling impact.

Organizational disruptors can be complex and can devastate organizations. The above steps are not all-inclusive and are not meant to over simplify complex problems in an ever-changing environment. But rather they can serve as a guide to assist with decision making for responding to new challenges. Disruptors can be overwhelming but having a plan in place for addressing unforeseen external factors can make shifting gears easier.

Gaining an understanding of disruptors as they arise can help with more nimble decision making. Conducting a SWOT through the lens of the disruptor allows leaders to assess their organization’s ability to determine what, if any, further action is needed or possible. By going through the process of challenging their strategic plan and weighing the cost of doing something versus doing nothing, leaders can feel confident that they have done their due diligence in addressing any disruption happening within their sector.