Every year, a new group of organizations in the Netherlands has to get to work: they have to write policy plans to secure grants. But who writes that plan? Do the staff, volunteers, and artists also feel that it “belongs to them”? And what happens if you ask an external process consultant to help you? We’d be happy to explain how S&L views this.
What you write is what you actually do
Back when I used to submit and implement grant proposals myself, I experienced it firsthand: implementing a plan that you didn’t come up with yourself is often difficult. You wonder why certain choices were made. You don’t understand the subtle nuances.
That's why, at S&L, we'd prefer that you be the one to write it. When drafting a policy plan, the writing process is often still a process of reflection. As you put your plans into words, you sense that something isn’t quite right, so you adjust an objective or decide to scrap that one action after all. When you later run into unexpected obstacles while carrying out your plans, you can adapt very quickly—because you know the underlying reasoning inside and out. No copywriter, consultant, or AI can replace that groundwork.
What we always provide, however, is support with the writing process. We’ll work with you to create the table of contents and make sure all the necessary material is in place. We provide at least one thorough round of feedback and discuss all our concerns with you. We’re available if you get stuck on a particular section. For many plan writers, that’s all it takes to really polish their plan.
“It's often difficult to carry out a plan that you didn't come up with yourself.”
Bringing the right people together to brainstorm
Another way to ensure buy-in for your policy plan is gather the right cans around the table . Defining your desired impact, making choices, and translating the consequences of those choices into clear goals: for that kind of thinking, we want the right diversity of perspectives around the table. We want someone who can safeguard the artistic or social vision while also bringing a business perspective. A policy-oriented perspective alongside a communications perspective. Someone from “the front lines” alongside someone from the board.
That is why, at the start of each process, we put together a core group of 6 to 8 people who work together to develop the most important proposals. A well-balanced composition of this core team ensures that the plan will be more readily accepted by the team, the board, and the members later on.
Practical Assessments
Finally, we mustn’t forget the main characters in your story: the people who will put all those wonderful plans into action. Not all of your employees—let alone your freelancers or volunteers—want to be involved in deciding on goals and organizational choices. But those choices do affect them.
That's why, whenever possible, we also take into account the perspectives of the team and our supporters. We draw up a plan like an accordion : Sometimes we reflect in a small group or even with just a few people. At other times, we open it up to a larger group.
We like to start on a broad scale—with a self-assessment or SWOT analysis involving the entire team, for example. Even as we translate our decisions into actions and success metrics, we value input from the front lines. Will this work? And if so, how?
A bit of advice every now and then
So we take a bottom-up approach whenever possible. But every now and then, we really step in to offer advice or take the initiative ourselves. We call that “outside-in.” Thanks to our experience with dozens of other organizations, we can sometimes get to the heart of a particular issue more quickly.
It’s also possible that an organization is experiencing a temporary capacity issue, which means we may need to take on a little more than we usually do—for example, because someone is out sick. Even in those cases, we’ll try to keep you in the driver’s seat as much as possible.
“Thanks to our experience working with dozens of other organizations, we can sometimes get to the heart of a particular issue more quickly.”
Ultimately, S&L’s mission is to truly challenge organizations to make a lasting difference. We we'd like to challenge you to raise the bar just a little bit higher : to set higher social goals and be just a little more innovative in business. Because we want your investment in your plan to truly pay off. That’s why we sometimes hold up a mirror to you, and we’re happy to ask you a few challenging questions.
But it must remain your plan—the plan of your employees, your volunteers, your artists, and/or your target audience. We’ll work together to ensure that. That’s why we end every process with a wrap-up discussion: What went well? What did we learn? What’s needed to carry out this great plan?
Do you have a plan you'd like to write? Give us a call for a no-obligation chat.
