Step 5: Prioritize, Strategize, and Plan Next Steps

Your third strategic planning meeting should focus on prioritizing goals and objectives, strategizing, and planning for next steps. One of the pitfalls of doing a strategic plan is being overwhelmed by having too many things that you’d like to accomplish and goals that are so broad they seem almost impossible to achieve (e.g., “all children happy and healthy”). This is where it is important to prioritize the things the group has discussed. You may want to keep a list of goals and objectives that are not priorities, so you can revisit these ideas as you begin to accomplish what you prioritize in your plan.

You can identify the priority goals and objectives in a variety of ways. Your group may be able to discuss and quickly reach consensus if a few things emerge as clear priorities from the needs assessment process. If your group generates a lengthy laundry list, however, you may want to use a more formal process. This might include giving each group member three to five colored stickers to use to identify their top priorities. Those goals and objectives that receive the most “sticker votes” can then be incorporated into the strategic plan. If your group has identified a single goal for child, family, and staff wellness, you may want to have some objectives for each of these goal areas as part of your strategic plan to ensure a multidisciplinary approach.

Begin to identify strategies for achieving your goals and objectives  — they are the “how” part of the plan. Sometimes these are called “activities.” For each objective, ask the group, “What do we need to do to accomplish this?” 

For your mental health plan, strategies may include:

• What mental health consultants can do, like visit classrooms on a monthly basis to provide coaching to teachers
• Things program staff can do, like learn specific techniques for redirecting children’s behavior
• How community partners can help, such as establish interagency referral agreement
• Requirements related to the administrator or leadership, such as change policy or procedure

Make the strategic plan actionable by indicating who will be responsible for each strategy and establish a timeline for accomplishing the task. Your plan will likely include some strategies that can be implemented almost immediately; others may take more time to accomplish. Be realistic in setting your timelines, given the other things that your staff may have to do. Make sure everyone is clear about what they are committing to. If your strategies are effective, you should begin to incorporate them into your program policies and procedures.

Last Updated: August 6, 2025