The last have been, for the processes of building solidarity organizations, the years of "strategic planning". There has been no organization worth its salt - especially between the medium and large ones - that has not tackled the challenge of planning its strategy for the next 5 or more years.
It was thought that anticipation made it possible to avoid surprises, better control processes, set lines of action, take advantage of resources… thus achieving greater efficiency in achieving the proposed objectives.
In this commitment to strategic planning (as in others such as the commitment to "quality"), the organizational culture imported from commercial companies has had a strong influence, the philosophy learned in business schools where many managers have been trained social organizations, which have marked the past decade of solidarity organizations.
This does not mean that -in our opinion- the principles (anticipation, planning, effectiveness and efficiency, results…) or the working methods were wrong. The issue, perhaps, is that they were not built in and from the reality of solidarity organizations (in whose tradition were the necessary wickers to be able to do so) but that they were "imported" at the same time as market values, their languages, their strategies… without a critical reading, without an adaptation to the transformative and necessarily “anti-system” dimension (or at least “non-system”) of these organizations.
Is it possible to carry out strategic planning that is consistent with the values and meaning of solidarity organizations, that takes advantage of their methodologies (participatory and creative), that uses their codes and languages, that is openly transformative? We believe that if it is possible and that, as we have pointed out, there are in the trajectory of the solidarity organizations, in their own work methodologies (sociocultural animation, popular education, community development, etc.) the bases and appropriate tools that allow. Furthermore, we sometimes confirm the suspicion that many of the most innovative and participatory methodologies applied today to the world of commercial companies had their origin, or at least their inspiration, in methodologies of transformative social intervention.
So our objection is not to strategic planning, which we see as a useful tool, but to a certain type of strategic planning. And, especially in the moment of systemic change that we are going through, we believe that it is necessary but not sufficient.
Indeed, the floor has been removed under our feet, we live in times of crisis and continuous changes, the known landscapes of the past have been completely transformed without it being possible to foresee future scenarios. And all this has turned strategic planning upside down, which is based on anticipation and, therefore, on a minimum predictability of the variables that may arise in the near future.
The solidarity organizations that invested a lot of time, effort and resources in their strategic planning are now forced to review it in a context of uncertainty, and that makes their hypotheses and proposals as provisional as time permits.
In a previous work, we evoked the image of the explorer who advances through the intricate jungle without a map that allows him to guess the way forward, discovering the landscape with the blow of a machete, step by step, responding to the challenges that are posed to him -a river to wade, the attack of a beast, a sinister chasm… - as they arise.
But… can you walk without a map, or at least without a compass or other means of orientation? How then to get to the desired destination and not where chance wants to take us?
Strategic planning is still necessary to help us draw the destination of our trip, the vision of the organization that we want to be, to guide the direction of our organizational construction effort, but it must be complemented with a new tool: “strategic improvisation”.
We call strategic improvisation the ability to respond with agility to continuous changes in the context without losing the north of the mission.
The first time we heard about it was a few years ago, from the mouth of Jose Ignacio Artillo, when he warned us against the excesses of strategic planning and his impossible claim to foresee all aspects of a changing reality and, by definition, little foreseeable. Later, we have seen how - also in the world of the mercantile company - it was called upon as a response to the current economic crisis.
Strategic improvisation is a tool to turn change into an opportunity, an ally of organizational projects. It is the surfboard that allows us to advance with the wave of change, without it submerging and drowning us.
It is not a tool at odds with effectiveness and efficiency; on the contrary, it is the only opportunity to achieve them in an uncertain environment, in permanent transformation. The social effectiveness of solidarity organizations at the present time is directly linked to their ability to change to adapt to new conditions and scenarios. Those organizations that turn to their previously planned strategies, regardless of the changes in their contexts, will become more and more insignificant, until they reach complete uselessness.
To carry out "strategic improvisation" in solidarity organizations, some conditions are required - in our opinion:
Deep sense of mission
The organization, its leaders, all of its members, must be clear about their reason for existing, the causes and the ends that give them meaning as an organization. Know what they want to be, where they want to go, for what and for whom they want to work.
The mission of solidarity organizations cannot be a weather vane that turns in the direction of available resources. In this way, it is only possible to create “mercenary organizations”, “soulless” (soulless).
A dynamic vision
When the organization builds its vision, when it defines how it wants to be, what objectives it wants to achieve in its collective project, it must do so paying attention not only to material issues but also and fundamentally to intangible, qualitative aspects, to values.
An organization with the capacity for strategic improvisation will value the objective of "being connected with the most dynamic social movements" more than "reaching a high number of partners". The "active participation of all its members" will prevail over "budgetary consolidation. ”, Among other reasons, because he knows well that they are not divergent but interconnected aspects.
Permanent reading of reality
The entire organization must be attentive, at all times, to the reality in which it operates, to the social ecosystem of which it is a part. Be attentive to the closest and most distant local environment, to the movements and changes that occur in the nearby community and in the global world. It is about building a "curious" organization that continuously cultivates and exercises its capacity for observation, active listening.
And it has to do so collectively and cooperatively, exploiting "collective intelligence", involving all the actors that make up the organization and sharing their views and analysis among them, to achieve a more complex and complete perception.
Often little attention has been paid, in organizational processes, to the reading of reality - and more if it was to be collective and participatory - it has been considered a necessary procedure (for planning, for example) when not a loss of weather. However, at the present time it is an essential condition to achieve the mission: to observe and know the reality, and to do it collectively, reinforcing group cohesion, to strengthen the ability to move forward together.
An organization that learns
Permanent curiosity, observation and listening correspond to the continuous disposition to learn. Lifelong learning is the most appropriate means to develop the ability to adapt to changes in the environment.
It is not about (at least only) attending - in person or virtually - many courses, but the permanent willingness to value and incorporate new perspectives, approaches, perspective, solutions, answers… from the most diverse fields of knowledge and action.
But, in addition, the organization has to know where it comes from and the path it has traveled. Learn from their collective experience, their trajectory, cultivate collective memory. That is why he will take care of collecting and systematizing his experiences, the learning obtained in organizational practice or in social intervention.
Flexibility, openness
Like the gymnast, the organization exercises flexibility - mental and physical - in its agility and capacity for change, adapting to new situations and circumstances that appear in the march.
Bureaucracy and accessory structures, everything that contributes to organizational "rigidity", has to be purged or eliminated. Procedures should be simple, easy to understand and apply, easy to change and adapt according to changing needs. Decision-making must be close to the people who have to apply them, eliminating unnecessary steps and mediations.
Creativity
The organization must stimulate and develop its collective imagination, its ability to seek original answers to new problems that arise and to make the most of available resources, turning the most diverse means into useful resources.
You should not be afraid of innovation, experimentation, the search and application of new solutions to old and new problems. Imagination and originality will be promoted. The withdrawal will be penalized, the attempt will be encouraged. The error, the failure will be allowed… as long as they are a source of new searches and new learning.
Collective construction, communication
The fulfillment of these conditions, of each and every one of them, supposes a firm commitment to collective intelligence, to the active participation of all members and the cooperation between them as fundamental working methods in the organization.
That in turn means that communication, in all directions and in all directions, works properly. That all parties can listen and know, and can contribute, can intervene at different moments of the organizational process.
Contrary to what your might think, strategic improvisation has nothing to do with "anything goes" and "the sun rises for Antequera." Like theatrical or musical improvisation, it requires discipline, attention to the other parts, search for coherence and harmony, subordination to the whole…
Large and medium-sized organizations, due to their own conditions, have it more difficult. In their case, the challenge of strategic improvisation must be reinforced with a greater decentralization effort. These larger organizations have to be transformed into network-organizations that are structured and operate according to the principle "maximum autonomy of the parties (of the organization), maximum communication and coordination of efforts."
"Strategic improvisation" is a collective competence that will be increasingly valued in solidarity organizations, and that will make the difference between those that accompany the changes and continue to be socially useful and those that remain installed in their comfort zones.
