About 15 months ago I created a blog entry: 5 frogs sitting on a log.
Here’s an updated version.
The riddle:
Five frogs are sitting on a log. One decides to jump off. How many frogs are left on the log?
The answer is five. Deciding to jump off is not the same as jumping off, so all five are still on the log.
The five frogs are still sitting on a log. One gets training on how to jump off. How many frogs are left on the log?
Five, of course. Being trained on somethings is no guarantee of action.
The five frogs are still sitting on a log. One decides he’s a lily pad frog and not a tree frog, so he’ll jump off and onto a nearby lily pad. He recently was trained on effective jumping. He’ll jump at sundown. He knows he’ll have been effective if he winds up on the lily pad.
In short, he knows who he is, where he wants to get to, how he’ll get there, and by when.
How many frogs are sitting on the log?
Of course, the answer is still 5. But I’d venture to bet that the odds of it soon being four are very high indeed.
Although the parallels to nonprofit work are clear, I’ll hit you in the face with it: An organizational strategic plan should answer who the organization is, where it wants to go, how it will get there, and how it will know if it’s successful. In strategic planning terms, this is usually a combination of mission/vision, goals, strategies, and a timeline.
The best written strategic plan, even when combined with training, are no substitute for taking action.
But those who are trained and plan are far more likely to take action (and take it effectively) than those who are not.