• What to consider doing before strategic planning (stakeholder engagement) 
• If you need research & benchmarking, consider doing it first rather than within the same RFP/vendor (this is a very different area of expertise than strategic planning and facilitation) 
• Things that aren’t essential within a strategic plan but that can be done before, alongside or afterwards (but will add to the time, budget, scope) such as scenario planning, competitive analysis/P5F, benchmarking, etc. 
• Key elements of the process that should be included (outlining our process)
• Why niche subject matter expertise isn’t essential for your strategic planning facilitator.
• Why it’s better to have a facilitator than a consultant approach when developing your own aligned strategy + the risk of getting a subject matter expert who is not an expert in aligned strategy development or facilitation 

Other considerations - time, budget, location, travel, etc.

Make sure to book a call with likely vendors - it adds time, but how can you be sure they understand your full context if you don’t connect first?

Be wary of vendors who just want to submit a proposal and aren't willing to invest in time for a chat.

How to Write A Strategic Planning RFP-

A Step-By-Step Guide

Writing a Strategic Planning RFP is a great way to ensure that your organization has a clear process to select your best strategic planning consultant or facilitator.

While direct procurement is a stronger, more collaborative approach to selecting a strategic planning facilitator and service provider, some organizations may be required to work through an RFP process to select a vendor from a short list of 3-4 top providers. 

Your organization may receive many proposals in response to your strategic planning RFP, so it is critical that it is well developed so that the bids you receive are aligned with the outcomes you would like to achieve from the strategic planning process.

By ensuring your RFP is aligned with strategic planning best practices, while also leaving room for expert input from the bidding organizations, you will reduce the risk of wasting valuable time and resources reviewing proposals that don’t fit your needs. Instead, you will optimize your resources and better equip your leadership team to narrow down the top providers who will deliver the best results for your organization. 

Outline: How to Write an RFP for Strategic Planning

• What to consider and who to include before the strategic planning process 
• Who to include within the strategic plan development 
• Essential components of the strategic planning process 
• Critical vs non-critical areas of expertise for service providers 
• Other considerations for your RFP 
• Strategic planning RFP checklist
  
  
  

What to Consider and Who to Include Before The Strategic Planning Process

A well developed strategic plan considers input from critical stakeholders, and is not developed in a silo. It’s important that your leadership team or strategic planning committee considers how you would like to gather considerations and input ahead of the strategic plan development, and whether this is something you will undertake internally or with the support of a facilitator. 

Stakeholder Engagement 

Stakeholder engagement sessions can help gather insights and input from key external or internal individuals and groups to help you better understand your current state and to increase the likelihood for buy-in around your future state once your strategic plan is developed. 

Additionally, robust internal stakeholder engagement (i.e. with board or key team members) before AND after the strategic plan development can help improve the likelihood for ongoing alignment and performance around strategy execution. 

Working with a facilitator can help you optimize these benefits as they are an objective, third-party who is skilled in asking the right questions and getting key critical input out of engagement sessions. If facilitated stakeholder engagement is something you would like to include as a part of your strategic planning process, consider mapping out your stakeholder groups to determine how many sessions you would like to hold and to uncover any unique needs or accommodations different groups or individuals may have. 

Other Activities to Inform Strategic Planning 

Additionally, there are other research activities that are separate from strategic planning that some organizations may wish to undertake to help inform the planning process. These activities may include market research, organizational benchmarking, or other R&D activities. 

If your organization is interested in these activities, consider developing a separate RFP for activities that are adjacent to strategic planning: The best strategic planning experts may not be marketing or research experts, and the best marketing and research experts may not be skilled in strategic planning or facilitation. 

Summary of Stakeholder Engagement & Other Pre-Planning Considerations 

• Have we mapped out your stakeholders? If not, when will we map out our stakeholder groups and any key individuals?
• Which stakeholders would we like to generate feedback from ahead of our strategic planning sessions? 
• Which stakeholders will we need alignment and buy-in from after our sessions in order to execute the plan? 
• What is the best format to engage with these groups? Do they have any specific needs or barriers? 
• Will we carry out the stakeholder engagement internally, or would we like the benefits of working with a facilitator to build these into the strategic planning process? 
• What other information do we need to research or obtain ahead of the strategic planning process? Can we do this ourselves, or do we need to issue a separate RFP? 

Who to Include Within the Strategic Plan Development

When developing a strategic plan, it’s important for everyone with decision making power and those who will be leading the implementation to have a seat at the table. While there is no magic number, having between 7-14 key leaders collaborate around One Destination for your organization’s future tends to be a good range. With 6 or less individuals, you may not have enough different views and perspectives to inform decisions. With 15 or more individuals, the process can take a lot longer, and it can be more challenging to reach alignment, especially if there are different levels of decision making power in the room. 

Participant arrangements that we have seen work well include: 

• Full board of directors with the ED or CEO (especially for non-profit organizations where the board’s role is to align around a strategic direction for the organization) 
• The ED or CEO with the full executive team (with board engagement & approval before/after if required)
• A strategic planning committee comprised of key board members, the ED or CEO, and other key leaders or staff who will be involved with implementing the plan

To ensure the sessions are productive and collaborative, it’s critical to ensure that all session participants have cleared their schedules so they can commit to a distraction-free strategic planning process. 

When writing your RFP, it’s important to consider who you would like at the table, and who you would like to engage so that the bidding organization can scope an ideal number of engagement sessions and allocate enough time for strategic alignment that considers the size and complexity of your group. 

Since some people will not have a seat at the decision making table during the planning sessions, pre-planning stakeholder engagement is a great way to generate input from these key individuals and groups. This will help narrow down the session participants to a smaller team of 7-14 leaders that can make key strategic decisions for the organization while considering stakeholder perspectives and key themes.

Summary of Participant Considerations: 

• Who are the key leaders and decision makers in our organization? 
• Are there any other key individuals we would like to include in the full planning process (i.e. deeply involved board members or key personnel)? 
• How many people will we have involved in this process? If there are over 14 people on our list and some of them are not key decision makers, is it possible to include them in stakeholder engagement rather than in the planning sessions? 
• Are these individuals aware of the focussed time commitment required to develop a fulsome and aligned strategic plan?

Essential Components of the Strategic Planning Process

While there are various activities that facilitators can employ to develop a strategic plan with an organization, there are critical components that should be incorporated into every strategic planning process in order to support alignment towards a vision with clarity around how this destination will be reached. 

Key Elements of the Strategic Planning Process

• Current State Assessment - Where Are We Now?

  
  A current state assessment builds on the information uncovered ahead of the strategic planning process that was obtained through stakeholder and participant input. It is critical for leadership teams to first pinpoint where they are now prior to discussing where they want to end up.
  
  Ideal activities in this section may include a celebration of how your organization arrived at where you are at today, an internal organization SWOT scan, and thorough trend analysis such as a PESTLE activity to discuss political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental trends that your team is seeing and anticipates to either increase or decrease over the next 3-5 years.
  
  Note: any other pre-work that your team decides to take on outside of the standard strategic planning process (i.e. market research, benchmarking) can be woven into these discussions and the discussions to follow.

• Future State Alignment - Where Are We Going?

  
  While all areas of the strategic planning process are important, alignment around your organization’s future state, or One Destination, is of the utmost importance. It is critical that your leadership team is fully aligned and bought into where you are going over the next 3-5 years before starting to reflect on priorities and actions to take on.
  
  Ideal activities in this section may include a 3-5 year vision alignment activity, as well as a 3-5 year mission alignment discussion focused on who you are, what you do, and who you do it for.

• Discussions Around Potential Obstacles - What Might Get In Our Way?

Once your leadership team has aligned around where you are now and where you want to be in 3-5 years, it’s time to unpack what could get in the way of reaching your One Destination.

No strategic plan is risk free, so focusing on both internal and external factors that could slow down or derail success is a valuable process to help design your tactics to reach your vision and mission. 

Ideal activities in this section may include a discussion around how your organizational values and behaviours can either help or hinder you from reaching your future state (depending on whether or not they are aligned with where you want to go), and a fulsome risk assessment.

• Roadmap  To Your Destination - Where We're Going and How We'll Get There

  
  After discussing what can get in the way of where you are now and aligning around where you want to be 3-5 years in the future, the next step is to determine where you will prioritize your focus and how you will gauge your progress along the way.
  
  Ideal activities in this section may include a prioritization activity to align around three (or up to a maximum of four) key areas of focus that will mitigate your top risks and help you reach your vision. Then it’s critical to develop measurable objectives and SMART goals so that you have clear quantitative metrics to help you determine if you are ahead, behind, or on track as you work through implementing your plan.
  
  

• A Path for Implementing Your Plan - What Processes & Capacities Do We Need?

  
  While some strategic planning processes wind up after the previous step is complete, we highly recommend ensuring that you have a plan for strategic implementation so that your strategic plan doesn’t become a document that sits on a shelf. This is where critical action and communication plans to drive your strategic plan forward are developed alongside discussions around your leadership team’s capacity to cascade and execute your plan.
  
  Ideal activities in this section may include developing a quick wins action plan, a communication plan for ongoing strategy rollout and implementation, and an assessment of leadership capacities to lead the implementation process.
   

Other Considerations:

• Time Allocation:

  
  Consider how much time you are willing to or able to allocate to the strategic planning process. In order to develop a complete strategic plan with measurable goals and an actionable roadmap, we recommend allocating at least two full, uninterrupted 8hr days or at least 5 x 3hr virtual sessions. If your team is large or has complex needs, consider allocating an additional six to eight hours to the process.
  
  

• Facilitator Input on Process:

• While it’s important to develop a clear RFP for your strategic plan that highlights the outcomes you would like to reach, it’s also important not to be too rigid around a specific process and activities. Instead, aim to collaborate with the top bidding organizations so that they can apply their existing, tried and true, process and activities to facilitate the development of your plan.
  
  The risks of being too rigid with a pre-defined process and activities are: 
  • The best companies may decide not bid if their expert process doesn’t fit the specific rigid boxes outlined within your RFP 
  • Or, other organizations will bid and conform to what you’re asking, even if it might not help you achieve the best strategic planning outcomes.

On the other hand, it’s equally critical to ensure that your chosen facilitator has developed a fulsome process that considers elements of each of the five steps above so that you can have a complete and implementable strategic plan. 

• Summary of Process Considerations: 

• Do we have a strong understanding of our desired outcomes?
• Do we have an idea of the types of processes we are interested in, with enough flexibility to work with a strategic planning facilitator to incorporate their expertise? 
• Have we allocated enough time to work through the entire strategic planning process and to reach the desired outcomes we are aiming for?
  
  

Learn more about our strategic planning process  to help you write your strategic planning RFP.

Critical vs Non-Critical Areas of Expertise for Strategic Planning Consultants/ Facilitators

When searching for a strategic planning facilitator, it’s important to understand that, while not impossible, it’s unlikely that a consultant or organization who are experts in your niche field are also experts in strategic planning. Therefore, it’s highly likely that the most skilled strategic planning facilitators are experts in strategy, and not necessarily within your specific field. Another risk with hiring an industry expert to lead your strategic planning process is that they may arrive to your sessions with unconscious bias about your industry and field, which may lead to a narrow scope and subjective lens. 

If it’s essential for your procurement process to ensure that your facilitator has experience developing strategic plans in your industry, make sure you reflect on why that expertise is critical and how the facilitator is expected to apply this knowledge. If you are looking for advice on decision making, consider hiring an industry consultant to work directly with your team alongside having a strategic planning facilitator rather than trying to find a facilitator who is also a subject matter expert in a niche field. 

The benefit of hiring a facilitator who is an expert in alignment and strategic planning is that they will arrive with an objective lens, less industry bias, and will be ready to support your team with creative thinking and innovation. A strong strategic planning facilitator will still ensure to inform themselves about your sector, industry, and organization, as well as interview key stakeholders and team members ahead of the session so they can understand your team and your context.

Ultimately, it’s critical that your strategic planning facilitator is an expert in two areas: the strategic planning process and facilitating alignment towards a singular vision (One Destination). 

Summary of Facilitator Expertise Considerations 

• Do we require a facilitator with specific niche subject matter expertise beyond strategic planning and facilitation? 
• Or, is it more critical for us to work with an experienced facilitator who is an expert in the strategic planning process and facilitating team alignment? 
• If we need both, can we consider hiring an industry expert advisor (who is likely not a strategic planning or facilitation expert) before the planning process to help guide our decisions and execution? 

Other Strategic Planning RFP Considerations

When developing an RFP for strategic planning, there are various other considerations you may wish to incorporate: 

Making time to take calls with vendors:

As you write your RFP, consider if and when you will accept calls from qualified vendors so they can understand your organization better before crafting a proposal. If you decide not to take calls, there is a risk that prospective bidders may not fully understand what it is you want or are trying to achieve. While it may take more time on the front end to accept calls to clarify information for interested bidders, you will spend less of your valuable time reading a lot of long proposals that aren’t tailored to your needs or what you would like to accomplish.

Another benefit of having a conversation with potential facilitators ahead of your selection process is that there may be considerations you were not aware of when you wrote your RFP that the facilitator can bring forward. Therefore, the facilitator will not only understand your desires for how the process will unfold, but it will give you an opportunity to understand how their expertise and carefully designed processes can be applied to your strategic planning session. 

Format and location:

Consider ahead of time what the best format will be for your strategic planning team. Some teams would prefer to work through this process intensively over a few days in-person, while other teams may find it more effective to spread the process out over a few weeks virtually, with more time and space between each session. If you decide to have your session in-person, consider where you would like to hold your session such as in a boardroom at your workplace, at an offsite location, at a retreat center, or elsewhere. 

If you are unsure about which option is best for your team, learn more about the different benefits of virtual and in-person strategic planning.

Timing:

Prior to releasing your RFP, consider determining an approximate time that you would like to work through your stakeholder engagement and the strategic planning sessions. If you pre-select specific dates however, be aware that this could weed out great facilitators who might not have availability on those exact dates. Instead, consider ample lead time (at least 3-6 months) and identify some target weeks that the sessions could occur so that you can collaborate on dates and times with the facilitator best suited for your needs. 

Budget:

While it may be tempting to omit a budget to see what bidding organizations propose without any monetary biases, listing your budget range will allow the bidding organizations to tailor their offerings to your desired outcomes in line with your budget rather than guessing at how much you want to spend, which could result in either over bidding or under bidding. 

Testimonials vs references:

While requesting one reference as a final step in your selection process can be an effective way to vet your top proposals, consider utilizing vetted third party testimonials early in the process rather than several references in order to narrow down your top candidates. This way, you don’t have to spend your time making several phone calls for several bidders as a part of your selection process, but can instead call just one reference for your top two or three candidates after pre-vetting them. 

SME Strategy and many other consulting organizations use Clutch for vetted third party testimonials. 

Implementation Plan:

Consider if you will need leadership training, capacity building or accountability support as you implement your plan. While many organizations are concerned primarily with developing their strategic plan, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Strategic plans can be developed over days and weeks, while they take several years to implement. It’s critical that your team has the skills, abilities, and capacities to execute the strategies you’ve created, otherwise your plan may be shelved. If you are interested in facilitated implementation support, consider what your budget will look like, both in terms of money and time.