I’m thrilled to tell you that later this year I’ll publish my upcoming book, Mission Met: Proven Strategic Planning Guidance to Help You Build a Financially-Secure and Impactful Nonprofit. The book will provide you with a suite of practical strategic planning practices that will help you and your team better execute your strategic plan. 

This blog post, about the power of co-champions in the planning process, represents the second article in a five-article series where I’ll share a brief preview of some of the guidance that I provide in the book. 

The Benefit of a Fitness Partner

Imagine that it is 5:30 AM on a Friday morning. Your alarm goes off to get you up for an early morning jog. It’s cold outside, you’re tired from a long week, and you end up turning the alarm off and going back to sleep. In other words, the short-term discomfort of an early-morning rise got in the way of your ultimate desire to be physically fit. 

Now imagine a slightly different scenario. The setting is the same, but this time you’re supposed to meet your jogging partner, Wendy, at 5:45 on the corner a block away to run together. In this case, you get out of bed, put your running gear on, and fulfill your commitment to Wendy. As usual, Wendy is on time, and the two of you laugh about wanting to go back to sleep but not wanting to let each other down. 

After your run, you feel good about yourself, your friendship with Wendy, and have more energy for the day ahead. 

The difference between these two scenarios is obvious: Wendy’s accountability and partnership was what propelled you to act.

Now, let’s create a similar set of scenarios regarding strategic planning. 

The Benefit of a Strategic Planning Co-Champion

It’s 9 AM on a Friday morning, and you have an important grant application due by 5 PM. At 9:30 AM you have a one-hour block on your calendar to work on your organization’s strategic plan. It’s been a long week and you haven’t been able to focus on the grant as much as you’d like. You decide to blow off your strategic planning time and work on your grant instead. You don’t end up rescheduling your strategic planning work, and as a result, your plan doesn’t get the attention it needs. 

Now imagine a slightly different scenario. The setting is the same, but this time during your 9:30 block you’re scheduled to review the plan with your administrative assistant, Maurice. You want to set a good example, and despite the pressure you feel from the grant deadline, you maintain your commitment to meet with him. 

After the two of you meet, you feel good about your leadership and you’re reminded, yet again, about the value of regularly reviewing and measuring progress on your organization’s plan. Plus, you ended up getting Maurice to help you with the grant application and you easily beat the 5 PM deadline. 

Like the jogging scenario, having a person who serves as an accountability partner made all the difference. 

In the world of strategic planning, we call this partner a “co-champion”. 

Over the years, I have become a huge fan of the co-champion model. Having a co-champion significantly increases accountability to the process, improves results, and, frankly, just makes planning a lot more enjoyable. 

Employing this one practice significantly increases the odds that your planning process will be well-executed.

In a recent conversation with Laura Anderson, an expert in co-leadership models, she agreed, saying, “We all have unique individual strengths, but even the best leaders are still a single human. Having an effective pair—somebody who complements you and adds to or multiplies your value because your collaboration is so effective—is when you start to see so much opportunity.”

the MVP of the Planning Process

I’ve seen many people effectively serve as a co-champion with the executive director: the board chair, programs officer, development director, etc. 

That said, the most successful co-champions have often been administrative assistants. In this model, the executive director keeps an eye on the big picture, while the assistant focuses on the mechanics of measuring and tracking the plan. Further, administrative assistants often feel a strong sense of pride in being called upon for such an important organizational role. They take their responsibility seriously and the organization benefits as a result. 

In nearly all cases where I’ve seen an administrative assistant play the co-champion role, they evolved to be the MVP of the planning process. 

Sometimes I’ll observe executive directors who are hesitant to select an assistant as a co-champion out of fear of setting them up for failure. This can be a missed opportunity. Instead, use the co-champion role as a “vote of confidence” that empowers the assistant to develop their leadership. Further, this assignment serves as a great weather balloon to predict your assistant’s potential for future leadership.