I found Rob Sheehan's new book Mission Impact, a practical guide to strategic and operational planning. It's not a theoretical treatise, thank goodness, but an essential step-by-step process to help the nonprofit CEO or board work through and develop a game-changing strategic plan.
— Edward F. Leonard, PhD, President,Bethany College
Breakthrough Strategy is a practical perspective to strategy development that applies cutting-edge concepts—such as strategic intent and systems thinking—that are used primarily in the corporate world.
Developed over time by our Principal Partner Robert M. Sheehan, Jr., PhD, during his 30 years of leading, advising and studying nonprofit organizations and their ability to achieve their missions, our approach works with three key methods:
- We define a nonprofit’s Mission Gap by teaching how to measure mission impact. Then we teach how to create strategy focused on increasing impact to fulfill unmet needs.
- Vision and stretch goals are set using an Aspirational Mind-Set which leads to development of breakthrough strategy — a strategy that closes the Mission Gap with clear, substantial improvements, rather than a series of incremental steps.
- We provide a clear definition of Integrated Nonprofit Strategy as a coherent, inclusive guide to an organization’s performance for breakthrough mission impact. Many nonprofits use a strategy process that results in a collection of goals and activities that are not integrated or even connected in any way. We put an end to that.
If your organization is committed to a breakthrough — to a dramatic improvement—in the impact you make for those you serve, then the Breakthrough Strategy approach is designed for you.