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Whenever there is a lot of uncertainty, whether due to a pandemic, changes in funding, changes in the government landscape, etc., it can simultaneously feel like you desperately need a plan and like it is impossible to plan. But waiting for uncertainty to pass will rarely make strategic planning any easier. And waiting is often a luxury.

Here are five recommendations for strategic planning in uncertain times:

1. Focus on your values.

Values are our foundation. By definition, these should be unwavering and are an anchor when facing uncertainty. Moreover, they remind us why we do this work. What are the principles guiding what we do? What do we never compromise on? Looking back, what are the common threads in our most powerful work? Answering these questions can help you clarify your organization’s values.

2. Return often to those you serve.

In any planning process, it is extremely important to include the perspectives and voices of those that you serve. When uncertainty is high, having up-to-date input from your key audiences is even more important. Using brief questionnaires, discussion groups, interviews, etc. can be a great way to hear from these audiences. Offering multiple ways to give feedback can increase accessibility as well. Depending on your organization, it may make sense to include certain audiences more fully in a strategic planning process to help envision where they want the organization to be in a few years.

3. Focus on the process more than the plan.

We often think that the main goal of strategic planning is to craft a document at the end. In reality, the document should just be the byproduct of a successful process. How you engage with key audiences, how you incorporate decision-making processes into your work, how you build consensus and excitement for the work—these are critical aspects of the process. And these ways of approaching your work do not need to end once a strategic plan document has been created. Often just getting together as a group and making time to discuss a topic or issue at hand is one of the most valuable parts of strategic planning. Those conversations and those relationships with key audiences do not and should not stop once a strategic plan is created.

4. Try to reduce feelings of threat.

Uncertainty impacts how we think. When uncertainty feels threatening, it is easy to become defensive and less tolerant of new ideas. When uncertainty does not feel threatening, it actually can encourage greater exploration of new ideas. The more you can reduce or distance yourself from the feeling of being threatened, the more you are able to see possibilities beyond it. Finding ways to reduce that feeling of threat in the planning process is critical. Some potential exercises to reduce feelings of threat include thinking about your values before thinking about the future of your organization, thinking about your organization from a third person perspective to give you some distance, imagining yourself in the future looking back at this moment to give you some distance, etc.

Also, allocate time to talk about what is threatening. If the topic comes up at any point, ask people to hold those thoughts until you get to the designated time for that discussion. We want to make sure that people feel heard without letting one topic drive the entire conversation.

5. Revisit and prioritize on an annual basis.

Strategy is an overarching approach or direction for your organization. It should clarify your purpose and help you make hard choices. The specific way you implement your strategy is highly dependent on the environment. Your implementation plan should be a living document. You should check in regularly with the implementation plan to assess whether the specific actions are the best way to enact your strategy right now. Given the current environment, your values, and what you are hearing from those that you serve, what actions are most important for enacting your strategy? Where do you need to remain flexible and where will you hold your ground? What will you say no to?

Above all, don’t let uncertainty lead to paralysis. We may not be able to predict or control many things in our environment. But we can think carefully about what we can control.