Position Title: Strategic Planning Volunteer

Organization name: Organization for Transformative Works

Committee: Strategic Planning

Reports to: Strategic Planning Committee Chair

Time Requirements: 2 – 4 hours/week

Term: 1+ years (with 2-week mandatory break at the time of your choice, and a 2-week break for the entire committee at the end of the calendar year, separate from any hiatuses)

Role overview: The members of the Strategic Planning Committee are responsible for conducting the strategic planning process for the organization, including: collecting information on the functioning of the org; analyzing trends; identifying problems, best practices, and future goals; presenting findings to the Board, the OTW as a whole, and the wider OTW community; facilitating the drafting, review, and implementation of the strategic plan.

Key Responsibilities:

• Attend meetings and participate in discussions
• Share equally in committee work, including:
  • Drafting and editing documents
  • Monitoring strategic plan implementation
  • Collecting and analyzing feedback (via surveys, emails, chat interviews, contact forms)
  • Taking meeting minutes to document decisions made and work to be done
  • Maintaining committee documentation
  • Handling committee administration duties
• Actively work to understand the issues the committee and each team of the Org faces, as well as the bigger picture of the organization
• Stay informed about strategic planning best practices
• Maintain a commitment to confidentiality regarding the work of the committee and all internal discussions and information

Skills, experience and attributes:

In different phases of plan drafting and/or implementation, the committee will weight some of these skills differently (as nice to have, for instance, versus mandatory). Training is provided on the committee’s tools and processes as planning processes and technology can differ widely from organization to organization.

• Strategic planning experience or understanding of strategic planning best practices (weighted higher during goal-setting phase of a plan)
• Experience with writing and editing documents intended for an audience of more than 100 people
• Experience with project management and status tracking and reporting (weighted higher during implementation monitoring phase of a plan)
• Understanding of information processing/statistics and/or survey construction
• Experience and/or training in conflict management and resolution
• Impartiality
• Ability to approach issues with an open mind
• Strong teamwork skills
• Ability to collaborate with a variety of personalities
• Clear communication skills, with a willingness to keep engaging until both parties have a shared understanding
• Ability to consistently contribute and share responsibilities
• Commitment to confidentiality regarding internal discussions and sensitive information
• Strategic Planning welcomes those with no prior experience volunteering with the OTW.

Training requirements:

• Strategic Planning Training Procedure
• Be open to mentoring and/or coaching other members in any areas of expertise that you have, if requested or needed
• Be open to being mentored or coached if other members have knowledge or experience to share

Special requirements for current OTW volunteers affiliated with more than one committee:

• Strategic planning volunteers may hold a seat on Board of Directors, with the following requirements:
  • During feedback-gathering or implementation monitoring, the volunteer must always identify themselves as acting only as a member of the SP committee
  • When Board approval or feedback is needed/requested, the volunteer cannot provide that approval/feedback and the request must go through the usual Slack channel communication with the Board
  • If concerns are expressed by other committees to the SP Chair(s) about perceived lack of impartiality or conflicts between the role of Board member and SP Committee member, the member may be asked by the Chair(s) to step down from the SP committee temporarily.
• May hold a position as a volunteer or Chair of another committee (but must identify themselves as acting only as a member of the SP committee during feedback-gathering or implementation monitoring)