As an executive director, it is your responsibility to guide the organization and provide a vision for where it will be in the immediate future and the long term. This is achieved through the creation and implementation of a strategic plan. Strategic planning charts a course for reaching your goals and evaluating your progress. Strategic planning is important because it provides an organization’s board, staff, and stakeholders with a universal blueprint for action. Every nonprofit will have different needs for a strategic plan, depending upon the organization’s leadership, culture, and size. Sometimes strategic planning is less about making big, sweeping decisions, and more about clarifying an organization’s top priorities. While board members, staff, clients, community members, and other stakeholders may play a role in forming the strategic plan, the process is often driven by the executive director.