A Radical Pause: How to Make the Case to Your Boss for Strategic Planning

by Taylor Crates

Progressive organisations operating amidst this whirlwind of chaos and high-pressure activism are compelled by the urgency of the moment to respond quickly and do as much as possible as fast as possible. As a mid-level manager, you’re often the one who sees the need to step back and look at the bigger picture, yet suggesting a pause to think strategically can feel like you’re slowing things down when everyone else is pushing for urgency. Raising these concerns with your boss can feel risky, especially if it sounds like–or you actually are–questioning current priorities. 

But what if strategic planning itself serves as a radical act? By clarifying long-term direction and aligning efforts with mission, planning and deliberation enables groups to move with greater impact and resilience during this wild and often terrifying moment in history.

Recognising and speaking up about the need for planning may be one of the most meaningful ways to contribute to your organisation, regardless of your position in the hierarchy. Leadership scholar Amy Edmondson (2020) reminds us that organisations rely on insights from across their teams, noting that “anyone’s voice at any time can be mission critical.” 

If you’re trying to persuade your boss that planning is not a luxury but a necessity, here’s the case.

Beyond the Corporate Myth: Adaptive Strategic Planning

Movements for change are often fueled by passion, rapid response and improvisation, which can seem incompatible with planning practices. Management scholar Henry Mintzberg (1994) famously critiqued traditional strategic planning for substituting genuine big-picture thinking with formal, inflexible planning systems, thereby limiting an organisation’s ability to adapt and learn in dynamic environments. 

Rigid planning processes of the past implicitly assumed that the future is predictable. By contrast, modern strategic planning prioritises agility and helps organisations respond to the future with intention. For progressive groups, this serves as a participatory and deliberative process that fosters inclusive decision-making and keeps mission at the center. 

If your leadership fears that planning will slow the work, it may help to reframe the situation: adaptive planning is about clarity, not control. 

An adaptive strategic plan establishes a coherent long-term vision, which helps to guide short-term decision making. It also involves preparing for the unexpected, ensuring that organisations can act effectively in the face of challenges and uncertainty. 

Strategic Patience in Florida

During Florida’s wave of legislative attacks on progressive organisations in 2022-2023, nonprofits across issue areas faced escalating political pressure and significant threats to their operations and funding. In response, nonprofit leaders embraced what the Nonprofit Quarterly called strategic patience: refusing to restructure their services out of fear, while simultaneously developing plans to address political threats as they materialise. 

Some organisations began sharing infrastructure and coordinating resources as a form of collective resilience. Others were able to creatively adapt to restrictions while remaining mission-aligned. For example, one healthcare nonprofit developed plans to connect people with out-of-state care in response to emerging legislation that restricts patient rights.

These were not reactive moves made in panic. They were grounded responses shaped by foresight and collaboration, allowing these groups to remain agile and mission-aligned in a politically hostile environment.

Scholars of nonprofit resiliency Sarah Young, Elizabeth Searing and Kimberly Wiley (2025) describe Florida’s legislative sessions as a “testing ground” for broader national policy trends and urge progressive groups to prepare accordingly: “This moment presents a crucible for the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits and the communities they serve cannot afford to be passive casualties of political shifts. They must prepare to wield their strongest weapons – advocacy, strategic planning, and collaboration – to fight back and defend their missions.” 

While these academics articulate the vital role of strategic planning, its value is perhaps most powerfully affirmed by those navigating the pressures and complexities of progressive work every day. “Allocating time and resources to strategic planning can seem difficult to justify when changes in the social and political landscape are so rapid and critical,” notes The Collectif’s Sarah Beckerman. “But the reality is that establishing an adaptive strategic plan is more crucial than ever.”

If you are trying to convince your boss to invest time in planning, Florida offers a compelling argument. Preparation protects mission integrity when pressure mounts.

Strategic Planning for Care and Sustainability

Progressive organisations cannot advance their mission if their staff and volunteers are burnt out or in constant turmoil. Planning creates a designated space to address capacity, set realistic goals and distribute resources wisely in consideration of collective well-being. It encourages leaders to ask what can be achieved sustainably with the people and funds available, and how to set a pace that ensures longevity. It shifts the conversation from “How do we do everything?” to “What matters most right now?”

Importantly, as civil society staff and leaders face a worsening mental health crisis – with 60% of nonprofit employees reporting high levels of burnout according to WorldMetrics (see Under Pressure: Navigating Civil Society's Worsening Mental Health by The Collectif’s EJ Jacobs) – strategic planning offers a care-centered approach to protecting team well-being. 

If you need practical talking points when advocating upward, we’ve got you! Strategic planning…

1. establishes a long-term vision which serves as a compass for navigating rapidly-changing environments. When new crises erupt, teams can respond in line with an established direction instead of scrambling.

2. sets a sustainable pace of work by identifying what is urgent and what can be postponed. This prevents overextension and allows teams to prioritise high-impact work over spreading themselves too thin.

3. builds organisational resilience by honestly assessing and anticipating challenges. This allows organisations to better prepare for external shocks and remain adaptable in hostile and unpredictable environments. 

4. strengthens morale and team cohesion, engaging staff and relevant stakeholders in meaningful dialogue about the organisation’s future. When done inclusively, planning gives everyone a voice in shaping direction and setting attainable goals.

A Radical Pause

In a sector where burnout, chaos and short-term thinking are too often the norm, choosing to plan deliberately is an act of resistance – a statement that our movements deserve a future. For those early in their careers or influencing from outside the executive circle, advocating for strategic planning can feel bold. But it may also be one of the most impactful contributions you can make.

Whether developed internally or supported by consulting services for added expertise, strategic planning empowers progressive organisations to stay agile, protect team well-being and build the resilience needed to lead transformative change through any crisis. In times like these, there may be nothing more radical than asking your organisation to care for its future. 

Sources:

Edmondson, A. (2020). Global Leadership Summit Live Blog, August 7. Link

Mintzberg, H. (1994). “The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning,” Harvard Business Review, pp. 107-114. Link

Young, S., Searing, E. and Wiley, K. (2025). “Resiliency Strategies for Nonprofits in Times of Political and Financial Instability,” Nonprofit Quarterly, 11 March. Link