Transform Strategic Planning From Mandate to Movement
You've spent hours crafting the perfect strategic plan for your team. The goals are SMART, the timeline is realistic, and the initiatives align perfectly with your library's mission. You present it to your team with enthusiasm, expecting buy-in and excitement.
Instead? Crickets. Or worse, passive resistance disguised as compliance.
The problem isn't your plan—it's that it was created in isolation. In this post, you'll discover why involving your team in strategic planning isn't just nice to have, it's essential for success.
Even better, you'll walk away with a framework and ready-to-use questions that transform planning from a top-down mandate into a collaborative vision everyone wants to achieve.
The Hidden Cost of Solo Planning
Have you ever noticed how some initiatives take off effortlessly while others feel like pushing a boulder uphill? The difference often comes down to one thing: who was involved in creating the plan.
When strategic goals are developed in isolation, it's easy to miss critical information that only comes from the people doing the work every day. Your circulation staff knows why patrons really avoid self-checkout. Your children's librarian understands which programs families actually want, not just what sounds good in a board report. Your technical services team sees inefficiencies that fall within your blind spot.
Beyond missing valuable insights, solo planning can be interpreted by staff as a signal that their perspectives aren't valued—even when that's not your intention at all. Even the most dedicated team members will struggle to champion initiatives they had no voice in creating. That's not stubbornness or poor attitude—it's human nature.
Here's what changes when you involve your team:
Engagement skyrockets because people support what they help create.
Implementation smooths out because potential obstacles surface early.
Innovation increases as diverse perspectives generate creative solutions.
Ownership is shared across the entire team rather than resting solely on your shoulders.
The time you invest in collaborative planning gets repaid many times over through easier implementation and stronger commitment.
Setting the Stage for Meaningful Input
The secret to productive strategic planning with your team isn't just asking for input—it's creating conditions where thoughtful, honest feedback can emerge.
Start by sharing your questions in advance. When you surprise people with "What should our goals be for next year?" in a meeting, you'll get surface-level responses. Give your team at least a week to reflect, and you'll receive ideas they've genuinely thought through.
Consider the meeting environment carefully. Strategic planning conversations generate intensity—the good kind that comes from passionate people caring deeply about their work. Breaking these discussions across multiple shorter meetings prevents exhaustion and allows time for ideas to marinate between sessions.
Frame the conversation properly from the start. Your team needs to understand this isn't a gripe session about everything that's broken or a wish list for unlimited resources. It's a realistic exploration of where you want to go together and how to get there given actual constraints.
Most importantly, come with genuine curiosity. If you've already decided on all the answers, your team will sense it immediately. The goal is for your team to genuinely shape the vision alongside you, creating something you'll all pursue together with shared ownership.
Questions That Unlock Strategic Thinking
The quality of your planning depends entirely on the quality of your questions. Generic prompts like "What should we do differently?" produce generic responses. Specific, thoughtful questions unlock the strategic thinking your team is absolutely capable of.
Start by identifying strengths before jumping to problems. Ask your staff: "What are the strengths of our team?" and "How can we leverage these strengths to accomplish our goals?" This positive foundation prevents the conversation from spiraling into complaint territory.
Move into future-focused questions that invite creativity: "What ideas do you have for our team's future?" and "What would you like our team/branch/department to accomplish in the following quarter or year?" Notice these are open-ended invitations, not yes/no questions.
Ground the vision in reality by exploring your audiences and obstacles: "Who are our key audiences?" and "How can we serve these groups better?" Then, "What challenges must we overcome to provide the best library service possible?"
Finally, move toward action with questions about timeline and next steps: "What is a realistic timeline for achieving these goals?" and "What small, sustainable steps can we take next month to move our team toward these goals?"
These questions work because they progress logically from current state (strengths) through future vision (goals and audiences) to practical action (obstacles, timeline, and next steps).
From Planning to Action (Together)
You've now got a framework that transforms strategic planning from a solo administrative task into a collaborative team effort. When you involve your team in setting the direction, you're not just gathering input—you're building the foundation for successful implementation.
The library leaders I coach who embrace collaborative planning consistently report the same outcomes: their teams are more engaged, their initiatives succeed more often, and they personally feel less isolated and burned out. The investment of time upfront saves countless hours of pushing resistant team members toward goals they never agreed to pursue.
Ready to transform your next planning cycle? Download my guide, Strategic Planning With Your Team, for the complete list of questions plus tips for facilitating productive conversations. This free resource gives you everything you need to start involving your team in meaningful ways immediately.
Your team has insights, ideas, and energy waiting to be tapped. The only question is: will you invite them to the planning table?
