Sebastian Wacięga

Facilitation of Team-based Strategic Diagnosis and Planning in Local Cultural Organisations

The goal of the paper is to describe the process of a team-based (participatory) strategic diagnosis and planning in a local cultural organisation. The team-based method involves the participation of as many organisation’s staff members and stakeholders as possible in strategic diagnosis and planning. The scope of such participation principally covers the management; however, it can be expanded to include a workgroup of selected employees, all the employees, and representatives of the organisation’s environment. The selection of the scope of participation in strategic diagnosis and planning is conditioned by the objectives set by the entity responsible for the organisation (e.g. the management or a supervisory body), the effectiveness of the planning process (decision-making dilemmas: participation – effectiveness), the needs of the local environment, and the selected model of the organisation. A crucial role in supporting the team-based (participatory) process of strategic diagnosis and planning is played by a facilitator. The facilitator’s task is to create optimal teamwork conditions, so as to reveal various perspectives and use the participants’ experiences, knowledge, and ideas in diagnostic and planning work. Preparing the organisation for change, so the process of strategic diagnosis and planning, should factor in the key forces in the organisation and the environment, as presented in the Kurt Lewin’s field theory. These forces have an inhibiting or supporting impact on the strategic management process in the organisation. The paper presents a preliminary analysis of these forces based on the perspectives of the organisation’s management, local self-government (the most common supervisory body of a local cultural organisation), and the organisation’s staff.