Public managers need to be able to position their organizations to achieve desired program outcomes by using fundamental strategic management techniques. Managers may be charged with diagnosing comple
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STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Recommendations for Strategic Success in Public and Nonprofit Organizations
Rabie ELZein
Professor Feltman
May 10 2025
Recommendations for Strategic Success in Public and Nonprofit Organizations
1. Program Success
In order to increase program success in public and nonprofit organizations, it is advised that a hybrid evaluation model be adopted, which incorporates the real-time feedback systems of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN) and the structured balanced scorecard framework of Lake County. MCN demonstrates high adaptability because it gathers text message feedback from the stakeholders and alters the programs within a week, which is responsiveness and agility.
In contrast, Lake County implements a more traditional top-down evaluation system that would include quarterly audits and fixed performance metrics in financial stewardship, operational efficiency, and community impact. Even though this structured model allows accountability, it has little flexibility against changing environments quickly. Such integration would make adaptation easier while at the same time maintaining rigor in evaluation.
For example, the implementation of such real-time feedback mechanisms as mobile surveys in the strategic cycles of Lake County may facilitate continual correction of key metrics based on community feedback. Some best practices to make this recommendation work are the use of dynamic feedback tools, standardized indicators for benchmarking across time, and agile response teams that would be able to respond fast to evaluation data. This hybrid strategy combines the strengths of both models and conforms to well-established standards for performance management as outlined by White et al. (2021).
2. Participation
To better engage stakeholders and program better respond to the needs of the community, it is recommended that public and nonprofit organizations adapt participatory planning models that draw on the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits' (MCN) multi-level engagement model.
Lake County is no different in that it has a system for participation by the public, but the level of participation is low, and only about 12% participate in the budgeting process of the county. On the other hand, MCN promotes extensive and rewarding participation through the active involvement of its 2,100 member organizations in biennial strategic planning. This is achieved through a mix of regional forums, working groups, and direct feedback channels with its board of directors.
Increasing participation would not only promote greater inclusive decision making, but it would also instill more accountability, leading to better public confidence. Some of the best practices that are necessary to support this model are annual public forum events that allow for both open discussion and feedback from concerned parties, digital platforms where individuals can readily contribute ideas and view what is trending, and the use of participatory budgeting tools which enable constituents to directly influence the priorities to be pursued with public funds.
These strategies are consistent with the tenets of democratic administration and participatory public management as promoted by Touchton et al. (2024) and embodied in the MCN organizational setup.
3. Program Reengineering
In order to increase operational effectiveness and responsiveness, public and nonprofit organizations must combine a set of lean process improvement practices from the public sector with a set of innovation lab models in the nonprofit environment. This two-pronged strategy enables organizations to be efficient in working internally while encouraging creative problem-solving and adaptive thinking.
Lake County's recent experience is a practical example of the costly bureaucratic delays when its 14-month Digital Services Modernization Program approval process. This inefficiency emphasizes the need for the redesign of the process. On the other hand, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN) has shown that it can mobilize coalitions and adapt its advocacy efforts fast through flexible iterative methods (e.g., design sprints). These conflicting models lead one to assume that the consolidation of structured efficiency approaches and agile innovations approach could substantially enhance operational agility.
There are both financial and strategic advantages to this integration. For instance, Lake County's plan to utilize AI to process its permitting is likely to result in an approximation of $2.1 million of annual savings. In the meantime, the deployment of the MCNS Policy Innovation Lab (at a low price of $75000 annually) is capable of promoting proactive, evidence-centered policy-making. Combined, these approaches provide a low-cost route into strategic innovation with better service delivery.
Best practices include conducting lean mapping to remove process inefficiencies, implementing AI-powered tools to reduce administrative workloads, allocating innovation labs to test new ideas with ease, and developing shared success metrics and timelines to track and measure performance (Martínez, 2024).
4. Overcoming Constraints
For the effective mitigation of organizational constraints, public and nonprofit actions should include cross-sector and cross-functional collaboration units (Hsiao, 2024). Such units can assist organizations destroy silos, enhance responsiveness, improve the information and decision flow from departments to partner organizations.
The bureaucratic layers of the hierarchical structure of Lake County serve as a demonstration of how delayed action and a lack of flexibility are common. (5 marks) On the other hand, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN) overcomes difficulties such as a lack of finances through strategic alliances and innovative thinking. With the idea of learning from MCN's collaborative work, organizations can create cross-departmental and cross-sectoral teams that will facilitate quicker, more integrated problem-solving.
This recommendation would require a number of key practices. Governments should form ad hoc strategic task forces to address burning or critical questions using multi-dimensional inputs. Furthermore, the use of collaborative planning software can simplify coordination, communication, and data sharing. Finally, earlier engagement with funding partners in planning cycles helps ensure that resources are aligned to strategic aims and avoids conflicts during implementation.
These collaborative efforts are based on theories of participatory governance and adaptive planning (Sullivan, 2022) and are critical for creating resilient, responsive organizations within both the public and non-profit sectors.
5. Organizational Success
In order to enhance strategic performance and organization-wide effectiveness, public and non-profit agencies should enter into benchmarking alliances and use sector-wide comparisons. It allows organizations to measure their operations against industry benchmarks and the strengths and weaknesses they have revealed.
Through engagement in comparative performance frameworks, such agencies, including Lake County and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN), can learn to gauge how well they fare compared to peers in comparable situations. This insight enables them to set pragmatic yet ambitious measurements of performance, make more effective allocation of resources, both standard and capital, and borrow a few good practices from high-performance organizations. Benchmarking also developed a culture of continuous improvement through transparency and accountability.
Some impetus to consider for implementing this recommendation includes joining national benchmarking networks such as those supported by the Urban Institute, establishing internal performance dashboards based on the Balanced Scorecard approach, and conducting peer reviews to evaluate and receive lessons from other agencies' innovations and challenges. These tools are not only for progress tracking, but they also support data-based decision making.
Organizations can improve operational standards and better respond to the demands of funders, policymakers, and the public by integrating benchmarking as one of the core strategic practices. This approach has strong backing from the performance management principles described by Schoeman & Chakwizira (2023) and research findings of the Urban Institute.
6. Customer Service
To enhance the quality and efficiency of public and non-profit organizations' customer service, it is recommended to implement AI-driven multilingual digital service portals. Such systems may improve accessibility, rationalize communication, and allow a timely response to the stakeholders' queries.
Lake County has shown the advantages of digital platforms already, namely an increase by 22% in service accessibility after the introduction of online portals. On the back of this success, the implementation of advanced tools like natural language processing (NLP) chatbots and defined service-level agreements (SLAS) can further reduce response times and improve user satisfaction. At the same time, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN) has demonstrated the benefits of responsiveness using real-time event feedback that helped it react precisely to members' requests.
Best practices of this recommendation include the deployment of chatbots to handle frequently asked questions and scheduling inquiries, benchmark setting of SLAS, such as a five-day turnaround for residential permit approval accruals, and querying of user satisfaction (Net Promoter Score), for instance. Not only are these tools reducing staff burden, but they are also ensuring the organization holds itself accountable to its clients and constituents.
This approach conforms to contemporary expectations regarding the provision of digital services and demonstrates the recommendations of utilization-focused evaluation as suggested by Miller (2023).
7. Boundary Limitations
In order to counter the territorial boundaries that bound program delivery, it is recommended that regional coalitions and inter-agency service compacts be established. The progress of the MCN coalition, with 89 organizations, shows that cross-boundary collaboration is not only possible but also efficient. Based on this, Lake County will be in a position to implement regional planning compacts to improve service delivery in various regions.
Best practices for getting successful collaboration include the establishment of shared data agreements, shared service delivery framework, and regional planning alliances. These strategies are reinforced by Ungureanu et al. (2021), who define the significance of collaborative efforts towards overcoming boundary constraints.
Conclusion
This set of recommendations shows how integrative planning models based on adaptive and structured planning models help public and nonprofit organizations enhance strategic performance. Whether it is about program reengineering, the emergence of customer service innovations, these strategies cultivate resilience, transparency, and service excellence. By drawing on comparative practices, participatory tools, and cross-boundary cooperation, organizations can ensure that they meet their missions in highly dynamic settings.
References
Hsiao, S. W. (2024). Creating Psychological Safety in Cross-Functional Teams in Non-Profit Organizations (Master's thesis, University of Twente). https://essay.utwente.nl/102084/
Martínez García, G. (2024). AI-Powered project management: unleashing the potential of intelligent systems for efficient group coordination and project execution (Bachelor's thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya). http://hdl.handle.net/2117/426988
Miller, R. L. (2023). Book Review: Utilization-focused Evaluation. https://doi.org/10.1177/10982140221122772
Schoeman, I., & Chakwizira, J. (2023). Advancing a performance management tool for service delivery in local government. Administrative Sciences, 13(2), 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13020031
Sullivan, H. (2022). Collaboration and public policy. London: Palgrave. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-09585-6
Touchton, M., McNulty, S., & Wampler, B. (2024). Participatory budgeting and well-being: governance and sustainability in comparative perspective. Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, 36(1), 105-123. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBAFM-04-2022-0067
Ungureanu, P., Cochis, C., Bertolotti, F., Mattarelli, E., & Scapolan, A. C. (2021). Multiplex boundary work in innovation projects: the role of collaborative spaces for cross-functional and open innovation. European Journal of Innovation Management, 24(3), 984-1010. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-11-2019-0338
White, L., Lockett, A., Currie, G., & Hayton, J. (2021). Hybrid context, management practices and organizational performance: A configurational approach. Journal of Management Studies, 58(3), 718-748. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12609
