In episode 84 of Mission: Impact, Carol Hamilton and Heather Burright discuss: how strategic planning, implementation and staff and volunteer skills development all fit together.  We delve into the critical aspects of strategic planning and its effective implementation. I highlight the importance of aligning the implementation plan with the organization's regular processes and cycles, emphasizing the need for a shorter time frame for implementation, typically six months to a year. I also talk about the significance of continuous evaluation, tracking progress, and making necessary adjustments to ensure the successful execution of the plan. The conversation underscores the pivotal role of understanding and addressing the skills gap within the organization. Heather discusses how to identify the skill gaps that will undermine the success of your strategic plan and then the essential elements of creating a training program, focusing on relevance, meaningfulness, and a touch of fun to engage employees effectively. She emphasizes the importance of custom competency models and the value of building cross-functional relationships and trust within the organization to facilitate successful change management.   Episode outline: (00:07:07) Strategies for Successful Strategic Planning Implementation Planning (00:11:09) Integrating implementation into your regular practices (00:12:36) Why training is a key piece to strategic plan implementation (00:16:11) Maximizing Impact Through Whole Organization Involvement (00:24:29) Listening to People: Key to Change Management   Guest Bio: Leveraging 15 years of experience, Heather Burright, founder and CEO of Skill Masters Market, specializes in creating dynamic, people-centric solutions that drive business goals.  With her comes expertise in strategies for diversity, equity, and inclusion; instructional design; and change management.  She’s dedicated to identifying core competencies that are needed to see real results and to creating the learning strategies and solutions needed to develop those competencies.   Important Links and Resources: Heather Burright: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-burright/  Skills Masters Market: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/ Learning for Good podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/learning-for-good-podcast-learning-and-development/id1621971310 Standards for Excellence Institute: https://standardsforexcellence.org/    Stay in touch: ✉️ Subscribe to Carol’s newsletter at Grace Social Sector Consulting ? Give us feedback on the show ? Like what you heard? Please help share the podcast by leaving a rating & review. ? Connect with Carol Hamilton ➡️ LinkedIn