Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this June 27th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailov here, and we welcome into the studio our great friend,
Kayla Rumbalski, community development educator with Wood County, and it's always good
to see you, Kayla.
Thanks for being here.
Good to see you, James.
Thanks for having me.
And Kudos to you.
You did that introduction flawlessly.
I had a couple of takes.
I tried a couple of times before.
I appreciate it.
We appreciate you being here.
And always the topics that we get into when it comes to a topic or a job like yours,
community development and educating us on these subjects.
We appreciate you taking the time of being able to dive into some of these things that
whether we know a little or a lot about or sometimes don't even know about that you
guys offer services you guys do, like strategic planning where we're going today.
Yes, of course.
So I have to admit, when I came in here, James and I had a totally different track for
our conversation.
We're going to talk about housing and the results of a recent housing survey.
And while that's really good information, I was on a phone call just before I came to
the studio with someone who is representing a nonprofit who wants to think about their
2025 plan and their vision for the next five years.
And they didn't realize that extension offers strategic planning services, often free
of charge to nonprofits in the community.
Kayla, I think a great place to start is what is strategic planning?
Because I imagine that a lot of people may be doing this or trying to do this and not
even understand that they are doing strategic planning.
Right.
That's a great question.
So strategic planning is really looking at your mission, your vision and your goals for
a period of time.
So some people typically do it for a three to five year span.
Others do it for a much longer time.
You see this in nonprofits commonly, but also in municipalities.
So for example, the Wood County Comprehensive Plan is being redone this year, working on
different chapters of it.
So that's where that housing part of the conversation fits in because there's a housing chapter
within the comprehensive plan.
You see it within businesses.
What is our vision for this business for the next five to ten years?
And what is our mission statement?
You see the rebrands that have come out, I think actually just yesterday I was looking
at something on the internet and Perkins, which is a company that's been around for
many, many years, is now going through a rebrand to make them look more modern and more
edgy, I guess.
We're seeing that with a lot of businesses that are in that kind of range of existence,
if you will, where they're trying to update their modeling or just a look of their building.
It is something that I think a lot of us do.
Traditionally, I think some people think of this on a personal level, like where do I want
to be in five years?
Exactly.
This is a bit of an extension of that.
No pun intended didn't mean to do that.
I love it.
I love it.
But it really is.
And I think again, this is one of those topics, whether you've thought about it or not,
I do think that it's, there almost is no nonprofit, no business that couldn't be benefited
from something like this.
Right.
Exactly.
So let me talk a little bit about what extension provides in this area.
So for a nonprofit that's looking to potentially start this, there are a lot of options.
Certainly, there are private consultants out there that do wonderful work.
They will come in and facilitate a process for you, whether that's a long range process
with a lot of focus groups and a lot of surveys to survey key stakeholders, that kind of
thing, and then putting together this long range plan.
There are also even websites that can kind of walk you through the base process.
So there's really a variety of ways that you can approach it.
One kind of has a niche right in the middle.
So we are always willing and able to provide resources not only to nonprofits, but also
to municipalities.
We have a local government center through extension that operates with townships and municipalities
within the state of Wisconsin.
But really, for nonprofits, that's kind of where my niche is and what I like to be able
to help provide.
Looking at strategic planning for a nonprofit, it could be an organization that maybe is
looking to shift direction.
Maybe I worked with a nonprofit last year that their traditional scope of work had really
been achieved, which was a great success.
They were finding that there wasn't as much need for their work to continue into the future.
So they were looking at, well, what does it look like in the future?
How do we pivot?
How do we shift our mission and our goals to really remain relevant now that this initial
need has been met?
And so that's a great place to start.
It certainly, whether it's a nonprofit or a business or a municipality, everybody's
going to have a different outlook and expect different things and want different things.
So I imagine that you guys are able to help different, whether it is a municipality
or a nonprofit, it's not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing.
Do you work with them on this?
We do.
Yes.
So that's kind of the first step is to work with the organization.
They come to us at extension and say, here's kind of what we're thinking, and then we'll
ask a bunch of follow-up questions to really hone in on what they're looking for in terms
of deliverables.
At the end of this process, what are you looking for?
Are you looking for a plan that is a published document ready to go that you can share with
your stakeholders?
Are you looking for a new, sometimes within strategic branding process?
Excuse me.
I'm getting tripped up on my words.
Well, and it's an emotional topic.
Sure.
Yes.
Sometimes within strategic planning processes, there's a branding that goes along with it.
Strategic branding is what I was getting tripped up on.
But so it might be a logo to redesign or a new website that goes along with it.
Those are all the deliverables that could come from the end of that process.
So it's good to have an idea in mind of what you want from the end of that process
up front.
But we'll really work with you to go through and talk about, what are some of your strengths?
And then also, where are those areas for opportunity?
So in the case I mentioned earlier of a nonprofit that was looking to reinvent itself, what are
you hoping to do?
What need do you see yourself filling in the future?
And there are, so there's the traditional, you know, SWAT analysis that many people
have heard of, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, challenges, or threats in the case of SWAT.
And then there are a variety of other methods to go about getting to kind of that vision
and putting it in paper.
In the time that you've done this, what are some of the bigger questions or things that
have come up with nonprofits, municipalities, different businesses?
Yeah, that's a great question.
I mean, I think relevancy tends to be one of those biggest pieces.
Like how do we particularly as the world around us changes so frequently?
How do we make sure that we are staying true to our vision?
And how do we adapt if that vision shifts and changes?
So that's one of the biggest pieces.
I think often also it's the idea of remaining true to the original scope.
So there's so much that we could do.
There's so much that our organization could tackle and every day, particularly for our
nonprofits, you know, every day they're approached by a new challenge or a new opportunity
that's out there that they could get involved with.
How do we know what to say yes to and what to what to say?
No, I think there's a better organization or a different organization that's a better
fit for this.
And that can be, that can be a really key part of strategic planning as well.
You know, in some ways, it's your roadmap to say, yes, these are the things we will
do and these are the things we will not.
When it comes to certain, well, again, the versatility was something like this that has
offered from extension.
When it comes to a municipality and nonprofit, what have you, one other thing that these
have in common is even if things are going well, you want to make sure they are five years
from now.
You want to make sure that you continue on this course.
Right.
Certainly with businesses, I've got friends that are, you know, hey, I'm on the air here.
If you want to convention your event, we're, oh no, we're good.
We have enough business.
Do you know if you will in five years?
Exactly.
Do you know if you will in a couple of years?
That's such a crucial part to anybody, any of these things we've brought up to make sure
that you're there in that amount of time.
For nonprofits, you mentioned a nonprofit accomplishing their goals.
That's fantastic.
But even that organization you're talking about saw it opening somewhere else and saw
a need for them to continue to do the work that they're doing.
So then that extends that five year plan or maybe it tightens it up a little bit more.
This leads me to flexibility in this plan and having that.
I admit, that's a part of this, too, where you have your plan, but understanding that,
you know, if you want to make God laugh, make plans, this is kind of the way things go.
Right.
Yes.
And how many of those strategic plans that were in place pre-2020 saw the, the advent
of a global pandemic and went, oh, well, this is, okay, so we're going to throw that
at the window.
Yep.
And we'll, we'll start fresh and try something different.
So I think the really cool thing about the planning process, whether, whether you go through
a really rigorous process, you know, with a consultant where you're spending 12 months
to even, I've seen some, some organizations take like a full two years on the planning
process, it gives you a chance to step away from the day to day and really think about
the long term, just as you said.
So so often, especially in nonprofits, I've worked historically in nonprofits.
That to do list is so long that all you can think about is what is the next thing I have
to cross off?
What's the next thing?
What's the next thing?
And you're not really thinking about, okay, what does it look like five years from now?
So that strategic planning process gives, gives organizations and the people that work
for them a chance to kind of think about what, what could we be doing better?
What could we be doing differently?
How could we improve upon this day to day?
And what is it going to take to actually get there?
So giving sort of that, that shift in thinking from, oh my gosh, this is my to do list.
I have to get these things done.
I have to check off these boxes to, oh, let's think about what could happen.
What is possible?
One thing that we really appreciate here at the station is certainly our listener feedback.
And part of what we appreciate about that is certainly that they care, that they're
listening and all of the above.
But what I don't know if they realize all the time that we get from this is a third person
perspective.
Oftentimes somebody who they care about the station, but they're not financially invested
in what we do.
They're not necessarily owner of the company or some of those things.
They're a listener.
And their opinion is very valuable to us.
But I don't think that they realize all the value in what they say sometimes because
that third perspective is so vital in life.
We get this from a lot of our local businesses.
They come in or I talk to them off air and they'll often ask me in times, you know, how
is this doing?
How's this commercial doing?
Something like that.
Again, it's, I give them a third perspective.
It's something that you W can offer when it comes to this planning.
You're very close to this subject.
You're going to be emotional about this subject and those are good things.
Those are great things.
It means you care.
But you W is able to give you a bit of a step back and kind of a wider perspective.
A third bird's eye view almost of this and be able to help you really kind of what
is important to you and what is necessary for you to your nonprofit, your municipality
to be around the next five years, to accomplish the goals that you have in the next five years.
Right.
And that facilitator is so key in that case because it is that third party who's able to ask
some of those tough questions.
You know, maybe there's something about it within the organization's culture where people
just kind of have this sense of like, no, we're not going to go there.
We're not going to, we're not going to touch that elephant in the room.
Well, the facilitator has no, essentially no skin in the game, if you will.
Like, I don't have a connection to this elephant in the room.
So let me bring that up.
Let me see, you know, why that continues to be an issue and work through some of those
challenges.
And that I think can be a really revolutionary process for organizations once they're
able to address some of those things that maybe historically they haven't touched.
We're speaking with, yeah, we're speaking with Kayla Roboski, community development
educator with UW-Madison Extension.
And Kayla, with this strategic planning that we're focusing on today, what are, we've
kind of talked about some of the bigger questions you're asked, some of the details of this.
Are there other aspects of this out, not just planning the five year ahead, but maybe
even taking in stock of what you've already accomplished to make those things happen?
Is that part of this process?
Absolutely.
And I think that's a really key part that sometimes is overlooked.
You absolutely have to celebrate.
So as I mentioned earlier, you know, with those nonprofits, you're always looking at that
to-do list.
So oftentimes, you achieve something and you've crossed it off the list.
And there's really, you know, onto the next thing.
There's not a whole lot of stop and admire or really take stock of what you've done.
And I think that's really key to prevent burnout and to continue to energize and be passionate
about the work.
You know, you mentioned things can get emotional sometimes.
And people are really deeply devoted to the organizations that they volunteer for or
that they work for and being able to celebrate the wins of those organizations is really important.
It's something that actually whenever I get a chance and I can bring it up on the air
morning shows show like this, we don't take the little wins in life enough.
We don't take, like you said, we're so quick to the next step, so quick to the next thing.
So whether it is you had all green lights on the way to work or your organization accomplished
something, we don't take that moment to really take that win in.
It may not always seem like it, but again, getting to that five year, getting to the end
of that five year plan, this is part of how you get there by taking in these little wins.
Not every day, not every event is maybe going to go the way you wanted it to.
Those wins help get you through those moments.
Those wins help get you through any tougher times or anything too, which almost all of
us are going to face.
You know, that's just the way life works.
You have ups and downs.
Those little wins really help you through those down times.
Absolutely.
And when it comes to treat, when it comes to planning, and especially with a nonprofit
or a municipality, you put a lot into this stuff and while things may not go perfectly,
even in an event where 80% of it went right, 20% didn't focus on that 80, you know, that
20 is so easy.
Our brains are so quick to go right to that 20%.
Exactly.
Focus on that 80.
It's hard to do that oftentimes.
I mean, we're so wired to think about the negative, even within ourselves, right?
Yes.
I'm not at all saying this to people like us.
This is a Jackie conversation for sure.
Jackie Kirtini, extension, we'll talk about being your biggest advocate and really the
mental health piece of this.
But I think it's important for organizations to think about as well.
Organizationally, how are you celebrating your wins?
How are you celebrating your organization?
And with this subject, are there any other aspects of it we haven't really had a chance
to touch on?
Yeah.
So there's something that I'm working on that I'm really excited about.
I am actually in a class right now to talk about strategic doing.
So it's a little bit of a different approach.
You know, we talk about strategic planning.
And often I think the biggest criticism of strategic planning is that it's a plan, right?
So I mentioned some organizations take two years to do this plan.
So you plan it out and I'll, you know, one of the things that I do really work really
closely with and extension is the ready plan, the Wood County Rural Economic Development
Initiative plan.
That plan was completed in 2021.
They started work on it in 2019.
So it took a full two years in the middle of a pandemic to actually get that approved and
adopted by the county board.
We are still continuing to execute what's listed in that plan.
But so frequently that plan is completed.
It's adopted by the county board.
You say, yeah, round of applause, we got it done.
And then the plan sits on a shelf and doesn't actually get looked at and all of the things
that you had put forth in there that would be great ideas and things to move forward.
So often just are left with inactivity.
And so strategic doing kind of flips that model on its head and says, what, what could we
do now within the next 30, 60 or 90 days, typically within the next 30 days to really look
at how we could actually influence and impact the things that we're talking about and have
some small wins so that we can capitalize on just like we've been talking about, you
know, capitalize on and celebrate those small wins and then continue to think about that
long range plan sort of as you're doing it.
So it's really, it's a really interesting approach because it kind of is the expression,
you know, we're going to build the plane as we're flying it.
But it gives more energy to the actual planning process and to seeing those objectives and
goals met in a much sooner time frame.
It seems like it would be beneficial, especially as we touch on little wins in some of these
other things, you know, you have these goals and these, these things you want to accomplish
in that fifth year, but you're still in the first months of that plan.
It can be sometimes like that so far away, that's so hard to get to that and that incentive
for you that carrot at the end of that stick of that fifth year is a long ways away.
You want to nibble on that carrot a little bit beforehand, maybe.
You want to have some wins here to get you to that point, that's the strategic doing.
That's a really unique aspect of this and I would think going forward almost an important
part of strategic planning.
It is.
It's interesting because it has its roots and so this is maybe more academic than the
listeners are interested in, but it has its roots in agile strategy and agile is like
a tech term and so here I'm speaking a little over my head at this point, but for programmers
and developers of software and gaming and different things like that, you know, they
don't have time to work out all the kinks before they publish it, right?
Everyone wants, if it's an app that Apple is putting out or if it's an app that the
latest and greatest tech company is putting out, you want that app on your phone now and
they're going to be bugs.
They're going to be things that need to be addressed and so this method of agile is
really focused on like put it out there and then we will continue to fix it and to work
on it as it's already out in place.
So this strategic doing approach kind of takes the same thing and puts it toward organizations
and the strategic planning process of put it out there, start somewhere and then shift
and make changes as you go.
It feels like it's been very beneficial when helping people with strategic planning, having
something like this be a part of it.
Yes, absolutely.
When it, with some of the, what are, I don't want to ask specific names certainly, but
you mentioned nonprofits, municipalities, have you had some businesses that you've worked
with with this?
Is that something to think of as well for people out there?
Yeah, so for corporations or businesses, for profit businesses, our services are a little
bit different.
We typically don't work with businesses, but we can provide recommendations for who would.
Our space really is within the nonprofit arena and working with those organizations.
I will tell a funny story.
I worked with an organization last year.
It was actually Justice Works out of Portage County and I can laugh about it now, but I
will say at the time that I was brought in to do strategic planning, they were really
looking at their organization as a whole and that question of relevancy, as I said, the
question of, you know, there were some financial challenges as there are in many organizations
and they actually decided as a result of the strategic planning process to close their
doors.
But they didn't really respectfully, excuse me, respectfully with keeping in mind their
stakeholders and with a plan, right?
So they wanted to go out on top.
They knew that they were in a good place in the community and they wanted to be able
to control that narrative as they disbanded essentially the organization or transition.
And so for me, it was a really interesting process because I was like, wow, I just led
this facilitation, but the result was that the organization shut down.
I'm not sure that that is a win, is that a success?
It's a mix back, it's a mix back.
But for them, it was a success.
You know, that was what they were seeing.
That was what the whole process of, you know, trying to identify what they should do next
led them to do and they needed that third party to come in again because I, while I support
the organization's mission and certainly was passionate about the work that they did,
I didn't have that first-hand connection to it.
So I was able to ask some of those questions like, well, what is, what is keeping you from
this or why aren't you doing this or, you know, to kind of guide some of those conversations?
And I think that's, that's so much the value that an external party can bring into the conversation.
It sounds like you did your job.
It sounds like, you know, you have to do your job.
It feels weird.
It feels weird, but it's a mix back, but you did your job.
And those individuals are now able to go to other things and put their energy into those
that may need them.
Exactly.
And there is no real end for a nonprofit work.
They just find other avenues to go and help and do other things and maybe have a new five-year
plan and other time that they might need some strategic planning.
Yes, exactly.
Kaley, did we cover everything you wanted to today?
I think we did, yeah.
Right, nice job.
Nice work.
Oh, thank you.
That was fun.
Thank you, James, as always.
If people have follow questions, want to know more about some of what we talked about today,
how can they get a hold of you?
Okay, so this is always the fun thing, right, saying websites out here.
So I will say the easiest way is probably just to Google extension Wood County.
That will bring up a list of resources as well as our website.
You can find me in the directory, but my name is Kayla Rumbalski.
So the last name is R-O-M-B-A-L-S-K-I.
You can find me at K Rumbalski at whiskwisc.edu or you can always call our office, we're
in the Wood County Courthouse, and we'd be happy to chat with you and chat about whatever
you're thinking in terms of your organization's needs and next steps.
And you can always reach out to us if you need this information again or anything we
can make sure they get it to you.
We'll tell you the website, wood.extension.wisc.edu.
It has all of this and all of our extension friends information there.
Wood.extension.wisc.edu.
Good to talk with you, Kayla.
We'll talk again real soon.
Sounds great.
Thank you, James.
More Midday magazine coming up for you on 975 FM 1320 AMWF HR.
