Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine.
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
and 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 were 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 10 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 there's the 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.
Where do I want to be in five years and some of that?
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 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.
Extension 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.
So 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 kind of 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.
And 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.
You work with them on this.
We do.
Yeah, 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.
I was getting tripped up on.
But so it might be a logo 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, excuse me.
And even, even when it comes to,
well, we'll be okay, we'll add to that.
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, if you want, I can mention your event
and 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?
Yeah.
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.
Right.
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.
Yes.
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 imagine 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 advent
of a global pandemic and went, oh, well, this is okay.
So we're going to throw that at the window.
And we'll start fresh and try something different.
So I think the really cool thing about the planning process,
whether you go through a really rigorous process,
with a consultant, where you're spending 12 months
to even, I've seen 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 organizations
and the people that work for them a chance
to kind of think about 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 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 too.
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 times, 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
that means you care, but UW is able to give you
a bit of a step back in 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.
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 touch that elephant in the room.
Well, the facilitator has no, essentially,
no skin in the game, if you will.
I don't have a connection to this elephant in the room.
So let me bring that up.
Let me see 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, 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 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 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.
Yeah, 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 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 gonna 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 gonna face.
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 tree,
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.
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 often times.
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.
I mean, Jackie, your TV 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?
When 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 class right now
to talk about strategic doing.
So it's a little bit of a different approach.
We talk about strategic planning.
And often I think the biggest criticism
of strategic planning is that it's a plan.
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 in 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 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,
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 a really interesting approach
because it kind of is the expression,
we're gonna 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 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 incentive for you
that carrot at the end of that stick of that fifth year
is a long ways away.
You wanna nibble on that carrot a little bit beforehand,
maybe you wanna have some wins here
to get you to that point.
Right.
That's a 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, yes, and 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,
you know, tech company is putting out,
you want that app on your phone now.
And they're gonna be bugs.
They're gonna 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, and 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,
or 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 was 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 did it really respectfully.
Now they're, 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 while I support the organization's mission
and certainly was passionate about the work that they did,
I didn't have that firsthand connection to it.
So I was able to ask some of those questions,
like, well, 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 so much the value
that an external party can bring into the conversation.
It sounds like you did your job.
So it's like, you know, you have to do your job.
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 might need them.
So 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.
Kayla, did we cover everything you wanted to today?
I think we did, yeah.
Right, nice job.
Nice work.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you, James, as always.
If people have follow questions,
want to know more about someone 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 could 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.
I will 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.
We'll have more Midday Magazine coming up for you
on 975 FM, 1320 AMWF HR.
