Going to plan: Powys Mediation

Powys Mediation is a small organisation dedicated to resolving disputes and conflicts in Wales. They have one part-time co-ordinator and 20 volunteers and an annual income of £18,000. They went through a review and planning process after they had been in existence for four years. Jo Mussen, Co-ordinator, explains:

'We didn't seem to have that youthful enthusiasm any more and needed to think about the future. We wanted to offer people a good service and increase our work with schools and families, so we really needed to think about expanding the organisation. We successfully applied for funding to pay for a consultant to help us develop a business plan. Working with her made an enormous difference.

'At the beginning she really had to work hard to get us to think of our achievements. Having a consultant meant that it was easier to get differences of opinion out in the open. There are for example some management committee members who feel that we need to become more commercial whilst others feel that we should continue to offer our service to users free of charge. Therefore, making decisions about how to raise funds can be quite difficult. However, because we went through a formal planning process we were able to make clear decisions, one of which is to introduce a membership scheme and charge people £10 a year. We also worked on a new mission statement and on developing in six key strategy areas.

'All in all the process took about three months. We had four days with the consultant and we all worked on our own as well. We parcelled up different parts of the plan between management committee members and myself and worked on drafting these sections between the sessions with the consultant. To do this you have to set yourself deadlines, otherwise it's the kind of thing that you could do for months. There is a temptation to be a perfectionist - you really have to try to avoid that.

'Without the consultant the process would have taken a lot longer, and I think we would have found it difficult to know if we were going along the right lines. Having her there gave people confidence. She had worked with the organisation before - that was really useful because she already had an insight and it was probably easier than working with someone totally new.

'Looking back on it now, I think that a business plan is essential for any voluntary organisation. I think I used to see them as quite dry and tedious but now I understand the value of it, and I've been using it for grant applications. However, some issues have been left unresolved and I know this financial year will be a really testing time for us. It strikes me that the process of change is like a spiral rather than a linear process.

'All in all, the value of planning for the future has enabled us to think of more issues and to be proactive rather than simply reactive.'