{"id":1522,"date":"2013-04-22T18:31:40","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T23:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/articles\/\/"},"modified":"2016-01-21T18:33:07","modified_gmt":"2016-01-21T23:33:07","slug":"renewing-the-work-program-the-managing-think-tanks-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/articles\/renewing-the-work-program-the-managing-think-tanks-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Renewing the Work Program: the Managing Think Tanks series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just like\u00a0having an efficient board of directors<\/a>, setting an agenda is important for effective and efficient work in a think tank. Think tankers must not forget, however, to\u00a0renew the agenda from time to time<\/a>\u00a0– the focus of this week’s Managing Think Tanks chapter. This is important for three reasons. First, the direction of the research might have to be shifted in order to make sure that the institution’s work remains relevant to its country’s policy agenda. Second, keeping your staff and making sure its morale is high depends on key members having the chance to change the focus of their research and policy analysis. Third, organisations have to work on issues for which there is a demand, and thus, financing.<\/p>\n

Refocusing the think tank’s mission as needed is called strategic planning. As a formal written product in its most developed form, strategic planning involves considering the relevance of the institution’s mission statement in light of its current situation. This, in order to analyse new work programs for the think tank.<\/p>\n

Importantly, the most successful think tanks make such planning\u00a0continuous; each year or so, there may be events for taking stock\u00a0and assessing new options\u2014new research topics, alternative clients, and\u00a0different activities (e.g., offering new training programs or starting a forprofit\u00a0subsidiary to conduct household interviews).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also, strategic planning should not be done only when under financial pressure. A crisis environment is not the best for decision making.<\/p>\n

That said, this chapter concentrates not on preparing a formal\u00a0strategic plan<\/a>, but on identifying and assessing new opportunities for a think tank. It is better to focus a think tank’s limited available resources on generating and evaluating the new products that the think tank can offer, the new clients it can work on and the new policy recommendations it can make.<\/p>\n

One specific change a think tank can make is providing consulting services alongside conducting foundation-supported research and policy analysis. Private think tanks can have four groups of clients: national government agencies, local governments, donors and businesses. Working with donors and national government agencies involves the type of work that think tanks prefer doing, such as policy development or training of officials. Work with local governments is more hands-on, and working for businesses can be very diverse.<\/p>\n

There are challenges as well as rewards that come with this diversification. Challenges are:<\/p>\n