Critical Strategic Questions

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

 What business(es) are we in? What is our purpose?

 What is our vision of and for the future?

 What are our underlying values?

 What do we do best?

 Who are our customers?

 How well are we performing? How do we know?

 Where do we want to go in terms of services provided?

 How does the changing environment affect us? What changes in our decisions or

operations are indicated?

 What opportunities or threats exist that we should exploit or avoid? What

weaknesses should be corrected?

 Do we learn from lessons or experiences?

(Kooten)

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

Definition of Strategic Planning

“Strategic planning is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and

actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it.

At its best, strategic planning requires broad yet effective information gathering,

development and exploration of strategic alternatives, and an emphasis on future

implications of present decisions.” (Bryson, Strategic Planning for Public and

Nonprofit Organizations, 2004)

Strategic Planning Is....

 a strategic leadership tool

 a mechanism to get the “right people to the table”

 a structured learning and decision-making process

 future and externally oriented

 an opportunity for an organization to proactively shape its future

Strategic Planning Helps the Organization To....

 think strategically and develop effective strategies

 clarify future directions

 establish priorities and align the organization

 make today’s decisions in light of future consequences

 build teamwork and expertise

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

Strategic Planning Stages

Identifying the Stakeholders

(Chrislip and Larson, Collaborative Leadership)

 What are the perspectives necessary to credibly and effectively define problems

and create solutions? Who can speak for them?

 Who are the people who cause or are affected by the problems/issues, and who

will be affected by the solutions?

 Who are the people who, if they could reach agreement about problems and

solutions, could generate the political and institutional will to create significant

change?

 Who are the people, interest groups, or organizations who are necessary to

implement solutions, can block action, and control resources?

Stakeholder Analysis

 Who are they?

 Which are most important to the organization and its future?

 What are their expectations?

 Are we meeting their expectations?

 What are our expectations of the stakeholders?

 How are they doing?

 How do the different stakeholders influence the organization?

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

SWOT Analysis

 Internal analysis is conducted to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the

organization. Areas to assess include:

 organizational culture

 people, human resources

 structure

 systems and processes

 services and outcomes

 funding

 technology

 External scan - is undertaken to identify the major threats and opportunities that

face the organization in the foreseeable future. Steps include identifying:

 major search areas to scan

 Societal/demographic

 Economic/fiscal

 Regulatory/legislative

 Environmental

 Technology

 relevant sources and collecting information

 forces and trends for each search area

 opportunities and threats for each search area

 analyzing and interpreting the information and building possible

scenarios

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

Setting Strategic Direction

 Vision - a statement of a possible and desirable future state of the organization or

the community

 Mission - what the organization will do to make the vision a reality; what business

is it in; what is its purpose

 Values – are basic beliefs that reflect what an organization is and the things for

which it stands. They are the beliefs that an organization holds to be important in

the conduct of its business.

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

VISION DEVELOPMENT WORKSHEET

Please answer the following questions:

If you left your organization today and did not return for five years, what would you like

to see? Feel free to answer this question as specifically or broadly as you wish.

If you left your organization today and did not return for five years, what would you like

to hear people say about the county? Feel free to answer this question as specifically or

broadly as you wish.

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

Mission Statement Examples

Directions: The mission of an organization speaks to the reasons and purposes for

which it exists. To help identify the major elements of the organization’s mission,

please answer the following questions:

In broad terms, what does the organization exist to do?

If the organization did not exist, what would be the consequences?

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

VALUES IDENTIFICATION EXERCISE

Directions: Values are basic beliefs that reflect what an organization is and the

things for which it stands. They are the principles that an organization holds to be

important in the conduct of its business. Please answer the following question:

What are the 5 most important values that you feel should guide and describe how this

organization conducts its business? Next to each value that you list please list 2 or 3

words that you feel help explain what you mean by the value.

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

Identifying Strategic Issues

Strategic issues are the issues or concerns that must be addressed in order to achieve the

vision, fulfill the organization’s mission, and be true to its values.

Sources of strategic issues:

• Gaps in stakeholder expectations

• Obstacles to achieving the vision and/or mission

• Obstacles to upholding organizational values

• Organizational strengths and weaknesses

• Opportunities and threats external to the organization

• Changes in laws or regulations

ISSUE IDENTIFICATION EXERCISE

Directions: List the top 3 issues that you feel the County must address over the next 3-5

years or so. Very briefly indicate what you feel the likely consequences will be if the

issue is not addressed.

Issue 1:

Consequences if not addressed:

Issue 2:

Consequences if not addressed:

Issue 3:

Consequences if not addressed:

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

Identifying Key Results/Goals

 Key results or goals are the organization’s major strategic priorities and indicate

the major areas which must be addressed in order to achieve the organization’s

vision and fulfill its mission.

 They indicate in broad strategic terms what it is that the organization wishes to

accomplish.

 They lead to the development of performance measures against which the

organization can assess its progress

 Focus on the “what”, not the “how”.

Developing Strategies and Measures

 Strategies must be developed to address each strategic issue. This includes:

 identifying possible alternatives

 assessing the pros and cons, likelihood of success

 identifying barriers

 alternatives for overcoming barriers

 Criteria for selecting among alternatives

 cost

 time

 fit with vision, mission and values

 immediacy

 political considerations

 staff and other resources

 Measures must be developed to determine the success of each strategy

 Cost, time, quantity, and quality

 “Balanced scorecard”

 Strive for efficiency and effectiveness measures

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

Communicating the Plan

 The agency must inform and educate its employees and other key stakeholders

about the plan

 This includes communicating:

– The plan and its strategic parts

– Its impact on the organization and its employees

– Where and how employees fit and their responsibility for implementation

 Use multiple channels

Implementing the Plan

An effective implementation plan includes:

 identifying major activities and order of actions

 determining schedules

 calculating resources needed

 assigning responsibility for each activity

 planning specific tasks

 developing specific objectives

 setting target dates

 allocating resources

 linking to the budget

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

CHART OF ALIGNMENT

Agency Strategic Direction

Vision, Mission and Values

Strategic Issues

Key Results

Broad Strategies

Division/Department Goals

Unit Objectives

Action Plans

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

Evaluating the Process and Plan

 What have we learned as a result of this effort?

 Were the right people involved?

 How can we integrate the plan into current evaluation mechanisms and

management strategies or tools?

 What existing measurement systems will help you in evaluating the plan?

 Relevant to the plan, what progress are we making and what results plan are we

achieving?

 Periodically ask, is our strategic direction still relevant or does it need to be

adjusted?

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

An Approach to Involving Stakeholders in Strategic Planning

 Council (or organizational leadership) commits to undertaking a strategic

planning process and involving the public in the process

 Council (or organizational leadership) identifies the strategic issues that will be

the focus of the strategic plan

 Council (or organizational leadership) identities the key stakeholders for each

strategic issue

 Council (or organizational leadership) establishes a Steering Committee

 Council (or organizational leadership) appoints Issue Work Groups (IWGs) and a

chairperson for each strategic issue (relevant staff serve as resources)

 Council (or organizational leadership) opens up participation on the IWGs

 Council gives IWGs their “charge”

 IWGs study assigned issue, develop a vision for the issue, and recommend actions

to Council (or organizational leadership)

 IWGs present recommendations to Council (or organizational leadership)

 Council (or organizational leadership) studies recommendations

 Council (or organizational leadership) responds to IWGs and formally adopts

recommendations (none, some, all)

 Responsibility is assigned to appropriate department/s for adopted

recommendations

Strategic Planning

College of Charleston

Riley Center for Livable Communities

An Approach to Internal or Organizational Strategic Planning

 Council (or top management) commits to undertaking a strategic planning process

 Strategic Planning Team (SPT) is established

 SPT is trained and oriented

 Stakeholder analysis conducted (SPT)

 Internal assessment conducted (Depts/Units. to SPT)

 External environment is evaluated (SPT)

 Strategic direction is set (Council/top management with input from SPT)

 Strategic issues identified and key results set (Council/top management with input

from SPT

 Broad government-wide strategies are identified and recommended to SPT

(Strategic Issue Teams)

 SPT reviews strategies

 Plan is communicated

 Departmental goals, objectives and action plans are developed (departmental

leadership)

 Progress is evaluated and monitored (Council/top management and SPT)

Retreat Approach

 Council/management team commits to undertaking a strategic planning process

but ……..

 Council/management team commits to participating in a 2-day facilitated retreat

 At the retreat council/management does:

 stakeholder analysis

 SWOT analysis

 Strategic direction setting

 Strategic issues and key results

 Council charges staff with developing strategies and an implementation plan to be

presented to Council or management team undertakes