Not Another Round of Strategic Planning!
How to prepare an actionable, impactful strategic plan in a government agency
By Matthew Rogozinski
Government agencies have to develop multi-year strategic plans and annual business plans. Their preparation and approval consume resources at all levels, but how useful are they in shaping these agencies’ on-the-ground activities and providing their staff with a clear sense of shared purpose and accountability?
The planning process generally involves various functions (e.g., Finance, Risk, Stakeholder Engagement) updating relevant parts of the preceding plan. Drafts then go through several iterations with senior people; the Board provides feedback and ultimately endorsement; and the final plan is submitted to the relevant department for approval. Most people in the organisation see the new plan for the first time—and often the last—as a booklet on display in the staff kitchen.
However, corporate and business plans can be powerful tools for engaging staff, focusing effort on the right priorities, increasing accountabilities for outcomes and making progress on improvement transparent.
So, how can an agency develop a useful and actionable plan? We believe the best way is to bring together representative groups of cross-functional, mixed seniority staff in a series of collaborative workshops that address the issues at the heart of good strategic planning.
These issues include: organisational purpose, role and accountability; targeted performance over the planning horizon; strategies to achieve the targeted performance; the capabilities needed to make the strategies operational; the approach to capability development; and the required budget.
Fundamental questions in each of these areas will be resolved in the workshops, so it is essential that the facilitator is capable of fostering robust, inclusive, fact-based debate, and ensuring participants reach agreed, documentable outcomes.
The agency CEO should actively support these efforts, in particular by setting outcome expectations, making calls on critical elements of the plan where alternatives exist, engaging the Board and external stakeholders, and launching the plan as a guiding document for the whole organisation.
At the end of the planning and approval process, the agency will have:
A clear, actionable and measurable plan to reach well defined targets;
A basis for external and internal stakeholders to understand the agency’s direction and assess the impact it is having; and
Perhaps most importantly, organisational understanding and ownership of the plan, and accountability for its delivery, achieved through broad and deep engagement in its development.
If you are interested in knowing more about this strategic planning method, please contact Inhance Partners.