Monday, November 12, 2007

The Barton Springs Blog

Hello Barton Springers. This is a test of your email blog. One way we can start communicating ...

4 comments:

Juanita Budd said...

Memo
To: Maile Broccoli-Hickey (maile@austinenglish.org)
Deborah Del Valle (Deborah.Delvalle@atcmhmr.com)
Leah Graham (leah@thewrighthouse.org)
Robert Morris (keith.morris@atcmhmr.com)
Judy Van Cleve (judyvc@austincc.edu)

From: Juanita Budd, VP of Membership & Program
Girl Scouts of Central Texas
Date: November 13, 2007
Re:
De-mystifying the Strategic Planning Process


1. Define what a Strategic Plan is.
2. Create a Visual of the process.
3. Define the Mission.
4. Create a Vision Statement
5. State clear objective and expectations.
6. Board training and education
7. Identify inventory of resources.
8. GAP barriers to the process
9. Example of Strategic plan.
10. Best Practices.

Juanita Budd said...

Set clear objective and expectations.
An objective is define as: "an aim, goal or end of action; a strategic position to be attained or a purpose to be achieved". The objective of a strategic plan is to understand the Mission-why we exist, Vision-what you want to achieve and the plan or blue print of how to get there.

Your vision statement is the catalyst for setting clear objectives and expectations. When creating a strategic plan, you must answer the question "what do we plan to do over the next several years to move the organization closer to the vision?"

Juanita Budd said...

The objectives & expectations will provide the specific, precise, tangible and concrete values to move the organization to its destiny. The objective is the action plan.

The action plan includes the who, what,where, when and how. Who are the stakeholders both internally and externally? What do you do better than any other agency? Where do you want to be in the future? When,determines the timeline, and how are the resources. Resources include money,time,human and non-human resources such as technology, community support and colloborations.

As you access each of these questions, you may want to utilize one or more of the strategic planning tools such as SWOT, STEEPLE, PEST or other analysis to guide the process. " Achieving Your Vision Through Strategic Thinking & Planning", presented by Robert Pinhero & Barry Silverberg, explains the SWOT Analysis as Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
What are your strengths? Jim Collins Book " Good to Great", calls this your hedgehog. What do you do better than any one else and what advantages does your company have? Weaknesses,identifies opportunities for improvement and what to remove, and or avoid? Opportunities are impacts or trends affecting your organnization- technology, political social or economic trends. Finally, threats are the obstacles you face? Threats could seriously challenge your agencies existence,so this step is essential in the longevity of your organization's future.

Identifying a clear road map will provide you with a set of objectives that will lead to a great strategic plan. In the research tools listed by the Barton Spring cohort you will find samples of various strategic plans. Most plans include:
Introduction by the Board President
Executive Summary- summary of the strategic plan.
Mission & Vision Statements
Organizations History
Program Goals & Objectives
Management Goals & Objectives
Appendices-financial statements and other pertinent information.

Juanita Budd said...
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