Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning

Agenda Definition and Rationale for a Personal Operating System (POS) Definition of the Elements in a POS Using Your POS/Managing Yourself and Others Anticipated Challenges Related to Your POS

Personal Operating System (POS) A POS will help you: Crystallize strategic plan based on “theory of change” Articulate actions to help you make progress against your strategic plan Align monthly, weekly, and daily project plans to strategic plan Manage team and resources towards strategic outcomes

Why Develop A POS? Answers the questions: How do I organize myself to ensure that what I am doing minute-to-minute, week-to-week, month-to-month, and year-to-year improves the school or program that I run to effect higher student achievement? Day to day demands can be overwhelming POS can lead to 25% more efficiency Links “to do” list with big strategic priorities and quarterly benchmarks

Strategic priority areas; A vision for priority areas; Focus areas that will enable progress in strategic priority areas; Goals in each focus area; Action steps to meet those goals; and Measures of success for the outcomes you will attain. STRATEGIC PLAN Requires you and/or your team to articulate: Strategic plan should be aligned with primary tool for measuring progress

STRATEGIC PLAN What do we want to strive for? How will I accomplish my objectives?

STRATEGIC PRIORITY AREAS Aka, “Big Hairy Audacious Goals”, Areas of Work • Large areas for which you are responsible • If you manage them well - will impact student achievement • Requires you to think about your theory of change: what your team needs to focus on in order to improve student achievement Answers the questions: What are my areas of responsibility? What are the categories of work for which I am responsible? What are the big areas I need to focus my attention on in order to improve my organization’s ability to impact student achievement?

APPENDIX B.1 Sample Strategic Plan for Non-profit CEO Strategic Priority Areas Strategic Priority Area #1 – Growth and Strategic Planning Strategic Priority Area #2 – Corps and Alumni Community Strategic Priority Area #3 – Teacher Performance Strategic Priority Area #4 – Fundraising Strategic Priority Area #5 – Policy and Political Visibility Strategic Priority Area #6 – Board Building

What do we want to strive for? How will I accomplish my objectives?

VISION STATEMENT Aka, Where You Want To Be A pithy sentence, phrase, or paragraph that describes where you want to be in each strategic priority area Answers the questions: What do my team members and I want to be able to say about each of my priority areas? What is inspiring to us? What do we want to strive for?

APPENDIX B.1 Sample Strategic Plan for Non-profit CEO Strategic Priorities Areas and Vision Strategic Priority Area #1 – Growth and Strategic Planning INSERT VISION STATEMENT HERE Strategic Priority Area #2 – Corps and Alumni Community INSERT VISION STATEMENT HERE Strategic Priority Area #3 – Teacher Performance INSERT VISION STATEMENT HERE Strategic Priority Area #4 – Fundraising INSERT VISION STATEMENT HERE Strategic Priority Area #5 – Policy and Political Visibility INSERT VISION STATEMENT HERE Strategic Priority Area #6 – Board Building Change the World’s board will transform from a large, disorganized, “advisory” group to a lean, results-oriented group that sets and attains specific fundraising, growth, and visibility goals.

FOCUS AREAS Aka, Priorities, Sub-goals • Next layer of detail below strategic priority areas • Requires refined thinking about your theory of change • Must delve deeper in to how you will improve your strategic priority areas Answers the questions: Within my strategic priority areas, where am I going to focus my energy? How are we going to divide up the strategic priority areas given limited time, money, and talent? Where can I get the outcomes by spending limited and precious resources?

APPENDIX B.2 Sample Strategic Plan for Non-profit CEO Focus Areas by Strategic Priority Area By July: Strategic Priority Area #1 – Growth and Strategic Planning (Focus Areas: 1.1 XXX; 1.2 XXX; 1.3 XXX; 1.4 XXX; 1.5 XXX) Strategic Priority Area #2 – Corps and Alumni Community (Focus Areas:2.1 XXX; 2.2 XXX; 2.3 XXX; 2.4 XXX) Strategic Priority Area #3 – Teacher Performance (Focus Areas: 3.1 XXX; 3.2 XXX; 3.3 XXX; 3.4 XXX; 3.5 XXX) Strategic Priority Area #4 – Fundraising (Focus Areas: 4.1 XXX; 4.2 XXX; 4.3 XXX; 4.4 XXX; 4.5 XXX) Strategic Priority Area #5 – Policy and Political Visibility (Focus Areas: 5.1 XXX; 5.2 XXX; 5.3 XXX; 5.4 XXX; 5.5 XXX) Strategic Priority Area #6 – Board Building (Focus Areas: 6.1 Board Chair; 6.2 Purpose of Board and Individual Membership Requirements; 6.3 Performance Management; 6.4 Relationship with Staff)

GOALS Aka, S.M.A.R.T. goals • Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and tangible outcomes you plan to attain • Work to drive towards your strategic priority areas and vision statements Answers the questions: What am I going to accomplish by the end of the year and why? Will it help me progress towards my overarching goals, my vision statements, and my strategic priority areas?

S.M.A.R.T. GOALS SPECIFIC: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal MEASURABLE: Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set ATTAINABLE: When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true REALISTIC: To be realistic, a goal must represent an goal toward which you are both willing and able to work TIMELY: An goal should be grounded within a time frame (“T” can also be tangible – A tangible goal is one you can experience with one of the senses)

APPENDIX B.2 Sample Strategic Plan for Non-profit CEO S.M.A.R.T. Goals by Focus Area By July: Strategic Priority Area #1 – Growth and Strategic Planning (Focus Areas: 1.1 XXX; 1.2 XXX; 1.3 XXX; 1.4 XXX; 1.5 XXX) Strategic Priority Area #2 – Corps and Alumni Community (Focus Areas: 12.1 XXX; 2.2 XXX; 2.3 XXX; 2.4 XXX) Strategic Priority Area #3 – Teacher Performance (Focus Areas: 3.1 XXX; 3.2 XXX; 3.3 XXX; 3.4 XXX; 3.5 XXX) Strategic Priority Area #4 – Fundraising (Focus Areas: 4.1 XXX; 4.2 XXX; 4.3 XXX) Strategic Priority Area #5 – Policy and Political Visibility (Focus Areas: 5.1 XXX; 5.2 XXX; 5.3 XXX; 5.4 XXX; 5.5 XXX) Strategic Priority Area #6 – Board Building (Focus Areas: 6.1 Board Chair; 6.2 Purpose of Board and Individual Membership Requirements; 6.3 Performance Management; 6.4 Relationship with Staff) 6.1.1 New board chair will be selected according to strategic criteria from a diverse and robust pool. 6.1.2 Chair will set and attain benchmarks for transforming membership. 6.1.3 Chair will establish protocols for communicating with key staff.

KEY ACTION STEPS Aka, Action Plan The tasks you will complete to achieve the objectives Answers the questions: How will I accomplish my objectives? What are the specific projects I need to complete to move forward?

APPENDIX B.3 Sample Strategic Plan for Non-profit CEO Key Action Steps by Strategic Priority Area and Goal

MEASURES OF SUCCESS Aka, Outputs, Outcomes • The deliverable  the outcome • At the end, it demonstrates you have accomplished goals, and progressed toward vision and strategic priority areas Answers the questions: What does success look like? Feel like? Sound like? What are people saying? Doing? Feeling? How will I know when I am there? What product or outcome is evident as an artifact of our progress? When the work is done, what will be true?

APPENDIX B.4 Sample Strategic Plan for Non-profit CEO Measures of Success and Tools by Focus Areas

Quarterly Plans Q1- Get nominations for new board chair, and write initial selection criteria. Quarterly benchmarks Scope and sequence of action steps Effective backwards mapping and planning is essential Help you balance resources

Quarterly Plans Quarterly step-back meetings to discuss progress towards goals May take the following general forms: Two places I feel I am on track to meet my goals are… Two places I am worried I may not meet my goals are… Two ways you can better support my ability to reach these goals are… One-on-one meetings to measure overall progress Conversations should be ongoing, but also schedule time for step-backs in addition to discussing the day-to-day grind

APPENDIX C QUARTERLY ACTION PLAN Priorities and Benchmarks In collaboration with the appropriate staff members:

Weekly (and Daily) Plans Ask the same questions every week Look back a week – What requires follow up? What didn’t get completed and should be moved to this week? Look forward two weeks – What do I need to do to prepare? Review and revise quarterly benchmarks – What has come up that should be added as a benchmark? Look back at goals and objectives – What have you done to move toward your outcomes? Anticipate interacting with others – With whom do you need to coordinate/discuss this week to ensure movement?

Weekly (and Daily) Plans Scheduling is sometimes critical to success Schedule periods of time on your calendar for general and/or specific writing or phone calls Ritualize when and how when you write weekly plans and stick to it Prioritizing is ALWAYS critical to success It’s as critical to take things off of your weekly action plans as it is to put them on; the step of prioritizing is crucial Make sure to match weekly tasks with external meetings and balance priorities

APPENDIX D WEEKLY ACTION PLAN Week of November XX, 2008

Agenda Definition and Rationale for a Personal Operating System (POS) Definitions and the Elements in a POS Using Your POS/Managing Yourself and Others Anticipated Challenges Related to Your POS

Anticipated Challenges Tailor your POS to your working style Think very hard about how your brain works. Collective wisdom is always better than individual. There is real danger in becoming over-systematized. People are much more important than paper and systems. Priorities can and should change/refine. Do not create a POS that makes you suffer from analysis paralysis.

Strategic Planning