DRAFT

Strategic Planning

U.S. Department of Energy Rebuild America Business Partners

and

Deanna BraunlinGAVIN Consulting, Inc.

John DeakinEnergy Program Consulting

Introduction

“Strategic Planning is not an end in itself, but merely a set of concepts to help leaders make important decisions and take important steps.”

- John M. Bryson

Bryson, John M. Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1988.

In other words, strategic planning helps you think, and helps you plan how to get things done when:

• multiple issues must be addressed,

• there are no policies or guidance to give direction, and

• it is unclear which issues to deal with first.

You can use strategic planning to help with all kinds of decision-making such as:

• determining budget priorities,

• developing new policies,

• assessing priorities,

• organizing your Rebuild partnership, and

• making decisions about energy use in your community or organization.

Strategic planning differs from other types of planning by:

• focusing on specific issues,

• addressing and identifying available resources,

• examining your organization’s strengths and weaknesses,

• assessing major events occurring outside your organization, and

• emphasizing results.

Strategic planning usually follows a series of steps:

• getting organized,

• scanning external and internal environments,

• selecting key issues,

• developing goals, objectives and strategies,

• developing action plans, and

• monitoring and updating your plan.

Determining Project Scope

Strategic planning can provide tremendous benefits, however,

it can also be a time and resource intensive activity.

A comprehensive plan may require a considerable investment of

resources, along with a serious commitment to follow through on your

findings.

You may also want to consider the costs and benefits of implementing a

mini-strategic plan, which is a scaled-down version that can be tailored

to your specific needs.

Financial Considerations

• Estimate the costs associated with each step of the planningprocess.

• Determine if there are adequate resources to complete the project.

Analysis - how many hours and by whom?Public participation - define your public, think about what types of meetings will be necessary and prepare a budgetPreparation of written reports - how many hours and by whom?Distribution - create a distribution list and determine whether you want to distribute the reports in written or electronic format.Administration - who will be involved with the administrative responsibilities for the planning process? What costs will be involved? What budget(s) will those costs come from?Disseminating the final results - determine a date that your plan will be disseminated and identify the costs and resources you will need.

Solicit Support

• Ensure there is high level support for the work; that you have the necessary technical resources, and that there are no project killers or major barriers to your success.

For example, solicit support from:

- Chief executives - Tribal leaders- Partnership members- Community leaders- Technical resources agencies- Other impacted agencies

Strategic Planning Process

As with most proposals for change, include the individuals and

organizations that will be impacted by the changes you anticipate. Also

include individuals who will be responsible for implementing the final

plans because the project’s success will depend on their buy-in.

The process follows a series of steps, but it is not critical that they all

occur in this order. Generally you should proceed as follows:

Strategic Planning Process

Step 1 Identify and list key issues

• Identify the key issues your organization or partnership is facing. If you do not have broad agreement on the key issues, you will need to identify them through Step 2.

Step 2 Examine your operating environment

• Identify key local current events and important trends. • Determine if there are major external forces that will

influence local events.• Prepare a “Problem Statement” that clearly describes the key issues

you identified and intend to address.

Strategic Planning Process

Step 3 - Review your mission

• Review your organization’s mission statement and revisit your mandate if you do not have general acceptance of the mission amongst project participants. If you represent a newly formed Rebuild partnership, you will need to develop a mission statement if one is not already in place.

• Clarify your goals

• Verify that you have the authority to act.

Strategic Planning Process

Step 4 - Analyze

This step is often referred to as a SWOT analysis. It identifies yourorganization’s internal strengths and weaknesses. It helps you identifynew opportunities and outside threats that may impact thesuccess of your project.

• Examine your organization, and list its strengths and weaknesses.

• Look at the organization and assess possible opportunities for action.

• Look outside the organization and determine if there are issues that may threaten success.

Strategic Planning Process

Step 5 - Develop goals and objectives

• Decide what can be achieved with respect to each of the key issues you’ve identified through your analysis and include them in your plan.

Your goals are what you ultimately want to have happen.

Your objectives may be interim achievements along the way, or related

issues that you can also accomplish as part of achieving your

major goals.

Strategic Planning Process

Step 6 – Develop a strategy for achieving your goals and objectives

It is important to assess various options because there may be more than one way

to meet your goals and objectives.

• Try to identify at least three potential strategies for achieving your goals and objectives.

• Compare the costs and benefits of each option.

• Assess the likelihood of achieving success with each option.

• Select one strategy for implementation.

Strategic Planning Process

Step 7 - Develop implementation plans

Implementation plans are critical to your success, they are also referred toas action plans.

• List the steps you will need to take to accomplish your goals.

• Place major events (also known as milestones) on a timetable.

• Identify financial and staff resources.

• List who will be responsible for completing each task.

Strategic Planning Process

Step 8 - Monitor, evaluate and update your plans

• Monitor implementation.

• Ensure that your proposed actions are implemented as you intended and make necessary adjustments as changes occur.

• Update your plans as your organization, partnership or the external

environment changes.

Other Considerations:Small Communities and Tribal Governments

If you have limited resources, consider focusing on no more than 3-5

critical issues in your community. Otherwise, your efforts may be spread

too thin to be effective and may result in an eventual loss of public

interest.

Smaller communities tend to have fewer dollars and less staff to commit

to strategic planning. They may also lack historical information or

technical resources. Due to limited resources, smaller communities may

find it especially important to make no grand plans.

Other Considerations:Small Communities and Tribal Governments

On the other hand, people in smaller communities are often more aware of

changes resulting from external events beyond their control. They may

choose to plan in order to anticipate change rather than have it forced

upon the community by outside forces.

In addition, there are fewer people involved in decision-making and

therefore, established relationships may be in place . This should facilitate

the planning process and assist in determining whether you should

proceed with a comprehensive or mini-strategic plan.

Other Considerations: Jargon

• Tailor the use of industry terms to fit your local needs. Individuals who are not accustomed to planning terminology may feel excluded by its use. Even the use of the term “strategic planning” may discourage some. If you think this may happen, try using simpler terms such as:

- managing change vs. strategic planning,

- looking at outside influences vs. external analysis,

- developing alternative approaches vs. developing

strategies, and

- measuring success and updating the plan vs.

monitoring and evaluation.

Conclusion

A successful strategic planning process will help you:

– clarify the important issues,

– educate the community and build consensus,

– decide who has the authority to take action,

– position your organization or partnership to seize future opportunities,

– make the best use of available resources,

– decide in what order tasks need to get done,

– identify necessary approvals and when they’re needed,

– list the resources it will require to get them accomplished,

– determine project start date and completion date,

– determine how you will monitor and evaluate the results, and

– decide how to disseminate the final plan.

Contact Information

Deanna BraunlinGAVIN Consulting, Inc.2921 N. Tenaya WayLas Vegas, NV 89128702-256-1935702-920-8036 faxbraunlin@gavinenergy.com

John DeakinEnergy Program Consulting1191 Green StreetSan Francisco, CA 94109415-775-7154415-775-4240 faxjdeakin@sirius.com