THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING

Chris Sidotippt 3

What is strategic planning?

• a continuous and systematic process• to define how an institution will move, over a

period of years, from where it is to where it wants to be

• by deciding– institutional directions– intended results– how results are to be accomplished and– how success is to be measured and evaluated

Why have a strategic plan?

• to develop a common understanding within the institution

• to explain the institution to outsiders• to present the big picture rather than short term or

partial pictures• to seize the initiative rather than simply react• to define goals and objectives• to set priorities, including for resource allocation• to enable activity planning consistent with broad

goals and priorities• to provide a basis for institutional evaluation

What is in a strategic plan?

• situation analysis– what is the external context in which the institution works?

• the institution– what is the nature and role of the institution within that

external context?

• clear statement of direction– what are the vision, mission and objectives?

• strategies– how will the objectives be achieved?

• evaluation– how will the effectiveness of the institution be assessed?

What are the key terms?

• vision• mission (or purpose)• objectives• strategies• activities• products (or outputs)• outcomes (or results)• performance indicators

Vision

• our dream of the future

• what we strive to achieve

• the picture of the long term

• related to our institution and its work

A bad vision statement

“A world that is at peace, just, environmentally responsible, economically advanced, culturally diverse and mutually supportive”

A good vision statement

“A society in which human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled”

Mission

• the general statement of purpose guiding our activities

• a definition of our mandate – what we are and what we do

• our institution’s particular role in achieving the vision

A bad mission statement

“To be a bank that doesn’t think like a bank. A bank that knows that yesterday isn’t today….and that today becomes yesterday tomorrow”

Actual 1997 “Corporate Vision Statement” for a major banking/finance company

A good mission statement

“We achieve our vision through promoting and monitoring human rights compliance and seeking remedies for victims of human rights violations.”

Objectives

• what, in general terms, we actually seek to achieve during the life of this strategic plan

• higher level statements of key institutional goals to be pursued in carrying out the institution’s mission

• should be limited in number, no more than six or seven

• should reflect institutional priorities

Some possible objectives

• to increase public awareness of and support for human rights

• to assist and encourage government to ensure that all laws, policies and programs are human rights compliant

• to expose human rights violations and assist victims to obtain remedies

• to encourage the development of human rights law and mechanisms internationally and domestically

Strategies

• how we seek to achieve our objectives• operational approaches• our priorities• can be linked to the objectives as a whole or

to each objective individually• should reflect institutional priorities

Linking strategies to objectives

Objective 1: to increase public awareness of and support for human rights

Strategies:• ensure a high media profile for human rights

issues• encourage the development of school

curriculum to educate children on human rights• coordinate community education activities with

civil society organisations

Activities

• what we will actually do to implement the strategies

• can be linked to the strategies as a whole or to each strategy individually

• should be at a general descriptive level:– “we will conduct five human rights training

programs a year”– NOT “we will conduct five human rights training

programs a year on these dates and at these places”

Products

• what we actually produce– publications– reports– media releases– training programs– speeches

• sometimes called “outputs”

Results

• what our activities accomplished– better knowledge of human rights law

among school students– greater public awareness of key human

rights issues in our country– more positive government responses to

victims of human rights violations– well trained human rights advocates and

activists

• sometimes called “outcomes”

Performance indicators

• provide information about the degree to which the actual results of our activities meet the planned objectives

• critical to enable evaluation of the implementation of the plan and of the effectiveness of the institution

• quantitative (how many) and qualitative (how well) measures of performance

• can measure products (outputs) but better to measure results (outcomes)

Strategic plans and activity plans

• strategic plans and activity plans complement each other

• the strategic plan is the big picture plan that guides the institution over several years, setting the broad priorities for action

• the activity plan or implementation plan is the annual plan that sets out how the strategic plan will be implemented in the year and what specific activities will be conducted and where and when and how

A good strategic plan will

• be written down• be relevant to the institution and its context• be realistic and not merely idealistic or aspirational• be easy to understand • be clear to implement• have specific time frames over a significant period• provide clear accountability for implementation• recognise that things will change and be able to

adapt to those changes• be endorsed by the highest governing body in the

institution