Strategic Planning

Pre-planning is the internal phase of the strategic planning process. Essential staff positions should be identified that will support the work of the steering committee and implementation of many of the information gathering methods you will use to inform the strategic plan. Pre-planning also focuses on the key groups and individuals that should be involved, what already exists in the strategic planning area, and building legitimacy for the strategic planning effort you will launch soon. The pre-planning phase can last six to twelve months.

Activities, Questions to Consider

• Determining the entity charged with leading the strategic planning.
• Is there an existing group with similar vision or goals that can serve this purpose, or will a new strategic planning group need to be formed?
• Embracing a “planning to implement” strategy. Reinforce the notion that you are conducting planning to make change happen. People will want to see results from the planning they commit to do.
• Identifying the population of focus of the system of care or other systems change efforts.
• Identifying key partners for the strategic planning effort.
• If an existing group is relied upon, who needs to be added to fulfill the purpose of the systems of care work?
• Do you have a sufficient number of parents and youth involved?
• Have existing child welfare boards, advisory groups, or advocacy groups been considered for involvement?
• How does the work of these existing groups relate to planning for systems of care?
• How will these groups be kept informed of progress toward goals and objectives?
• Are representatives of the judicial system, attorneys, and law enforcement represented in the strategic planning? How will they be kept informed of the potential impact of what?
• Identifying ways to address the question, "What's in it for me?" from a stakeholder's perspective.
• Explain any financial incentives that will be available to key stakeholders.
• Give details on how the coordination of trainings and services will help stakeholders.
• Make clear how eliminating duplication of services will benefit stakeholders.
• Describe how involving families and focusing on strengths will benefit stakeholder organizations.
• Ensuring agency administrators, judges, and other key decision-makers are aware of the strategic planning effort and its potential impact on their system and the community as a whole. Make sure they are supportive of, and committed to, the endeavor and have opportunities to participate.
• Is other planning being conducted by the State or local child welfare agency (e.g. Statewide Assessment, Child and Family Services Plan, Program Improvement Plan, etc.)?
• How does this work relate to broader efforts?
• Does the strategic planning require authorization or approval from any agency boards of directors, State commissioners, advisory groups, city council, tribal leaders, county boards, or school boards? If so, what is the strategy for securing a place on their agendas? Who will present the information?
• What is the process for approval?
• How will these groups gain information about progress in implementing the strategic plan and building your system of care?
• Seeking out tested tools, methodologies, and experts on strategic planning.
• Has a Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis been conducted? (Tools for SWOT analyses are available on-line, if needed.)
• Has a needs assessment been conducted?
• Are various methods for collecting information from key stakeholder groups being planned (focus groups, interviews, surveys, public forums)?
• Are you planning to map out resources: fiscal, personnel, and services?
• Have the policies, funding mechanisms, mandates, and procedures of key interagency partners been assessed?
• Identifying fiscal, key partners, and consultant resources to support the strategic planning.
• Ensuring strategic planning group members are representative of the target population.
• Ensuring the strategic planning addresses findings of the State Child and Family Services Reviews and the Program Improvement Plan, as well as any other monitoring reviews the State has undergone.

The planning phase begins the process of assembling your stakeholders as an advisory board to develop a strategic plan. Meetings will be held, information gathering activities will take place, and debates, discussions, compromises, and modifications of the strategic plan will occur, hopefully leading to consensus on all aspects of the plan. This phase could take 12–36 months.

Activities, Questions to Consider

• Identifying appropriate community locations for strategic planning meetings.
  • Having assembled your advisory board of stakeholders, have you gained consensus on the time and place for meetings?
  • Have you considered child care and travel expense reimbursement for family members attending?
  • Have you considered some form of honorarium for family members who attend?
• Determining the cultures of the community, families, and institutional structures so you can be culturally competent in all aspects of your strategic planning process. For example, assess evaluation tools you plan to use to make sure they are culturally appropriate for your community.
• Defining the reason for existing as a strategic planning body and as a project.
  • Answer the questions, "Why are we doing this?" "What's in it for all stakeholder participants?"
• Establishing an internal and external communications plan. Some approaches to communicate your work are newsletters, Web site, standing communication agenda items at all system of care strategic meetings, press conferences, press releases, and periodic briefings of upper management across agencies.
• Conducting an orientation on strategic planning for participating stakeholders.
• Using a variety of mechanisms, such as public hearings, town hall meetings, public forums, surveys, focus groups, and individual and group interviews, to gather input to inform your strategic planning.
• Conducting a needs assessment and initiating an asset mapping process with multiple stakeholder groups, such as other public agencies or departments, organizations, direct service providers, and families.
  • Perform a SWOT analysis or use other system analysis tools to help you assess how your system of care is positioned for long- and short-term viability.
• Developing consensus among stakeholders wherever possible.
• Developing a common language, including eliminating use of acronyms and system-specific jargon that may not be familiar to all stakeholders.
• Developing shared goals, vision, and mission based on values and principles of your system of care.
• Defining and developing shared short-, medium-, and long-range outcomes to be achieved through your system of care.
  • Have you involved your evaluation team in the strategic planning so you can develop and track identified outcomes?
  • Have you developed logic models to visually show the goals of the strategic plan and the necessary tasks required in each phase?
• Writing the strategic plan for implementing your system of care after information has been gathered and consensus has been developed about the system of care framework, including principles, desired outcomes, target population, infrastructure components, and how it will operate.
  • Have you involved writers and graphic artists so your strategic plan looks good and reads well?
• Providing copies of the strategic plan to key decision-makers and making certain the agencies and constituents they represent have approved the plan, support it, and understand and are committed to their role in its implementation.

The implementation phase of strategic planning builds on the information collected and activities prioritized during the pre-planning and planning phases and puts the strategic plan into action. Meeting the goals outlined in the strategic plan is an important aspect of the implementation phase. An interagency oversight body should monitor the implementation process so deadlines are met and obstacles are addressed to ensure timely execution of the strategic plan. Implementation can extend up to 24 months or more, and is often not a linear process. Your system may revert back to the planning phase in such cases as leadership changes, funding cuts, and evolving legislation. Once in the implementation phase, you must continually refer back to the planning phase and re-examine all parts of your system in order for your system to stay relevant and on top of inevitable changes in the field.

Activities, Questions to Consider

• Conducting an agency and stakeholder knowledge, technical skills, and experience needs assessment in order to develop training to address gaps in these areas.
• Establishing communication protocols with external and internal constituents.
• Creating workgroups or committees that handle issues such as:
  • Interagency collaboration
  • Training
  • Marketing
  • Data management
  • Fiscal management
  • Program development
  • Policy development

These should be interagency committees with both family and community representation. Some communities have used systems of care principles to shape their committee structure, adding policy, training, and marketing committees.

• Assembling an effective system of care team and adding members as the project grows. Committee membership should include others beyond your steering committee. Offer membership opportunities to people who have the skills needed for specific committees to be effective.
• Conducting sustainability planning.
  • Are you taking a look at all aspects of your system of care that you want to sustain and developing a strategy for what you need to do to ensure that each necessary part of your system of care is sustained? For example, if you want to ensure that family involvement remains a central part of your system of care, will you need to draft legislation? If you need to expand services within your system of care, have you developed a needs assessment and thus can show the results of that assessment to those that will make budgetary decisions?
  • To enhance your ability to be successful at planning for sustainability you must answer the question, "How will we sustain this activity after the funding end?" from the first day you receive the grant.
• Using focus groups, surveys, and interviews to collect data from multiple groups on implementation activities, including progress, barriers, facilitators, and lessons learned.
• Developing methods for learning about each member's agency, policies, procedures, and processes.
• Determining the resources needed to efficiently and effectively carry out activities and meet deadlines.
  • Have stakeholders agreed upon a short- and long-term action plan? If so, is it being used to guide systems of care development?
• Assigning tasks, activities, and functions to individuals, agencies, and workgroups or committees as outlined in the strategic plan.
• Developing reporting mechanisms for informing decision-makers about progress made and ideas and efforts to sustain the system of care.
• Reviewing the implementation plan routinely and making changes as needed.

Because strategic planning is a process, not a product, continuous quality improvement ensures the process remains productive, relevant, and valuable. Continuous quality improvement is a core activity that leverages the information you collect–particularly information about challenges and successes–from various sources in order to make decisions about maintaining or changing the course of your system of care. By definition, continuous quality improvement should be ongoing.¹

Activities, Questions to Consider

• Ensuring the foundational information for the strategic plan is available to all system of care participants.
• Reinforcing the value of the strategic plan by embedding its components in the work of all stakeholder groups.
• Tracking the outcomes that were identified during the strategic planning process.
• Reporting to stakeholder advisory groups on the progress made toward identified outcomes.
• Having an internal and external communication plan related to strategic plan dissemination.
• Using the strategic plan to inform program development activities of participating stakeholder groups.
• Using the strategic plan to shape training activities of participating stakeholder groups.
• Using the strategic plan to secure Federal and private foundation grants.
• Ensuring that agencies involved in your strategic planning develop their budgets and requests for funding based on the needs prioritized in the strategic plan.
• Adapting and updating the timelines of the existing strategic planning process to prepare for the next strategic planning effort.