CAREER AND SKILLS TRAINING STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK Planning is key to success

 Overview of the agenda

INSERT WHY CAREER DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION

ABOUT STRATEGIC PLANNING Strategic planning determines:  where an organization is going over the next year or more,  how it's going to get there and  how it'll know if it got there or not.

ABOUT STRATEGIC PLANNING Goals-based planning is the most common type of strategic planning  starts with focus on the organization's mission (and vision and/or values),  goals to work toward the mission,  strategies to achieve the goals,  and action planning (who will do what and by when)

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF STRATEGIC PLANNING? Strategic planning serves a variety of purposes in organizations, including to: 1.Clearly define the purpose of the organization 2.Develop goals and objectives 3.Communicate those goals to constituents 4.Ensure that resources are focused on key priorities 5.Provide a starting point to measure progress/success 6.Opportunity to build consensus and buy in and understanding of direction

WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING? Strategic planning enables a development organisation to:  formulate a vision and mission statement based on its problem analysis and identification;  analyse its strengths and weaknesses in addressing the identified problem;  identify opportunities and threats in the environment that may affect its work;  prioritise what it needs to do;  review strategic options for achieving its goals and select the most appropriate  Structure itself appropriately (how you need to organise yourselves, or re-organise yourselves, if the objectives are to be met.)

HOW DO YOU USE A STRATEGIC PLAN? The strategic framework allows the organization to develop a business/action/operational plan.  The strategic plan keeps the organization on track. It provides a touchstone against which to answer questions such as:  Is this the sort of work we ought to be doing?  Will this activity contribute to the achievement of our vision and goals?  Given that we have scarce resources, is this the most strategic action for us to take? Will it have the maximum impact for the investment of resources made?  Is this the most appropriate way for us to go about achieving our goals?

COMPONENTS OF A STRATEGIC PLAN 1.Contextual information 2. Organizational Tenets  Organizational Vision  Mission Statement  Values 3. SWOT Analysis  Strengths  Weaknesses  Opportunities  Threats 4.Major Goals 5.Long Term Objectives 6.Strategies 7.Action items  Project Planning/timeline  Operational Plans 8.Evaluation  Success measures

1. CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION Useful for those developing or reading your strategic plan to be able to discover at least a little bit about the organization. The challenge is to be able to provide a paragraph or three about these sorts of questions:  When was the careers function/department formed and why?  What led to it being formed?  What key changes have occurred since it was formed?  How is the function governed and how is it staffed?  What level of support is received from the school board or other agencies  What is the structure of the career department?

2. ORGANIZATIONAL TENENTS FOR CAREERS AND SKILLS TRAINING Fundamentally, it's about the guiding principles, the organizational beliefs, the behavioural creed to which you subscribe but for a strategic plan it is generally divided into three distinct elements – 1.the organizational vision (what you want to become), 2.the mission statement (what you want to achieve overall as an agency) and 3.values (the standards of belief that you adopt and which shape the way in which you present and behave as an organization).

3. ANALYSIS OF CURRENT ENVIRONMENT (SWOT) SWOT Analysis  SWOT is a summarized view of current position: specifically your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats  Call it what you will: A SWOT analysis, a 360 degree scan, a reconnaissance, a bit of a check at what's going on.  It involves appraising the status quo as a predicate to determining planning goals and setting developmental priorities.

4. MAJOR GOALS  Major goals are broad overarching aspirations that should be consistent with your vision and mission statements.  Quite simply, goals are broad statements of overall intent and long term strategic focus  They answer the question what you must focus on to achieve your vision

5. OBJECTIVES Objectives are the specific activities that each major function (for example, department, etc.) must undertake to ensure it’s effectively implementing each strategy. Objectives should be clearly worded to the extent that people can assess if the objectives have been met or not. Objectives are specific, measurable results produced while implementing strategies.

6. STRATEGIES Strategies outline how you will achieve your goals. Strategies are usually what change the most as the organization eventually conducts more comprehensive strategic planning, Strategies will change as the district develops new programming involving more learning partners and particularly by more closely examining the external and internal environments of the organization and the impact on the programming.

5. ACTION PLANS  The Action Plan identifies the specific steps that will be taken to achieve the strategic objectives – where the rubber meets the road  Each strategy has a supporting Action Plan(s) attached to it  Action Plans are geared toward operations, procedures, and processes  They describe who does what, when it will be completed, and how the organization knows when steps are completed  Action Plans require the monitoring of progress on Objectives, for which measures are needed

5. ACTION PLANS 1.Detail all required steps 2.Establish a time frame 3.Establish the resources required 4.Define the specific actions (steps) that must be taken to implement the initiative 5.Determine the deliverables (in measurable terms) 6.Identify in-process measures to ensure the processes used to carry out the action are working as intended. 7.Define the expected results and milestones of the action plan. brief status report on each step 8.Provide a brief status report on each step

6. Evaluation: Success Measures A strategic plan needs to describe how evaluation will be completed and against what measure. Evaluation can be formative or summative and inform future direction or updates to the strategic plan How often, and against which criteria, for whom, and with respect to which, if any, goals and policies your agency has developed, will the initial (formative) evaluation occur? Will you conduct formative evaluations more than once and if so, why and when?

FRAMEWORK: SUMMARY OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN GoalObjectiveStrategyAction PlanTimeline

NEXT STEP:  Complete a strategic planning session  Develop Project Plans for each strategy  Create an Operational Plan so the vision of the strategic plan can be realized

A Strategic Planning Outline Introductory Statement Background statement/history Management Board and Staff Organizational Tenets 1.Organizational Vision 2.Mission Statement 3.Values SWOT Analysis 1.Strengths 2.Weaknesses 3.Opportunities. 4.Threats. Major Goals Objectives Strategies Action items 1. Project Planning 2. Operational Plans Evaluation