Operational Planning preparing to act Conservation Coaches Network New Coach Training

Strategic Plan –Internal and/or external document that explains what needs to be done Work Planning & Budgeting –Details of what will be done & how much it will cost Fundraising –Plan for raising the resources needed to carry out the strategic plan Capacity –Internal & external, capacity building often strategy unto itself Operational Planning Key Points to Introduce this Step

–Is a strategic plan document necessary? –Is it an internal or external document, or both? –Who is responsible for drafting and then reviewing the plan? Operational Planning Critical Questions to Ask the Team Strategic Plan

–Does the work plan spell out responsibilities clearly? –How far out does the work plan need to go? –Is the budget comprehensive enough to cover activities? –How detailed does the budget need to be? Operational Planning Critical Questions to Ask the Team Work Planning & Budgeting

Who will do it?When & how much time $ Expenses Operational Planning Critical Questions to Ask the Team

–Is fundraising necessary or is the budget a given? –Whose responsibility is fundraising? –Does the team know what materials will be most useful? Operational Planning Critical Questions to Ask the Team Fundraising

–Does the team have the necessary leadership/leadership support? –Does the team have the right/sufficient capacity? –Do your partners and stakeholders have sufficient capacity? Operational Planning Critical Questions to Ask the Team Capacity

Issue: Our plan could easily be 100+ pages! Separate the work plan from the strategic plan Tighten the text and put details in annexes Add high level executive summary Common Issues & Recommendations Operational Planning

Common Issues & Recommendations Operational Planning Example Table of Contents for a Strategic Plan

Issue: The team is busy working on already- funded projects Encourage the team to take control of their program’s future by moving to new strategies in the plan Consider the new plan a menu of options for funders Transition to new strategies as projects end and new strategies are funded Operational Planning Common Issues & Recommendations

Issue: The team is very small in comparison with the number of complex strategies in the plan The team either needs to “scale up” – through major fundraising or coalition-building – or to reduce the breadth of its plan Make sure that you consider what other organizations are doing – don’t duplicate efforts. Clarify priorities – e.g., with $ we can implement strategies A and B, with $$ we can do A, B, C and D Operational Planning Common Issues & Recommendations

Issue: Conceptual Model & Results Chains are too complicated for others to absorb Develop simplified conceptual model & results chains Put the detailed versions in annexes in your strategic plan Translate the model into a high level narrative description Operational Planning Common Issues & Recommendations

Issue: It takes a lot of effort to develop detailed work plans and budgets for strategies that we’re not sure we can handle Develop a simple, high-level workplan first Then make decisions about priorities based on timing, capacity, funding Develop more detailed work plans and budgets after you are more certain about which strategies you’ll use Operational Planning Common Issues & Recommendations

Issue: How much effort for monitoring? Go with 5-10% of total program budget and fit an array of target-based, threat-based, and strategy effectiveness measures into that budget No magic bullet Investment should take into consideration: -Have you done this strategy before? -Is there a lot of risk involved? -Is this an expensive strategy? -Is this complex and will take a long time to unfold? Operational Planning Common Issues & Recommendations

Don’t forget that you can choose to help the team rank strategies based on several criteria including impact (benefits), feasibility, cost, urgency, etc. Miradi is a helpful tool for work planning, tracking capacity, and producing key pieces for a strategic plan Helpful Hints Operational Planning