Strategic Planning for Government Organizations Course

Module 1: Introduction to Strategic Planning

• Understand the history, purpose, and challenges of strategic planning in government.
• Define strategy and distinguish it from operational planning.
• Learn the steps to develop, implement, and manage a strategic plan under GPRA and OMB guidance.
• Examine common pitfalls and best practices in public sector strategy.

Module 2: Preparing for Strategic Planning

• Form a strategic planning team and develop a project plan with milestones.
• Review and refine the organization’s mission, vision, and values.
• Conduct internal and external reviews using SWOT and STEEP analyses.
• Identify core organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Module 3: Selecting and Organizing Strategic Goals

• Identify and classify different types of strategic objectives.
• Use the goal/objective hierarchy and balanced/linked strategy map formats.
• Link goals using cause-and-effect logic across organizational perspectives.
• Develop a concise, prioritized set of strategic goals to guide the organization.

Module 4: Developing Strategic Measures

• Understand the purpose and requirements of performance measurement.
• Identify relevant, sensitive, and practical strategic performance measures.
• Write operational definitions for measures to ensure consistent data collection.
• Assign responsibility and create implementation plans for new measures.

Module 5: Communicating for Strategy Implementation

• Develop a communication plan to gain organizational commitment to the strategy.
• Identify audiences, message content, desired responses, and communication methods.
• Use multiple communication channels to maintain focus on strategic goals.
• Prepare supervisors and leaders to explain and advocate for the plan.

Module 6: Aligning Operational Units with the Strategic Plan

• Understand the principles of cascading and linking strategic goals across units.
• Create alignment plans and matrices to ensure operational activities support strategic objectives.
• Develop action plans at the unit level to support higher-level goals.
• Use alignment to foster accountability and performance improvement.

Module 7: Monitoring and Managing Strategic Performance

• Establish regular leadership reviews of performance data.
• Link individual performance plans to strategic objectives for accountability.
• Integrate strategic planning with budgeting processes for resource alignment.
• Use data to adjust strategies and maintain progress toward mission results.