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Action Planning
Once your Board has set your goals and associated objectives, it's time to sit back and relax. Right?
No! Strategic planning, when done right, is a two-part process.
The Board is responsible for setting the organization's strategic direction and regularly following up on the related key performance indicators (or metrics). Likewise, the management and staff team craft an action plan and relevant metrics - based on the Board's stated goals, objectives, and metrics - to drive daily work, establish priorities (work on this vs. that), track performance, and provide a framework for decision-making.
When strategic and action plans seamlessly work together, information and results flow naturally through the organization (Staff to Management, Management to Executive Director, Executive Director to Board), enabling easy tracking and reporting. This ease of tracking and reporting takes an upfront investment of time and energy by the Board, Management, and Staff and a commitment to regularly reviewing and touching base on outcomes. Without these touchpoints, it's easy to lose sight of key strategic outcomes and the overall direction the board desires.
Use this action plan to break down the goals and objectives set by the Board into actionable steps the management and staff teams can focus on, establish individual performance measures, and track results.