F E A T U R E    A R T I C L E

• Explore the factors and trends that affect the way an organization does business and carries out roles;

• Seek to meet mandates and fulfill missions;

• Frame strategic issues that an organization must address;

• Find ways to address issues by reexamining and reworking organizational mandates and missions, provision of benefits, costs, financing, managing and organizational structure;

• Improve performance (Alston & Bryson, 1996).

Strategic planning styles vary from planner to planner, however, most plans contain similar components that surface throughout the planning process. How these are coordinated will be the basis of determining the success of the plan.

This article will describe the methodology currently employed by the North Berwyn Park District, which has proven to be successful for the agency. Whether it be resource acquisition, human resource management, or quality control, the strategic planning process has allowed North Berwyn Park District to undergo change in an organized and efficient manner.

The strategic planning model is a modification of the "Strategy Change Cycle" as developed by Bryson, Freeman, Roering, and Van de Ven (1986-87). This cycle contains twelve different steps from inception to completion, which provides for a comprehensive approach to be utilized throughout the life of the plan. Among these components discussed in this article are the initial agreement, stakeholder analysis, clarification of organizational mandates, SWOT analysis, framing of strategic issues, strategy development, mission statement refinement, formalization of vision of success, document review and alignment, task assignments, and implementation and evaluation.

The Planning Team

The planning team should comprise a mix of individuals who have varied interactions with the agency. Such persons must have the best interests of the agency in mind, be knowledgeable of agency functions, and have a positive mind-set going into the planning process. The team can be made up of elected officials, employees, volunteers, taxpayers, special interests and affiliates. Caution must be exercised in regard to the size of the group, as too few individuals provide minimal input and too many can be burdensome. However, this should be decided at the discretion of the agency, based on its size and outputs.

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F E A T U R E    A R T I C L E

Initial Agreement

The initial agreement or the "plan for planning" (Bryson & Einsweler, 1988) is a crucial step of any planning process. It is at this point that all parties agree to buy into the plan. Decision makers and those responsible for carrying out the plan enter into an understanding that no suggestions or thought processes are to be ridiculed throughout the planning process. Further, once completed, the plan itself will be accepted and supported by the agency hierarchy from elected officials down through front-line staff. Without this agreement, the plan would be worthless and could not stand-alone as a workable document.

Stakeholder Analysis

Another crucial element of the planning process is the analysis of stakeholders. A stakeholder is any person, group or organization who can lay claim to an agency's resources, attention, or is affected by its output. These may be positive as well as negative elements.

The agency may or may not choose to accommodate the needs of a respective individual or group and therefore may desire to induce strategies that could benefit or counteract the needs of various stakeholders. Such groups include residents, employees, unions, interest groups, businesses, civic organizations, schools, customers, other governmental units, tax objectors, competing entities, affiliates and so forth.

Clarification of Organizational Mandates

Agency planning cannot take place without an understanding of what mandates the agency faces in order to operate. These requirements could be funded mandates as well as unfunded mandates; the key being that the agency must fulfill these obligations in order to legally and/or successfully operate.

Mandates include requirements such as adherence to the Park District Code, permit requirements, EPA regulations, minimum wage law, additional government regulations and legislation, utility bill payments, ethical obligations and other such issues. An awareness of such mandates allows an agency to understand what requirements it may be subject to which cannot be changed. In addition, the agency should identify what resources must be allocated to accommodate such demands.

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis comprises an internal analysis of Strengths and Weaknesses and an external analysis of Opportunities and Threats. The distinction between what is "internal" and what is "external" hinges on whether the organization controls the factor. If the organization controls it, it's an internal factor; if not, it's an external issue. (Pfeffer and Salancick, 1978).

The internal analysis allows an agency to look at its strengths and weaknesses and discover areas that are proficient and areas where work needs to be done. An agency is able to directly control the internal environment because it deals with agency-controlled issues such as resources, current strategy, and performance measures. Obviously, an agency would want to take advantage of its strengths and successes and further these while determining the cause of its failures and weaknesses and formalizing strategies to eliminate or counteract such negative influences.

The external analysis allows the agency to look at the opportunities and threats posed by the external environment of which it has no direct control. These are measured by analyzing forces and trends, resource controllers, and competitors. While the agency does not have direct control over the external environment, it can position itself throughout the planning process to better deal with such forces through the establishment of partnerships and positive working relationships.

Framing of Strategic Issues

Once the agency has conducted the previous steps in the planning processes, it may enter into the stage of framing strategic issues that will serve as overall goals to chart the agency's course over the next three years (or the anticipated life of the plan). The previous analytical stages will have provided the needed data that allows participants to develop an awareness of what issues the agency is dealing with and how such issues may be structured to be dealt with in the future.

Such issues involve fundamental challenges that affect the agency's mandates, mission, delivery of benefits, stakeholders, costs, financing, organization and management. These could be current issues requiring immediate attention, long-term issues that need to be dealt with in the future, or issues for which it is not yet clear if any actions is required but must be monitored (Bryson & Einsweler, 1988).

Strategy Development

Strategies are developed to allow strategic issues to be accomplished. These are generalized tasks, similar to specific objectives, which will allow the agency to work towards successful completion of the issue. Strategies may be classified as practical alternatives, dreams, or visions that may be pursued to address the issue.

If the respective strategy becomes prohibitive, it may be revised to deal with such obstacles. Such ability to modify the plan is a true benefit of the flexibility afforded through strategic planning. Additionally, if external forces create an environment in which the strategy becomes unachievable, it may be dropped altogether; however, this should be documented and dealt with in the evaluation process.

Mission Statement Refinement

Upon completing the previous tasks, the agency should have a solid basis for determining who it is, who it provide benefits to,

References Alston, Farnum K. & Biyson, John M. Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan: A Workbook for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. San Francisco. CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996. Bryson, John M. & Einsweler, Robert C. Strategic Planning Threats and Opportunities for Planners. Chicago, IL: The American Planning Association, 1988. Pfefer,J. & Salancick, G.R. The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1978. Taylor, B. "Strategic Planning - Which Style Do You Need?" Long Range Planning, Vol. 17, 3:51-62. 1984

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A Vision of Success: Will the agency be community-minded? A provider of quality benefits? A safe haven from gangs? Accountable? Award-winning? Financially stable?

why it exists, what it does, what is its purpose, its beliefs, and why if provides. If a mission statement has previously been developed, it must be reexamined so that it answers the questions that have been indicated. In addition, it should be concise, clear, unambiguous, and to the point. If there is an absence of such a statement, these questions should be introduced in the development of an agency mission. Formalization of Vision of Success Now that the plan has been roughed out, the agency must look further ahead and describe the agency's potential future. This description is the agency's vision of success (Taylor, 1984), an outline of how the organization would look if it successfully implemented its strategies and achieved its full potential.

Will the agency be community-minded? A provider of quality benefits? A safe haven from gangs? Accountable? Award-winning? Financially stable?

A vision of success should be explicit and describe tangible benefits that will serve as benchmarks to successfully complete the plan.

Document Review and Alignment

After completing the general planning session, an agency is often left with numerous flip charts, general statements, and other scattered information. These need to be reviewed and organized into a working document so that the plan can be executed in a coordinated manner. Most important, this should be completed as soon as possible after the general planning session so that ideas are fresh and identical to what was brought forth from the planning team.

• Strategic issues need to be framed and restructured to provide a clear sense of purpose and avoid duplication.

• Strategies need to be restructured so that they become meaningful and measurable and specifically relate to their    respective issue.

• The vision of success needs to be clearly stated in measurable terms so that the agency has a clear    understanding of where it hopes to be upon completion of the plan.

Once the plan has been reorganized, it must be submitted to the planning team for general review and feedback. Participants must ensure that the plan is representative of the planning session and not solely the views of the facilitator or consultant. In addition, comments should be provided on the clarity of the plan and the plan should be revised accordingly.

Task Assignments

Tasks must be assigned upon completion of the working document. A chronological listing of tentative completion dates should be charted accompanied with the respective strategy and strategy number. The first tasks that should be assigned are those that will be required of a specific staff and officials, such as the agency director and board. Once these have been identified, additional team members may review the remaining strategies and determine those that relate to their position or are of interest to them. The team should then sit down and receive assignments accordingly until all have been assigned.

Plan Adoption

Now that all planning components have been completed, they may be further organized into a formal document. Such a document should include a cover, introduction, acknowledgments, mission statement, listing of strategic issues and respective strategies, vision of success statements, and time line with strategy assignments.

At this point the completed planning document is presented to the governing board for formal adoption and then disseminated to those persons responsible for carrying out the plan.

Implementation and Evaluation

Implementation and evaluation are the most vital components, in and of themselves, to ensure successful completion of the plan. All of the time and effort of the planning process are wasted if these remaining components are not carried out. Unfortunately, many plans go to waste at this point as they are placed on a shelf only to gather dust.

Through the assignment of strategies, the plan becomes positioned for successful implementation. However, a system must be developed chat will allow each respective strategy to be tracked to determine its level of completion. As previously indicated, measurability is essential and will provide the chief administrator with tools to determine what level of completion a specific strategy has achieved.

An effective tracking device is achieved through quarterly updates. These updates require a listing of specific strategic issues and strategies that become due during a respective three-month period. The person responsible for completing a strategy provides documentation in reference to the level of completion. If successful completion has occurred, all is well. If problems were encountered, the strategy is either repositioned for successful completion or the strategy becomes disbanded, with a realization being obtained of why it could not be accomplished.

Strategic planning is crucial to an organization's success. The process allows an agency to determine who and what it is, what it wants to do in the future and why, and how to get from here to there. Organizational benefits include increased effectiveness, increased efficiency, improved understanding, enhanced teamwork and better learning. Today, the North Berwyn Park District enjoys improved facilities, resources and procedural guidelines that have been incrementally developed the strategic planning process. •

PATRICK J. RYAN, CPRP
is the executive director of the North Berwyn Park District. Persons desiring to obtain additional information in regard to strategic planning may contact Mr. Ryan at 708.749.4900 extension 17 or pryan@inbpd4fun.org.

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