Strategic Planning
From SPARK
Contents |
Unpublished
Excerpts from: Bendor-Samuel, Margaret and David Bendor-Samuel. 1996. A manual for strategic planning and review for language programs Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics. Second revision. (LinguaLinks Library edition).An introduction and overview
What is strategic planning?
We use the term ‘planning' for many different activities. In its simplest form it may consist of little more than listing and ordering various activities so as to achieve some goals which have not been precisely defined. The work of a typical SIL language team, however, tends to be rather complex and its goals may need careful definition. The strategic planning described in this manual provides an overall framework which takes into consideration all aspects of our programs. It includes the listing of activities and the production of plans of action, but its greatest benefit comes from the processes which precede such listings. These steps are designed to help teams pay attention to important things about which they may be making unwarranted assumptions, and to plan their activities in the light of clear thinking about their circumstances.
Briefly summarized, strategic planning starts by thinking about the situations in which we are working, and reflecting on those aspects of them which are most relevant to our work. Secondly, it requires us to think about our goals, forcing us to define, or redefine, just what we are hoping to achieve in that specific situation. Next it considers our strategies, the broad sweep of how we can best hope to achieve these goals given that context. Only then does it come to listing activities and laying out plans of action for specific periods of time. But that is not the end of the process. Strategic planning is incomplete without provision for recording our progress towards these objectives, and for reviewing and reflecting on how things have developed so as to improve our performance.
An important characteristic of the planning framework is that it is not a “once-and-for-all” operation which when completed, remains substantially unchanged until the project is finished. Instead it is a process which is continually being updated, and which has built into it, regular times at which the facts about the situation are reviewed and our assumptions about our goal and strategies are re-examined. Situations are constantly changing, and our strategies, and maybe even our goals, may need to be altered in the light of these changes. So the framework is designed to help us not only sort out our ideas in the early stages of a project, but equally, to modify these ideas as the work progresses.
The primary focus of the manual is to help SIL language workers, and those who work with them, to bring together into one overall conceptual framework all the many aspects of the work they are doing. Most of the instruments were originally devised to be applied to individual language projects. The instrument which deals with research into national, as opposed to local factors, has proven to be useful to both individual teams and to the entities to which they belong. The collection of data at this level is best handled by the field entity rather than by individual teams. But the entity needs to do more than ensure that research into national factors is done for the benefit of individual language teams. It needs to develop its own strategic master plan for the entity as a whole, so that the language teams can see how their work fits into, and contributes to, this. The first major section of this manual is therefore addressed primarily to field entities rather than to individual teams. Subsequent sections are addressed primarily to the language teams and those helping them formulate their strategic plans.
The Strategic Planning and Review (SPAR) framework utilizes a set of instruments which have been developed and refined over a number of years of working with language teams in various countries. Two of the instruments are questionnaires, three are planning instruments for teams, and one is a planning instrument for entities. A brief description of each of them follows, with brief comments on their rationale. Later they will be discussed in greater detail, and some examples will be given of plans formulated according to their pattern. At this stage, however, detail is less important than an overview of the whole system.
The SPAR instruments
2.1. National-level background questionnaire and assessment
National-level background questionnaire and assessment
The countries in which we work each have different policies and expectations. Understanding what these are and how they affect our work is very important. This instrument helps either the teams or the entity administration collect factual data about the national situation. The questions divide the overall situation into various categories and call for information to be obtained or updated on each of these. This should help the administration and teams to see what the expectations and constraints of the host country are, regarding our work.
This questionnaire is intended to be applied both by the entity in its overall planning, and by individual teams, as they plan their language projects.
An annotated copy of the national-level background questionnaire forms chapter 3 of this manual, and a blank copy is found in appendix B
Local-level background questionnaire and assessment
This is similar to the above, but looks at the language group situation. Doing this kind of research should prevent us from making unwarranted assumptions or overlooking important factors or trends which should be taken into account. Such factors may represent difficulties to be confronted or opportunities to be grasped; but either way, this instrument brings them to our attention so they can become considerations for strategic planning.
For both these questionnaires it is necessary to reflect on the data collected, and summarize those aspects which are of the greatest relevance to our projects. These summaries are then incorporated in the planning instruments described below.
An annotated copy of the local-level background questionnaire forms chapter 5 of this manual, and a blank copy is found in appendix B.
Plan for the preparation phase
We must not expect teams beginning work in language groups to be in a good position to do definitive strategic planning. An initial period, which we are calling the preparation phase, will be needed for language learning and analysis, and for learning skills in translation and literacy, as well as in developing relationships within the community. This phase may last from one to four years, depending on circumstances. Planning is needed for this period, but is of a different kind from the strategic planning of the succeeding years, which we are calling the implementation phase.
The plan for the preparation phase is designed to help new teams see clearly what they have to achieve, and then order their activities in such a way that they reinforce each other. In most cases the focus will be on the language worker and what he needs to do to prepare himself and local people for a language project which will meet both, their expectations, and his own.
Strategic master plan
This is the core of the planning model and comprises six distinct steps. Though conceptually and logically these belong in an ordered sequence, several of them are worked on simultaneously and interdependently.
1. Summarize and reflect on the key factors affecting the program. From the assessment of the national and local level surveys, it is helpful to list concisely all the major factors which will affect the program either positively or negatively. These are the factors that will influence the setting of realistic goals and strategies.
2. Define the overall goals which it is reasonable to strive toward, given the existing situation. These goals must be set so as to reflect not only the hopes of our organization and of ourselves as individuals, but also the expectations of the communities that we are serving, and the nation of which this is a part. It is of the greatest importance to force ourselves to define as clearly as we can, just what we are really seeking to achieve, and to include in such a statement the expectations of others as well as our own.
3. Record the strategies to be followed. We need to reflect on the various broad overall and long-range strategies through which we can achieve the goals we have set, and to choose the ones best suited to the situation.
This is in many ways the central element of the strategic planning process—the adoption of a master game plan which will guide our choices of specific activities at a later planning stage.
Although the second and third steps need to be kept distinct in our thinking and practice, the fuller presentation in a later chapter combines them into a macro-stage which needs to be applied consecutively to several aspects of the total work.
It is only when these three stages have been gone through, that we are really ready for drawing up plans of action, defining for ourselves and for others who will do what, when, and how. But with this preliminary thinking, we should indeed be ready for the next stages in which we list possible activities, rejecting some and keeping others, and finally order these into a logical sequence. For this aspect of the planning process we need to look at our activities from three different perspectives, drawing up a plan of action for each one.
4. Chart a long-range overview of the total project as you expect it to develop. Such an overview forces our attention towards the final situation that we are hoping to achieve. It also shows the way in which later elements are dependent on earlier ones in the outworking of our chosen strategies.
5. Develop a mid-range plan. This covers typically a three-or four-year span bordered by a furlough, which is the most for which we can expect to exercise any meaningful organization of events. It forces our attention to the expected availability of personnel and other resources, and to the reality of time constraints and conflicting priorities. This kind of planning is of the utmost help to the entity of which we are a part, as it seeks to make consultant or other practical assistance available to the teams.
6. Make a short-range plan. This is a detailed list of activities for the immediate future. We cannot generally do this with profit for more than a year ahead at most. People differ widely in the amount of detail which they find helpful at this level.
Part of the short-range plan should of course be adequate provision for regular written reporting of progress toward the objectives that have been established. This will form a basis for subsequent reviews, as well as mid-course corrections as needed.
Annual review and update
This instrument is basically similar to the previous one, but is designed on a review format. Each aspect of a plan should be reconsidered after an interval, ideally of a year, to see if it should remain the same or if it needs to be modified in any way. The instrument calls for a review of the key factors at both national and local level, for revalidation of goal and strategy statements in the light of progress and changes to date, for the updating of long and mid-range plans, and for the development of a fresh short-range plan for the next twelve-month period.
===<span style="font-size: 10pt 2.1.6.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'
Entity strategy statement======<span style="font-size: 10pt 2.2.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'
Reasons for a formal planning framework======<span style="font-size: 10pt 2.3.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'
Relationship between the individual and the administration======<span style="font-size: 10pt 2.4.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'
Some characteristics of good strategic planning======3.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'
Strategic planning at national level======<span style="font-size: 10pt 3.1.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'
Entities and national-level strategic planning======<span style="font-size: 10pt 3.1.1.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'
Then national-level background questionnaire======<span style="font-size: 10pt 3.1.2.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'
The strategy statement=====<span style="font-size: 10pt 3.2.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'
Individual members and strategic planning=====<span style="font-size: 10pt 3.3.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'
The national-level background questionnaire and assessment======<span style="font-size: 10pt 3.3.1.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'
The rationale for the national-level questionnaire===Changes
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