Question

Scenario: Imagine that you are working as a mid-level administrator within a healthcare system. You have been tasked with chairing a strategic planning task force to revise and update the healthcare system’s strategic plan. Your initial task is to call a meeting with your newly created strategic planning task force. Your first item on the agenda is to engage your task force in generating creative approaches to the strategic planning process.

Please briefly explain (in a minimum of 250 words) to your task force the overall strategic planning process and why creative thinking is important in the strategic planning process and how you will encourage it with your team.

Answer 1

7 Steps to Strategic Planning, the following seven?step process for strategic planning:  

Step 1 – Review/Develop Vision & Mission Although many organizations have created vision, mission, goals and objectives, these elements need to be reviewed on a continuous basis. The reason lies in the everchanging environment and business constraints forced upon organizations through government, payors, competition, physicians, patients, vendors etc. Each internal department’s vision and mission must be aligned and supportive of the overall business strategy.  

Step 2 Business and Operational Analysis   One of the key objectives of strategic planning is to understand internal strengths &weaknesses as well as external threats and opportunities, i.e. a SWOT analysis. It is critical to engage stakeholders from across the organization – and vendors as well ? to provide their points of view. This involvement will not only improve your plan, it will create organizational ownership, which will be important for executing and sustaining the plan.  

Step 3 Develop and Select Strategic Options. All possible strategies should be developed based on the inputs. Then the list should be narrowed down to strategies that are within the guiding priniciples of the organization.

Step 4 Establish Strategic Objectives this step narrows the list even more by applying various modeis (financial, etc.) to each strategy to determine the effect it will have on the organization. This step is also where key measures and timelines are established or validated. The plan’s components should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time?bound (SMART).  

Step 5 Strategy Execution Plan Now a plan must be developed to implement the chosen strategic options. To be successful, you will need organizational ownership of the plan, which includes not only executive sponsorship, but also the active involvement of all staff members. Communicate the plan to all levels of the organization. Find champions in all areas. Define what is “in it for them.” The clear (SMART) goals and staff involvement in the initial committees will help you now.  

Step 6 Establish Appropriate Budget and Resource Allocation Quite often, once the strategic assessment and plan is complete, leadership may not be able to allocate or assign appropriate funding, staffing or other resources to specific initiatives. The result of improper or inadequate budgets and staffing usually ends with failed strategic initiatives.

Step 7 Execution Review One of the critical success factors for effective strategy deployment is constant and ongoing progress reviews. Appropriate reporting mechanisms must be included in the deployment. When issues, challenges, deviations or obstacles are identified, decisions and remediation are necessary – some which may even change the strategic direction