BSB51107 Diploma of Management

Operations Management
Learning Materials

BSBMGT515A Manage operational plan

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Table of Contents
Course Outcomes.....................................................................................................................................................4
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................................5
1.

Operational Planning.......................................................................................................................................7
Developing strategy..............................................................................................................................................7
Balanced Scorecard.............................................................................................................................................8
Scenario Planning................................................................................................................................................9

2.

Analysis Tools................................................................................................................................................11
SWOT Analysis...................................................................................................................................................11
PESTEL Analysis...............................................................................................................................................12

3.

Process Improvement....................................................................................................................................14
The PDCA cycle.................................................................................................................................................14
SMART Goals....................................................................................................................................................15

4.

Resource Management..................................................................................................................................19
Financial Resources...........................................................................................................................................19
Human Resoucres..............................................................................................................................................19
Resource Acquisition..........................................................................................................................................19

5.

Contingency Planning....................................................................................................................................21

6.

Monitoring Performance.................................................................................................................................23

7.

Activities.........................................................................................................................................................24
Activity 1 Personal Reflection..........................................................................................................................24
Activity 2 Strategy Execution Gap...................................................................................................................24
Activity 3 Alignment, Accountability, Adaptability.............................................................................................26
Activity 4 Strategy Planning Case Study.........................................................................................................29
Activity 5 Strategic Planning............................................................................................................................29
Activity 6 Consulting Stakeholders..................................................................................................................34

8.

Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................................35
Putting The Balanced Score Card To Work National Library of Australia.......................................................35

References.............................................................................................................................................................39

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Course Outcomes
The course will assist you to:

research, analyse and document the resource requirements to develop an operational plan
implement a suitable consultation process in the planning phase of operational plan development
develop and implement contingency plans at appropriate stages of operational planning
plan and manage resources and acquisitions relevant to the operational planning process
monitor and review the operational plan performance against specific targets

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Introduction
An operational plan is a subset of the strategic work plan. It describes short-term ways of achieving milestones
and explains how, or what portion of, a strategic plan will be put into operation during a given operational period,
in the case of commercial application, a fiscal year or another given budgetary term. An operational plan is the
basis for, and justification of an annual operating budget request. Therefore, a five-year strategic plan would
need five operational plans funded by five operating budgets.
Operational plans should establish the activities and budgets for each part of the organisation for the next 1 3
years. They link the strategic plan with the activities the organisation will deliver and the resources required to
deliver them.
An operational plan draws directly from agency and program strategic plans to describe agency and program
missions and goals, program objectives, and program activities. Like a strategic plan, an operational plan
addresses four questions:

Where are we now?

Where do we want to be?
How do we get there?
How do we measure our progress?

The Operational Plan is both the first and the last step in preparing an operating budget request. As the first step,
the Operational Plan provides a plan for resource allocation; as the last step, the Operational Plan may be
modified to reflect policy decisions or financial changes made during the budget development process.
Operational plans should be prepared by the people who will be involved in implementation. There is often a
need for significant cross-departmental dialogue as plans created by one part of the organisation inevitably have
implications for other parts.
Operational plans should contain:

clear objectives
activities to be delivered
quality standards
desired outcomes
staffing and resource requirements
implementation timetables
a process for monitoring progress.

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1. Operational Planning
Its estimated that up to 50 per cent of leaders perceive a gap between coming up with a strategy and
successfully executing it. Strategy execution has become the buzzword in strategic planning circles. If so much
time, energy and money is spent on developing a roadmap for the future and such a high proportion of these
plans fail to be implemented then what is going on? Is it the strategic planning process itself? Or is it the failure of
operational plans to echo the intent and objectives behind the corporate or organisational strategy?
A comprehensive study by Richard Lepsinger of American consulting firm, OnPoint Consulting, concludes that
the prime causes for the gap are:
Successfully achieving execution takes more than clarifying and communicating the organisation's strategic
direction. Many businesses put all their energy into crafting and gaining agreement on their vision and strategy.
They frequently do not attend to clarifying the assumptions about what it will take to achieve the strategy (what
will be required operationally) and the priorities for action.
It is also important to go beyond gaining understanding and acceptance of the strategy throughout the
organisation. Vision and strategy must be translated into action at each level of the organisation and, beyond
that, these actions must be reviewed by senior management to ensure they are mutually supportive and well
coordinated across work units and levels (rather than everyone going off and doing what they think is best for
their work unit) and monitored to ensure performance expectations are met or to recalibrate the plan when new
information becomes available.
"Actually, monitoring may be the most critical aspect of the process," notes Lepsinger. "It's how companies make
changes stick. People tend to lose momentum otherwise, and that's when they revert to 'business as usual.' The
most successful companies are ruthless in monitoring and reinforcing their strategic actions."
More information about the strategy execution gap can be found here:

www.realmarket.com/required/onpoint082206.html
www.thepracticeofleadership.net/2007/06/02/the-gap-between-strategy-and-execution/
www.strategyexecutionblog.com/

Developing strategy
There is a saying: the map is not the territory. Having a map is good and necessary but its not the same as
actually being in the territory with all the texture, nuance, contradiction and surprise that real experience
contains. If corporate strategy is like a map, then like any map it can date quickly. Many organisations employ

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tools and frameworks that allow them to get an up-to-date picture of how things are tracking across the
organisation and to keep their antennae alert to changing trends and patterns in their operating environment.

Balanced Scorecard
Along with traditional strategy development methods, frameworks like the Balanced Scorecard have become
increasingly popular. Using a dashboard metaphor and supported by sophisticated reporting software, the four
focal areas of the Balanced Scorecard financial, customer, internal processes and learning and growth can
be clearly seen and understood by all employees without having to wade through masses of text and paper. The
process of cascading down from the corporate wide scorecard to unit level scorecards that mirror these four
domains and have specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) attached, is just one path to developing
operational plans.
The balanced scorecard should be integrated with other planning tools within the organisation such as the
mission, values and vision. The mission is a statement that summarised the core purpose of an organisation and
will make reference to the key business or industry that the organisation operates in. The values are the guiding
principles that the organisation has identified as the standards of behaviour that it will hold itself to. The vision is
a description of the future that the organisation is aiming towards and trying to create for itself and its
stakeholders. The balanced scorecard will also draw from the strategy and the strategy map. The strategy is the
overall plan of how the organisation will go about achieving the vision. The strategy map is the graphical
representation of key objectives or goals of the organisation as it goes about executing the strategy.
The balanced score card will also inform other areas of the organisations operational planning such as the
performance measures for each department that will align to the strategic objectives and the broader strategic
management system.

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Find out more:

http://www.balancedscorecard.org/BSCResources/AbouttheBalancedScorecard/tabid/55/Default.aspx

Scenario Planning
While very few organisations and industries have a crystal ball that can predict the future and help them prepare
for uncertainty and surprise, many now use methods like scenario planning to rehearse the future by developing
narratives about what could happen based on divergent research, trend spotting, interviews with experts and
broad stakeholder input. Multinational companies like Shell have used scenario planning as a strategy
development tool for decades. Navigating the peaks and troughs of the notoriously volatile oil industry requires
foresight and pattern recognition; the ability to monitor weak signals in the environment, register the point at
which they change into strong signals and adjust aspects of the strategic plan accordingly, has benefited Shell as
well as many other companies, organisations and industry groups. Translating these high level insights into dayto-day decision-making and action plans, is a real art. Without a genuine commitment to the process and a good
communications vehicle, forays into scenario planning are often short lived.
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You can find more information about scenario planning by checking out these links:

http://www.well.com/~mb/scenario_planning/#Scenario_reports
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scenario_planning

Whatever method used to develop the strategic plan, executing it across the business or organisation, while still
being sensitive to uncertainties and changes in the operating environment, is a complex and dynamic process.
Identifying and putting ourselves in the shoes of our stakeholders, can be a useful process in challenging our
assumptions, seeing potential sources of conflict and support for what we do, clarifying expectations about what
is important in terms of our performance, and developing some preliminary performance measures.
There are numerous ways we can consult with and engage our stakeholders in the process of aligning our
business objectives to measures to the needs and expectations of the people and groups who will benefit from
our business performing well.

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2. Analysis Tools
SWOT Analysis
Most of you will have heard of, and in some cases used, the situation analysis tool called SWOT. The SWOT
acronym stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The purpose of SWOT is to get as close a
fit as possible between the organisations resources and capabilities and the external environment it is operating
within.
The SWOT analysis revolves around four fundamental questions (Fleisher & Bensoussan: 2003):
1.
2.
3.
4.

What can we do (ie. strengths and weaknesses)?

What do we want to do (ie. organisational and individual values)?
What might we do (ie. external opportunities and threats)?
What do others expect us to do (ie. stakeholder expectations)?

The answers to these strategic choices are the raw material for strategic management. Because the SWOT
analysis is relatively simple and comprehensive it can be applied successfully at the macro organisational level
and the micro operational planning level.
These four fundamental questions can be supplemented by four additional questions, useful when developing
operational plans. They are:
1.
2.
3.
4.

What resources and capabilities do we already have and want/need to develop?

What should we be caring about putting our attention on?
What opportunities can we develop? Where might innovative new approaches fit in?
How can we build shared expectations among our stakeholders?

Some of the previous exercises have given us useful inputs for the SWOT analysis. For example, in taking the
Execution Challenge we identified some potential weaknesses in our own organisation. If we were conducting a
SWOT analysis within our own organisation, then this would be a useful start.
The stakeholder wheel we used earlier, taking on various roles and having a journalist ask questions, surfaced
expectations and needs from our imaginary stakeholders. Matching our expectations of what we do and what
were capable of producing against those of our stakeholders can show us where we either need to change or
work more closely with various stakeholders to arrive at mutually agreed on performance standards.
The SWOT analysis is commonly done in two phases. First is an identification of all the factors that may impact
on the organisation. These will include both internal and external factors and will identify those that are potentially

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helpful and those that are potentially harmful. The second step is to identify the relationships between factors that
can be used to suggest new or overlooked strategic directions or concerns.

STRENGTH
Internal
Helpful

WEAKNESS
Internal
Harmful

OPPORTUNI
TY
External
Helpful

THREAT
External
Harmful

PESTEL Analysis
A PESTEL analysis reviews the external environment that the organisation is operating in and attempts to identify
the key factors that the organisation needs to consider when drafting its strategy. A PESTEL analysis can also be
used to identify the factors that are changing and will therefore lead to a changed operating environment.
A PESTEL analysis looks at the following areas:

Political environment
Economic environment
Social and demographic environment
Technological environment
Ethical environment
Legal environment

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Political
Political

Legal
Legal

Economic
Economic

PEST
EL
Ethical
Ethical

Social
Social

T
echniologi
Techniologi
cal
cal

It should be conducted in two stages. Firstly the trends occurring in each environment should be identified and
data gathered to quantify these trends. Each trend should then be reviewed to determine whether it presents an
opportunity, a threat or needs to be monitored into the future. A PESTEL analysis can be used to systematically
approach an analysis of the external environment within a SWOT analysis.

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3. Process Improvement
Some of the tools and frameworks from the continuous improvement or quality domain are useful and sometimes
necessary in developing and monitoring operational plans. Some of you may have chosen to do the Continuous
Improvement course for your Diploma of Management. In the real world it will be worth your while to review
these tools and frameworks and identify which of them would be relevant in answering your questions about
where to go next.
Processes are the fundamental building blocks of all organisations and both process understanding and process
improvement form the lifeblood of quality organisations. Processes transform inputs, which can include actions,
methods and operations, into outputs. They are the steps by which we add value, and it should be the aim of
customer focused, quality organisations, for these outputs to satisfy or exceed the needs and expectations of
their customers.
Continuous improvement involves planning for improvement. There are many quality approaches and we will
focus on the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle promoted by W Edwards Deming in the 1950s (Owens, 2002).
It is a universal improvement methodology, the idea being to constantly improve and thereby reduce the
difference between the requirements of the customers and the performance of the process.
The cycle is about learning and ongoing improvement, learning what works and what does not in a systematic
way, and the cycle repeats, after one cycle is complete, another is started.

The PDCA cycle

P = PLAN - Plan an improvement. Define a problem or opportunity. Analyse the situation. Study and define the
problem, brainstorm for causes and corrective actions, and think creatively to determine the best approach and
best possible corrective action. Develop an implementation plan.
D = DO - Implement corrective action. Do changes designed to solve the problem on a small or experimental
scale first. This minimises disruption to routine activity while testing whether the changes will work or not.
Document the procedures and observations. Use data gathering tools to collect information.
C = CHECK - Analyse and interpret information. Check whether the small-scale changes are achieving desired
results or not. Monitor trends. Compare obtained results against expected results from the plan.

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A = ACT - Act on what was learned. If the results are expected, do nothing. If the results are not as expected,
repeat the plan/do/check/act cycle. Document the process and the revised plan.

Plan

Act

Do
Chec
k

The plan, do, check, Act cycle incorporates a strategic planning process of identifying priorities, ongoing
collection and monitoring of valid data to measure performance, identification of areas for potential improvement
and development of specific action steps to improve performance. This is followed by use of available data to
determine if the action steps are successful. The cycle continues identification with the opportunity at any point to
reassess priorities, performance and action that can improve performance.
To improve quality, organisations need to improve processes. The first step is to learn and understand the
process as it is now. This knowledge is gained by collecting and analysing data. This data will not be only in the
form of numbers. It is also in the form of information known by their people. Surveys, focus groups, opinions,
feelings, attitudes, perceptions and anecdotes need to be considered as valuable sources of information on
which managers base their decisions.
No single method exists that enables managers to make the right decisions every time. Flexibility in assessing all
the data is the real key to continuous improvement. By analysing the data using basic statistics, managers can
begin to understand why variation in the quality of the product or service occurs. This will permit them to improve
processes by reducing that variation.

SMART Goals

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For years, the SMART approach has been used for setting goals. Goals should be specific, measurable, actionoriented, realistic, and time-resource constrained. Recent developments in goal-setting methodology define goals
in terms of value-added results and stress the alignment of individual goals to higher-level objectives and
organisational strategy.
Companies have recognised that it is through a network of tightly aligned goals that they can more effectively
orchestrate the collective energy of their employees toward execution of strategy. They are also recognising that
the setting of goals and subsequent measurement of results are integral pieces of their performance
management systems.

Specific Vague, general goals are difficult to pursue kind of like playing golf in the fog. Making your
goals reasonably specific gives you a clearer target to aim at. Specificity, however, is relative. At a high
level of the organisation, goals might be fairly broad in fact, they are broad as a matter of necessity.
For example, a suitable goal at the executive level might be to improve customer satisfaction. But at a
lower level, a frontline manager or individual contributor might have a goal to develop a training program
for customer contact employees or to analyse customer feedback and recommend corrective actions.
Each of these more-specific goals contributes to the achievement of the higher-level goal of improving

customer service.
Measurable Measurable lets you track progress as well as determine how well you have achieved
your goals. How do you know if you have achieved the goal? The ideal of measurement is to have
some kind of yardstick against which you (and others) can measure your progress, and to have a notch
on that yardstick that denotes successful goal achievement. Sometimes goals are pretty straightforward
and a single measure is all that is needed, as in book $2 million in signed contracts. Often, however,
multiple measures are necessary. Consider the goal for a complex project, which might require several
measures to cover the important expectations surrounding its completion, such as the level of client
satisfaction, the profit margin to be achieved, and the quality standards that the projects output must

satisfy.
Aligned By aligning your goals with higher-level goals, and ultimately with your companys strategic
objectives, you ensure that you are directing your know-how and energy in the right direction. To a great
extent, your goals will be dictated by your position. Customer service reps serve customers,
programmers write code, trainers train and managers manage. But goals that arise from the key
responsibilities of your position are given focus and all-important direction through alignment to some
higher purpose. And, at least in secular organisations, that higher purpose is your bosss goals and the
goals of those higher up the chain, all of which conspire to drive the company toward effective execution
of its strategy. Alignment, when practised throughout the company, helps maximise the effort expended
toward strategy-relevant tasks and minimise effort wasted on activities that are irrelevant or

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counterproductive. So, align your goals with those of your managers. If you have direct reports, make
sure their goals are linked with, and supportive of, yours. The overriding question to be asked is, What

needs to be achieved? not What do I want to do?

Results-focused A well-crafted goal will specify an important, value-added result or outcome that you
are accountable for achieving. Be sure to focus on the outcome rather than the process. For example,
instead of having a goal of conducting a training session, perhaps the real goal is to have 300
employees who are capable of doing something they could not do before, such as handle a complex
customer transaction, install a new product, or work more productively by using a new software
program. Conducting a training program may be the chosen way to accomplish these ends but its not
the only way, and there are probably other activities that will have to happen to fully realise the desired
end. So, focus on the desired end result when setting the goal. As Stephen Covey (1990) stated, begin
with the end in mind. To the extent possible, goals should help you focus on the results you are
expected to produce. Making sure you have well-defined measures is one way to keep a goal results

focused.
Time-bound Goals almost always have an assumed time element, of one type or another, and this
time element needs to be made explicit. In other words, when are you expected to deliver the required
results? For some goals, the time element will be a deadline. For example, if youre accounting for
completing a project, there is probably a drop dead date associated with it the client must have the
project completed and deliverables in hand by a certain date. When your performance is evaluated, one
element of the evaluation will be whether you met the deadline for the project. Other goals may not have
a deadline but have expectations that certain results be delivered on a daily or ongoing basis. For
example, if you were a receptionist, you might have a goal to effectively handle calls and visitors. There
is no deadline, in that you are not shooting for a specific completion date after which you will wash your
hands of that goal and move on to other things. Rather, you are continuously working on achieving the
goal, which in effect gets continuously reset. Meeting a deadline, therefore will not be the focus of
evaluation of your performance against this goal. Instead, you will be evaluated on how well you
produced the desired end result of quickly and courteously greeting and transferring callers and visitors
during the entire period covered by your evaluation.

So to ensure that you end up achieving valued results do an effective job of setting goals up front by using the
updated SMART approach to setting goals.

Specific, Measurable, Aligned, Results-focused and Time-bound.

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4. Resource Management
Financial Resources
An important outcome of operational planning allows you to develop a clear idea regarding the financial
resources you will require over the timeframe of the plan. Typically, this can be expressed in the form of a budget
that allows a manager to communicate how much is required and what it will be spent on. A clear operational
plan and well considered budget also allows a manager to better negotiate financial resources for their team by
better articulating the value that will be gained from those resources in terms of objectives and outcomes.

Human Resoucres
From a well drafted operational plan, a manager will also be able to determine if they have the right people, skill
sets, knowledge and experience available to them. Where the team do not hold the appropriate skills, knowledge
and experience, coaching and mentoring may need to be employed to develop them. Alternative means are
through off the job training or through specifically recruiting those skills to the team. Training and recruitment may
both be reasonably quick methods to address a deficiency in a teams skill profile, however they can both be
expensive.
It is important to ensure any team members recruited to supplement a teams skill set that they are thoroughly
inducted to the team, project and organization. This includes introducing them to fellow team members, outlining
policy and procedure, explaining expectations, and giving them any other information they require to be effective
in their role. A thorough induction will take place over an extended period of time and will include an element of
coaching and monitoring of their performance.

Resource Acquisition
In order to effectively implement your plan, there may be a number of other resources that you need. These may
include materials, equipment, time, services, systems, or intangible assets.
In larger organizations, there may be a specialist procurement team who are able to assist you in acquiring these
resources. In smaller organizations, the manager may need to be responsible for this function.

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Considerations will include organizational guidelines for acquiring resources such as the required approvals,
delegated authority and spending limits, organizational culture regarding effectiveness and efficiency. Culture
may also play an important role when acquiring resources that are controlled by other teams such as expertise,
intangible assets held elsewhere in the organization and gaining access to information.

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5. Contingency Planning

Contingency planning is a process of considering the possible future events that could have a significant impact
on the operational plans of an organisation and taking steps to prepare the organisation for such an eventuality.
The contingency plan can also be used as an alternative plan if the assumptions, forecast conditions or results
fail to eventuate. In this way, contingency plans can be considered Plan B.
Contingency plans should be conducted in conjunction with a risk assessment. Key areas to consider include
natural disasters, man-made disasters, political changes, changes in the supply landscape or significant changes
in the competitive landscape, internal events that will impact on operations such as an accident that involves all
members of the senior management team.
When developing contingency plans, they should contain information on the following:

Your main goal is to maintain business operations Look closely at what you need to do to deliver a

minimum level of service and functionality.

Define time periods and milestones What must be done during the first hour of the plan being
implemented? The first day? The first week? If you look at the plan in this way, you're less likely to leave

out important details.

Identify the trigger What, specifically, will cause you to implement the contingency plan? Decide which
actions you'll take, and when. Determine who is in charge at each stage and what type of reporting

process they must follow.

Keep the plan simple You don't know who will read and implement the plan when it's needed, so use

clear, plain language.

Consider related resource restrictions Will your organization be able to function the same way if you

have to implement Plan B, or will Plan B necessarily reduce capabilities?

Identify everyone's needs Have people throughout the company identify what they must have, at a

minimum, to continue operations.

Define 'success' What will you need to do to return to 'business as usual'?
Include contingency plans in standard operating procedures Make sure you provide initial training on

the plan, and keep everyone up-to-date on changes.

Manage your risks Look for opportunities to reduce risk, wherever possible. This may help you

reduce, or even eliminate, the need for full contingency plans in certain areas.
Identify operational inefficiencies Provide a standard to document your planning process, and find
opportunities for performance improvement.

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Once developed, your plans should be reviewed regular to ensure they address the key contingencies the
organisation may face and that the provisions contained within them are still relevant.

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6. Monitoring Performance
Rarely will a plan be executed exactly as it was drafted. The context and environment of that plan will continue to
evolve and change as the plan is being implemented. This means the plan will also need to change. However it
is important to continually monitor and review the plan against its implementation to check not only the integrity of
the plan, but also the progress of its implementation.
Budgets developed as part of the plan are useful tool to manage and track the progress of the plan in financial
terms. The progress of the plan can also be tracked against action plans, goals and milestones to determine how
successfully it is progressing.
Where a plan is going progressing satisfactorily, a variation may need to be negotiated. Where the plan was
approved by a more senior manager, concerns about the progress should be raised with the approving manager.
It will be their responsibility to approve a variation to the plan or to assist in ensuring the plans progress is
improved
The progress of a plan should be documented either through revisions to the plan or through other means of
documentation.

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7. Activities
Activity 1 Personal Reflection
In pairs, discuss your experience of developing strategic and/or operational plans for your business or
organisation.

As a team member what have you experienced?

As a team leader what have you experienced?

How would you summarise the things you feel confident about and the things you need to learn more about?
When you have finished in your pair, join another pair and share what you have discussed. Then create a joint
summary on flip chart paper based on the following template:

Summarise group responses on flip chart paper.

Confident about..

Need to learn more about..

Each group will then put up their chart and present outcomes to whole group.

Activity 2 Strategy Execution Gap

Watch this short podcast
www.ashridge.org.uk/Website/Content.nsf/wTLDAES/The+Strategy+Execution+Challenge?opendocument

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What are the key points regarding operational plans and the strategy execution gap?

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Activity 3 Alignment, Accountability, Adaptability

give a score out of ten to each of the following questions. Think about your own organisation as you answer
these questions
In your organisation today are people at all levels..

Score

Alignment
Clear on their line managers priorities and how they relate to
strategic goals?
Committed to the organisations strategic goals?
Given a full understanding of the strategic impact of their day-today choices?
Accountability
Given the opportunity to feed back their interpretation of how
strategic goals relate to their role?
Clear on the decisions and actions for which they are responsible?
Having regular performance reviews?
Adaptability
Feeling that senior managers are there to support them rather
than audit them?
Able to show initiative in responding to unexpected issues or
events?
Regularly meeting with senior managers for a two-way exploration
of performance against strategy?
Total

/90

Add up your scores to arrive at an overall rating out of 90. Place your score on the following scale:

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90

Very small execution gap

60

Could be improved

40

Cracks appearing, action required

Its a wonder youre still in business

Now discuss your assessment with a partner. Address the following questions in your discussion:
What have you observed in your organisation that has contributed to the scores you have given?

Name three things you think your organisation could do to close the gap?
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After your discussion, summarise the three things and look for commonalities. Place each separate point on a
sticky note and put the notes on the wall under the banner closing the gap.
Once all the notes have been placed, the large group will look for similarities and differences in what people have
written down. Then you will create bigger clusters, combining similar ideas under a new heading. For example,
some may relate more to communication, some to structure, some to targets or measures, some to managing
resources, and so on.
You will now have a map of all the areas that need to be aligned if good strategy execution is to be achieved.
These elements are the building blocks for good operational planning practice.

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Activity 4 Strategy Planning Case Study

Read one of the supplied strategic plans and write down your initial thoughts to the following questions

What is your initial response to reading this strategy?

Is it clear to you what this organisation is trying to achieve?

Does the language used have energy and clarity? Does it matter?

Discuss your responses with a partner you havent worked with before

Activity 5 Strategic Planning

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There are a number of steps to this activity and at each step you will address a tool or perspective useful in
developing operational plans. Naturally, you will have limited information with which to develop these plans
compared to the depth of information available within your own organisation. So you will need to be resourceful
and use your imagination to fill in the gaps.
Your assessment task after todays session will enable you to apply these tools to a live work situation, in your
own work unit, branch or division
1. Chose a strategy
Chose one of the strategies you have been supplied with. You will work with this strategy for the remainder of the
activity
2.Identify Stakeholders
Identify all the stakeholders who you think will be impacted by this strategy or who have a stake in the
organisations success:
Write the name of each stakeholder(s) on an A4 sheet of paper.
Put the A4 sheets in a large circle, like a wheel.
Individuals from the group can nominate to act and speak as one of these stakeholders; that is, adopt the role or
persona of a stakeholder.
Those who dont get a stakeholder role will be journalists writing a piece for a business magazine on this
organisation and the challenges it faces in the current economic conditions.
One person will nominate to be the scribe.
Once each stakeholder is standing next to the A4 sheet with their name on it, the journalists will ask these
questions.

What is the best thing this organisation could do for you right now?
What is the worst?
What measures are meaningful to you?
How will you know progress is being made to address the volatility of the market and maintain the

organisations values and mission?

What are you prepared to forgive in order to gain long-term success?
What skills and competencies will this organisation need to be successful in the current climate?

The scribe will take notes of the answers and place them on a flip chart.
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Identifying and putting ourselves in the shoes of our stakeholders, can be a useful process in challenging our
assumptions, seeing potential sources of conflict and support for what we do, clarifying expectations about what
is important in terms of our performance, and developing some preliminary performance measures.
3. Selecting Priorities
Each group will look at their strategic plan again and chose one priority area. The priority areas may also be
referred to as strategic objectives. You will represent the customer service team for your organisation. Discuss
with your team how these priority areas impact on your team.
4. Identifying Initiatives
Research the projects your organisation has initiated recently to address customer service in line with the
priorities you have selected. Where there are multiple intiaitves, chose two to focus on for the remainder of this
activity. Identify the challenges your team will face in the coming 1-2 years.
5. Identify Stakeholders
What stakeholders will be most relevant for your team in relation to the initiaives you have identified. Rank them
in order of importance.
6. Conduct a SWOT Analysis
Conduct a preliminary SWOT analysis, by drawing four quadrants on a piece of flip chart paper and ranking your
responses under the following headings:
-

Internal strengths/weaknesses
External opportunities/threats

Discuss these four critical questions in the SWOT analysis:

What resources and capabilities do we already have and want/need to develop?

What should we be caring about putting our attention on?
What opportunities can we develop? Where might innovative new approaches fit in?
How can we build shared expectations among our stakeholders?

7. Further Information
Identify both the information you have access to and the further information you would like to ensure your SWOT
analysis is comprehensive.
8. Goals and Performance Measures
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In real life the steps you have taken today would take a lot longer and involve several iterations or back-andforth activity. We started todays session looking at the question of alignment. Some of the steps we have taken
have involved gathering different kinds of information and reviewing the existing information we have at our
fingertips, the more information we have and the wider our consultation with key stakeholders, the more likely we
are to develop plans that can minimize the strategy execution gap. Now we need to set some goals, decide on
relevant performance measures, and put our plans into action. This process relates to closing the accountability
gap. Here is a reminder of the three potential gaps in executing an organisational strategy.

Alignment gap The difference between what we would like to know and what we actually know
Accountability gap The difference what we want people to do and what they actually do
Adaptability gap The difference between what we expect our actions to achieve and what we actually
achieve.

Develop two goals for each of the initiatives you have identified and the performance measures applicable for
each goal. You will find many examples of goals and performance measures by reviewing the materials you have
already sourced.
After you have identified your two goals and accompanying performance measures, check to see whether your
goals are SMART or not,
9. Contingency Planning
It would be wonderful if life stayed static long enough for us to implement our plans in a methodical and
consistent way. But that rarely happens. All sorts of unpredictable events can impact on our organization and
force us to adapt quickly to new circumstances disasters, environmental hazards, scandals, new competitors.
Other things are just part of the operating environment we are in and can impact on us at any time a newly
elected government, a shortfall in profit, a new CEO, a severe cost saving initiative.
The leader of your organisation has just announced a new directive. A couple of things have conspired to
accelerate global action around climate change. Shortly after President Obama was inaugurated as the next
President of the USA on 20 January, 2009 he was swift in signing the Kyoto Protocol and taking a leading role in
developing an international accord on climate change. This followed the most recent UN report which detailed a
much more serious environmental picture than any of the previous reports had done. Global leaders have been
working hard to allay panic. Arguments against the introduction of carbon trading schemes and various other
emission reducing initiatives appear lame against the latest evidence. Both the United States and Australian
governments have introduced tough new targets and measures that commercial and public sector organisation
are being forced to comply with. Penalties will shortly be introduced if these targets are not met.

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Your organisation has adopted a target of reducing its carbon emissions by 20% per annum over the next two
years. All divisions and units will need to interrogate their existing operational plans and make provision for this
organisation wide target.

In your small group, discuss how this new target will impact on the goals and measures you have set.
What will you need to change?
What new goals and measures will you need to add?
Who will you need to talk to?
How will this impact on your project plans?
What strategic planning tools might have helped you predict something like this?

You can use the mind mapping technique to capture your ideas for each of these questions.
10. Presentations
Compile the results of this activity into a five minute presentation to present to the rest of your class. You should
focus on a key strategy challenge and how you propose the customer service team should address that
challenge.

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Activity 6 Consulting Stakeholders

There are numerous ways we can consult with and engage our stakeholders in the process of aligning our
business objectives to measures to the needs and expectations of the people and groups who will benefit from
our business performing well.
How else can we solicit peoples ideas and opinions about our products and services? Generate a list of ideas
with your group.

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8. Appendix 1
Putting The Balanced Score Card To Work National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia has used the Balanced Scorecard for nearly ten years to provide its strategy
framework and related performance measures. The Library's vision and strategy, as outlined in Directions 20062008 available on its web site, shows a comprehensive set of desired outcomes and related measures. The
National Library has amended the original four windows developed by Kaplan and Norton, to better reflect its
operating environment. Performance is measured in the areas of:

Customer
Stakeholder
Financial
Process
Learning and Growth.

The Balanced Scorecard moves the Library beyond the traditional performance measures of cost, accuracy and
timeliness. Consistent with the full range of efficiency and effectiveness measures, it enables assessment of
indicators such as customer and stakeholder satisfaction, relevance of the Library's services and staff skill levels.
Through the Balanced Scorecard the Library is better able to:

focus on implementation of strategic directions

focus on achieving longer term objectives
link strategic directions with the budget process
measure achievement of strategic directions

As such, it is the primary tool used to inform the Library's Council on performance and is paramount in enabling
Library managers to identify areas where resources should be focussed. It provides a consistent measure of the
Library's success in meeting strategic goals.

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Mission
The National Library of Australia actively supports learning, creative and intellectual endeavour and the
dissemination of knowledge, ideas and information. It has a strong national focus in outlook, services, products
and programs and is committed to a leadership role in sharing its expertise and coordinating key projects.
It serves a culturally and socially diverse Australian community and aims to make its collections accessible to all.
It must also maintain a long term outlook, as its collection building activities are designed to support generations
of scholars both now and in the future.
Here is a summary of the National Librarys objectives for the current reporting period.

Objective
Our major undertaking in 20062008 will be to enhance learning and knowledge creation by further simplifying
and integrating services that allow our users to find and get material, and by establishing new ways of collecting,
sharing, recording, disseminating and preserving knowledge.

Desired Outcome 1
To ensure that a significant record of Australia and Australians is collected and safeguarded, we will

collect Australian publications comprehensively, selected digital materials such as websites and email
archives, and other documentary resources such as archives and manuscripts, pictures, maps, music

and oral histories

cooperate with other collecting organisations to enhance access to the distributed national collection of

documentary heritage materials

maintain a particular interest in Asia and the Pacific
collect other selected overseas print and electronic resources which consolidate existing strengths in

our collections and support research

protect, store and maintain our collections to ensure their longevity
implement relevant preservation strategies for priority areas of the collection, including electronic
resources.

Desired Outcome 2
To meet the needs of our users for rapid and easy access to our collections and other resources, we will

describe the content of our collections and reveal them to the world through new technologies

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increase the range and quantity of digitised Library collection materials

explore technologies that aid interrogation of our collections and simplify and improve processes for

requesting and receiving resources

continue to provide for onsite users a high level of research access to our collections through our

reading rooms, reference services and the exhibition of collection material

enable the collections of Australian libraries and cultural institutions to be searched online and easily

obtained
establish relationships that, as far as possible, will overcome access barriers to restricted or charged-for

materials
work with other Australian libraries to broaden access to materials held within those libraries.

Desired Outcome 3
To demonstrate our prominence in Australia s cultural, intellectual and social life and to foster an understanding
and enjoyment of the National Library and its collections, we will

promote the importance to an open society of the Librarys collections and services, and the relevance

of these to Australians
selectively interpret and highlight the Librarys collections through publications, exhibitions and events
ensure that the Library is an inviting place that encourages interaction between users and the free

exchange of knowledge and ideas

make Australian culture visible online to the world
reflect through all we do the diversity and richness of the Australian community
develop relationships to enlist support for the Librarys work through philanthropy and sponsorship.

Desired Outcome 4
To ensure that Australians have access to vibrant and relevant information services, we will

work collaboratively with libraries and other institutions to implement a national plan of action
advocate the importance of library services on behalf of Australian libraries
play an active and influential role in international library developments
undertake a leadership role through coordination activities, facilitation and sharing our expertise.

Desired Outcome 5
To ensure our relevance in a rapidly changing world, participate in new online communities and enhance our
visibility, we will

provide services that support the creation of knowledge by our users

explore new models for collecting digital material, such as the deposit of resources by the Australian
public and the capture of the Australian web domain from time to time

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support the dissemination of knowledge created by our users in the online environment
enhance opportunities for existing and new users to share ideas, including the development of
innovative online spaces for Library users to interact with us and among themselves.

Service Standards an example of performance measures

You can expect a quick, effective and courteous response whenever you approach us. To satisfy your information
needs using the most current and authoritative sources we strive to:

deliver 90% of items stored onsite within 45 minutes. Waiting time can be minimised by pre-ordering
material through the electronic callslip system prior to visiting the Library (see

www.nla.gov.au/catalogue/infosheet.html).
deliver 90% of items requested from our offsite store within 90 minutes of courier cut-off times (see

www.nla.gov.au/infoserv/annexe.html).
respond to 90% of offsite enquiries within a week of receipt. More complex enquiries may take up to

four weeks; most onsite and telephone enquiries will be responded to immediately.
dispatch items requested through a local library or copies of documents requested directly within four
working days of receipt of request for the standard service or within two hours to one day depending on

the level of the priority service required.

ensure that the Library's main website at www.nla.gov.au is available 99.5% of time (24 hours a day, 7
days a week).

For more information go to: www.nla.gov.au

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References
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Blair, G. M. 2000 Planning a Project http://www.bell.uts.edu.au/pm/reading.html
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Fleisher, Craig S. and Bensoussan, Babette. 2008 Analysis without Paralysis: 10 tools to make better strategic
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