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Healthiest People, Healthiest Communities, Exceptional Service
What is the difference between a strategic plan and an
operational plan?
Strategic plans answer the bigger questions of where we are now, where we are going, how we will get there and are whether or not we are there yet. The essence of a strategic plan is the organization’s vision, mission and values. In order to be strategic an organization must choose what activities it will pursue and what activities they will not carry out. Saskatoon Health Region has identified five directions and goals under each direction that will be the region’s focus during 2007-2010.
Operational plans address the day to day work of the organization. They are short term, usually addressing the activities that will be implemented over the next year. Operational plans include what a department does on a daily basis that supports the work of the organization even if it is not explicitly mentioned in the strategic plan. For example, the current strategic plan has no explicit mention of the Food and Nutrition department. However, without a Food and Nutrition department our patients and residents would not eat.
All departments are expected to use the vision, mission, values and directions to guide their operational plans. Again using the Food and Nutrition department as an example, they decided that their department’s contribution to transforming the care and service experience is to combat malnutrition and develop a new Meals on Wheels plan. They have developed operational plans to work on these goals.
How can we make the strategic plan a part of what we do every day?
Use your own creativity to answer this question, but here are some ideas. Keep the poster with the vision, mission, values and directions in a visible spot. Ask yourself on a regular basis if your actions are directed to creating the healthiest people, healthiest communities and exceptional service. Organize meeting agendas according to the five directions for items that fit. Work groups can identify their current activities that fit with the five directions. Programs or units may chose to initiate something new that addresses one of the five directions. They can also plan specific actions that will help them meet a specific goal under one of the five directions.
If the strategic plan doesn’t mention my work area, how is the strategic plan relevant to me?
Because the vision, mission and values are the core of a strategic plan, all of our work is part of the strategic plan. For example, a person in housekeeping can ask “what can I do today to create exceptional service for patients and staff?” (part of the vision). The Food Service staff can ask themselves “how can we help the people we serve to be their healthiest?” (e.g. offer healthy food choices).
Almost everything we do fits within one of the five strategic directions::
- Transforming the care and service experience
- Transforming the work experience
- Partnering for improved health for Aboriginal people
- Building a sustainable integrated system
- Fostering research, learning and innovation
If a strategic plan concentrates on the priorities what happens to other activities?
A strategic plan should focus the work of an organization. Many staff feel or believe that there is so much to do, it is difficult to have the time to do things well. As we get better at strategic planning we will also get better at identifying on which activities we should spend the largest percent of our time. This also means we need to identify what activities we will spend very little time on or not do at all.
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement paper Execution of Strategic Improvement Initiatives to Produce System-Level Results identifies how important it is to have the courage to say what activities will not be done this year. They quote the companies they studied as saying “Less is more” and “The less we do each year, the faster the results at the system level come.”
How do we know the strategic plan is working?
The core of the strategic plan consists of the vision, mission, values and directions. Goals have been identified under each strategic direction. Each goal has several targets that outline specific action to be taken to achieve the goal. A leader has been assigned to each target to ensure actions are planned and implemented. The targets under each goal are what really move us forward. Every three months the leader for each target reports on the progress made to date. In addition the region is tracking higher level outcomes that identify achievement of the directions.
Isn’t this all a bunch of wasted time?
Of course we don’t think so. The strategic plan helps us focus our work and reinforces what is important to do. Departments and units can identify how their work fits within one of the directions and goals and can develop activities to achieve the goal. As well, each employee can take the vision as their own personal vision every day.
Time will only have been wasted if the plan is not implemented. We know the plan is being implemented because we are tracking progress and have identified progress made to date (see section on Progress). Clearly stating what we want to accomplish, tracking our accomplishments and celebrating our successes will build our desire and ability to be successful. Nothing breeds success like success.
Do you have a question? Contact us:
Via email to strategicplanning@saskatoonhealthregion.ca
In writing via regular mail or interoffice mail to:
Strategic Planning
Saskatoon Health Region
1010-606 Spadina Cr. East
Saskatoon SK S7K 3H1
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