Sustainability Assessment and Planning Part 2:

Organizational Capacity and Strategic Planning

Kim PrewittProject Coordinator

Sarah Dexter, M.S.W.Senior Research

Assistant

The Sustainability Process

Understand Assess Plan

Objectives• Learn the Program Sustainability Action Planning

process

• Explore components of Organizational Capacity and Strategic Planning

• Review Sustainability Action plans focused on Organizational Capacity and Strategic Planning

Define: Program

“Program” can be..

• Set of programs• One single program• Set of activities within a program (but not the whole

program)

What is Sustainability?

The Program Sustainability Framework

Schell, SF, Luke, DA, Schooley, MW, Elliott, MB, Herbers, SH, Mueller, NB, and Bunger, AC. (2013). Public health program capacity for sustainability: A new framework. Implementation Science, 8(15).

Domain Connectivity

Focus on what you can change

Program Sustainability Assessment ToolSustaintool.org/understand

Assessment Tool Inventory

Action Planning

The Process

Pre-Planning Steps

What to Sustain

Action planning1. Identify your team2. Define Program

Elements3. Review 4.

5. Choose Domain6. Write an Objective7. Identify Steps8. Implement, Monitor and

Reassess

Step 1. Identify your Team

• People who have the ability to bring about programmatic change

• Program leaders

• Heavily invested partners or stakeholders

• No more than 12 people

• Select a “holder” of the plan

Step 2. Define Program Elements

• Mission and Vision

• What is your target population?

• Who are your stakeholders?

Step 3. Put PSAT Results into Context

Questions to consider when discussing PSAT Results

• Did any of the results surprise you?

• Areas of agreement/disagreement?

• What do the results tell you about your program’s strengths and opportunities for improvement?

• *How can you strategically leverage your strengths to work on areas of potential improvement?

Step 4. What to Sustain?

“What to Sustain” Guiding Questions:• What elements of your program are the most effective and

demonstrate the most impact?

• Where are your greatest needs?

• What elements of your program need to be revised, or even discontinued?

• What do you want to have accomplished 5 years from now?

• Are stakeholders committed to continuing your efforts?

How will you approach sustainability?

• Continue project(s) within the funded organization

• Sustain benefits for intended clients

• Maintain capacity for collaborative structure

• Maintain attention to issues being addressed

Step 5. Prioritize domains by what to address first Which of the 8 Sustainability Domains will be..

• Most important for your program?

• Most modifiable for your program?

Step 6. Create an Action Plan

Deep Dive Into:

Organizational Capacity & Strategic Planning

Case Example

Mission:Promote health and wellness,

reduce chronic disease

Mission:Cessation of

alcohol and drug use/abuse

Organizational Capacity I

Having the internal support and resources needed to effectively manage your efforts and its activities

Organizational Capacity II

• Common Values

• Communal Services

• Confidence

• Leadership

• Learning and Innovation

• Organization

• Skills

• Trust

• Unity

Organizational Capacity examples I

• Institutionalize electronic newsletter [or other valuable project] by incorporating cost into general operations.

• Identify opportunities to share staff and physical resources across departments or programs within your organization.

• Offer 2 workforce trainings and development opportunities a year, for essential staff members.

Additional Things to Consider

• Align your program’s mission and goals with that of your larger organization.

• Consider working with additional governmental agencies

• Maintain core staff with sufficient expertise and skills to carry out the essential operations of your program.

• Beware of becoming overly reliant on a single champion.

Organizational Capacity Action PlanDomain: Organizational Capacity

Sustainability Objective:

Steps to achieve objective:[Be very specific and include important sub-steps. Anyone should be able to pick up this document and understand what needs to happen in order to reach your objective.]

Who will do the work?[Who will ultimately ensure the work gets finished?]

What does success look like?[What metrics will you use to track progress on the completion of each step? How will you know it’s time to move on to the next step?]

What non- financial resources are needed for this step? Where will they come from?

Due date [In the appropriate quarter,

enter a specific date by which the activity must be

completed.]

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Step 1.

Step 2.

Step 3.

Step 4.

Step 5.

Step 6.

Sustainability Objectives• Specific

• Measurable

• Attainable

• Relevant

• Time Specific

Example Sustainability Objective • Sustainability Domain:

⁻ Organizational Capacity

• Focus of Objective:⁻ Increase shared resources and internal communications

• S.M.A.R.T. Objective: ⁻ Create and implement an internal Coalition

Communications Plan by December 31st, 2017 to maximize our ability to support each other through sharing resources and ideas, problem solving, communicating about challenges, etc.

Sustainability Steps

Objective: Create and implement an Internal Coalition Communications Plan by December 31st, 2017 to maximize our ability to support each other through sharing resources and

ideas, problem solving, communicating about challenges,

etc.

Question: How do we get from Point A(now) to Point B (objective?)

Break your objective intosteps

• Specific

• Attainable

Details for Each Step: Organizational Capacity

Step 1: Compile list of current partners

• Who is responsible?

• What will success look like?

• What resources are needed?

• What is the timeline?

Step 1: Compile List of Current Partners

Who is responsible?

What will success look like?

What resources are needed?

What is the deadline?

Partnership leader, with input from all partners

List of existing partners

Access to info, time

Sept. 15, 2017

Step 2: Establish Communication Protocol

Who is responsible? Partnership leader

What will success look like? Feedback obtained

What resources are needed?

Guidelines, partner communication

What is the deadline? Oct. 15, 2017

Step 3: Draft Communication Protocol Based on Partner Feedback

Who is responsible? Partnership leader

What will success look like? Draft plan completed

What resources are needed? Partner input

What is the deadline? Nov. 15, 2017

Step 4: Finalize Communications Plan

Who is responsible? Partnership leader

What will success look like? Finalized Communication Plan

What resources are needed? Partner Input

What is the deadline? Dec. 15, 2017

Step 5: Review/Revise Partnership Communications Plan Quarterly Based on Feedback from Partners

Who is responsible? Partnership lead

What will success look like? Ongoing review

What resources are needed? Partner input, Time

What is the deadline? Dec. 31, 2017/Ongoing

Organizational Capacity Action Plan

Strategic PlanningUsing processes that guide your program’s directions, goals, and strategies

Strategic Planning Example Steps I• Revisit and evaluate Mission & Vision statements. Do they

reflect your efforts? Are they easy to understand and communicate to others?

• Develop a list of staff and partners that need to be involved in strategic planning, to ensure buy-in to program goals and directions

• Assess your program’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats by conducting a SWOT analysis to guide strategies and directions for the strategic plan.

Things to Consider

• A strategic plan can guide fiscal management decisions that affect the program’s immediate and future needs.

• It’s important to regularly assess and plan for sustainability as part of strategic planning activities.

• After the plan is initially drafted, review how other sustainability domains will be addressed.

Strategic Planning Action PlanDomain: Strategic Planning

Sustainability Objective:Steps to achieve objective:[Be very specific and include important sub-steps. Anyone should be able to pick up this document and understand what needs to happen in order to reach your objective.]

Who will do the work?[Who will ultimately ensure the work gets finished?]

What does success look like?[What metrics will you use to track progress on the completion of each step? How will you know it’s time to move on to the next step?]

What non- financial resources are needed for this step? Where will they come from?

Due date [In the appropriate quarter,

enter a specific date by which the activity must be

completed.]

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Step 1.

Step 2.

Step 3.

Step 4.

Step 5.

Step 6.

Example Sustainability Objective • Sustainability Domain:

⁻ Strategic Planning

• Focus of Objective:

⁻ Revise current plan to include sustainability

• S.M.A.R.T. Objective:

⁻ By March 2018, we will revise our current strategic plan and implement changes.

Details for Each Step: Strategic PlanningStep 1: Determine all partners that ought to contribute to your program’s strategic plan

• Who is responsible?

• What will success look like?

• What resources are needed?

• What is the timeline?

Step 1: Determine all partners that ought to contribute to your strategic plan

Who is responsible? Partnership leader, with input from all partners

What will success look like? List of existing partners

What resources are needed? Access to info, time

What is the deadline? Sept. 15, 2017

Step 2: Identify the immediate and future needs and current priorities of all programs and organizations working in your field

Who is responsible? Leadership and input from partners

What will success look like? Survey created, administered, & returned

What resources are needed? Partner input

What is the deadline? Oct. 20, 2017

Step 3: Create strategic draft plan. Disseminate plan for feedback/revisions from all partners

Who is responsible? Partnership leader

What will success look like? Draft plan completed

What resources are needed? Partner input

What is the deadline? Nov 30, 2017

Step 4: Ensure strategic plan and sustainability plan align. Address the 7 other domains in the strategic plan

Who is responsible? Program Leader

What will success look like? Draft created

What resources are needed? Partner input

What is the deadline? Dec. 31, 2017

Step 5: Complete strategic plan and disseminate to all partners. Ensure plan has clear implementation guidelines for each activity

Who is responsible? Program Leadership

What will success look like? Ongoing review

What resources are needed? Partner input, Time

What is the deadline? Feb 28, 2018

Step 6: Determine meeting schedule for tracking plan progress and revise as needed

Who is responsible? Sustainability Team

What will success look like? Meetings scheduled

What resources are needed? Ongoing participation

What is the deadline? March. 31, 2017

Strategic Planning Action Plan

Implement Plan, Monitor Progress, Reassess & Revise

Using your PSAT results: sustaintool.org

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