Discuss the below:
1)The resources needed to support operations and implement strategic initiatives can far surpass those available. What is the role of the board in establishing organizational priorities? How do you know which winning ideas are worth pursuing now? How can an organization tackle ambitious plans while ensuring that operations stay on track?
The role of the board can assign a board member or create a strategic plan as a team that can allocate and will help guide and assist the organization with establishing organizational priorities. Often times the members of the board come up with many creative ideas but lose sight of the priorities of the organization.
There are several factors to consider for the board member is there a clearly defined champion to lead each project and continue to push it forward despite obstacle's. Determine what is the track record for the team department or area proposing each project? To what extent have they been able to deliver on promises associated with past projects. Lastly how risky is each project compared with other projects. Many of these ideas are worth pursing now because it will have a great impact on the team of board members so they are aware of what is important and what needs to be addressed. There are several ways to know which ideas are worth pursing is taking a vote, and or requiring each board member to participate in a project and determine what is important and beneficial to the team.
Any organization can stay on track and tackle ambitious plans by weekly, monthly, meetings or assigning a particular board member to oversee all projects to ensure they get done and the organization stays on track.
References
Krentz, S., & Clark, C. S. (2008). Strategic Resource Allocation. Trustee, 61(8), 28-30.
2) One aspect of an organization's board process for determining priorities should be criteria. All initiatives should be evaluated in the same way and the same criteria be assessed. This will weed out the weaker initiatives (Krentz & Clark, 2008). Any idea can sound great in a sales pitch, but when held to tough criteria, the weaknesses will show. One criterion should be that the initiative is consistent with the organization's mission. It must have meaning that makes it different from other initiatives (Krentz & Clark, 2008). If a strategic initiative doesn't support the mission of the organization, should the organization dump a lot of funding into it? The answer is no. It will likely not gain back what it cost.
The board should not be afraid to ask the question ‘Why?'. They must ask the right questions to narrow down the stronger, more substantive initiatives. Sometimes there might be another plan that utilizes less resources (Krentz & Clark, 2008). This gives me great relief, because I'm always "that person" that asks the "why" questions. Why are doing this initiative? Is this serving the patients or the organization's bottom dollar? Does this quality measure improve patient care or just make the numbers look good? (for example)
Projects that have the ability to lay a foundation or be a building block for other future, essential projects are usually a sign of a good, solid imitative. Making decisions based on politics can cause turmoil, which is why a well-defined system to evaluate criteria must be used (Krentz & Clark, 2008).
Reference
Krentz, S., & Clark, C. S. (2008). Strategic Resource Allocation. Trustee, 61(8), 28-30.
3) One aspect of an organization's board process for determining priorities should be criteria. All initiatives should be evaluated in the same way and the same criteria be assessed. This will weed out the weaker initiatives (Krentz & Clark, 2008). Any idea can sound great in a sales pitch, but when held to tough criteria, the weaknesses will show. One criterion should be that the initiative is consistent with the organization's mission. It must have meaning that makes it different from other initiatives (Krentz & Clark, 2008). If a strategic initiative doesn't support the mission of the organization, should the organization dump a lot of funding into it? The answer is no. It will likely not gain back what it cost.
The board should not be afraid to ask the question ‘Why?'. They must ask the right questions to narrow down the stronger, more substantive initiatives. Sometimes there might be another plan that utilizes less resources (Krentz & Clark, 2008). This gives me great relief, because I'm always "that person" that asks the "why" questions. Why are doing this initiative? Is this serving the patients or the organization's bottom dollar? Does this quality measure improve patient care or just make the numbers look good? (for example)
Projects that have the ability to lay a foundation or be a building block for other future, essential projects are usually a sign of a good, solid imitative. Making decisions based on politics can cause turmoil, which is why a well-defined system to evaluate criteria must be used (Krentz & Clark, 2008).
Reference
Krentz, S., & Clark, C. S. (2008). Strategic Resource Allocation. Trustee, 61(8), 28-30.