Assignment:
Developing Goals
Simply stated, goals are broad, long-range statements that guide the organization's programmatic, administrative, financial, and governance functions. The planning team should develop at least one goal to address each of the strategic issues previously identified (NACCHO, 2010). FEMA's 2018-2022 Strategic Plan exemplifies how broad, long-range goals can drive an organization. FEMA's goals include (FEMA, 2018):
Build a culture of preparedness.
Ready the nation for catastrophic disasters.
Reduce the complexity of FEMA.
From these goals, several issues emerge. First, each of these goals is a broad statement that moves FEMA closer to its vision of a "prepared and resilient nation." Next, there are goals that address issues external to FEMA the agency (Goals 1 and 2) and one goal that addresses the internal dynamics and structure of FEMA. Finally, these goals are succinct, easily interpreted, and allow FEMA employees and the broader community a quick sense of where the organization is going. Goals are an important first step in developing the strategy.
Objectives & Strategies
Once the organization or community identifies goals, it is time to develop specific objectives and strategies to meet each goal. At the heart of developing strong objectives is understanding what change needs to occur. This information likely emerged during the analysis step of the planning process. The change is also driven by the identified goals (Nagy & Fawcett, n.d.). Taking a look back at the FEMA 2018-2022 strategic plan, Goal 1 is to "build a culture of preparedness." One can infer from this goal that the problem is that the community does not prepare for disasters. Since this is the identified problem, the planning team would develop a series of objectives to address this problem.
The way the planning team develops objectives matters. Objectives contribute to the overall blueprint for the agency and the pathway forward. When developing objectives it's important to consider the three types of objectives:
- behavioral objectives (changing the behaviors of people)
- community-level objectives (changing the behavior of many people)
- process objectives (objectives laying the groundwork for other objectives)
Going back to the FEMA example, Goal 1 would be considered a community-level objective. It is also important to note that these categories are not exclusive; that is, most goals will include all three types of objectives within them (Nagy & Fawcett, n.d.). Understanding the types of objectives is important, but so is understanding the characteristics of quality objectives.
Objective should always have SMART characteristics. This ensures not only that the objectives are complete, but also that the agency can achieve them (NACCHO, 2010):
- Specific - specify what is to be achieved, by how much, and by when
- Measurable - make sure that the objective can be measured (i.e., data is or will be available to measure progress)
- Achievable - set objectives that are feasible for the agency
- Relevant - align objectives with the mission and vision of the agency
- Time oriented - establish a timeframe for achieving the objective
The degree to which objectives are SMART varies, but organizations should always strive to ensure objectives have some discernible, measurable qualities. Each objective must seamlessly correspond to a goal. The figure below, from the FEMA 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, illustrates the link between goals and objectives.
At the most granular level is strategies (or tactics). Similar to the way objectives tie to goals, strategies tie to each objective. Strategies should be very specific and tie to a specific behavior, expected outcome, or both. They are the most specific and tangible in the goal, objective, and strategy/tactic continuum.
References:
NACCHO (National Association of County & City Health Officials). (2010). Developing a local health department strategic plan: A how-to guide.
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). (2018). 2018-2022 Strategic Plan.
Attachment:- Strategic Planning.rar