Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

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STRATEGIC PLANNING

Strategic plan template

Here is a sample strategic action template developed by Community Literacy of Ontario that has worked well for us and other literacy organizations.

Our Strategic Plan

COLUMN 1

Strategic Action Item

COLUMN 2

Concrete Steps

COLUMN 3

Who

COLUMN 4

When

COLUMN 5

Monitoring

To engage in more targeted marketing of our agency to local employment service providers

GOAL: During the next six months, we will provide up-to-date information to local employment service providers about our agency's services.

We will attend the next community Job Fair

Executive Director

October 2008

X

We will prepare new brochures about our agency targeting the links between our agency and employment service providers

Administrative Assistant

Immediate

X

We will ask our board to meet with members of the board of directors of several employment service providers

Board chair

Immediate

X

We will seek to develop one partnership initiative with one local employment service provider around providing services to single parents seeking to return to the work force

Executive Director

Board of Directors

All staff

By March 2009

X

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Communication

What do you do with the strategic plan once it is finished? It has been a lot of work, but you now have a completed document that demonstrates your agency's capacity to carry out program evaluation (the assessment of your internal environment), community assessment (the assessment of the external environment) and strategic planning. It is important to share your strategic plan widely with key stakeholders so others can see and learn from what you have accomplished.

Choose carefully what information you want to share with whom. While your board of directors, staff and other key stakeholders should see the full strategic plan, not everyone should see your full plan with all the details of your strategies. For general circulation and promotion purposes, create an edited version that summarizes the areas you are going to focus on for the next few years and the broadly stated strategic actions you will take. This shortened version can be shared with the community at large and current and prospective partners. Perhaps put it into brochure form or publicize it as a news release.

Make sure that the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and other funders receive a copy of your strategic plan. In the current government environment, funders strongly emphasize strategic planning and continuous quality improvement. Having an up-to-date strategic plan is an excellent way to show your agency's strengths and commitment to continuous improvement!

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Questions for Reflection

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  1. Implementation is a challenge for many agencies. What steps could you take to ensure that your agency's strategic plan does get fully implemented?
  2. What creative steps could you take to ensure that the work of implementation is shared amongst many stakeholders in your agency?
  3. What stakeholders would you share your full plan with? Why?
  4. What stakeholders would you share abbreviated strategic plan with? Why?

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CLO gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the Ontario Government under Employment Ontario and the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) and the technical support provided by the National Adult Literacy Database in developing this web site.

All external links within this website were valid at the time of publication.
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