Continuing from my previous post on Strategy Maps in Government:
At the Top of the Organization
Taking another look at larger governments, how do you create a true strategic plan across the top of this type of organization, yet still find a way to execute on time, to quality, and within limited budgets? Let’s start with just the top-level planning.
Most of the strategic plans I have seen are organized by major categories of outcomes – not stakeholder perspectives. These outcomes might be public safety, outdoor community spaces, and building and construction. Within the strategic plans, specific goal or objective statements are articulated that state exactly the essence of the desired outcome. Attached to these goal or objective statements are typically measures of some representation of achievement of the outcome.
As mentioned in Part I, the elected bodies often bring diverse and numerous individual agendas to the planning table to address the needs of their constituents. In large and culturally diverse areas, this can create a very broad set of goals and objectives. Is it possible to achieve consensus and reduction to the critical few within such a governing body? Possibly, but it is not likely.
So, with the interests of execution at heart, leave it be. If the definitions of the goal and objective statements can be refined to create a more specific laser focus, this is usually very helpful. Go for clarity. Assume that the existence of too many objectives cannot be changed, and instead expend your energy on making the objectives as specific as possible.
Do not attempt to create a strategy map at this level under these circumstances. To do so will create false assumptions about the possible interrelationships of top-level goals and objectives, akin to forcing a belief in something that does not exist.
At the Department
The key to strategy execution within a governmental organization rests within the structure, translation, and focus
that may be achieved at the department levels. Herein lies the
opportunity to leverage a strategy map and use it to generate strategic focus.
Departments are generally wholly contained organizational bodies that possess discrete customers (whether internal or external), processes and procedures for how they perform their work, employees with talent, skills and knowledge, and budgets from which they must support their people, processes, and customers.
In addition, departments are disparate. They can be very unique in mission. Hence, they warrant unique strategies. Strategy maps are an elegant method for focusing departments on their customer outcomes and ensuring they also align upward to the top-level strategic plan goals and objectives.
The key stakeholder perspectives of a strategy map are where the differentiation can usually emerge. A county police department may articulate two separate customer perspectives. On one hand they may serve their citizens and on the other hand they may provide services to municipalities. Both are customers, and each has unique outcomes.
A solid waste department may also have two separate and unique customers. They may serve citizen needs, as well as those of other government departments requiring their services. It should be up to the department to decide how deliberate it wants to be in articulating its customer perspective or perspectives.
A strategy map may now be developed that works through issues including obtaining and aligning budgets; developing, hiring and retaining talent; managing knowledge; developing and improving processes; increasing the capacity to innovate; and achieving the desired customer-focused objectives that address the desired outcomes.
With this type of strategy map document in hand, government departments possess an even clearer tool from which to ensure their macro budget allotments are aligned to strategic outcomes and the causal drivers required to achieve them.
Department directors become armed with a messaging platform from which to communicate, align and energize employees to a unified vision. From this simple picture, a department can capture the hearts and minds of its human assets to elevate its strategy execution capability.
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