Congratulations! Your organization has established its culture, completed an environmental scan, and published a member-facing strategic plan.
Where do you go from here?
It is now time to take the components of the strategic plan and put them into action.
Operations is an active process or function of getting a strategy done.
- Strategy answers “What do we want to accomplish?”
- Operations answers “How are we going to actually accomplish it?”
Organizations need to move from deciding at the end of the year/cycle if strategies were achieved, to creating a systematic way of following a plan to meet objectives.
For example, a strategy may be “we are going to grow membership by 5% in the next three-year strategic cycle!” – that is your strategic goal….BUT how you plan to get there is the basis of your Operational Plan. What resources, who does the work, what measurements will be used, and how long will it take?
First, we want to look at the strategic plan to pull the published objectives and expected results.
The shell of the plan should consist of the main strategic goals (usually the main goals highlighted on the Strategic Plan), broken out by the Key Results for each Objective. When we add Objectives to the chart, we can fill in the remaining areas for each Key Result.
Asking ourselves who is accountable for the Key Result, what budget implications may it have, and how long will the Key Result take to achieve. The creation of an Operational Plan is typically a key function of the club ED/GM and is presented to the board annually.
It is important to look at your entire strategic cycle. Is this a 1-year, 2-year or 3-year plan?
Timeline
Having your timelines clearly laid out in advance can ensure you are reflecting the correct time frame for your plan.
Once your Operational Plan has been framed out. Take the created timelines and build an operational calendar. A calendar is a great visual to see when each of your targets are due to be achieved.
This can also be a useful tool for moving targets around to weigh quarters or even out the entire cycle. If Q3/Y1 looks too heavy – relook at those items to see what personnel resources are required to stay on track.
The evolution of an Operation Plan is the creation of an Annual Report for stakeholders. The report should reflect the organization’s work against its strategy and operation plan.
If any adjustments are made to the initial plan, an Annual Report is a perfect opportunity to report on why the adjustment is necessary and revise the plan accordingly.
If you are looking for support with the development of a Strategic or Operational plan, please contact us as we look forward to helping you create quality sport experiences.