Escalate Growth through Strategic Planning (Part 2)

For example, a nurse on the joint institute unit identifies how she would drive Best Customer Service by answering call bells within a certain time frame and therefore achieve the department's goal around achieving top performance for customer service. These goals align directly to the strategic goal of achieving top performance in customer service in all areas of the organization.

David Tilton, CEO of AtlantiCare, can walk up to any employee at any time and ask the questions noted above, and all employees are able to show him their roadmap and discuss how their contributions are making a difference to their organization and the community it serves. What is more powerful than having everyone in the organization pushing in the same direction toward achieving the goals laid out in the strategic plan?

Multiple communication strategies used throughout the year reinforce strategic priorities for leadership and staff and identify environmental factors that may influence execution of the plan. Through its use of scorecards to track progress, AtlantiCare can share its progress during the planning cycle—annual or longer term.

Finally, AtlantiCare communicates and celebrates its results to all stakeholders through an end-of-year meeting with all 400 members of its leadership team called "Review Preview" and to all staff during widely held town meetings. The "Share the Success" program also rewards staff and leadership for attaining their goals by tying their bonuses to organizational and business unit performance.

Getting to Work
Every hospital and health system is different, so a strategic planning process and its outcomes will vary widely based on the organization's culture and dynamics. Gaining perspective from outside counsel such as a consultant will avoid biases leading to prioritization based on politics instead of opportunity. This person will oversee process quality control, information gathering, analysis and presentation, which takes significant time.

It is vital for organizations to use a systematic approach with data analysis and knowledge management practices to avoid setting a course that is not backed by factual evidentiary support. Keep in mind the value is not just in the end product or plan, but in the journey to get there. The development of a compelling message in the next step can be very difficult without a deep understanding of the issues and decisions which led to the plan. Creating an environment of innovation and creativity for the strategic planning team and supporting a "bottom-up" feedback of information from frontline employees is also important. Lastly, shifting from a static to a dynamic strategic planning approach will allow for new ideas to be introduced midstream, based on changing competitive, financial and political dynamics.