INTRODUCTION TO

STRATEGIC PLANNING

AND COMMUNITY

DEVELOPMENT Community Leaders Workshop

AFOA Spring Conference, March 31, 2016

OVERVIEW Indigenous communities operate in a complex and dynamic environment. Community leaders are responsible for delivering a broad range of services often with limited resources. This workshop will teach community leaders how to develop a clear vision, define the community’s strategic priorities, and engage others in achieving the community’s goals.

Prepared and presented by Trina Wamboldt and Carl Archie – URBAN SYSTEMS LTD.

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons

Aboriginal Finance Officers Association – BC Spring Conference, March 31, 2016

Prepared and Presented by Urban Systems Ltd. - 1 - Trina Wamboldt and Carl Archie

APPENDIX:

1) Sample value words

2) Planning ‘cheat sheet’ for new Councils

3) IAP2 spectrum of public engagement

4) PESTLE tool for external scan

5) Governance capacity quick scan 2016

EXERCISE 1 – THE VALUE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING

Work together as a table group to finish these two sentences:

A strategic plan is:

Strategic planning is important because:

Aboriginal Finance Officers Association – BC Spring Conference, March 31, 2016

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EXERCISE 2 – PLANNING TO PLAN

Working individually or with a team member from the same organization describe how you would prepare for a strategic planning exercise.

1. Who will be involved?

2. What resources will be required?

Time

Financial

People resources

3. Where will you find the funds to pay for strategic planning?

4. Who will lead the process? Will it be a person or team?

5. What existing plans should be considered?

6. What information might you need to set goals for the community?

7. What communication methods will you use?

8. Where will the planning take place?

9. When will the planning start?

10. How long will the planning process take?

11. What challenges might you encounter?

Aboriginal Finance Officers Association – BC Spring Conference, March 31, 2016

Prepared and Presented by Urban Systems Ltd. - 3 - Trina Wamboldt and Carl Archie

EXERCISE 3 – CURRENT CHALLENGES

Based on the ‘challenge jam’ exercise, record the community and/or organizational challenges that seem most relevant to your own situation.

SOME OF THE CHALLENGES WE FACE:

EXERCISE 4 – DRAFT VISION STATEMENT

Think about what it would be like if none of these challenges existed in the future. What would it be like? How would people be feeling? Whose lives have improved? What has changed for the better? What results have been accomplished? What risks have been eliminated? Now write a draft vision statement that captures your ideal future state 10+ years from now. USE THE PRESENT TENSE.

Example: “In 2026, Good Hope First Nation is a vibrant community with a thriving local economy and 100% employment. Our community members are healthy and happy and we are spending time learning our traditional language and customs. We are exercising our inherent Indigenous rights and using the land as our Ancestors did before us. Our community has clean water, safe housing and our Elders and Children are being well cared for.”

IN 2026

Aboriginal Finance Officers Association – BC Spring Conference, March 31, 2016

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EXERCISE 5 - STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

A stakeholder is someone who has a strong interest (or stake) in a particular matter. List some of the stakeholders who would be impacted or who could significantly influence the strategic planning process. Think about what their particular interests are. Then refer to the IAP2 handout (found in the appendix) to determine what you think is the appropriate level of engagement based on their level of interest. HINT: as a general rule of thumb, the more someone is impacted the more influence they should have in the decision.

Stakeholder Their Interests and Concerns IAP2 Level of Engagement

Aboriginal Finance Officers Association – BC Spring Conference, March 31, 2016

Prepared and Presented by Urban Systems Ltd. - 5 - Trina Wamboldt and Carl Archie

EXERCISE 6 – SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT Analysis is a useful technique for understanding your Strengths and Weaknesses, and for identifying both the Opportunities open to you and the Threats you face as a community. The SWOT analysis is an essential part of strategic planning because it helps you understand the current situation and the key themes that could help or hinder you in achieving your vision.

STRENGTHS (internal to org./community) • What do you do well? • What unique resources can you draw on? • What do others see as your strengths?

OPPORTUNITIES (external to org./community) • What opportunities are open to you? • What trends could you take advantage of? • How can you turn your strengths into opportunities?

WEAKNESSES (internal to org./community) • What major challenges are you facing? • Where do you have fewer resources than others? • What are others likely to see as weaknesses?

THREATS (external to org./community) What threats could harm you?

What threatens your independence/vision?

What threats do your weaknesses expose you to?

Aboriginal Finance Officers Association – BC Spring Conference, March 31, 2016

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EXERCISE 7 – STRATEGIC GOALS AND MEASURES

1. Review your SWOT analysis to define major themes that will significantly impact your ability to achieve your vision. The goal is to grow your opportunities and strengths and shrink threats and weaknesses.

2. Write a strategic goal statement for each major theme identified in your SWOT analysis. Begin each goal statement with the words “We will”. This ensures that the goal statement is action-oriented.

3. Describe how you would know if you are achieving each strategic goal. Think about what you could measure to assess progress.

Strategic goal statements are broad and long term. Strategic goals do not have a defined start and end date. For example: “we will create a housing plan” is not a strategic goal. This would be one step towards achieving a broader strategic goal that might be defined as: “we will ensure everyone in the community has safe and secure housing.” As you can imagine, many steps would be required to ensure everyone has safe and secure housing. See example below.

Strategic Goals Statement: Strategic Measures (ie. desired outcomes):

We will: ensure everyone in the community has safe

and secure housing.

We will know we are succeeding when: The cost of repairs have been reduced People are staying in the community Fewer injuries or health issues People tell us they feel more secure/safe

We will:

We will know we are succeeding when:

We will:

We will know we are succeeding when:

We will:

We will know we are succeeding when:

We will:

We will know we are succeeding when:

We will:

We will know we are succeeding when:

Example

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EXERCISE 8 – STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

For each strategic goal, outline the major projects or steps you will take to achieve this goal. These are your strategic objectives. Objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Strategic Goals Statement: Objectives (i.e. major steps to achieve goal)

We will: ensure everyone in the community has safe and secure housing.

What projects or major steps will we take to achieve this goal? 1. Document current state of all housing and develop

annual housing maintenance plan. 2. Survey members to understand housing safety

and security concerns and track their opinions over time.

3. Develop a training program to teach people how to maintain homes and reduce safety hazards.

4. Allocate funds to repair housing and provide community training workshops on annual basis.

We will:

What projects or major steps will we take to achieve this goal?

We will:

What projects or major steps will we take to achieve this goal?

We will:

What projects or major steps will we take to achieve this goal?

We will:

What projects or major steps will we take to achieve this goal?

DETAILED WORK PLANNING: During the implementation phase, detailed work plans will be created for each objective. The work plans will identify who will be responsible, when the work will take place, how it will be done, who will be involved, how it will be communicated, who needs to be involved, how results will be measured, etc.

Example

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EXERCISE 9 – IDENTIFY SHORT, MEDIUM, LONG TERM ACTIONS (OBJECTIVES)

Organizations have limited resources (e.g. people, time, money). Trying to do too much at once is one of the barriers to achieving strategic goals. Conducting multiple SWOT analyses (e.g. one for each department) can lead to a long list of potential projects and actions which can be overwhelming. There are two steps you can take to identify a manageable list of short, medium and longer term objectives.

Step 1: Create a short-list of objectives based on perceived level of urgency and importance Compile a master-list of objectives/projects. Use your gut instincts to plot each objective on the impact/urgency matrix. Urgent projects have a limited window of opportunity. Important projects are critical to future success. The projects contained in the right hand column become a short-list of projects which can be run through a more detailed feasibility process.

Step 2: Assess the feasibility of short-listed objectives Common sense tells us to focus our energy where we can have the most success. Assessing the scope of the work and the capacity to address this work is important to prioritizing activities. The feasibility process is about understanding the level of effort to achieve an objective and matching this to the organization’s level of capacity to do the work. To assess feasibility, develop a set of questions (criteria) and ask these questions for each short-listed objective. This determines the likelihood you will be able to successfully implement each objective. SKILL PRACTICE:

1. Plot the objectives you identified on the previous page on the urgency/importance matrix. 2. Next think about what criteria you would use to assess the feasibility of objectives (see example) 3. Discuss at your table

High Impact / Low Urgency

High Impact/ High Urgency

Low impact / Low urgency

Low Impact / High Urgency

URGENT objectives have a limited window of opportunity. IMPORTANT objectives are critical to future success. Focus energy on urgent and important objectives.

Short List of Objectives

Aboriginal Finance Officers Association – BC Spring Conference, March 31, 2016

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SKILL PRACTICE

Develop your own feasibility criteria that will help you to assess the level of effort required to advance the objectives and the organization’s capacity to resource the objectives. You could also weight each question so some criteria could have more importance than other criteria.

Example

Feasibility Criteria Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3 Objective 4 What will this cost? Do we

have the money? Who has time to do this

work? Do we have the skills in

house? Who would we need to

hire? How much time will this

take? How urgent is this work? What are the risks of not

doing this work? How aligned is this with

our strategic vision? Do we have community

support?

Priority Ranking Short/Medium/Long Term

What criteria will you use to assess the feasibility of each objective? Are any of these criteria MORE important than others? How would you weight each criteria on a scale of 1-5?

Aboriginal Finance Officers Association – BC Spring Conference, March 31, 2016

Prepared and Presented by Urban Systems Ltd. - 10 - Trina Wamboldt and Carl Archie

APPENDIX

1) Sample value words

2) Planning ‘cheat sheet’ for new Councils

3) IAP2 spectrum of public engagement

4) PESTLE tool for external scan

5) Governance capacity quick scan 2016

SAMPLE VALUES

Abundance Acceptance Accessibility Accomplishment Accountability Accuracy Achievement Acknowledgement Adaptability Advancement Adventure Affluence Ambition Appreciation Approachability Assertiveness Assurance Authority Availability Balance Beauty Being the best Belonging Camaraderie Candour Capability Care Carefulness Certainty Charity Clarity Cleanliness Close Relationships Closeness Comfort Commitment Communication Community Compassion Competence Completion Composure Concentration Confidence Conformity Congruency Connection Consciousness Consistency Contentment Continuity Contribution Control Conviction Cooperation Cordiality Correctness Courage Courtesy Creativity Credibility

Curiosity Daring Decisiveness Democracy Dependability Determination Dignity Diligence Direction Directness Discipline Discovery Discretion Diversity Dreaming Drive Duty Economic Security Economy Education Effectiveness Efficiency Empathy Encouragement Endurance Energy Enjoyment Enthusiasm Ethical Practice Excellence Excitement Expediency Experience Expertise Exploration Expressiveness Fairness Faith Family Financial independence Financial stability Firmness flexibility Focus Fortitude Frankness Freedom Friendliness Frugality Fun Generosity Giving Grace Gratitude Growth Guidance Happiness Harmony Health Helpfulness

Honesty Honour Hopefulness Hospitality Humility Humour Imagination Impact Impartiality Independence Industry Ingenuity Inquisitiveness Insightfulness Inspiration Integrity Intelligence Intensity Intuition Investing Involvement Judiciousness Justice Kindness Knowledge Leadership Learning Liberation Liberty Longevity Love Loyalty Making a difference Maturity Mindfulness Neatness Open and Honest Open-mindedness Optimism Order Organization Originality Passion Peace Perseverance Persistence Philanthropy Pragmatism Precision Preparedness Presence Privacy Proactivity Professionalism Prosperity Prudence Public Service Quality Relationships Realism Reason Recognition

Recreation Reflection Reliability Resilience Resourcefulness Respect Restraint Rigor Safety Satisfaction Security Self-control Selflessness Self-reliance Self-Respect Sensitivity Service Sharing Sincerity Solidarity Speed Spirit Stability Strength Structure Success Support Synergy Teamwork Temperance Thankfulness Thoroughness Thoughtfulness Thrift Tidiness Timeliness Tranquility Transparency Trust Trustworthiness Understanding Unity Utility Wealth Wisdom

FIVE KEY PRIORITIES FOR COMMUNITY LEADERS

FOR MORE INFO: twamboldt@urbansystems.ca

Essential Plans & Documents

INAC Funding Sources

1. REGULARLY ENGAGE COMMUNITY TO LEARN THEIR HOPES, DREAMS AND CHALLENGES

COMPREHENSIVE COMMUNITY PLAN COUNCIL/STAFF STRATEGIC PLAN

Professional & Institutional Development

First Nations Infrastructure Fund

2. MODEL EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

Constitution Membership Code / Registry Election Code GOVERNANCE CODE / CODE OF ETHICS Community Engagement and Decision

Making Protocols Emergency Response Plan Performance Monitoring and Reporting

Professional & Institutional Development

Building Community Capacity Initiative (BCCI)

3. DEVELOP KEY COMMUNITY PLANS BASED ON CCP VISION/GOALS

Land Use Plan Housing Strategy Infrastructure/Asset Management Plan Environmental Sustainability/Energy Plan Health Strategy Education and Employment Plan Cultural Regeneration

Community Opportunity Readiness Program

New Approach to Housing First Nation Infrastructure Fund

4. MANAGE LANDS AND GENERATE SUSTAINABLE REVENUE

Land Code Cultural Heritage Study / TLU Economic Development Plan Business Strategy for Ec. Dev. Companies Proponent Referral Process/Guidelines Negotiation Protocols

Building Community Capacity Initiative (BCCI)

Community Opportunity Readiness Program

5. ENSURE OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY

Clear Roles and Responsibilities Human Resource and Finance Policies 5 YR FINANCIAL STRATEGY Information Technology / Records

Professional & Institutional Development

Things to think about when conducting an external scan of the environment

Governance Capacity Quick Scan 2016

1. Community name

2. Your name (optional)

3. Your title (optional)

comments

4. Does the organization have any governance-related projects underway?

yes - describe below

no

not sure

not valuable at all somewhat valuable very valuable N/A

leadership capacity(e.g. communityvision, strategicplanning,communication,negotiation)

management capacity(e.g. operationalprocedures, managingstaff, project/programmanagement,reporting)

personal effectiveness(e.g. personalplanning,interpersonalcommunication, healthand wellness)

communication,negotiation andconflict resolution

financial managementand reporting

human resourcemanagement andreporting

technology (e.g. GIS,website maintenance,etc.)

Other training / capacity development needs?

5. What organizational development training would be most valuable to staff and/or Council

comments

6. Does your community have a comprehensive community plan in place?

yes

yes, but outdated

no

not sure

comments

7. Does your Council have a strategic plan in place (ie. a detailed plan to implement the CCP)?

yes

yes, but outdated

no

not sure

comments

8. Does your community have a clear vision for the future and an action plan for achieving thevision?

yes

no

not sure

comments

9. Does your Council have a formal and transparent process for engaging community members inplanning and decision making?

yes

no

not sure

comments

10. Do most community members seem satisfied with the level of service and support they receivefrom the Band?

yes

no

not sure

Comment

11. Does Council have a plan for managing government to government and business relations (e.g.joint ventures)?

yes

no

not sure

comments

12. Does the organization have clear protocols for engaging with industry and Crown proponentson referrals/development proposals?

yes

no

not sure

comments

13. Does Council have a formal process for making decisions on behalf of the community?

yes

no

not sure

comment

14. Does the organization have written roles and responsibilities for all employees includingCouncil?

yes

no

not sure

comments

15. Does the organization have policies in place related to professional code of conduct, ethics andconflict of interest (i.e. governance policy)?

yes

yes, but outdated

no

not sure

comments

16. Does the community have a formal process for orienting new Councils?

yes

no

not sure

comments

17. Does the community have a membership code?

yes

yes, but outdated

no

not sure

comments

18. Does the community have a formal dispute resolution or grievance process in place?

yes

yes, but outdated

no

not sure

comments

19. Do you have a clear process for developing and implementing bylaws?

yes

yes, but outdated

no

not sure

comments

20. How well is the current election process working for the community?

working well

not working well

not sure

comments

21. Does the organization have effective Human Resource policies in place?

yes

no

somewhat

not sure

comments

22. Does each department have clear goals and priorities?

yes

no

some do, some don't

not sure

comments

23. Does the organization have a strong track record of managing projects and reporting progressto funding agencies?

yes

no

somewhat

not sure

24. Do departments collaborate and communicate effectively with each other? Including Ec. Dev.Corps.

yes

no

not sure

comment

comments

25. Does the organization have clear and transparent financial policies and procedures?

yes

yes, but outdated

no

not sure

comments

26. Does the organization have a five year financial plan in place?

yes

no

not sure

comments

27. Does the organization have the technology it needs to function and communicate effectively?

yes

no

somewhat

not sure

28. Does the organization have records management policies and procedures in place?

yes

yes, but out of date

no

not sure

29. What are the community's/organization's top three governance and administration prioritiesand/or challenges?