So, if you thought developing a useful Strategic Plan was difficult so far, the real challenge is in these final elements of the model – Measures and Outcomes. What do you want success to look like? How will you know when you have achieved success? Is 100% achievable, or 50%, or 20%? Is your Objective to have 1,000 customers participate, or 100? Determining whether you are actually working toward success, or need a mid-course correction to get there is totally dependant on the Measures and Outcomes you establish in this last part of your Strategic Plan.
While there is considerable debate about the value and even purpose of Outcomes vs. Outputs, suffice it to say here that the primary distinction is that Outcomes are supposed to include the actual impacts, benefits and/or changes resulting from performance of the Activity (What were its effects?), and Outputs are supposed to include the raw objective numbers resulting from performance of the Activity (How many?). Other than that, I’m going to evade that quagmire of debate over the merits and distinctions of the two for the sake of expediency, and simply stick to the basic definitions of each in relationship to this Strategic Plan Model. (Seriously, this Post would be WAY TOO LONG to hold anybody’s interest long enough to wade through the pros and cons of that debate.)
Frankly, most Activities lend themselves to easy Measure of Outputs, while many are extremely difficult to Measure the Outcomes (the more subjective qualities and benefits). So, some of my Examples below may be Outcomes, while others may be more specifically Outputs. Outcomes may be the more desirable Measure, but they are also the more difficult to determine. Outputs may suffice as a measure of success in some Activities. Outcomes indicate changes resulting from the library’s activities, while Outputs indicate hardly anything about the changes resulting from an Activity, only the amount of activity. It is your decision as to what Measures best provide the management information you need to fulfill your Mission. (This is another excellent reason WHY Activities are included in a Strategic Plan – to determine success. That would be very difficult based on trying to directly Measure an Objective, Goal or the Mission.)
Measures:
Measurable means the performance of the Activity can be determined over time using quantitative data. If the results could be plotted on a chart, then it should easily pass a measurability test. Some of the questions that should be considered for developing Measures are:
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• What exactly is the Activity intended to accomplish?
• What measurement will best link the Activity to its Objective?
• How is the measurement calculated?
• What is the source of the data?
• What resources are necessary to collect data?
• Who collects the data, and how often?
• Will the measure reveal how well the activity is being implemented/performed?
Outcomes:
Outcome, as noted above, is the actual impact, benefits and/or changes resulting from performance of the Activity. Some characteristics of Outcomes include:
• knowledge and/or skill (customers learn to use the online catalog)
• change in behavior (customers actually use the online catalog without assistance)
• change in values, conditions and/or status (customers prefer using the online catalog without assistance)
An Outcome also includes target(s) and indicator(s), elements by which a Measure establishes the determinates of achievement or failure.
Outcome target is the number and/or percent associated with the Outcome that you want to achieve (and yes, that sounds suspiciously like an Output), because a Measure is determining the performance of the Activity over time using quantitative data. This is the objective element of an Outcome by which success can be determined. Whether it is a small or large number/percentage is the basis for determining the level of success, since most Activities are seldom Pass-Fail, or Yes-No.
Outcome indicator is an observable and measurable milestone toward an outcome target. These are what you could see, hear, read, etc., that would indicate to you whether the library is making any progress toward its Outcome Target. (Yet another excellent reason WHY Activities and Measures are included in a Strategic Plan – to measure progress toward an Objective. That would be impossible to determine without Measures and Outcomes or Outputs.)
EXAMPLE:
(Revisiting our last Example used with the Activities will hopefully pick up in a somewhat familiar place to examine Measures and Outcomes.)
Objectives –
GOAL #1 – Improve customer service.
Objective #O1.1 – Open the doors to the library on time every day.
Objective #O1.2 – Always greet every customer with a verbal greeting and ask if you may help them.
Objective #O1.3 – Regularly observe customers and offer assistance to any who appear to be lost, undecided or confused, without being intrusive.
Activities –
GOAL #1 – Improve customer service.
Objective #O1.1 – Open the doors to the library on time every day.
Activity #A1.1.1 – Schedule at least one employee with library opening authority to be on-duty prior to opening time every day.
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Measure #M1.1.1.1 – Never fail to open the library on time. (I think everyone could agree that this Measure is in fact a Pass-Fail type of Measure, which is to say that they can be appropriate in some cases.)
Outcome #OC1.1.1.1 – Never a customer complaint about the library not opening on time. (While quantifiable – equal to 100% – this would be the time to evaluate whether or not it is “achievable”, and at what cost. YET ANOTHER excellent reason to include Activities in the Strategic Plan, because you sometimes can not determine what the impact of an Objective will be until you get to the Measure & Outcome development stage, or even to the final Resource Allocation stage.)
Measure #M1.1.1.2 – Never a last minute scramble to find an employee to open the library on time.
Outcome #OC1.1.1.2 – Never a customer complaint about the library not opening on time. (It is not uncommon to have Outcomes that are the same or very similar for similar Activities or Measures.)
Activity #A1.1.2 – Develop an opening procedures checklist to ensure library services are ready for customers when it opens. (Note the Activity was revised since the previous Post example. Continuous revision is common, but caution is necessary to ensure that the changes don’t cause a ripple effect that changes an Objective or leaves an Activity that no longer achieves the Objective.)
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Measure #M1.1.2.1 – Conduct periodic customer surveys to ask about opening on time with full services.
Outcome #OC1.1.2.1 – Never a customer complaint that a service was not available when the library opened.
Measure #M1.1.2.2 – Conduct occasional spot checks during library opening to ask early customers whether the library opens on time every day.
Outcome #OC1.1.2.2 – Never an employee complaint about the library being disorganized or not ready to open on time
Activity #A1.1.3 – Include opening procedures training in supervisory staff training program.
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Measure #M1.1.3.1 – Conduct periodic assessment of training effectiveness.
Outcome #OC1.1.3.1 – Supervisors are able to open the library on time every day and provide all services to customers. (While quantifiable, “on time every day – provide all services”, this is another example of time to evaluate whether or not it is “achievable”, and at what cost.)
Objective #O1.2 – Employees always greet every customer with a verbal greeting and ask if you may help them.
Activity #A1.2.1 – Include “Library Greeting” guidelines in employee training program. (Note that Activity #A1.2.1 is now what was Activity #A1.2.2, because I decided that Include “Library Greeting” guidelines in employee handbook. was unnecessary and inappropriate for my staff. This revision only eliminated an unnecessary Activity without affecting the Objective. That’s a good thing.)
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Measure #M1.2.1.1 – Every customer is greeted by at least one employee as they enter the library.
Outcome #OC1.2.1.1 – Never a customer complaint about not feeling welcome in the library.
Measure #M1.2.1.2 – Conduct periodic customer surveys to ask about helpfulness of library staff.
Outcome #OC1.2.12 – Never a customer complaint about not feeling welcome in the library.
Objective #O1.3 – Regularly observe customers and offer assistance to any who appear to be lost, undecided or confused, without being intrusive.
Activity #A1.3.1 – Include customer relations training in staff training program.
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Measure #M1.3.1.1 – Conduct periodic customer surveys to ask about helpfulness of library staff.
Outcome #OC1.3.1.1 – Never a customer complaint about needing help and not getting it easily.
Measure #M1.3.1.2 – Conduct occasional spot checks to ask customers whether library staff are helpful but not intrusive.
Outcome #OC1.3.1.2 – Never a customer complaint about needing help and not getting it easily.
Measure #M1.3.1.3 – Conduct periodic assessment of training effectiveness.
Outcome #OC1.3.1.3 – Never an employee who does not know how to assist customers proactively without being intrusive.
Activity #A1.3.2 – Conduct peer training exercises to develop customer assistance skills among staff.
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Measure #M1.3.2.1 – Conduct periodic assessment of training effectiveness.
Outcome #OC1.3.2.1 – Never an employee who does not know how to assist customers proactively without being intrusive.
Consider these Measures and Outcomes more of an analogy than a sterling example of a Strategic Plan, and possibly an example that you could work to improve. Remember back when I first wrote that trying to make a generic Strategic Plan was like trying to describe a generic train wreck? Well, trying to make up examples of the perfect Goals – Objectives – Activities – Measures – Outcomes is very much the same, very hard to make them generic.
I suggest searching the Internet for examples of what appear to be good Strategic Plans and then studying them in light of some of what I’ve written in this series. Good examples are real examples, but complete examples of ALL of the elements that I have outlined in this Series are rarely published on the library website. Which is appropriate, because beyond the Objectives it really is an internal document. The public doesn’t really need to know –
Activity #A1.2.1 – Include “Library Greeting” guidelines in employee training program.
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Measure #M1.2.1.1 – Every customer is greeted by at least one employee as they enter the library.
Outcome #OC1.2.1.1 – Never a customer complaint about not feeling welcome in the library.
Every organization should have some internal secrets about how they do what they do!
DeKalb County Public Library has a good Strategic Plan example with all the bells and whistles developed with assistance from their consulting firm. It covers many issues and provides much information preliminary to its Strategic Initiatives that begin on Pg 25. I found it very apropos that the very first priority of the first Initiative is:
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Strategies: Highest Priorities
• Create a strategic plan for the Board that supports new strategic directions of DCPL.
One thing of note in this example is that it ends, at least the published portion, with stating their Strategic Initiatives, or Goals. Hopefully, they do have the rest of the Plan. What do you imagine will happen to all their lofty intentions without follow through that includes Objectives, Activities, Measures and Outcomes?
Carnegie Public Library, Big Timber, Montana has a nice example that goes as far as the Activities. It also shows the limited amount of preliminary information that is highly appropriate for a smaller library.
Westport Public Library, Westport, CT is a good example of including a schedule of milestones/accomplishments for achieving Goals over the three year lifetime of the Strategic Plan. It also includes Measures, but they appear detached from Objectives, which makes it awkward to make the critical connection between Measures that directly contribute to achieving Activities and Objectives. Are we measuring because someone says we are supposed to, and measuring those things that are easy to observe, or to determine success?
Elmhurst Public Library, Elmhurst, IL Strategic Plan, 2009-2013 is a good example of a well organized Plan. EPL’s “Explore, Learn, Grow” from their Mission Statement works very nicely as a slogan or motto for a branding device.
A simple Internet search of “public library strategic plan” will yield LOTS of great ideas from other organizations, and as I stated very early in this series, there is no reason to reinvent the wheel with your Strategic Plan.
Another resource for examples and guidelines is Sandra Nelson’s 2001 book, NEW Planning for Results: A Streamlined Approach, available from ALA. What she provides includes succinct lists of critical resources, possible measures associated with her various 18 “service responses”, and potential outcomes. I confess that my initial reaction to her PFR process was that it was WAY TOO COMPLICATED for any but the huge library with abundant experienced staff and funds to hire external consultants. But, as I have reflected on the development, application and value of a GOOD Strategic Plan, I’ve come to the conclusion that the more a library short cuts the process, the less value their Strategic Plan is likely to be in actually achieving their Goals and accomplishing their Mission. If short cut too much, it will become a trophy piece to sit on the shelf and do nothing more than proclaim “We Created a Plan!”.
It is easy to give up and resort to the half-hearted copying of trite Goals and Objectives, etc., and VERY hard to do the work necessary to create a worthwhile and useful tool to help guide your library into the uncertain future, provide the important services to make your library relevant and valuable in a 21st Century community, capitalize on the limited resources available to make that happen, and make every resource, especially human resources, contribute toward that Mission. I believe those things CAN NOT be accomplished by the seat of anyone’s pants. It is hard work, but as Hyman Roth said; “This is the business we have chosen!”
More to come…………………
Next up: Resource Allocation
