Doing things “the way we’ve always done things” is shortsighted and impractical in the face of 21st Century change. Technology is changing. Employees are changing. Strategies and processes that worked in the past will not be as effective in the future because both the internal and external environments are drastically changing. A Strategic Plan requires you to consider the changes in your environment, and to establish and prioritize goals and objectives that will achieve your Mission and Vision in the face of these challenges.
Remember that a Strategic Plan:
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• is proactive – to prevent being reactive,
• creates the right balance – between what the organization is capable of vs. what the organization desires to do,
• addresses major issues (i.e. internal and external factors) – at a macro level,
• manages change – within the library,
• prevents excessive inward-focused and short-term thinking,
• communicates a common vision for the library,
• establishes priorities that accomplish the library’s mission,
• helps to better focus activities and resources on the mission, and
• guides decision making at all levels – operational, tactical, and individual.
Strategic Plan Importance
Even if you have read this Strategic Plan series of Posts, you may be asking yourself – “How in the world can this Plan possibly be worth the time and effort?” and/or “How can this Plan possibly be that important?”. The answer is simple – it is THE BEST method to ensure that your library accomplishes the Goals it has established to achieve the Mission it has determined is important. Hopefully, you have recognized that everything contained in the Strategic Plan is designed and oriented toward achieving the library’s Mission – EVERYTHING! Nothing is superfluous! If there is anything in the plan that is NOT an Activity that contributes to an Objective to achieve a Goal, then it should not be in the Plan!
Why does the Plan go into such detail? – because that is the only way to ensure that what the library DOES – each individual Activity – is contributing to the Mission. AND, the only way to ensure that library resources are being applied to accomplishing the Mission, is to ensure that they are applied to the specific Activity that contributes to an Objective to achieve a Goal!
While this may all seem exceedingly mechanical, as in – if you have a good Plan then any monkey can run a library – the creativity, art and talent is in developing the Mission, Goals and Objectives, and in running a library by getting every employee to perform well everyday when they might rather not this particular Monday, AND in adapting to the ever changing external and internal environment.
Frequent Drastic Changes
The obvious next question is – “Why bother if it all depends on talent to adapt to all those changes that weren’t foreseen by the Strategic Plan?” – because in order to get where you want to be, you have to start from where you are, and without a Strategic Plan you don’t even know where you want to be, OR where you are. It’s like beginning a business trip (Not a vacation, because sometimes vacations are best when you don’t care where you are or where you end up.) not knowing where you are leaving from or destined for – that’s not going to get you anywhere!
Remember the Forecast portion of the Plan? That considers the external environment factors that you expect will impact the library’s operation, and includes their affects. That’s all you can do, anticipate and plan. Doubt and uncertainty can cripple an organization if you let it, but you have to not let it.
Your Strategic Plan
Without an adequate Strategic Plan your library will likely be spinning its wheels, wasting its resources and getting nowhere. It’ll be treading water, trying to stay afloat and worrying about how to keep the doors open, not knowing how to solve any problems or make any progress. Sounds depressing!
Your Strategic Plan should give you the road map to your vision of what you want your library to be. Call it anything you like, make it as detailed or general as meets your needs, just so it helps you identify and get to what you want to be as a 21st Century Library. If ANYONE has a better approach to achieving their future goals – PLEASE share it with the rest of us!
More to come…………………
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