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Operational Planning preparing to act

Conservation Coaches Network New Coach Training. Operational Planning preparing to act. Key Points to Introduce this Step. Operational Planning. Strategic Plan Internal and/or external document that explains what needs to be done Work Planning & Budgeting

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Operational Planning preparing to act

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  1. Conservation Coaches Network New Coach Training Operational Planningpreparing to act

  2. Key Points to Introduce this Step Operational Planning Strategic Plan • Internal and/or external document that explains what needs to be done Work Planning & Budgeting • Details of what will be done & how much it will cost Fundraising • Plan for raising the resources needed to carry out the strategic plan Capacity • Internal & external, capacity building often strategy unto itself

  3. Critical Questions to Ask the Team Operational Planning Strategic Plan • Is a strategic plan document necessary? • Is it an internal or external document, or both? • Who is responsible for drafting and then reviewing the plan?

  4. Critical Questions to Ask the Team Operational Planning Work Planning & Budgeting • Does the work plan spell out responsibilities clearly? • How far out does the work plan need to go? • Is the budget comprehensive enough to cover activities? • How detailed does the budget need to be?

  5. Critical Questions to Ask the Team Operational Planning When & how much time $ Expenses Who will do it?

  6. Critical Questions to Ask the Team Operational Planning Fundraising • Is fundraising necessary or is the budget a given? • Whose responsibility is fundraising? • Does the team know what materials will be most useful?

  7. Critical Questions to Ask the Team Operational Planning Capacity • Does the team have the necessary leadership/leadership support? • Does the team have the right/sufficient capacity? • Do your partners and stakeholders have sufficient capacity?

  8. Common Issues & Recommendations Operational Planning Issue: Our plan could easily be 100+ pages! • Separate the work plan from the strategic plan • Tighten the text and put details in annexes • Add high level executive summary

  9. Common Issues & Recommendations Operational Planning Example Table of Contents for a Strategic Plan

  10. Common Issues & Recommendations Operational Planning Issue: The team is busy working on already-funded projects • Encourage the team to take control of their program’s future by moving to new strategies in the plan • Consider the new plan a menu of options for funders • Transition to new strategies as projects end and new strategies are funded

  11. Common Issues & Recommendations Operational Planning Issue: The team is very small in comparison with the number of complex strategies in the plan • The team either needs to “scale up” – through major fundraising or coalition-building – or to reduce the breadth of its plan • Make sure that you consider what other organizations are doing – don’t duplicate efforts. • Clarify priorities – e.g., with $ we can implement strategies A and B, with $$ we can do A, B, C and D

  12. Common Issues & Recommendations Operational Planning Issue: Conceptual Model & Results Chains are too complicated for others to absorb • Develop simplified conceptual model & results chains • Put the detailed versions in annexes in your strategic plan • Translate the model into a high level narrative description

  13. Common Issues & Recommendations Operational Planning Issue: It takes a lot of effort to develop detailed work plans and budgets for strategies that we’re not sure we can handle • Develop a simple, high-level workplan first • Then make decisions about priorities based on timing, capacity, funding • Develop more detailed work plans and budgets after you are more certain about which strategies you’ll use

  14. Common Issues & Recommendations Operational Planning Issue: How much effort for monitoring? • Go with 5-10% of total program budget and fit an array of target-based, threat-based, and strategy effectiveness measures into that budget • No magic bullet • Investment should take into consideration: • Have you done this strategy before? • Is there a lot of risk involved? • Is this an expensive strategy? • Is this complex and will take a long time to unfold?

  15. Helpful Hints Operational Planning • Don’t forget that you can choose to help the team rank strategies based on several criteria including impact (benefits), feasibility, cost, urgency, etc. • Miradi is a helpful tool for work planning, tracking capacity, and producing key pieces for a strategic plan

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