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Going From Plans to Action (P2A). Geoff Feiss College of William & Mary. Strengthening Your Geoscience Program, June 2009. Three Axioms of P2A. Planning is a process, not a product Living plans work; static plans fail Most good planning is about achievable and measurable change.
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Going From Plans to Action (P2A) Geoff Feiss College of William & Mary Strengthening Your Geoscience Program, June 2009
Strengthening Your Geoscience Program, June 2009 Three Axioms of P2A • Planning is a process, not a product • Living plans work; static plans fail • Most good planning is about achievable and measurable change
Strengthening Your Geoscience Program, June 2009 Some rules for P2A • Keep thinking strategically • There is no Santa Claus • Be aspirational • $ -- not the only scarce resource • Align your planning w/ that of others • Build Consensus • Focus on process • Build your departmental team • Be patient
Some more rules for P2A Obtain buy-in Critical internal & external stakeholders Lateral Vertical (= no surprises) Coordinate Accreditation reviews Institutional and uber-institutional strat. plans Expect copy-cats Strengthening Your Geoscience Program, June 2009
Implementation guidelines Set concrete goals w/ Measurable objectives Specific, discrete action items Prioritize Consider parallel business & communication plans Identify barriers to implementation that require prior or concurrent attention Strengthening Your Geoscience Program, June 2009
More implementation guidelines Assign responsibility Both action & assessment Action should be consequential Stay flexible Establish timetables and milestones Develop mechanisms for progress reports To whom When Strengthening Your Geoscience Program, June 2009
Even more implementation guidelines Do not be too discouraged by failure to achieve goals, objectives, action plan milestones Learn from failure; debrief Is action still achievable or warranted? May not necessarily be a process failure Schedule anniversary reviews Strengthening Your Geoscience Program, June 2009
Beware of Planning Fatigue Strengthening Your Geoscience Program, June 2009
P2A Assignment -- w/ your preliminary Action Plan in hand: Must you prioritize? If so, do so. Do you need a business or communication plan? Define barriers to success& outline measures to eliminate these barriers Define the critical stakeholders Assign responsibility for implementation & assessment of action items Begin to establish your action timeline & anniversary review Strengthening Your Geoscience Program, June 2009