PLANNING MODULE 1 - KEY CONCEPTS FROM THE PLANNING CLASSROOM SESSION OR APLL TAKE AWAY TO ENJOY AT HOME WITH LOVED ONES

 I have already started to share with my Board and with my staff some of the concepts. Admittedly, some I've not as I am still digesting them and I would rather be sure of them. Those I have shared:

We do a plan to act: 

1. goals drive us, measurable outcomes tell us we've arrived (or not)
2. time lines set the pace, marker posts tell us if we are on track or in need of realignment
3. targeted shareholders buy in and support, their investment locks in our accountability

Communication is key: if we don't understand them (shareholders, community analysis, internal and external environments) how can we expect them to understand us? 

Alignment with governing bodies is crucial.

The plan needs a frame: what are we now, what do we want to be, what are we willing to do (resources, data gathering, etc.) to get there, what are our values. 

With planning, you win some, you lose some. What are we willing to give up of the "traditional" so that we can take on what we need to meet goals.

Plans are not static. A good plan will lead to better planning, i.e., draft, test, refine, finalize may be four sequential words but the 2nd and 3rd word inform of the need to be open to revisions.

There is still a lot more and, as stated earlier, a lot I am digesting. I need it "in me" in order to share it. But it is coming. I sense it daily in the way I am responding to events and communications, not in the literal "response" of sending off e-mails in such, but more in the tiny "a-ha's" that go off in the brain.

I know. Not eloquent way off expressing it. It will get better as I get through the work.