Pat's overall approach to strategic planning is to

• design a planning process that fits the client's needs and context,
• involve key managers and stakeholders fully by facilitating planning teams with expert use of groupware technology,
• entirely document the deliberative process, and
• deliver key elements of a proposed strategic plan that the planning teams and other key stakeholders can commit to fully.

The process usually begins by identifying assumptions which must be built into the strategy; outlining the business lines, organizations, or projects the strategy is to cover; documenting the forces driving the need for the strategic planning; and clearly defining what the client needs to accomplish with the strategy.

Pat then facilitates planning teams including key managers and stakeholder groups using a technology-enabled planning process tailored to the customer needs. Steps in the planning process vary depending on the customer's need, but they typically include

1. an environmental/context scan to identify internal and external driving forces affecting the organization or business line. Included in this environmental scan are budget considerations and projections.
2. a SWOT analysis to identify internal strengths, internal weaknesses, external opportunities, and external threats to success. We establish timelines and milestones for the planning process and facilitate the identification of accountable parties to be included in the process.

In facilitating these groups, Pat prefers to use groupware (collaborative meeting technology), which she can provide. This technology enables full participation of all team members; anonymous input from stakeholders; collection, organization, and analysis of a large volume of information in a short time; considerable reduction in the time that managers and stakeholders must devote to the planning process; and expedited full documentation of collected information and deliberative processes.

With creative and effective deployment of the technology, Pat facilitates planning teams while educating them to strategic planning concepts and approaches through

1. Examining the current mission statement, vision, and goals, using such probing questions as
   • What is the business line for?
   • What is your core business?
   • What is its ultimate purpose?
   • What value does it bring?
   • Who are the stakeholders in the business line?
   • What do they think the purpose should be?
   • In what ways does the business line need to change in order to serve its ultimate purpose better?
2. Conducting a gap analysis.
   • Determining where the organization is today with respect to the achievement of its strategy
   • Exploring obstacles facing the organization
   • Identifying obstacles that impede the organization from making strategic changes
   • Exploring actions needed to make the necessary changes occur and to overcome those obstacles
   • And identifying the accountable people who have the responsibility and authority to take those actions
3. Finding ways to leverage organizational strengths and internal best practices.

Pat introduces team members to the groupware technology by asking them a question like "What makes your agency successful?" In a matter of moments, we collect ideas from all participants, along with comments on those ideas. The groupware screen looks like this.

The groupware technology enables assessment of the potential effectiveness, value, feasibility, and cost of proposed actions, resulting in a collaboratively-developed, consensus-supported prioritization. Through the very quick polling feature of the groupware, individual participants can prioritize ideas, and the group results are instantly calculated and displayed.

(Specific solutions are masked in this illustration to protect client confidentiality.)

Planning teams can be quickly scanned for ideas and information about potential sources for resources required to implement the plan. The documentation on proposed actions provided by the process is sufficient to support identification of points of accountability, development of resource estimates, and validation of working time frames.

Past successes in Pat Esslinger's strategic planning projects include

• US Merit Systems Protection Board -- Facilitated the agency's top 3 tiers of managers and executives, including the Chairman of the Board, in collaboratively developing key elements of a 5-year strategic plan for the agency, working from current GPRA and PART commitments.
• Department of Justice Environmental and Natural Resources Division -- Facilitated IT managers and key staff to collaboratively plan a strategy for the future direction of information technology in the Division. The strategic planning process included a SWOT analysis, vision of the future, identification of important things to do or do differently in order to get there from here, leveraging identified strengths and taking advantage of the opportunities to achieve the desired end, while addressing the weaknesses and protecting against the threats. Organizational proposals and recommendations were prioritized against goals.
• National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) -- Board of Directors strategic planning
• USDA Forest Service Partnership Council Strategic Planning for Labor-Management Relations -- Facilitated Members of the Partnership Council to collaboratively develop a draft strategic plan for labor-management relations in the Forest Service.
• Department of Homeland Security -- In validation of a draft Human Capital Strategic Plan developed, facilitated five technology-enabled focus groups of executives, managers, and supervisors from DHS component agencies and a session of agency HR Directors to identify agency business drivers, current and future issues, and human capital priorities.