Planning
Competency Area:
Planning
There is no single way to do integrated planning; rather, an integrated planning approach uses the appropriate planning process, activity, or framework for the circumstance. This requires a solid grounding in planning theory and application. These competencies relate to leading or coordinating a planning process, including the development of effective plans, implementation, and building support for planning.
Competencies for Planning
Planning Knowledge
The ability to ground your work in an understanding of planning
- Know planning theory, including vocabulary and different types of planning processes and frameworks. Institutional Planner Role Only
- Improve the field of planning. Contribute your expertise to relevant professional associations and support scholarly contributions to planning. Institutional Planner Role Only
- Understand how integrated planning works.
- Outline the characteristics of an effective plan.
- Outline the essential steps of a planning process.
Manage Processes
The ability to develop and manage planning processes
- Develop planning processes based on the institution’s needs, structure, culture, context, and circumstances. Institutional Planner Role Only
- Schedule a planning process so it links to ongoing institutional activities (especially resource allocation schedules—namely: budget, IT, HR, capital, and assessment cycles). Institutional Planner Role Only
- Fit planning into the day-to-day work of stakeholders.
- Identify what type of feedback you need at different points of the planning process.
- Lead or coordinate an institutional planning process. Institutional Planner Role Only
- Lead strategic and operational planning for your unit. Unit Leader Role Only
Communicate About Planning
The ability to help others understand the plan’s purpose, process, and progress
- Ensure stakeholders understand what planning is, why it’s happening, and how it works.
- Develop resource materials and support documents that clarify the planning process and the plan to stakeholders.
- Manage expectations about the planning process.
- Write annual reports on planning progress.
- Compile and communicate data and information in a way that’s useful to others.
Implementation
The ability to implement plans and initiatives
- Identify the actions that must be taken to reach a goal.
- Write action plans that identify who is responsible for actions, what resources the action will require, and milestones and deadlines for the action.
- Use project management methods and tools to sequence tasks, track progress, and enforce accountability.
- Operationalize the plan. Identify ongoing processes, tasks, and behaviors that need to change, and then work to change them.
Write a Plan
The ability to write a clear, effective, usable plan
- Produce an effective plan that focuses the institution or unit, can guide work and decisions, can be aligned vertically and horizontally, and can be adapted to unforeseen change.
- Write goals and strategies that can be translated into actions and measured.
- Assess and edit a plan to ensure it’s ambitious while still being achievable.
Meetings
The ability to organize and lead productive meetings
- Determine meeting goals.
- Identify the meeting activities and discussions needed to meet the goals.
- Structure the meeting effectively and craft an agenda with realistic time estimates.
- Determine who needs to attend the meeting. Ensure they understand why their attendance is important and have the information necessary to participate.
- Lead a meeting. Facilitate discussions toward decisions and resolution. Use respectful methods to keep the conversation on topic. End meetings on time.
- Identify decisions made and next actions required.
- Guide planning-related exercises, like environmental scanning or scenario planning.
Ebooks
Conference Presentations
External Resources
Nurture Planning Efforts Institutional Planner Role Only
The ability to guide and support planning efforts across the institution
- Advise others on their planning processes. Answer questions, give feedback, and provide suggestions for improvement.
- Design and lead training workshops for others who need to plan.
- Create or identify planning tools, templates, and systems that clarify and empower planning processes.