strategic planning by Patti and the team

 strategic planning by Patti and the team

What went wrong?

Several things could have gone wrong in the strategic planning by Patti and the team that led to the failure. Poor communication between the planners and the stakeholders was the major cause of failure. It led to insufficient information sharing among stakeholders and the exclusion of key delegates and stakeholders. During the focus group meeting, Patti engaged eight teachers but failed to involve the school principals and the authority. In addition, the eight teachers could not have represented the entire teams of teachers adequately, leading to the collection of insufficient information. Besides, it was prudent that the team consults with the authorities and principals regarding budgeting and the availability of resources. Having an inadequate number of representatives and the exclusion of parties that held crucial information contributed significantly to the failure of the project. Failure to follow up was another cause of failure in the strategic plan. Patti, as the leader, participated actively in the planning process and became over-confident of the process. She did not follow through after the initial planning and also failed to track the progress of the plan.

What went right?

One of the things that the team did right was choosing compensation and teacher recognition as a method of retaining teachers. As a result, the strategy could have worked if it were implemented fully. Unfortunately, the lack of adequate resources became a barrier to its implementation.

Consultations were the other factor that was done correctly. Although she did not make extensive consultations, she tried to gather the information that could have helped in making decisions.

Recommendation to Patti

Stakeholders engagement

My first advice to Patti would be to encourage her to involve all the concerned parties during the planning of the process. During the planning, it would be important to have not only teachers but also the authorities and the principals. Involving the principals would help to detect any problems that could affect the process. For instance, if Patti had involved principals in the planning process or during the focus group meeting, they could have collected the principals’ opinions and integrated the thoughts in the decision-making process. As a result, the failure that resulted from the top strategy that involved teacher leadership could have been avoided. Conversely, consulting with the teachers’ union officials would have helped to collect the organization’s thoughts regarding the issue. As a result, the ideas could have been integrated into the planning to make a decision that would be viable. Failure of the third strategy could also have been avoided by consulting with the authorities since it would have been easy to detect the amount of resources needed to implement the project.

Thorough implementation

Patti should also consider implementing the plan thoroughly. A successful business plan entails proper consideration of responsibilities, resources, and a timeline. After revealing the strategy, Patti should conduct regular follow up meetings. This would help to determine the progress of the project and any issues that could be arising, and that needed to be addressed before growing out of proportion.

Improved communication skills

Patti should also engage the stakeholders throughout the implementation stage with excellent communication skills that would help gather information and detect any misunderstandings among some parties. As the head of the project, it also advisable that she stays focused on the planning stage to the implementation stage and know the progress of the project. Effective communication provides a chance for stakeholders to provide insights into issues, concerns, and challenges which may not have been fully understood. Communication also ensures stakeholder’s buy-in to help in the execution stage.