4 Elements of Strategic Planning

Strategic planning within First Nations government, administration, and businesses has the potential to create systems changes that result in positive change. Some of the changes tend to include increases in:

• Community wellness,

• Sustainability,

• Profitability,

• Diversity, equity, and inclusion

• Opportunity, and

• Cultural revitalization

Strategic planning provides incredible value through processes that allow the organization to identify changes in activities and priorities across their management and operational systems. These changes can be significant, however, most of the time they are incremental. Often times, the best and most impactful changes are incrementally small steps that cost little no money at all. Incremental changes are changes in priorities, processes, perspectives, and habits like healthy communication.

In order to identify changes, large and small, we look at four key domains: Activities, Outputs, Outcomes, and Impacts.

Everything is interconnected and, because of this, each domain is touched out throughout the strategic planning processes. Coming back to each domain allows us to understand their connection points in order to understand how they influence each other.

For example, a First Nation may determine that community wellness means that healthy communication is taking place in and around the community and Nation. In order to create an impact, as a governmental organization, the First Nation may then seek to understand how to activities within our staff procedures impact community wellness, and what opportunities there are to create change.

A common outcome of this process is that First Nation governments often identify areas where staff can be trained in cultural understandings of healthy communication that are specific to their First Nation. After some practice and community engagement, the staff become a force for positive change in community wellness as family members, community members, and all those who interact with the staff members of the First Nation Administration begin to communicate in ways that strengthen one another, strengthen culture, and boost cultural revitalization.

Activities

Activities include such things as staff procedures, policies, service delivery processes, investments, etc. We begin by taking an inventory of significant and meaningful activities. Throughout, we are looking to understand the motivations, vision, and values behind why certain activities are encouraged. We look to understand how the activities an organization pursues can lead to the vision they have for the future.

Outputs

The outputs of the planning process and activities include opportunities for things such as employment, training, construction, and cultural counselling. When the First Nation organization knows what activities to do, how to do them in a good way, the projects that come up as outputs tend to lead to positive outcomes.

Outcomes

When activities are done in a good way, and the right projects are initiated at the correct time, wonderful outcomes are produced. Some of these outcomes include increased communication, improved graduation, improved food security, and so much more. Often times we jump back to outcomes throughout when contemplating other domains.

We ask questions like "If increased communication is a key outcome we desire, what kind of projects / outputs should be pursued? What processes and protocols should staff follow when delivering the project to support increased communication?"

Impacts

Lastly, the impacts are what strategy is inspired by. Strategic planning is pursued by First Nation governments in an effort to create such things as community wellness, sustainable economies, thriving culture and community, opportunity for youth, and meaningful recognition and inclusion in regional and international development.

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