commitments. Take a principles based approach to rationalising your commitments do it quickly and – effectively, ‘good enough’ will give you somewhere form where you can start an iterative improvement process. Reconnect the decision making process to both customer and population results by developing a workshop-based approach that brings measurers, practitioners and customers together and increases the quality and frequency of your feedback loops. We have a tendency to What would it (really) take? list all the things we are doing that can Many organisations have tendency to carry out ‘cross contribute to the as a paper rather than a real exercise. referencing’ outcome we seek Try work shopping your the other ‘contribution’ exercise rather than asking way up; first - these are the outcomes; with a blank sheet it how would we design a perfect but realistic solution from “what would take?” scratch? (Keep it light, fun and imaginative.) Then ask: so what have we got that is already contributing? How could we morph these activities to be nearer our ‘perfect’ solution? Then take action to make and monitor those changes. Strategy is often more The fact that strategy works on a longer term cycle than long term than the budget should work in our favour. budget cycle. We might want identify that The best solutions to any challenges are often emergent, there will be more to so planning, including financial planning, needs to allow for do in the longer term. this. Try taking an based ‘evidence experimentation’ approach; designing (relatively) short term interventions so that they are based on what we know already, gather and process live data as they develop and are explicitly open to a wide range of next step options. Good luck!
commitments. Take a principles based approach to rationalising your commitments – do it quickly and effectively, ‘good enough’ will give you somewhere form where you can start an iterative improvement process. Reconnect the decision making process to both customer and population results by developing a workshop-based approach that brings measurers, practitioners and customers together and increases the quality and frequency of your feedback loops. We have a tendency to list all the things we are doing that can contribute to the outcome we seek rather than asking “what would it take?” What would it (really) take? Many organisations have tendency to carry out ‘cross referencing’ as a paper rather than a real exercise. Try work shopping your ‘contribution’ exercise the other way up; first - these are the outcomes; with a blank sheet how would we design a perfect but realistic solution from scratch? (Keep it light, fun and imaginative.) Then ask: so what have we got that is already contributing? How could we morph these activities to be nearer our ‘perfect’ solution? Then take action to make and monitor those changes. Strategy is often more long term than the budget cycle. We might want identify that there will be more to do in the longer term. The fact that strategy works on a longer term cycle than budget should work in our favour. The best solutions to any challenges are often emergent, so planning, including financial planning, needs to allow for this. Try taking an ‘evidence based experimentation’ approach; designing (relatively) short term interventions so that they are based on what we know already, gather and process live data as they develop and are explicitly open to a wide range of next step options. Good luck!