When to Revisit Your Mission Statement

by Scott Stuecher, Manager

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How often should an organization’s mission statement be revisited and under what circumstances should it be changed? Unlike a vision statement, a mission statement is usually an enduring message that remains constant throughout an organization’s existence.  There are numerous examples of health care organizations with mission statements that were established at the organization’s founding a […]

Corporate Versus Regional Site Strategies

We recently received the following question from a registered attendee during our ACHE Cluster session, Strategic Planning from Formulation to Action, in San Antonio: What is the relationship between a corporate strategy and the strategy for regional sites? Health care organizations are changing to keep pace with an evolving market.  Many organizations that previously had […]

Managing Bumps in the Road During Implementation

We recently received the following question from a registered attendee during our ACHE Cluster session, Strategic Planning from Formulation to Action, in San Antonio: If there are problems during strategic plan implementation, how does the plan need to be adjusted – at the initiative or the tactical level? A strategic plan should be concrete enough […]

The Role of Board Approval in the Strategic Planning Process

We recently received the following question from a registered attendee during our ACHE Cluster session, Strategic Planning from Formulation to Action, in San Antonio: When you seek board approval of a strategic plan, what are they actually approving (the whole plan, organizational direction, goals, initiatives)? Our firm advocates that the board play an active role […]

Setting the Right Goals

After carefully and thoughtfully selecting your organization’s critical planning issues (CPIs), the next step in your planning process is to move directly into goal setting.  Goals will serve as the general ends toward which future efforts are directed for a particular CPI.  In other words, all of the actions that take place under the umbrella […]

Is Your Organization Ready for Change?: One Assessment That Could Make or Break Your Strategic Plan

The complexity of the health care environment calls for our organizations to do business in a different way, challenging our ability and flexibility to remain nimble and effectively address internal and external demands; in short, it requires us to change. At the outset of the strategic planning process, it’s important for leaders to have a […]

From Aspirations to Results (and the Barriers to Getting There)

The strategic planning process requires a significant investment of time, effort, and resources to prepare for the future, yet health care organizations’ planning efforts do not always produce desirable results.   The following four factors are commonly linked to failed strategic plans: Loss of energy and focus Lack of management Disconnect from operations Lack of resources […]

Strategy versus Operations: The battle to stay on track

Health care organizations today are continually faced with competing priorities for resource allocation. As the old adage goes, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” and most often, the squeaky wheel is an operational or infrastructure priority, such as technology demands, FTE needs (vs. workforce development), facility improvement (vs. strategic facility planning), budgets, marketing, department-and specific […]