Night in Tunisia

Tell Me About the Strategy

So today you all get to learn about my work. I know it's not Tunis-centric, but it's interesting, and I have a small beef, so you're all going to read about it. Priviledge of being the author. Ha!

There are two things actually. The first is that I live at work. Unlike lucky Loren who has effectively doubled my wage with about one third of the working hours, I might as well pitch a tent here and save on rent and transportation. We start at 8:30 and go until 18:00 but the co-directors (who don't show until 10:00) often hand down a "crisis" at about 17:30 so we don't leave until whenever it's over. Also if there's a "crisis" we come in on Saturdays. I live here.

The second thing is the work they have me doing. Warning: Story Attached!

Anyone who has worked with me knows I love organizational analysis, management, leadership, strategic planning, and time-managment. It's the organizational-personal efficiency thing that gets me. I love it. Well the folks at ENDA figured this out and said, "Great! Our donors are waiting on the strategic plan for 2005. Write it."

I would like to remind all readers that I am the newest member of the organization. I asked for previous strategic plans. They don't have any, at least not annual ones, and the last one was a five year plan drafted in 2000. No reference material. No experience. Problem?

I asked my employers if maybe someone with more history should tackle this.

"Nobody's done it before. We used to hire consultants." This one is really mine.

So I asked for an Org chart, departmental projections, grant proposals, leaflets, fliers, current financial information, names of all the department heads and an outline of what they want the final result to look like.

No problem except for the outline. I'm not sure they know what they want, to be honest. I was given examples of other institutions strategic plans that range from a two page summary to a thirty page document with ratios I don't understand.

Let me refresh. I'm supposed to be writing the strategic plan. Strategy folks. What's the figging stragegy? It's not written anywhere. No one knows.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I went to every department and asked what major activities would they be undertaking in the next year? What did they expect to accomplish? What did management expect in terms of results? And other related questions. I took all that information (plus the annual goals for the credit department, thank god!) and resorted it into umbrella categories with headings, general objectives and related actions. It's everything that they are doing and plan to do for the year in a very tidy package. Voila! Strategy!

They didn't like it.

Loren suggested that maybe they don't specify what they want so that they have the option of not liking it when it's done. I don't know.

Being the boss here means you're always right (I'm actually not kidding or being cynical). So they are right, and I obviously didn't understand what they wanted (which could be true, but not because I didn't ask). So I'm doing it again, with a list of suggested alterations. Keep the headings and the objectives, and the actions, and generally the order and the content, but it needs more flesh and more dialogue, and maybe pictures and surely tables and, and, and...

I'll fix it.

And I think I'll stamp DRAFT all over it before I hand it in.

posted by tiaraletourneau @ 3:49 p.m.