Weaver Vale Housing Trust

Annual Planning

The Organisational Activity Model

Philosophy

Strategy

Projects

Routine Operations

Why have annual planning and where to start?

It is important to develop an annual planning process to convert strategies into activities at organisational, departmental, team and individual level but……

Why have annual planning and where to start?

….it is vital to do this in a structured way and

it certainly does not happen overnight.

Timeline and Timeframe• Strategy

• Chief Executive’s Appraisal

• Corporate Plan

• Directors’ Appraisals

• Directorate Annual Planning

• Senior Management Appraisals

• Teams’ Annual Planning

• Individual Appraisals

Communication

• Staff Away Days

• Ask Steve

Where To Start Year One

• Prepare a register of teams that need

annual planning sessions

• Be proactive and plan dates

• Have one contact point to request a

facilitator, if possible

• Give facilitators a good mix of teams

Facilitators• Key to running the sessions• Need common approach• Pre-prepare general flipchart e.g. - Corporate Projects - Strategic Priorities - What is a Project

- What is a Routine Operation

• Think carefully about prompts

• Keep up to date re corporate projects

Pre-meeting with Manager

• Running order with aid of UIC manual• Any sensitive issues • Leader speaks - brief, succinct and relevant• Prompts• Teams or pair work• Tools and techniques• Partial projects• Grid plus action list• What happens next• Review of meeting

Post meeting with Manager

Facilitator Tips

• Prepare a running order template

• Have one for yourself and one for the manager

• Consider timeframe

• Prepare a flipchart with the teams or pairs on

Annual Planning Year One

No previous plan so where to start?

How to identify projects?

The Annual Planning Session

• Arrive early and prepare the room

• Leader welcomes everyone

• Introduce yourself and explain your role

• Round Robin of introductions

• Leader Speaks

• Facilitator takes over

The Annual Planning Session (cont’d)

Prompt 1

What projects have you got now, as a

team, or are you involved in as individuals?

Round Robin

This will help to consider overall time and

resources.

You need to be realistic.

The Annual Planning Session (cont’d)

Prompt 2

What is working well?

Round Robin

- this brings everyone together and starts on

a positive

- all can see and hear

- all can input

The Annual Planning Session (cont’d)

Prompt 3

What isn’t working as well as it should? or

What makes your job or the job of your team

more difficult than it should be?

- if a large group split into teams - if small group split into pairs or even a round robin

- it may be useful to give the teams a sheet of paper with ideas on to consider, such as :-

Ideas to Consider• What processes need sorting out

• What do internal customers comment on

• What do external customers comment on

• Any communication issues

• Are there any key issues facing the team that

need addressing

You can tailor these to suit the group

Cluster

• Ask the teams/pairs to cluster their comments

and give each a heading

• Ask each team/pair to report their findings to

the group

• Allow comment

The Annual Planning Session (cont’d)

Prompt 4

What can we do to improve this?

This is the hard part.Take over to help the group convert these findings into projects or actions.

Complete post-its for what can be done

The Annual Planning Session (cont’d)• Ask the group to ‘must’, ‘should’ and ‘could’ • Then look at ‘total’, ‘partial’ and ‘no’ control• Mark on the post-it to identify categorisation• Look at the ‘musts’ with ‘total’ control first

• Complete the grid • Consider whose name is being put down, do

not overload one person

• Record actions that are not projects on a separate flipchart

The Annual Planning Session (cont’d)

• Next the ‘musts’ with ‘partial’ control

- if a big ‘P’ then these are fed back up to

management for a decision

- if a small ‘p’ the group may be able to

approach other teams themselves• The ‘shoulds’ and ‘coulds’ are recorded for

reference and should be reviewed from time to time as capacity becomes available

The Project Steering Grid

• Remember the grid is a working document and things may change

• Initial timeframes may seem unrealistic and need amending

• Review progress at team meeting of both the grid and the action list

The Annual Planning Session (cont’d)

• The leader will explain what happens next - writing remits

• The facilitator will do a round robin of reflections

Annual Planning Year Two

This year you will have a starting point as

you will have an annual plan to review :

• what has been completed

• what needs carrying forward to the new year

My Tips

Preparation is key Prepare a register of all the teams that

need annual planning.

This can then be used each year Have one contact point to request a

facilitator Have pre-prepared flipcharts with your

key information

My Tips (cont’d) Must have a pre-meeting with the leader

If having teams put these on a flipchart

Plan the time you want to take for each exercise

Help with the definition of a project

Work with the groups to best advantage

Allow sufficient comfort/tea breaks and if lunch booked keep to time

The whole process can be tiring and draining for all.

You will be nervous

The End