Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

Key responsibilities of the Board are:

• establishment and maintenance of the vision, mission and values of the organization.
• legal responsibility for fiscal accountability
• legal responsibility terms of the agency’s compliance with legislation and policy
• representation of the organization to the funder and to the public
• monitoring costs, functions and activities in order to ensure that resources are managed effectively
• approving overall planning and direction
• selecting the E.D.
• performance appraisal of the E.D.
• Board continuity and self-management.

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Board Recruitment

Have a good policy on the role of the nominating committee.  These committee members have wisdom and tact; they are circumspect, persuasive, and know the membership.

Lesson Learned Guiding Points

• Strategic planning is multi-faceted; being reflective, present-oriented, future-oriented, as well as action-oriented all at the same time.

• Good strategic planning facilitates good governance, financial management, and program effectiveness. 

• To feel a sense of pride and “ownership”, everyone (staff, management, Board) must feel they contributed to the plan and their voices are reflected in it. The strategic plan is the AGENCY’s plan (not just a Board, staff or management plan).



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Lesson Learned Steps to Developing a Strategic Plan

1. Strike a Strategic Planning Committee.  Review relevant documentation and conduct initial interviews with the E.D. and Board chair. Plan for strategic planning: who will be involved, who will actually be responsible for it, the time requirements, whether or not to hire a consultant.

2. Conduct interviews, focus groups and surveys with a broader base of stakeholders. Stakeholders may include Board members, managers and staff; representatives of funding agencies; representatives of umbrella groups, representatives of partner as well as competing agencies, and clients.  Interviews, focus groups and surveys can shed light on…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Strategic Planning

• Keep the plan simple, achievable and easily understood by others. Focus on the things you do really well. Set realistic timelines and revisit your plan annually. The Strategic Plan must be dynamic and be able to evolve over a period of time.  The plan must be able to accommodate change and contingencies.

• If it is your agency’s first time doing a strategic plan, consider it a learning process.  For instance, after the first time using a consultant, many agencies find they can do their strategic plan themselves or with minimal external assistance.



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Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

• Because most CBET agencies deliver programs and services, program innovation and business development go hand in hand. The more innovative the program, the more likely it will be funded.

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Innovative Program Development

• Think of your program innovation as a business proposal. Develop a comprehensive 2 or 3-year business plan for any new program or social enterprise.  Pay particular attention to client, revenue and service projections…

Lesson Learned Tips on Organizational Groundwork for Program Innovation

• The ED must be prepared to be a strong leader to act in a timely fashion, to be opportunistic, to consult Board and staff, and to motivate the team through uncertainty.

• Ensure staff who are (or will be) delivering the program are part of the planning process…

Lesson Learned Tips on Program Integration at the Agency and Community

• An important aspect of program development involves integrating programs in order to leverage existing capacity and resources to develop new programs, or more often, modify existing programs to better suit client and community needs. This involves physical integration, program integration and community integration.

Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

• At the heart of program innovation, and therefore any successful proposal, is your idea – as mentioned earlier, the idea can be big or little, bold or modest, but above all it must be a viable solution to a real need.  The attractiveness of the core idea conveyed in the proposal is key to its success…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Proposal Writing

• Besides adequately addressing the terms of reference, and clearly articulating the proposed program’s unique features, be sure to address such questions as:

o What is the need that the proposed program is meeting? What is    the evidence of that need?
o How does your program address this need…

Lesson Learned Tips on Budgeting

• Submit a budget that is below the specified maximum, even a couple percentage points can look really good to a funder (or more to the point phone up and ask about what a realistic pitch for your project would be).

• If cash and in-kind contributions factor into the proposal, what is the value specified for in-kind services?  For example, what is the hourly value the funder places on volunteers when calculating the value of in-kind services?  Does the funder allow program income (e.g., fees, sales, fundraising) to be included as part of the project’s matching contributions?

• Spell out your costing as specifically as possible.  Although it is true that for most proposals the overall cost is a major consideration, cost is not always the overriding factor.  If the proposal is otherwise attractive, and if your costing is transparent enough, a funder may have reasonable suggestions about how or where to trim costs…

Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

• Partnerships can be defined basically as establishing mutual or common interest and working together to accomplish goals; they can be voluntary or mandated…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Agency Partnerships

• Actively seek out partnerships as a way to strengthen both current and future services.  Often the beginnings of good and lasting partnerships happen by one organization taking the initiative to find a compatible partner.

• Incorporate partnerships as a key principle in your service delivery model.  This instils a culture of looking for partnerships on a regular basis and provides an opportunity to try out partnerships slowly rather than trying to form them in the midst of developing a program model under tight timeframes…

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Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Community Partnerships

• Although the following points pertain to all partnerships, they are especially important when multiple agencies within the community are involved:

o All partners have to agree to the vision.

o All partners must contribute time, money and effort in proportion to their stake in the project.

o It is critical to develop a reporting system that the partners are confident it.

o Don’t be afraid to ask for advice and share problems with the partners, and to reflect on what is working well.

o When serving specific groups ensure that they are an integral part of planning, co-ordination and implementation.

Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

• Financial management cannot be driven by the finance department. The job of the Finance department is to provide timely and accurate financial reports according to the organizational structure and to advise management. Management needs to drive the Finance Department. To do so, good management systems are required to track budgets, forecast expenses, regularly account for variances, and develop and track annual budgets.  The Board is also closely involved through a Finance Committee to monitor on a quarterly basis the budget and balance sheets…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Financial Monitoring/Management

• You need an accounting system that meets your needs and has room to grow as those needs change.  For example, as your funding diversifies, it also usually necessitates expanding and making your accounting systems more flexible…

Lesson Learned Specific Steps in Setting up a Financial Monitoring/Management System

• Purchase a computerized accounting package no matter the size of the organization. Inexpensive packages can be purchased for a few hundred dollars and will provide the bookkeeping and reporting function needed for smaller organizations. They are more accurate, exportable to other software such as excel that are commonly used in financial management. They save staff time thus paying for the purchase very quickly…

Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

• In many respects a business plan is like a program proposal or plan, and some funders use the terms interchangeably. 

• Driven by the strategic plan, a business plan forecasts the revenues and expenditures for each initiative cash flow from one or more programs – or funding streams…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Business Planning

• If funding will be based on a fee-for-service arrangement (e.g., x hours of instruction to y learners over z weeks), be sure that your estimates of client volume are sound, and that client volume will be sufficient to sustain the program financially…

Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

• Program evaluation helps determine how well a particular program works and if a program is not working as well as expected, it may be possible to shed light on:

o What specific aspects of a program are not working and why (e.g. by identifying shortcomings in program content or delivery, or by identifying systemic influences that impede clients’ progress such as gaps in service, waiting lists, inappropriate referrals, etc.), and

o What action can be taken to address the challenges…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors for Results Monitoring

• Consider using the following client outcome measures and benchmarks, taken from ONESTEP’s Delivering value:  Employment Indicators in Ontario’s Community Based Training Sector.  These benchmarks were arrived at in 2004 using an Ontario-wide sample of 1,100 clients from ten CBET agencies…

Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

• Public relations require a planned, proactive, strategic approach.  It is important to take the time to develop Marketing/Communication strategies – long and short term, program specific and agency wide. This “roadmap” will focus your efforts on communicating who you are, what you can do, and how you can do it by establishing activities, responsibilities, timelines and a budget…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Public Relations, Marketing, Branding

• Do market research to understand your target — who they are and what they want — and craft powerful and engaging messaging accordingly. Don’t think about what resonates with you – rather, think about your market segment. Plan what kind of tactics you will use and track the impact of your communications…

Lesson Learned Tips on Internal Messaging

• Share information with all staff on a consistent, regular basis. Consistent, regular messaging needs to be communicated to all staff, in order to ensure that all staff members are on the “same page” with the same information about your agency’s current status and future plans, programming information etc…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Government Relations

• Work from a solution-focused approach and use your knowledge of programs and services to help local officials address challenges that they are facing.  Do your research on what their priorities are and present your services as viable solutions…

Lesson Learned Tips on Negotiating with Government

• Know what flexibility you have in negotiating on behalf of your organization. Know what your breaking points are after which it is not feasible to continue discussions. If an item is a deal breaker, negotiate all other alternatives until common ground can be found.  Know what components you may be willing to give on to create some flexibility and to give you some leverage in other areas…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Recruitment and Retention

• Have a clear HR Strategy in your Strategic Plan, including an organizational chart. Utilize staff in the development of the strategy to understand what attracted them to the organization and what keeps them there, as well as what are the gaps in skills and where additional resources are required…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Fostering Professional Development

• Develop universal organizational goals that are reflected in individual performance appraisal.  Everyone sharing a goal and working towards the goal reinforces your culture. 

• Build concept of growth and development into core expectations of roles and incorporate it into performance appraisals/goal setting for the year.  If training is a part of the plan, ensure they are able to apply their new skills in their work. Revisit the professional development plan regularly, every 3 months is recommended…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Leadership Capacity Building

• Develop a management philosophy that articulates the culture you want to develop, share the philosophy with staff and hold managers accountable for demonstrating management philosophy through daily interactions with staff…

Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

• Strategic technology planning helps to tie technology to organizational goals. Proper planning demonstrates that leaders understand how technology can serve an organization – not the other way around.

• Good technology planning leverages existing planning skills and capacity to integrate technology into your organizational mandate…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Strategic Technology Planning

• Conduct a visioning exercise with the staff to understand how technology can help your organization. Getting feedback from the staff will help you to define your organizational needs.

• Don’t just listen up, listen down as well. People in the field really know what the needs are. Getting feedback on what’s working, what’s failing and what’s missing can make stronger prioritization decisions in the strategic planning process…

Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

• A technology project plan should start with a big picture overview of what the project will produce (outputs or deliverables) and a list of the community or organizational impacts that it aims to have (outcomes)…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Project Planning and Implementation

• Identify ALL of the project stakeholders. Gather valuable input from every possible end user of the proposed project during the planning stage, beyond just the perceived “customer” for the project. This includes finance, marketing, fundraising, communications etc…

Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

• Your website is more than just information about your agency or organization. It is the image of your organization online. It is the platform through which you can communicate with your audience…

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Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Web-Based Services

• Don’t believe in “build it and they will come”. Look into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to increase your visibility. Advertise your website in all of your print materials. Use information on your website as a supplement to your existing programs and services…

Lesson Learned Notes on Quality Assurance

• For most community-based agencies the purpose of investing time, money and energy into program evaluation is not to conduct scientific investigations, or to address macro level or policy questions, but to ensure the highest quality service to their own clients, in other words, quality assurance (QA)…

Lesson Learned Tips on Setting Benchmarks

• The following suggestions may be helpful in putting your agency’s benchmarking results in perspective.

oFirst, and foremost, remember that benchmarking is not a race. Benchmarks are the most helpful when they are used internally for purposes of ongoing reflection and program improvement…

Lesson Learned Guiding Principles

• A vision statement spells out goals at a high level and should coincide with the Board’s goals for the organization. Simply put, the vision should state what the Board ultimately envisions the business to be, in terms of values, contributions to society, and the like; therefore, self-reflection by the Board is a vital activity if a meaningful vision is to be developed. As a Board, once you have defined your vision, you can begin to develop strategies for moving the organization toward that vision…

Lesson Learned Key Success Factors in Mission, Vision, Values and Goals

• A vision statement spells out goals at a high level and should coincide with the Board’s goals for the organization. Simply put, the vision should state what the Board ultimately envisions the business to be, in terms of values, contributions to society, and the like; therefore, self-reflection by the Board is a vital activity if a meaningful vision is to be developed. As a Board, once you have defined your vision, you can begin to develop strategies for moving the organization toward that vision…