Introduction

Encountering problems and creating strategies to solve them is a part of daily life as a public manager. This framework is based on combining the main threads of theory in public policy, management, and administration and applying those to typical leadership dilemmas in policy and management. This approach has proven helpful for managers taking over the helm of a public agency or nonprofit organization, for leaders facing a crisis or crucial decision point, or as a tool for ongoing strategic planning.

MORE TOOLS provides a template for considering crucial strategic decisions and dilemmas by identifying the most significant risks to solving them, determining the politics of the situation, discovering underlying opportunities, finding useable tools in the situation, and clarifying desired and realistic goals. Each of the elements in this framework are essential for complete strategic analysis – ensuring that your approach is balanced and doesn't overlook potentially significant factors that may help or harm the effort to achieve key objectives, and provide leadership that adds value to the mission and purpose of your agency.

With your specific task in mind, the following outline will lead you through the elements essential for effective analysis and developing sound strategies and tactics that advance the mission of the organization and add value to the services it provides. In each of the categories, make an effort to prioritize the most important factors based on their affect on meeting the manager's objectives.

Mission and Purpose

What is the essential purpose of the agency? What is it supposed to accomplish or pursue? Examine the documents and beliefs that define the mission and purpose.

• Mission and purpose are customarily official statements, legislation, or charters.
• The mission may also be a product of folklore or tradition, and may be open to significant interpretation. Understand the formal as well as informal expectations
• As a result of analyzing the capacity and authorizing environment, you may find that expectations or conditions require re-evaluation or adjustment to the stated mission.

Objectives of the Manager

What are your objectives as the manager? Within the mission, what are the things that you must achieve to solve the immediate problem and also, that you should reasonably try to accomplish, within the mission, over the next 2-5 years in order make a difference?

Your objectives are bound by and related to the mission. Objectives are goals or purposes within the mission (as it comes to be defined and understood) that guide your leadership both in the near term, and to the term of your responsibilities for the future of the agency and its services. These objectives should identify the needs and demands that you as a manager believe to be relevant to resolving the immediate problems and those which further the mission and add value to the agency.

The remaining elements of this framework are guided by the mission and managerial objectives presenting both opportunities and constraints. Defining objectives you have both in the short and long term will guide your analysis of leadership needs and risks and will determine your planning and decision-making. The list should be short, and should reflect your evaluation and ranking of which are the most important to meeting the manager's responsibilities to mission and to current circumstances. The objectives become your editorial filters for knowing what factors and issues are relevant to your responsibilities, and to steer you away from interesting, but not presently critical problems.

• Short Term – Consider the immediate and short term objectives related to the current situation or dilemma. For example, in a crisis situation, your short term objectives are focused on what is needed to successfully emerge from the crisis, such as addressing the media, or maintaining crucial relationships and credibility. Whether a crisis or strategic planning scenario, the short term objectives also consider what is needed to make progress, or set the stage for progress, toward longer term objectives such as building crucial alliances, stopping media or political controversy, or halting financial mismanagement.
• Long Term – Consider the longer term objectives beyond the dynamic current situation or dilemma. These factors are similar to, and may be affected by, the current scenario, but have a much longer time horizon and are more likely to be related to agency or programmatic accomplishments. These considerations are related to future sustainability and success of the agency, which may include improving service delivery, redesigning internal organizational structure, redesigning chains of communication, addressing the needs of authorizers, and other factors that may further enable the agency to fulfill its mission in a way that adds value to the public. In making the near term decisions about a crisis or problem, be sure not to interfere with the long term or other mission-related objectives, and in fact, try to advance them with the decisions you make about the crisis. Therefore, explicitly noting the long term objectives is important.

Risks and Problems

What are the most significant risks and problems that can interfere with meeting your objectives?

Situations that require a decision pose risks and contain problems of varying significance that must be assessed in order to prioritize the problem and arrive at a strategy for solution. Refer to your list of objectives, and identify (and prioritize) which risks or problems most threaten their achievement, in addition look to the possible underlying policy, operational, structural, or leadership problems that might give rise to future problems, or exacerbate the current situation if not properly addressed. Also consider outside events that could worsen the crisis.

Do the analysis thoroughly, and after identifying the possible risks and problems, prioritize them based on which most threaten the achievement of important objectives. In this category one should be examining the risks to program success including financial, operational, organizational culture, and other ingredients to success. Use the following to guide your analysis:

• What are the most important problems in the situation that could materially interfere with your objectives (be careful not to make a laundry list of other issues and problems that are not related to the immediate situation or goal, or centrally to the mission). Consider risks both of inaction (the existing situation, if left unaddressed) and of likely actions.
• Include items that have led to the problem in areas such as
  • operational systems
  • channels of communication, feedback, or other information sharing
  • accountability
  • important working relationships and coordination
  • perverse incentives
  • failures in leadership or supervision
  • mismatch of talents or expectations about task
  • opposition from those with power to influence the process.
• What are the risks to the agency or program's ability to deliver on its obligations?
• As the agency leader, what are the risks to your credibility, reputation and leadership ability now and in the future?
• What will happen or be negatively affected relative to mission and objectives if the leader does not take action to resolve the current situation?
• What other risks seem likely or probable through the actions of others or outside events?
• Categorize and prioritize the problems and risks that most need attention.

External and Internal Actors (The Authorizing Environment)

Who are the most important people, and which are the most important institutions that can affect your achievement of objectives?

Assess the players in the scenario in terms of who is most likely to help or hinder in achieving your objectives. These actors potentially include agency staff or management, and individuals or institutions (often categorized as authorizers and stakeholders), who can grant or withhold support, assistance, or authority. Again, use the objectives to help you determine which actors and power sources will be most influential.

Develop an integrated picture of the relationships and potential interaction among internal and external actors, and how that set of players can, taken together, help or harm the situation or longer term objectives. This perspective will help you consider risks, opportunities, and ultimately develop a policy or strategy that is politically feasible and addresses or overcomes internal constraints. Consider the role that important actors may play, what their needs and interests are, and which of them may require your attention or focus.

In the end, think about them as a system or set of players interacting together on the issue, not only as a list of isolated players. Determine which of these individuals or alliances could be most helpful or harmful. Consider:

• Who is affected that might react or initiate action?
• Who can help?
• Who can interfere?
• What are their motives and interests, and how might you affect or meet them?
• What degree of power or influence do they have, and how might they exercise it in this situation?
• What degree of influence, if any, can you exert on their perceptions or actions?
• How the combination of these attitudes and influence of the key players and institutions will affect the situation. (Provide an overall integrated assessment of how they will interact over these issues and what alliances may be or should be sought.)

Tools and Constraints

What are the most important tools available to you, those that can do the most good in the situation, and what are the most important constraints or potential barriers that you see?

Attaining your objectives may be hindered or helped by tools and allies you can engage in the problem. Scanning the situation for tools that have potential value, such as available funds or other resources, powerful allies in the legislature, skills of your staff, facilities, effective practices, or external forces and pressures, things you can do with your authority and influence (such as gain access to discuss items with or affect the views of key players, call meetings, allocate funds or staff, get a favorable editorial, etc.) will help you develop a plan and select levers that can be valuable to you.

Knowing the constraints, such as time deadlines, laws, or regulations, will help you avoid pursuing fruitless strategies, or help you see the need to overcome certain obstacles in order to forward your objectives. Identifying and analyzing these will help you determine what constraints most hinder your objectives, and what is possible to aid you in your efforts.

Be sure to determine which of the tools and constraints could have the greatest impact on the situation. Consider:

• Resource constraints
• Internal regulations or requirements
• Labor contract provisions
• Commercial contract provisions
• Relationships or trust that may be beneficial to a solution
• Past history or image of the agency
• Potential tools in existing formal systems within the agency
• Informal channels and systems
• How staff or outside agencies perform their duties
• Skills, experience, and relationships you as a leader bring to the agency
• Ability to effect change within your zone of influence or control
• Desires or aspirations of key parties

Opportunities

Are there any obvious or hidden opportunities in this situation, particularly if you handle the current problem successfully?

Often, problems or crises can provide the opportunity to bring about significant changes, realignments, or a different image of the agency. When considering opportunities, refer again to your objectives-the most significant opportunities relate to the most important objectives. Many other opportunities might exist, but may not be worth pursuing, even if attainable, if they do not stand the test of priority and importance. Consider:

• Potential improvements in service delivery
• Changes in accountability, incentives, or work flows
• Improved fiscal management
• New alliances
• New or additional pressure on key people to cooperate or act
• Opportunities to demonstrate your credibility, skill, and commitment as a leader
• Implications for positive precedent setting
• Opportunities to build working relationships, confidence, or skills of internal staff
• Ability to add value by acting entrepreneurially to expand or improve services offered

Outcomes and Elements of a Stable Solution

What goals should you reasonably have for the solution of this problem, meeting the short and long term objectives you have identified, particularly in view of the risks, problems, tools, constraints, and authorizing environment you have identified above?

In order to use the information developed in the analysis above, a successful leader will need realistic criteria or goals to use for developing a strategy or solution. Before you begin to develop specific solution ideas, consider the outcomes or elements that must be present in order for the strategy you pursue to have a stable outcome. With those listed and understood, you can then develop and aim your plan at achieving those goals or outcomes.

The outcomes or elements of a stable solution that you list and aim at should reflect your objectives, but be tempered and shaped by other analysis done in this framework. So the elements of a solution would take into account the risks, constraints, and needs of the authorizing environment, as well as potential tools and opportunities. These should be stated in terms of very specific outcomes (not strategies or actions or plans) that will represent an effective, attainable, and sustainable solution. In the later section, asking you for a strategy, your opportunity will arise to develop a specific plan. But first, develop the criteria or elements for a stable solution. A stable solution has the following characteristics:

• Identifies not the steps toward, but the outcomes of expected resolution
• Refers to Objectives and Opportunities, as well as Tools and Constraints previously considered, to formulate 5-10 key aspects of a successful outcome
• Resolves the current problem in a realistic and stable way
• Moves the agency towards the current objectives of the manager
• Advances and supports the mission of the agency or program
• Will not generate opposition that will destabilize the new strategy or decision, and will not create new problems to manage
• Adds to agency capacity and abilities to perform in the future
• Recognizes the opportunities and opposition in the situation
• Makes practical use of available tools; overcomes or works within constraints
• Can be implemented in the available time frame

For example, consider a situation where an agency manager has identified the need to reduce wait times in line for services as a key part of fulfilling the mission. In this arena, focus on shorter term goals, immediate to one year needed outcomes. In the legacy category, think of longer term items. So the desired short term outcomes might be as follows:

Short term (immediate to 1 year)

• Wait times are reduced to match the average of nearby institutions (or some other measure deemed relevant to the circumstances)
• Consumer complaints are reduced to less than X per year
• The cost of reforms are no more than Y
• The city council will vote in favor of the reform legislation and budget, which would require the majority satisfaction with stated goals and proposal
• The union leadership would agree to the needed changes in work rules
• Key staff and contractors believe their needs and interests have been addressed, and would agree to needed changes in work performance

Long term (1-3+ years)

• The long-standing and inadequate financial system is overhauled
• Performance measures are installed that can help identify potential problems in the future
• The agency is prepared for the next busy season, or times of peak demand in services
• The agency is better able to adopt technology to other services.

Note the level of specificity relative to the analysis performed in the preceding portions of the framework, as well as the short and long term aspects of these goals. This list of goals provides a target for developing strategies to reach realistic and focused criteria for desired outcomes.

Legacy

In relation to the objectives, opportunities, problems, and so forth that you have identified, what are the most important aspects of legacy, or long term improvement that could be advanced or result from your decision and strategy in this situation?

Some of the most valuable contributions you can make as a manager are those that will outlast your tenure. This consideration is similar to opportunities, but with a far-sighted focus that extends beyond your managerial oversight. Thus, as you try to determine what your priorities will be relative to solving a crisis or longer term planning, make a conscious analysis about the potential for legacy considerations.

It is important to be modest and realistic, and recognize that some situations allow a leap forward, but a more likely consideration is for incremental steps and laying the foundation for future improvements. Review your analysis and goals through this far-sighted lens to ensure that you have not missed an opportunity to go beyond solving the immediate problem. Consider what could improve the organization beyond your departure and leave it better than you found it. For example, consider:

• Changing or re-inventing funding streams
• Contributing to the development of future leaders
• Changes in how customers are served, especially as technology and market demands change
• Relationships or partnerships with other agencies or authorizers that might result in creating synergy and efficiency
• Processes for responding to cutbacks in funding mandated by authorizers
• Potential infrastructure or other long lasting, tangible improvements
• Opportunities to improve the long term credibility and image of the agency

Strategies and Related Action for Obtaining Desired Outcomes

What are the aspects of a strategy and action steps that can help you meet the goals for solution and legacy needs you have identified above?

Achievement of goals and purposes comes from careful analysis such as this note suggests, and then a plan based on that clear thinking that can realistically move the variables in the situation to a conclusion that matches your goals. At this point in your analysis, you will be able to see each of the crucial strategic elements needed for a stable and effective outcome and a useful legacy, as well as tools available and constraints to overcome in producing those outcomes.

Now it is time to develop an effective action plan that puts these elements in place. Your strategy for attaining desired outcomes should be prioritized in order of immediate to long term steps, and within that chronology, should be prioritized in order of importance. In developing your overall strategy, consider the following:

• Aim at achieving the outcome and legacy elements you have identified above
• Recognize the constraints that pertain
• Use the tools you have identified that will be the most helpful
• Try to establish an approach that efficiently addresses several of the targeted outcomes at once, thereby minimizing the number of needed steps
• Avoid making a lengthy list-develop a strategy and approach that allows for flexibility and can make the desired outcomes a reality

After you have developed (and can state in a few sentences) an overall approach you believe will be effective, then work by using the information developed through this or a similar analytic process to develop the steps to take such as:

• Who are the first people or groups you might call or meet with?
• What will your message be to them?
• What other initial steps on your part will get the plan started?
• What are the next important steps?
• What actions can you take to anticipate and mitigate potential negative reactions or opposition?
• In what ways will you use formal authority, informal influence, persuasion, etc.?
• Make specific reference to how you will address risks and constraints, meet the needs of authorizers or other important players, utilize tools, and pursue opportunities
• Consider what changes are needed to implement long lasting changes, or what steps can be taken to move in that direction

An Effective Template for Developing and Testing a Strategy and Assessing its Risks – just like you did with regard to the existing situations.

Is it likely your strategy will really work to achieve the elements or outcomes and be likely to advance the legacy, or do you just hope it will?

You will now be able to assess the potential for success of your strategy amid the complexities of managing dilemmas and long term strategic planning in a political environment. This framework provides a template for analyzing these complexities, and ensures that you have completed a thorough analysis and have feasible ideas about a strategy.

You can judge the quality of your strategy by determining if it works to further the mission of the agency and your own objectives by overcoming the potential problems and risks, and taking advantage of inherent opportunities. Most importantly, it fosters the rational determination and prioritization of realistic goals and steps for achieving them. If you have tested your strategy against the other elements or portions of this framework, you should have an analysis and plan that is a well reasoned argument, yielding an effective solution.

As a student and practitioner, the more you utilize this framework, the easier it will become. With practice and time, this approach to analyzing a situation will eventually become second nature, providing you with a tool for rational analysis, as an alternative to managerial instincts. As you continue to hone your analytical skills, you will find this framework effective for use in your academic endeavors as well as for challenges you face in your career.