The Making of the IDS Strategic Plan

Where do you start when creating a strategic plan? It can be an overwhelming task for organisations, but a job so sorely required for a business to be able to navigate through times of growth and change.

At IDS, we acknowledged that we had experienced some good growth. The kind of growth that requires a consideration to be paid to the direction and objectives of the organisation. And so, with some help from experienced strategists, we embarked on developing IDS’ Strategic Direction.

Going back to my original question, ‘where do you start when creating a strategic plan?’ The answer was to start with our purpose, the very reason IDS exists. This required having a clear vision of our purpose and knowing that from an operation and Board perspective, everyone was aligned.

From this, the IDS purpose was confirmed:

“We aim to empower people, enriching their quality of life. Our vision is for people with a disability to have the support they require to live the life they want.”

Next, we looked at whether the IDS values were guiding us toward this purpose. To do this, we delved into the world of focus groups and invited clients and carers to join us for a discussion. We wanted to use our clients’ words to better understand our values, and we applied the ‘voice of the client’ to each of our values.

Client-Centred – “This is about me.”
Provide Opportunities – “I don’t know what I don’t know, share what you know.”
Choice and Control – “I know what I want; ask me.”
Respect – “I am your equal, treat me that way.”

And with this, we were confident that our values guide our purpose – tick!

Now to the ‘Strategy Map’ to define the various stages of the strategic direction. Starting from bottom up, we investigated the organisations capacity, moved through to internal processes and then to finances, all leading to the client.

Out of this the below map was born; a plan to inform us of the various actions that were required to fulfil our strategic direction:

As shown on the map, we created a series of sub-objectives.

Capacity:

· Build Critical Skills

· Foster Family & Team Spirit

· Enable the Strategy through Technology

· Continually Improve Efficiency & Quality

Internal Processes:

· Optimise Workforce Management

· Optimise Stakeholder Experience

· Understand Stakeholders as Individuals

· Improve Stakeholder Marketing & Comms

Financial:

· Grow Revenue Streams

· Build Financial Stability

Customer:

· Build Enduring Relationships

From this, we identified a list of tasks, in fact, over 110 of them! Developing our strategic direction has been an invaluable experience for us as an organisation. We still have a way to go to reach the goals we have set for ourselves, and with the ever-growing challenges of the global pandemic, we know that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

Our commitment to playing our part in supporting people with a disability to live the life they want is our driver. And like a marathon, we know that each day brings another opportunity to be better, improve a little and take another forward step, and in time we will look back and say, wow, look at how far we have come.