1l: Developing an Action Plan for the Policy Team’s Work

Introduction

After developing a vision and mission for your policy team, the team should determine the specific goals and objectives necessary to achieve each target of change in your mission. To recap:

• Your vision is a statement about the clear and elevating goal your team is striving to achieve—a statement of your preferred future.
• Your mission is a statement that describes the work your team intends to undertake during a specific period of time to make progress toward achieving your vision.
• Your goals represent the accomplishments that must be realized to achieve your mission.
• Your objectives are the steps, or tasks, that must be completed to meet your goals.

While the team should develop an action plan from the outset and include it in the charter, the plan will undoubtedly change as the team makes progress and learns more. As needed, update the work plan to keep it current, to pace work, and to gauge progress.

Purpose

To create an action plan that will outline the specific goals and objectives the team will undertake, the sequence and timing of activities, and the persons responsible for those tasks

Participants

All policy team members should be involved in the development of your action plan. (Individuals or groups of individuals within your policy team or outside of your policy team may be involved in achieving the objectives in your action plan.)

Instructions

The activities identified in this Starter Kit are intended to lay the groundwork for the implementation of the EBDM Framework.^[1]

1. Working together, refer to the activities listed on Getting from Here to There: The Roadmap for Preparing to Implement the EBDM Framework. Discuss each activity and ensure that all team members understand its purpose.
2. Determine whether some of this work has been done before, in whole or in part.^[2]
3. Determine whether the goals listed in the Roadmap are the right goals for your policy team to achieve its mission, whether the goals should be changed somewhat, or whether new goals should be added.
4. Agree upon the appropriate set of goals for your team’s work plan.
5. Once this list is complete, place each goal in an order to reflect the sequencing of how these goals should be tackled.
6. Next, consider each goal and identify the specific action steps (or objectives) that will be taken to achieve it. Determine the person(s) responsible for the task and a deadline for completion.
7. Designate a team member who will create a written action plan for the decisions made during the action planning session. Refer to the action plan template in the Appendix as a guide for developing a formal, written action plan.

Tips

• It may not be possible to forecast very specific steps for activities that will be accomplished in later months; try to develop in more detail the more immediate tasks (i.e., 3–4 months) that need to be accomplished.
• Teams should revisit their action plan regularly to make revisions and adjustments as needed.

Example:
Ramsey County, Minnesota, Action Plan for the EBDM Planning Process (Abbreviated version of whole document)

 

Objective 1: Build a genuine, collaborative policy team
Implementation Steps (How)	Progress	By Whom & With Whom	Target Date for Completion	Date Completed
Convene the full policy team.	First meeting held Nov. 8. Regular monthly meetings set up through Aug.	Local coordinator	10/15	11/8 & ongoing
Name a chair for the policy team.	Reviewed at Nov. 8 meeting.	Policy team	11/8	11/8
Draft and finalize a charter, which includes a vision, a mission, ground rules, and team responsibilities, for the policy team.	Reviewed at Nov. 8 and 15 meetings. Reviewed again at Dec. 13 meeting and unanimously approved.	Policy team	Dec	12/13
Train new members of the policy team.	Setting up training for Mar.	Training subcommittee & policy team	Mar.
At the end of each meeting, review how the meeting went and how well members adhered to ground rules and operating rules.	An evaluation will be administered and reviewed at each meeting.	Local coordinator	Start Nov. & monthly	11/8 & ongoing

Objective 2: Build individual agencies that are collaborative and in a state of readiness for change
Implementation Steps (How)	Progress	By Whom & With Whom	Target Date for Completion	Date Completed
Provide regular updates to judges and to the Board of Commissioners.	Visit judges one-on-one to update them on the Initiative; provide monthly updates to the Board of Commissioners; hold Board workshops	Chair	Nov. & ongoing	Nov. & ongoing

 

 

Objective 3: Understand and have the capacity to implement evidence-based practices
Implementation Steps (How)	Progress	By Whom & With Whom	Target Date for Completion	Date Completed
Plan a workshop for leadership and line staff in participating agencies.	Dec. 2010: Initial planning was begun. Target date for workshop is Mar. 9. Education/Building Skills subcommittee was formed. Workshop to include an awareness survey.	Policy team and Education/Building Skills subcommittee	Mar.
Form an Education/Building Skills subcommittee to develop skills in each specialty area to ensure that staff in each organization has a base level of competency.	Work with managers and then with staff to build skills. Training subcommittee was formed. Discuss how to gauge knowledge level, skill level, and cultural change issues.	Education/Building Skills subcommittee	Dec. & ongoing	Dec. & ongoing

 

Objective 4: Establish performance measurements/outcomes/system scorecard
Implementation Steps (How)	Progress	By Whom & With Whom	Target Date for Completion	Date Completed
Agree on key definitions (e.g., “recidivism,” “probation violation”).	This work will start during the mapping process.	Policy team	Feb. & Mar.

 

Objective 5: Engage/gain support of our communities
Implementation Steps (How)	Progress	By Whom & With Whom	Target Date for Completion	Date Completed
Name stakeholders/communities to be kept informed.	Discussed at Nov. policy team meeting.	Policy team	Nov. & ongoing	Nov. & ongoing
Develop a plan for communicating with the public.	Discuss how to address livability issues; how to talk about EBP. What does the community already know? Consider using the information from the public opinion survey.   Consider television, newspaper releases, public service announcements, town meetings, etc.	Chair	Jan. & ongoing	Jan. & ongoing

 

Additional Resources/Readings

CEPP. (2005). Collaboration: A training curriculum to enhance the effectiveness of criminal justice teams. Retrieved from https://cepp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Collaboration-A-Training-Curriculum-to-Enhance-the-Effectiveness-of-Criminal-Justice-Teams-2005.pdf

CEPP. (2006). Getting it right: collaborative problem solving for criminal justice. Retrieved from https://nicic.gov/getting-it-right-collaborative-problem-solving-crimina...

CSOM. (2007). Enhancing the management of adult and juvenile sex offenders: A handbook for policymakers and practitioners. Retrieved from https://cepp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/6-CSOM-Handbook.pdf

Appendix:
Action Plan Template

GOAL #1	DATE TO BE COMPLETED	BY WHOM	WITH WHOM
GOAL #1 Specific task Specific task Specific task Specific task
GOAL #2 Specific task Specific task Specific task Specific task
GOAL #3 Specific task Specific task Specific task Specific task
GOAL #4 Specific task Specific task Specific task Specific task
ETC. Etc. Etc. Etc.

 

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[1] Please note that your policy team may or may not complete these activities in the same sequence as other sites.

[2] Work that has been completed before does not need to be redone unless it is dated, incomplete, or not fully encompassing of the EBDM initiative, or if all team members have not been a part of it. In these cases, adjustments may need to be made. Use the pre-existing work as a starting point, rather than starting from scratch.