FAQs

Strategic planning is goal setting and goal mapping. A strategic plan must identify goals that are consistent with the organization’s overall vision. A successful strategic planning process should provide answers to three main questions:

• Where are we now?
• Where do we want to be?
• What do we need to do to get there?

Strategic planning is used to:

• set priorities
• ensure equity of access and in outcomes
• focus energy and resources
• strengthen operations
• ensure that employees and associated parties  are working toward common goals
• establish agreement around intended outcomes and processes for monitoring results
• assess and adjust the organization’s direction in response to a changing environment

It's a method for selecting participants for the Co-Design Charrette or workshop, and for selecting Youth Ambassadors. Civic Lotteries are equitable and democratic methods to randomly select participants to present their diverse communities. In our case, the selection process is adapted to ensure the group represents the demographic makeup of the Hamilton community. That is why we asked demographic questions on the application.

We are also calling this a charrette because a charrette is a meeting in which all participants working on a project attempt to reach a consensus on a way forward. The Co-Design Workshop for the strategic planning process will be interactive and collaborative where everyone has a chance to contribute their ideas, share local knowledge and come up with a collective vision guiding the direction of the HWDSB strategic plan.