Assessment 3

Developing and Communicating the Strategic Action Plan

Create an 8-10 slide PowerPoint presentation for an executive audience that outlines an action plan your selected organization will use to achieve its strategic goals and communicate the plan to stakeholders. You will record yourself presenting the slides in an audio or video recording of 5 minutes or less in length.

Introduction

Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in the order they are presented.

In your previous assessments, you examined how today's health care organizations prepare themselves for the present and the future through strategic management. Specifically, you analyzed how a health care organization's external and internal environments affect its operations.

The next step is to consider an action plan to achieve the organization's strategic objectives and to communicate it to stakeholders.

This assessment provides an opportunity for you to create an executive presentation in the form of PowerPoint slides and an audio or video recording in which you present the information in the slides. In this presentation, you will outline the action plan your selected health care organization will use to achieve its strategic goals, as well as a plan for communicating the strategic goals and action plan to stakeholders.

Reminder: Complete the assessments in this course in the order they are presented. You will complete sections of a strategic management plan for each assessment. In this assessment, you will continue to use the organization and the factor from the AHA’s most recent Environmental Scan report that you chose in the first assessment.

Professional Context

Now you have a solid understanding of the importance of strategic planning, key core concepts and components for the organization you selected, and goals that align with its mission, vision, and values. You have now evaluated where the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats exist.

The next step in strategic planning is creating an action plan and communicating that plan to its stakeholders. The following two brief videos provide insights into creating a strategic action plan and communicating it to stakeholders.

Watch the brief video in the following reading list for tips on creating an action plan.

• Assessment 3: Strategic Action Plans reading list.

Watch the brief video in the following reading list to learn about communicating an action plan.

• Assessment 3: Communicating Your Strategy reading list.

Strategic action plans help organizations stay on track. Keep this in mind as you consider the goals to be achieved and how you plan to make your action plan a reality. Remember that action plans are not set in stone. Rather they are a guide for organizations to review often as their organization grows or declines. It is a plan that must be adjusted along the way.

As you create a communication plan, you will need to consider the best way to communicate your action plan to the organization's stakeholders. The successful implementation of a strategic plan requires effective communication and a thorough understanding of not only the role of the organization within the greater community, but the role of leadership within the organization. By effectively engaging stakeholders and understanding the philosophy of strategic management, leaders can mitigate challenges and hurdles that face those directing change.

Consider the leadership soft skills essential for delivering the intended message to your audience. For example, skills such as communication, motivating others, teamwork, problem-solving, adaptability, delegation, active listening, and so forth, are important. Basically, consider how you will gain buy-in and motivate your stakeholders to get on board.

Assessment Instructions

Create an executive presentation in the form of 8–10 PowerPoint slides and create an audio or video recording (5 minutes or less in length) of yourself making the presentation to your audience. The presentation must describe an action plan to address the identified issues and a communication strategy to share the action plan with the organization's stakeholders.

In the PowerPoint presentation:

1. Briefly share the issues you identified in your second assessment.
2. Analyze how you would address the issues relevant to the factor you chose (your action plan).
   • In your explanation include at least 3 actions.
3. Analyze the human resource and financial perspectives of your action plan.
   • For example, if you chose the factor Better Care and Greater Value (affordability and access, quality and safety, value-based delivery and payment models), and determined that under accessibility and affordability there were customers who did not have a way to communicate or access follow-up care, an issue is identified. Now that you know this issue, perhaps your action plan to address the issue is partnering with Verizon or AT&T to provide cell phones to those customers who are not able to afford the means of communicating or participating in their plan of care. Keep in mind that means addressing the financial perspective and how this impacts operations.
4. Describe your communication strategy that addresses the identified issues related to the factor chosen in your initial assessment and the resulting action plan.
   • Describe the effective leadership soft skills that are essential for this delivery. For example, skills such as communication, motivating others, teamwork, problem-solving, adaptability, delegation, active listening, et cetera.
   • Describe a communication strategy that is appealing to your stakeholders.
   • Describe how you will get your stakeholders motivated to climb on board with your action plan.
5. Your executive PowerPoint presentation should have the following basic structure. It should be 8–10 slides in length, not including the title and reference slides. Be sure to use an appealing slide design. The PowerPoint Presentations Library Guide can help.
   • Slide 1: Title slide.
   • Slide 2: Overview of the factor from the AHA Environmental Scan report you chose in the first assessment.
   • Slides 3–5: Action Plan Initiatives (explain at least 3 action items based on your analysis in the second assessment).
   • Slides 6–8: Communication Plan (consider leadership soft skills and best practices).
   • Slide 9: Conclusion slide (highlights the important takeaways for your audience).
   • Slide 10: Reference slide.
6. Presentation slides should consist only of bullet points to express the intended message. Add images where applicable.
7. Include detailed or in-depth discussion notes in the Notes section for each PowerPoint slide (the Notes section is required).
8. Proofread your presentation and make sure your citations and references are complete and are in APA format.
9. Create an audio or video recording of yourself presenting the PowerPoint presentation to your audience. This recording must be 5 minutes or less in length. You may use Kaltura or other compatible software. The Using Kaltura resource can help.
   • Practice delivering your presentation to keep it less than 5 minutes in length.
   • Think about the content and how it should be delivered. You want this to be a motivating and captivating presentation for your CEO. If the CEO is captivated, the other stakeholders will be captivated.
   • As a current or future health care leader, your presentation is expected to be delivered clearly and professionally. Create this presentation as if you are presenting this to your workplace CEO.

• Assessment Format: PowerPoint slides and audio or video recording.
• PowerPoint Length: 8–10 slides, not including the title and reference slides.
• Recording Length: 5 minutes or less.
• Supporting Evidence: Include at least 3 academic or scholarly sources as needed to highlight and support strategies suggested and evidence-based assertions and best practices.
• APA Formatting: Format in-text citations and references according to current APA style and formatting. Evidence and APA can help with this.
• Submission Requirements: Submit your PowerPoint slides and recorded audio or video presentation in the Assessment area.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Analyze organizational structure, design, culture, and climate in relation to environmental forces.
  • Describe issues identified in an environmental scan of an organization.
  • Describe a communication strategy that addresses identified issues related to a specific environmental factor and the resulting action plan.
• Competency 2: Develop a strategic organizational plan that provides human and financial resources to support targeted organizational outcomes.
  • Analyze how to address the issues identified in an environmental scan relevant to a specific environmental factor.
  • Analyze the human resource and financial perspectives of an action plan.
• Competency 4: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for professionals in health care administration.
  • Describe effective leadership soft skills that are essential for communicating an action plan.
  • Create an effective PowerPoint presentation, including detailed discussion notes.
  • Create an effective audio or video presentation conveying an action plan and communication plan.