Note To Washington!!!!

I was just having an UGH moment after listening to politicians make their arguments for the policies this administration is proposing. This was the QUESTION that kept coming to mind. Are you smarter than a 5th grader? I'm simply not happy with how Washington is handling the policy making process PERIOD. They're acting like chickens who lost their heads. They are constantly REACTING to everything! They have NO BUSINESS SENSE! It seems like they NEVER stop to analyze if this expenditure or that project is COST EFFECTIVE. They NEVER stop to consider COST SAVINGS and QUALITY vs. quantity either. They have been focusing on SHORT TERM fixes and not once considering the LONG TERM BENEFIT. All this administration is doing is POSTPONING the economic crisis. I have absolutely NO CONFIDENCE in anybody in Washington right now. Many brilliant children could do a much better job than any of these BUFFOONS! You know I may not be a genius, but I have enough SENSE to know that if I'm struggling in an area of my life, whether it be business, sports or even relationships, I MUST FIRST PAUSE and acknowledge something is not working, then ask myself what is the cause? Then how can I improve that area - how can I make it work? Is there an ALTERNATIVE method or response that would prove beneficial? Just food for thought Mr. President.

Use Hindsight when Strategic Planning

[source: Planware]

Statements on vision, mission, objectives, values, strategies and goals are not just elements of future planning. They also provide benchmarks for a historic review. Most managers will find it exceedingly difficult to develop a future strategy for a business without knowing its current strategies and measuring their success to date.

Assess Current Position

The starting point must be to determine a company's (government's) existing (implicit or explicit) vision, mission, objectives and strategies. Then judge these against actual performance along the following lines:

• Is the current vision being realized?
• How has the company's (government's) mission and objectives changed over the past say, ONE year? Why have the changes occurred or why have no changes occurred? Identify primary reasons and categorize them as either internal or external.
• Describe the actual strategies followed over the past few years in respect of products/services, operations, finance, marketing, technology, management etc.
• Critically examine each strategy statement by reference to activities and actions in key functional areas covering such matters as:
• How has the company (government) been managed?
• How has the company (government) been funded?
• How has the company (government) sought to increase sales (tax revenue) and market share?
• How have productivity/costs moved?

Take each element and quantify by reference to actual performance. Ask of each "why not"?, "why only"?, or "why so"? and locate the reasons for differences between the actual and desired performance.