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Having established a comprehensive body of knowledge,
attention can be focused on setting a strategic direction to guide policy
and delivery design.
This will typically involve:
- developing a set of guiding principles that will provide the
foundation for strategy and policy development
- articulating a vision that describes the desired state of the future
- defining a set of aims and objectives that will need to be achieved
in order to bring it about.
Work in this phase lays the foundation for developing a
suitable, feasible and acceptable response to the problem at hand. It
highlights the choices and trade-offs that will need to be made, and aims
to ensure that government action is focused on a vision for meeting public
needs; through organisations with ability to deliver; with the support of
the political and wider stakeholder community.
It is vital that the transition from setting strategic
direction to planning for implementation should not be a discrete step but
occur in an iterative fashion. Considering the likely resources required
to meet each strategic objective in the light of the delivery constraints
identified in the previous phase will help to ensure that only achievable
strategic objectives are set.
This phase should result in a consistent and coherent articulation of
strategic direction that defines the objectives for policy development.
Skills relevant to this phase include:
> structuring the
thinking
> appraising options
> managing people and the project
> managing
stakeholders and communications
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