Fire Department Strategic Planning

Description

Successful fire service leaders know that a fire department that isn’t moving forward is dying or, at least, in danger of dying. In this second edition, author Mark Wallace succinctly points out that if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. Fire departments that know where they are going, know the environment in which they must operate, and have identified how to get there have the best chance of achieving their goals and desires. These concepts form the foundation of strategic planning. They challenge fire chiefs to escape from the typical operational thinking, to begin strategic thinking, and ultimately to manage their organizations strategically.
Readers will learn about the strategic planning process and why each of the steps in the process is critical if the plan is to succeed. More importantly, while the strategic planning process may be thought of as extremely complicated this book remove the mystery that some think of when considering strategic planning by providing timely advice and easy to use tools to assist in the strategic planning process.

The second edition of Fire Department Strategic Planning: Creating Future Excellence by Mark Wallace provides application and implementation details for the Fire Department Strategic Planning Model. This edition is designed to be consistent with the critical elements of the accreditation process and its associated Accreditation Self-Assessment Manual. With the advancement of strategic planning among fire service agencies since 1998, the publishing date of the first edition, the second edition focuses more on maximizing the impact and keeping the department’s current strategic plan up to date. The “how-to approach” of the first edition remains for those first-time strategic planners.

Introduction/Overview of Strategic Planning; Revisiting Your Existing Strategic Plan; Speed Planning for the Time Challenged Proactive Futurist; Strategic Planning and the Commission on Fire Accreditation International; Planning To Plan Strategically; Understanding and Applying the Values of the Department; The Value of Vision to Organizational Change; Identifying the Department’s Mandates; Developing the Mission of the Department; Understanding and Defining the Philosophy of Operations; Assessing the Challenges and Opportunities of the External Environment; Assessing the Weaknesses and Strengths of the Internal Environment; Identifying the Strategic Issues of the Department; Creating Strategies for Strategic Issues; Creating the Department’s Ideal Future Through Proactive Futuring; Operational Planning from a Strategic Perspective; Strategic Management and Master Planning; Cyclic Planning

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