SQW outreach - Strategic Planning Process Workshop
Last month Service Quality Wing (SQW) organised three separate workshops for some 87 Senior Superintendents and Superintendents from the six Regions to discuss the Strategic Planning process and how to enhance the implementation process of Strategic Action Plan (SAP) 2012-2014 in the Regions.
In his opening address, Assistant Commissioner (Service Quality) Wong Fook-chuen stressed that the workshops represent a two-way process, not only a way for SQW to gauge the views of officers directly involved in compilation of Major Formation and Formation Action Plans (FAP), but also a way for SQW to clear up common misconceptions about the purpose and positioning of the Strategic Directions (SD) and SAP.
At the workshops Chief Superintendent (Support) Carmen Lo and SQW Chief Superintendent (Performance Review) Paul Lau shared their experiences of formulating FAP in their previous capacities as District Commander and Deputy District Commander.
The SAP represents a framework from which Regions can devise their own activities that not only support the Force's four SDs but also reflect their commitment to supporting the Commissioner's Operational Priorities and significantly to reflect the local policing needs. These components require subtle differences in emphasis but ultimately each must be pursued from the same pool of resources. Finding the appropriate balance among the components requires commanders throughout the command chain to carefully weigh policing requirements against capabilities and resources to prioritise tasks and services accordingly.
The workshops have underlined the fact that the SAP was never intended to be interpreted as a "project-delivery exercise", an observation that arose following a review of projects across the six Regions in 2010. All commanders must recognise that carrying out projects involves considerable commitments in terms of time and resources, and the decision on what activities should be pursued must consider the potential costs and benefits. Some Formations have over-emphasised project work that supports the SDs when compared with their efforts to enhance policing of local issues.
The workshop also sought the views of the audiences on how to improve understanding of the role of the SAP amongst regional officers and to discuss in what ways the SAP implementation process can be improved upon when the time comes to formulate the 2012-2014 SAP which will be published early next year. Officers attending the workshop provided a broad spectrum of views, and many useful ideas and suggestions were collected over three days, which will be reviewed and considered by SQW.
SQW will run another series of workshops in the coming months for Chief Superintendents.
CSP
Lau shares his experience of preparing Formation Action Plan