Strategies for improving the performance of planning: some empirical research

In this paper we accept the performance problem as given, including the theoretical analysis of it made elsewhere. Here we report empirical research into whether people making strategic plans were aware of this performance problem and, if so, what they did to improve the performance of their plans. Six strategic plans made by provinces and four made by larger municipalities were investigated. The plan-makers wanted their plans to fulfill various functions and chose methods of plan-making, including the plan content, so as to increase the probability that the functions would indeed be fulfilled. The strategies followed were varied and differed according to the function. A plan which fulfills a function is performance, under another name. What plan-makers need is guidance about how to make strategic plans that will perform more efficiently. This could be derived from a combination of ex ante and ex post evaluation of performance.