As already noted, Strategy is the way in which the peer organisation is travelling on the path. It is how the organisation aims to achieve its mission and arrive at its vision. For example, if our Vision was full community inclusion for people living with physical disability across Tasmania, and our Mission was to offer a variety of services and programs building their individual capacity, the approach we take to achieve this is our strategy. Will we deliver peer groups, discussing information about the UN Human Rights Convention? Will we establish 1:1 mentoring programs, matching people based upon diverse knowledge/experience backgrounds? Do we encourage conversations about methods for overcoming barriers to inclusion? How do we make these decisions?
In the previous section ‘The Big Picture’ we discussed the rights-based foundation for peer support programs. We also now know that there are clear good practice principles upon which we can base our program design decisions. As expressed above, The Social Policy Research Centre’s practice review, published by Davy, Fisher & Wehbe (2018) illustrated the emergence of common values and principles for good practice peer support. Thus, when deciding upon Strategy, it is important to consider whether your approach reflects good practice and a rights-based foundation.
Another important consideration in Strategy will be the environment in which your peer organisation and the specific peer program will be operating within. From the peer program’s perspective, this includes the internal organisational environment in which it operates, as well as the external environment and your wider community. The overall process of coming up with the organisation’s strategy is called ‘strategic planning’. This activity is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen processes, ensure that the team and other stakeholders are working toward shared goals, establish agreement around the desired destination, and assess and adjust peer program design according to its operating environment. Strategic planning can be a helpful process, but in this Module we assume this has already been undertaken at the organisational level.
The BSC requires the identification of a vision, mission and strategy for the peer organisation. We know where we are heading and the approach we are taking to get there. Once these are clear, we are best placed to ensure we can identify the most appropriate signals for the journey ahead. We will be deciding what to gather evidence on based on these core elements. In other words, we will have a unique compass to use on the journey to the destination we have selected (Vision) via our approach taken (Mission) using the vehicle of our own design (Strategy).
The final stage is to then consider how you will know if the strategy is working. Have we made successful choices for our peer program? Are we happy with our approaches? Do we need to make adjustments, in response to changing conditions and member feedback? Is there anything we have forgotten to factor in? This step involves identifying goals and objectives for the peer support program. This is the next phase in our gathering evidence journey. Using our ‘sailing’ metaphor, have we used the right sail angle, have we navigated around the bad weather, and did we pack the right resources such as food and clothing?
Our evidence ‘compass’ should be able to tell us where we currently are, how far away we are from our destination and if our boat is the right design. This is the next phase in our gathering evidence journey.
Identifying and selecting your Organization’s Vision, Mission and Strategy for the Peer Program is really, the ‘WHY’ behind harvesting evidence. We want to know what direction we are heading in and the approach taken to get there. Keep in mind, your peer program’s ‘track’ is bound to be unique. Hence, you should also shape your way of compiling evidence to signify this. Each peer support program will develop its own compass for their respective journey. Your peer support programs can unearth benefits from embarking upon this journey and reaching the ‘evidence’ destination. This training package plans to support you through these processes.
Once the peer program has its organisation’s Vision and Mission identified, and strategy selected, we know where it is that the program is aiming and how we will be travelling there. This is really the ‘WHY’ behind gathering evidence – we want to know where we are heading in and the approach taken to get there. Remember, your peer program’s ‘track’ is likely to be unique and so your way of gathering evidence should also be unique. Each peer support program will develop its own compass for their unique journey. This package seeks to support you through the process due to the benefits your peer support programs can derive from both travelling this journey as well as arriving at the desired destination.
In this module of the training package, the aim is to enable you to consider the way in which gathering evidence as a process can guide your peer support program(s) and help you to ‘stay on track’.