This post is written by Alex Nicholson, Head of Multilateral Engagement and International Nuclear Safety at the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

  • The problem: You have objectives that you want to achieve in your role but you are unsure how to deliver these.

  • Why it matters: Thinking strategically is a key part of delivering your objectives and a clear strategy will help you to achieve this.

  • The solution: A strategy with a clear objective and a plan for developing and delivering this strategy.

Delivering objectives is a key part of being a civil servant and this can be a daunting task if you are not clear on what you’re trying to achieve, why this is important, or how you do this. This article will therefore break down the three important steps you should consider when developing an international strategy that delivers your objectives.

Underneath each step, I will consider an international case study example to enable you to consider what this may look like in practice.

1. Mapping your objective 

You need to have a clear objective and be able to articulate why you have selected this. This will enable you to define what you want to achieve and why and then develop a strategy to deliver this. There are different metrics you may use to consider this but, in my mind, these are the key points:

  1. What do you want to achieve and what does success look like?
  2. Why is this important?
  3. How do you deliver this?
  4. When do you need to act?
  5. Who is responsible?
  6. Does this deliver the goals of others?

Case study: As the chair, you want the international organisation to agree an ambitious and tangible policy outcome.

  1. What does the policy outcome look like in practice? What is your highest ambition outcome and what is the lowest ambition you’d accept – does this still demonstrate success?

  2. Why is this international organisation the right place to do this and not another international organisation? What changes by this international organisation agreeing this policy outcome, and what happens if it doesn’t act?

  3. How do you get to an agreed policy outcome? When do you share a draft text with partners and how do you secure their input? How do you demonstrate this is a consensus outcome?```

  4. When is the final meeting to agree this policy outcome?

  5. As Chair, it is your role to find consensus – who leads in your team to draft this policy outcome and work with others? Who needs to offer policy views? Who negotiates this with your partners?

  6. This is two-fold: i) How can you deliver UK interests (including those of other teams/Departments) and ii) How does this deliver the goals of your international partners – note, as Chair you can set the agenda, but you’ll need consensus to agree the outcome.

If you can answer these questions, you can build a clear and targeted objective that you can justify. This will enable you to then develop and deliver a strategy to achieve it.

2. Developing a strategy

Using the information you have gathered through your mapping exercise, you can now develop the steps you will need to take to deliver your objective. 

There are different ways to approach this but for the purpose of this exercise, we will consider our long-term goals and work backwards. 

Your long-term goal is ultimately where you want to end up and when you achieve this, you have achieved your objective.

Case study: Your long-term goal is the final agreed text of your policy outcome. Once this text is agreed, you have achieved your objective.

With that clearly articulated, you can then consider what steps you need to take to get to this long-term goal. This is best articulated as the important milestones that will take place in between the present day and this long-term goal and where action at these milestones will help you achieve your long-term goal.

When identifying these milestones there are several useful metrics to consider, and I have included the key ones below:

  1. What is this milestone?
  2. Why is this milestone important?
  3. How can acting at this milestone help support your long-term goal?
  4. When is this milestone?
  5. Who is the lead for acting?
  6. Are you delivering their interests?

Case study example considered against above key points:

  1. The final milestone is the final meeting of the international organisation but you may have meetings in advance of these. Meeting 1 could be to present an initial idea; meeting 2 could be to discuss the first draft of the policy outcome based on feedback and meeting 3 is for the first negotiation of the final text.

  2. Why is each meeting important? What do you want to achieve at each meeting?

  3. How does meeting 1 enable you to achieve meeting 2 and so forth, and ultimately enable you to deliver your long-term goal?

  4. Do you have clear dates for your meeting and are all actors clear on these?

  5. Who is responsible at each meeting and what is their role? Who drafts the initial idea for meeting 1 and who presents it?

  6. Linked to the previous section – does your initial idea reflect the interests of your UK colleagues and the views of the international partners Does the first draft in meeting 2 include the views presented by these partners and recognises their concerns?

By taking these steps you are beginning to shape a strawperson strategy that is framed by a clear objective, that has a long-term goal, and identifies a series of steps you need to take to achieve this.

3. Delivering the strategy

As the lead contact for this strategy, you maintain oversight and ensure that others work collaboratively to achieve your objective. 

Guided by the milestones and in support of your objective, you can identify clear roles and responsibilities and demonstrate how individual action delivers the objective. 

This should all be captured in a light-touch project plan that is accessible for all that have a role. In a series of columns it can capture:

  1. The objective
  2. The long-term goal
  3. The milestones in support of the long-term goal, including what you want to achieve, who leads and what action looks like
  4. Whether the milestone has been achieved

Case study example considered against above key points:

  1. As noted in step 1

  2. As noted in step 2

  3. As noted in step 2 – ie each meeting (its date, what you want to achieve, and any key considerations such as international partner feedback)

  4. Have you achieved the success identified in step 2?

You will have one individual that is responsible for holding the pen on all of this and maintaining strategic oversight - which can be a daunting task. This individual is not responsible for doing everything.

They need to identify those that have an interest or a role and work with them to develop the objective and develop and deliver a strategy to achieve this. For steps 2 and 3, this will mean they need to ensure the relevant individual delivers what they’ve been identified to do and update the overall lead of the strategy.

This will require clear communication channels, regular check-ins at the appropriate time, and positive collaboration – you’re working together to agree a shared objective.

Collaboration is ultimately the key point. The lead needs to work with others, and deliver through them, whilst demonstrating their value as some who can maintain strategic oversight and ensure all move in the same direction. With a clear objective and a strategy that all have bought into, your life will be far easier in doing this!

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