Setting goals in election operations

www.dev.civicdesign.org/tools/setting-goals-in-election-operations/

Setting goals in election operations

The Setting goals in election operations toolkit is part 2 of a series based on our election planning framework.

Use this toolkit to take your insights and turn them into the foundations for actionable plans. (For part 1 see the Post-election debrief toolkit.)

The 4 steps of our election planning framework are:

  1. Debrief an election. Create and facilitate space for you and your team to uncover areas of improvement that can increase employee satisfaction and improve the experience of your voters. Tool: Post-election debrief toolkit.
  2. Set practical goals for the next election. Synthesize your reflection, implement realistic plans, and move them forward. (This toolkit)
  3. Check in on your goals. Create space in your office to check in and prioritize work throughout the year. (To be published)
  4. Sustain your goals over time. Create an office culture that welcomes collaboration and breaks down silos. (To be published)

Section 1. Setting goals in election operations
Section 2. The goal setting worksheet
Section 3. The goal setting template

Section 1

The guide

Illustrated cover of a generic CCD best practice guide

Setting goals in election operations

This guide outlines the next step in the planning process: taking your insights and turning them into the foundations for actionable plans to improve election operations. It includes recommendations and considerations for prioritizing, defining, and creating preliminary plans for your goals.

What are the steps to successful goal setting?

  • Debrief the current election
  • Turn your notes into actionable ideas
  • Choose which ideas to move forward with
  • Define your goals
  • Create preliminary plans for your goals
Setting goals in election operations

Section 2

The worksheet

The goal setting worksheet

The goal setting worksheet is a companion to the guide. After you have debriefed your election and read through the guide, use this worksheet to turn your ideas into concrete goals. It walks you through capturing your top ideas, digging deeper into them, and writing clear SMART goals that you can act on.

A completed worksheet helps you move from ideas to action. It is a place for you to:

  • List out the goals you are exploring
  • Assess your goals against your office’s values
  • Think through the high-level logistics needed for execution
  • Work through the SMART Goal approach to defining your goals
  • Use the information in this completed worksheet to start taking action on your goals
Download worksheet

Section 3

The template

Screenshot of Miro template

The goal setting template

The Miro template is an optional digital whiteboard that helps you visually narrow down your ideas. After you have debriefed your election and read through the guide, use this template to capture your team’s thoughts and sort them into priorities. This is a collaborative tool you can use to facilitate conversations and build alignment before you start writing goals.

The Miro board helps you see connections and make decisions. It is a place for you to:

  • Group similar ideas from your debrief
  • Spot patterns and themes
  • Use matrices or dot voting to choose which ideas to move forward with
  • Record notes, questions, or next steps you don’t want to forget
Open Miro template

Research behind this guide

This guide is based on interviews about planning with staff from 5 election offices across the county and our own experience running goal-setting workshops.

 

Supported by

This toolkit is a part of our work with the US Alliance for Election Excellence.

This research is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License. You are free to share and adapt for non-commercial purposes. If you share, cite the Center for Civic Design as the source. If you have questions about applying this work, contact director@civicdesign.org