Although winter is loosening its grip gradually in Idaho, the beginning of the next fiscal year on July 1 will arrive all-too quickly. One of the key annual milestones we work to achieve at that time is submission of our annually-updated five-year strategic plan.

The department’s senior leadership team is working to reset our strategic plan for the next cycle. As we do, we’re continuing to hold weekly accountability meetings to make sure no task is left behind. We take stock of outstanding tasks from our current strategic plan using a red, yellow, green, and blue traffic light system that helps us quickly visualize how far we’ve come.

Out of the original 64 tasks that we published in our current strategic plan, 46 percent are marked blue (completed), 40 percent are green (on track), 4 percent are yellow (a few issues to work out), and 7 percent are red. Tasks marked red mean we’ve hit a major roadblock that we’re figuring out how to work around.

In my April 29 blog post, you can read more about the progress we’ve made on each task in Goal 1, which is to ensure affordable, available healthcare that works.

This goal includes work performed across the Division of Public Health and Division of Medicaid, with support from department-wide colleagues and partners throughout the state. Over the next few weeks, this blog series will focus on the progress we’ve made on every task in Goals 2, 3, and 4.

As we work toward conclusion of one strategic plan cycle and prepare for the next, the department’s leadership and staff are engaged in big-picture thinking and planning to prepare for the challenges ahead. As we do this, we continue to push ourselves to practice collaboration with each other and compassion for those we serve.

What’s more, each time we complete a task from our strategic plan, we take another step toward planning the next task that will help improve the lives of Idahoans.