SELLS Strategic Plan
November 2004

Introduction

This Strategic Plan articulates the mission and vision of the Society for Effective Lessons Learned Sharing (SELLS) and outlines the Society's major goals and objectives.  A detailed set of actions supporting this plan provide near-term, mid-term, and long-term direction for the Society and describe ongoing initiatives.

Mission

The Society promotes identifying, sharing, and using lessons learned from federal and private organizations to improve the safety, effectiveness, and security of work processes.

Vision

The Society is a leading authority on managing, sharing, and using lessons learned to continuously improve work activities and processes.

Goals

The Society has developed seven major focus areas and supporting objectives for each focus area to accomplish it mission.  Goals for each of the objectives are established each year.  The criteria for these goals are as follows:

• The goals are a subset of one of the seven major focus areas.
• The goals are something that SELLS can do or over which SELLS has control
• The goals are specific actions rather than philosophical ideas

1. Organizational Culture:

1. Foster a feedback culture by promoting and recognizing efforts to share and use lessons learned and Operating Experience.
2. Partner with other initiatives associated with implementing Integrated Management Programs.
3. Provide global feedback mechanisms as part of an Integrated Management Program.
4. Respond to needs and expectations of internal and external customers.
5. Strive to become a nationally recognized society such as ASME, ASNE, ASCE, etc.
6. Remain the premier organization for distributing lessons learned and Operating Experience.

2. Communication and Outreach:

1. Build a communications network that extends across the DOE/NNSA and throughout other agencies and industries by using lessons learned points of contact as conduits for further dissemination.
2. Maximize use of existing communication mechanisms as vehicles for increasing communication about lessons learned and for increasing participation in lessons learned programs.
3. Maintain a Society membership list that is readily accessible to the members and the public.
4. Maintain an active presence at relevant conferences, meetings and workshops as a communication/outreach mechanism (e.g., provide displays, give presentations, and lead workshop sessions).
5. Identify and target DOE/NNSA areas not currently involved in a lessons learned program to encourage and increase membership diversity.
6. Seek out and make contact with related efforts and initiatives in the private sector and other public sector organizations.

3. Information Products

1. Support individual organizations in developing their lessons learned programs.
2. Maintain existing lessons learned documents and develop new documents, as needed, to communicate important lessons learned information or to improve lessons learned programs (e.g., the Standard, Fact Sheets, newsletter).
3. Periodically develop topic-specific "job aids" to support work planning at the activity level.

4. Measurement and Continuous Improvement:

1. Develop performance metrics and share examples used to measure the utilization of lessons learned, as well as the benefits, savings, and value added by lessons learned programs.
2. Periodically measure the performance of the DOE/NNSA lessons learned programs to describe successes/strengths and failures/weaknesses with both quantitative and qualitative measures.
3. Encourage site-specific lessons learned programs to conduct evaluations and self assessments. Provide assistance in developing useful measures.
4. Periodically compare benefits to costs and assess trends.
5. Continuously improve the DOE/NNSA lessons learned programs by identifying opportunities for improvement in new initiatives and capturing success stories.
6. Provide feedback to lessons learned originators to improve the value of lessons learned to their end users.
7. Support DOE-HQ in performing corporate trend analysis.

5. Training:

1. Encourage experienced Society members to mentor new members.
2. Encourage the use of training programs to provide DOE/NNSA personnel with information about the lessons learned program, to build an organizational culture that values information exchange, and to provide specific information regarding use of lessons learned tools and processes.
3. Improve the quality of lessons learned training programs.

6. Dissemination:

1. Develop on-line feedback mechanisms for users to assess the value of lessons learned.
2. Continually update and improve the SELLS Web pages.
3. Provide information on dissemination tools that describes what tools exist, how each tool can be accessed or used, and where users can go for more information.

7. Maintaining and Administering the Society:

1. Conduct activities necessary for the continued operation and administration of the Society in support of the Society's Charter and this Strategic Plan.
2. Organize periodic Society functions and other activities identified in the Society Charter.

Actions

Near-term (FY 2005):

• 3A - Provide a link to generic resources that can be customized and shared at each site to meet specific needs.  Resources can include posters, brochures, checklists, procedures, documents, and other tools that have been developed for improving the lessons learned process.
• 3D - Develop a compendium of good practices that share common and practical experiences for identifying and using safety controls for various technologies and processes.
• 4A - Finalize SELLS performance measures document.  Include approaches used by various sites to measure the utilization of lessons learned, as well as the benefits, savings, and value added by lessons learned programs.
• 4B - Request input from each site for an annual SELLS report in the specific areas of contribution, dissemination, utilization (feedback), and positive results (effectiveness) to describe successes/strengths and failures/weaknesses with both quantitative and qualitative measures.
• 4C - Each site will complete a self-assessment of their lessons learned program.
• 4G - Develop an annual report on the status of lessons learned programs by site and contractor.

Mid-term (FY 2006-2007):

• 1A - Develop a recognition program for SELLS contributors.
• 1D - Issue a periodic survey to determine the needs and expectations of both internal and external customers.
• 4E - Catalog human factors programs and integrate their concepts into lessons learned as an improvement initiative.
• 6B - Investigate methods that encourage feedback for each lessons learned, linked to recognition programs, if feasible (See Mid Term Action 1A above).

Ongoing:

• 1B - Form partnerships with other organizations within and outside DOE to facilitate implementation of Integrated Management Programs and to foster sharing lessons learned.  
• 1C - Issue a semi-annual newsletter as a global feedback mechanism for Integrated Management.
• 2B - Discuss existing communication mechanisms and how they are used as vehicles for increasing communication about lessons learned at semi-annual workshops.  Encourage using SELLS resources for posting, during training, in booths, and during meetings.  Resources can include, but are not limited to, posters, brochures, SELLS Fact Sheets, and SELLS newsletters.
• 2D - Include summaries of relevant conferences, meetings, and workshops during bi-weekly SELLS calls.  Relevant conferences, meetings and workshops can include, but are not limited to GIDEP, IEEE, EFCOG, TIE, and Waste Management.
• 3C - Review and revise as needed SELLS documents, e.g., Fact Sheets and standard, every two years or when the impact from a document originating from outside DOE/NNSA is noteworthy, e.g., IEEE Standard.
• 4C - Discuss site Lessons Learned Program evaluations and self assessments during bi-weekly SELLS calls.
• 4E - Include success stories, challenges, and new initiative discussions in SELLS bi-weekly call agendas and SELLS workshops.
• 4F - Include a discussion of feedback on SELLS bi-weekly calls and encourage follow-up e-mails to lessons learned originators to capture the value of lessons learned to end users.
• 5C - Maintain a rotating list of volunteers who are willing to be mentors.
• 7A - Include strategic plan action items in Executive Committee and general conference call agendas.
• 7B - Develop agendas and schedule semi-annual workshops.