Creating a plan
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      2. Creating a plan

      How to Add or Change my Focus Areas

      Focus areas are the high-level things that you will 'focus' on as you strive to deliver your vision. You can think of focus areas as carefully-crafted 'categories' for the goals which you will be working on as an organization. 

      Adding your focus areas to Cascade

      Once you're ready to add your focus areas into Cascade, simply navigate to the correct plan and click on '+ Add focus Area' below the Focus areas - or click any existing focus area to edit it.

      • Add Image and Color - If you want to make your focus area stand out from the rest of your strategic plan, you can optionally change the color of its tab that will appear on the plan. You can also choose to attach an image onto each focus area.

      • Add text or pictures - Select 'Text' under 'Additional info' and then use the rich-text editor to add your content (including pictures).

      • Add video - Select 'Video' and paste a link to wherever your video is hosted (currently supports mp4 video, YouTube, Wistia or Vimeo).

      Sort, edit, or delete focus areas

      • Don't forget to launch your focus areas!

      • Sort your focus areas - By default your focus areas will be sorted by their creation time. If there is a specific order you would like your focus areas to be in, you can sort your focus areas by dragging and dropping the focus area boxes.

      • Edit the focus area - Click on the title and adjusting the information.

      • Delete a focus area - Click on the title and select “Delete.”(Note: This cannot be undone and the Value will be permanently removed.)

      Helping you to write great focus areas

      Adding your focus areas into Cascade is easy and intuitive - but actually creating great focus areas that make sense for your organization is a little harder. Take a look at the following resources to help you get started:

      • How to write focus areas [blog article]

      • Strategic planning online course (including vision statement)

      Another great resource is our Facebook group, where like-minded strategy enthusiasts share their attempts at creating focus areas and more to help each other succeed.

      With your vision, values, and focus areas filled in, you’re now ready to learn how to add goals.