Promoting program gap awareness as a method of effective public strategic management

The study explores strategic awareness and its implications for strategic planning in public organizations. The expectation is that better awareness of emergent strategies is the basis of effective strategic thinking and planning. An action research study was performed at the Municipality of Milan. The results highlight some relevant drivers promoting strategic awareness: i) a mindset change from an internal view to an external needs-coverage analysis; ii) the use of horizontal staff involvement to avoid responsibility issues in a structured strategic thinking process; and iii) total disclosure within a ‘window of opportunity’ to show the structural impossibility of reaching universal coverage