Planning a year of corporate affairs work

A corporate affairs work plan needs to connect the organisation’s decisions with the engagement, advice and communications required through the year. A calendar of announcements is one input; the plan also needs to allow for unresolved issues and changes in the external environment. This guide sets out a general planning sequence without claiming a proprietary method.

## Begin with the decision calendar

List the decisions the organisation expects to make: strategy, investment, regulatory proposals, service changes or significant project milestones. Add the external processes that could affect them, with the responsible person and date for checking each process.

For every decision, identify the information leaders need from stakeholders and the point at which that information could change the proposal. That sequence determines when engagement belongs in the plan.

## Allocate the work and resources

The plan should connect each assignment to an output and a responsible person. A submission may require technical analysis, drafting, executive review and board approval; the final lodgement date is only the last of those steps.

Resource the work against those dependencies. If a small team cannot deliver every proposed activity, management needs to choose priorities or commission additional support before the timetable is accepted.

## Review through the year

At agreed intervals, examine which decisions have changed, which relationships need attention and whether planned work still serves its purpose. Emerging issues need their own assessment; the issues management service describes the register and management process that can support it.

The review should produce changes to the plan, responsibilities or resourcing where needed. Annual activity totals are useful for accounting for work, but cannot show whether advice reached a decision in time.