Project Charter
The project charter is a visual management process and tool to structure and guide behaviour change in line with impacting climate change as a result of health care systems in Canada.
Download instructions:
- Tap the Download Tool link and save to your computer
- To open the .ppt file in Google Slides:
- Open Google Drive
- Tap + New (top left) and select File upload
- Navigate to your dowloaded file in the popup window and tap Open
- Within Google Drive, scroll down to Files and open CASCADES charter_EN
Project Charter template
Copy direct link: https://cascadescanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CACASDES-charter_EN.pptx
Why use a charter
The project charter is a visual management process and tool to structure and guide behaviour change in line with impacting climate change as a result of health care systems in Canada.
Use of the steps in the charter is facilitated by the size of the paper it’s printed on (A3 = 11×17) and the consolidated nature of fitting a project on to one piece of paper/board/or slide.
In practice teams and individuals may want to use white boards, napkins, projectors or laptops to input into the template as meetings, collaboration and problem-solving occur.
Not everything will fit on to one page! That’s ok, summarize your key points as if you were sharing your project with someone in under 5-10mins.
Invite feedback and advice from others that may more clearly links sections and/or ideas to what you want to achieve
Sections
1. Goals
Write in here what you want to achieve. Initially you may start with a high-level goal such as reducing the carbon footprint of your department or team. Over time, you may return to this section to more specifically aim your goal statement by adding such things as, by how much? by when?
2. Scope
Here define the limits of what you want to be included in your project. This could be departments, patient types, or process or care paths and even CO2E types.
3. Problem/Opportunity Statement
Briefly state the problem you want to solve or opportunity you want to realize. As with goals, your problem/opportunity statement may likely grow from broad to specific as you gather information and input from others. Don’t be afraid to use a pencil!
4. Current State of the System
What do things look like today?
A picture says a thousands words! Add a diagram, process map, photo, graph or diagram that illustrated the problem you seek to solve en-route to realizing your goal!
5. Root Cause Analysis
What gets in your way? Why? Here write in a thoughtful analysis of the barriers to achieving your goal and the reasons why the problem/opportunity exists. The root cause(s) of the problem can range in complexity – it could be due to organizational culture e.g. ‘it’s the way things have always been done’, or individual norms ‘I always use single-use plastics and was never aware of the impact of my actions’, or perhaps there are no incentives or reminders to support idea behaviours. Remember, to respect yourself and others, never have a root cause that is a person – people often don’t know everything, and that’s ok.
Helpful brainstorming techniques include the ‘5 Whys’ and a ‘fishbone’ diagram’.
6. Design the Improvement & Define Change Ideas
Ideas to achieve your goal(s) and close the gap in your problem/opportunity can include new tools, tactics, behaviours, processes, and or systems. For example a new prescription program, a new mentoring or buddy system, and/or a change in how work is done. Most simply, your change ideas should be connected to remedying the barriers from your root cause analysis.
7. Measure & Test Impact
What are you trying to accomplish | What environmental impact(s) (toxicities) are you hoping to mitigate through this change? | Metric(s) required to assess environmental impact | Data source(s) for metrics | Timeline for/frequency of data collection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
E.g. reduce carbon footprint | Carbon dioxide from commuting to work | Carbon calculator | Cars, buses, and planes | Monthly |
8. Embed & Spread
Save what works for increased organization or institutional use via a written policy, training program, and/or presentation
Share what works via a local group, social media page, newspaper article or video
Notes:
As you go about your project work add any meeting, people or observation notes.
This could be input from team members, ideas, or action items
We want to hear from you
Materials created by CASCADES are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
While it is not a requirement under the license, we would be grateful if you would let us know where and how you use, share or adapt our materials.