Strategic Planning

…demystified

Definition

What it is:– Management tool– Choosing a desired future– Consciously responding to dynamic

environment– Process, not an event– Creative, interactive

Pitfalls

What not to do:– Separating planning from experience and

planners from doers– Legitimizing of what is being done– Controlling future– Assuming the future is predictable– Reacting rather than interacting with

environment

Assumptions

• Creating leadership’s commitment at the top– Entering the process without predetermined

solutions– Responding to the received input (avoid “managed

consensus”)– Working as a team

• Defining the planning process– Following a clear path– Deciding and agreeing on a timeline and how

decisions will be made

Strategic Planning: The Path

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Action Planning

(Affecting Change) Goals Settin

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Visioning

(Values, M

ission,

Vision)

Diagnostic Phase(Data Gathering)

Diagnostic Phase

• Understanding the BIG pictureTOOLS:– Puzzling toward the future– SWOT

• Sharing perspectives

TOOLS:

– Stakeholder analysis (parents, students, faculty, alumni, staff, community partners)

Diagnostic Phase: Puzzling toward the future

Economic Trends

Political Trends

Globalization

Demographics(Student Profiling)

Technology

Economic Trends

Political Trends

Globalization

Demographics(Student Profiling)

Technology

Subject Area Experts

Reconfigure Groups

LEARNING TEACHING

Diagnostic Phase: SWOT

External Environment(Outside the organization)

External Environment (Within the organization but

outside the unit)

Internal Environment(Within the unit)

Strengths/Weaknesses

Internal Opportunities/Threats

External Opportunities/Threats

Diagnostic Phase: Stakeholder Analysis

• Online bulletin boards and focus groups (alumni, community partners, parents)

• In-person focus groups (students, faculty, staff)

Visioning

• ValuesTools:

• Values Audit• Cultural Assessment using affinity diagram

• MissionTools:

• Mindmap

• VisionTools:

• Affinity diagram

Visioning: Values

• Values are the set of beliefs people share about how to operate in conducting business

• Values are behaviors that are truly lived

• Values are special, unique, lasting, enduring

• Values guide, align, and galvanize an organization

Visioning: Mission

• Overall purpose or contribution to the society. • A clear statement of the reasons for being, and of the

functions and desires the organization is to meet and fulfill.

• Never completely achieved because it is the reason for existence and not a measurable goal.

• It shouldn’t be too narrow and focused on services. • More attention should be paid to meeting the needs

of the stakeholders. • Mission is not necessary what differentiates one

organization from another but what matters most to stakeholders.

Mission: Mindmap

BENEFITS EXPECTATIONS

STAKEHOLDERS

Visioning: Vision

• Provides a clear, easily understood image of a better future.

• Embodies values and directs the organization to what will be different and distinctive.

• Guides and inspires stakeholders but it’s not everlasting.

• May change every 5-10 years, just as the environment changes.

Goals Setting

• Keep in mind – Values– Mission– Vision

• Go back to the diagnostic phase– Recommendations generated in SWOT analysis – Recommendations from the “Puzzling toward the future”

exercise– Stakeholder analysis outcomes

• Broad statement of a desirable and measurable result in achieving the organizational vision

Action Planning

Strategic goal

Objective 1

Action step 1.1: Assigned to

Date due

Action step 1.2:Assigned to

Date due

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability

• Monitoring = maximizing opportunities, cutting losses

• Evaluation = reporting on progress

• Accountability = built-in consequences and points of accountability, recognition and rewards

Thank You!

Communication / Focus / Execution

Northern Arizona University

Planning and Institutional Research

(928) 523-7814

Eva.Hatchner@nau.edu