| Institutionalizing Change
By Christina Drouin
If the road to the future
of K-12 independent school strategic planning follows that of
higher
education, we may soon see innovative schools taking a
look at the feasibility of establishing an on-campus of
Strategic Planning Office (SPO) to meet the ongoing
challenges imbedded in creating cultures of change. In his
book Management Challenges for the 21st
Century, Peter S. Drucker points to the need for
organizations to understand that the world is moving and
changing at such a advanced speed that we can no longer
seek to manage the organizations that make up our complex
environment. The new ideal for the 21st
century, he says, is to strive to be leaders of change.
Coincidentally, change is
at the heart of strategic planning. It is always a result.
It is always difficult to prepare for, accept and
implement.
When a school is in a
strategic planning mode, whether first plan or fifth, it
ultimately must face the question: How will we implement
this plan? And it begins to cast about the organization
for leadership to honcho the implementation effort.
At the launch of each new
plan, the same question must be answered. The question
never goes away. It is in fact systemic to strategic
planning.
Combine this with the
need for continuous planning. One planning cycle
inextricably linked to the next. It is no longer a matter
of planning as the spirit, so to speak, moves. As external
forces continue to exert pressure on schools and families,
it becomes more important than ever to think about
continuous planning, so that when one plan finishes a new
one begins. In other words, when a school is in its fourth
year of a five-year plan, it should be creating its next
plan, allowing an academic year for plan development to
achieve inclusivity, a hallmark of successful school
planning. If it waits until the five-year planning cycle
is over to begin planning again, the school consequently
is without a strategically-focused plan for a year.
With a rolling planning
process such as this, and recognizing that a holistic
planning process will need to be undertaken in the fourth
year of every five-year planning cycle, it is logical to
explore the possibility of establishing an
institutionalized planning process and office as a
means to becoming a leader of change.
What might an SPO look
like? What would daily activities involve? Where would it
report? What would its purpose be?
The following outline
presents one approach to institutionalizing change on your
school campus through the establishment of a Strategic
Planning Office.
Overview
of Strategic Planning Leadership Position
The Strategic Planning
Director, under the direction of the Head of School,
advises on and leads the development, implementation and
evaluation of strategic plans.
In meeting these key
responsibilities, the Strategic Planning Director also
works in close collaboration with administrative
leadership and serves on the Strategic Planning Committee
of the Board of Trustees. Functioning at the divisional
level, the Strategic Planning Office provides ongoing
leadership and accountability for strategic planning and
implementation, and leadership and assistance to evaluate,
enhance and employ efforts to strengthen institutional
effectiveness and communication on strategic matters that
affect the School.
Duties and
Responsibilities
- Assist the Head of
School in developing and defining the vision, mission
and goals that will guide the future direction of the
School.
- Develop the School’s
strategic plan, working with administration, faculty,
staff, parents, alumni and students by assisting the
school community in identifying its goals, examining
available options for achieving these goals,
establishing priorities, and defining strategies for
implementation of goals.
- Oversee the successful
implementation of the School’s strategic plan.
- Guide and assist in
the development of unit-specific (i.e. academic and
non-academic departmental) strategic and annual plans,
ensuring coordination among planning units.
- Coordinate, focus and
monitor unit-based strategic planning and
implementation for consistency with the institutional
strategic plan.
- Prepare numerous
reports during the year on issues related to
departmental strategic plans and new initiatives,
including an annual assessment of the School’s
strategic plan.
- Schedule, plan and
conduct meetings and workshops to develop annual plans
that support institutional goals.
- Respond to
requests for assistance from academic and non-academic
planning units; advise on
who should be involved in planning, review drafts, and
assist in the presentation of drafts to the Strategic
Planning Committee.
- On an ongoing basis,
conduct research and analysis to help determine where
future service and program needs will be, as well as
current satisfaction levels of constituent groups.
- Supervise the planning
and implementation of an interactive Strategic
Planning web page.
- Assist in the design
of strategic communications in times of change.
- Serve on the Strategic
Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees.
Required
Knowledge, Experience and Abilities
The Strategic Planning
Head must work effectively in a dynamic environment by
demonstrating superior interpersonal communications,
team-building and leadership skills. The position requires
a high level of skill in strategic thinking and planning
including the ability to identify, define and address
problems; competence in prescribing and interpreting
research; competence in conducting inclusive strategic
planning in a complex organization; ability to articulate
policies; and ability to describe issues with clarity.
The Strategic Planning
Director must have experience and a keen interest in
working with a diverse range of people from different
cultural, socio-economic, religious, professional, racial
and ethnic backgrounds. Exceptional writing, presentation
and facilitation skills, the ability to work well within a
group and to use diplomacy and persuasion will be
particular assets.
Mission
of the Strategic Planning Office
The role of the Strategic
Planning Office is to advise and assist the Head of School
in enhancing effective decision-making at the School and
to foster accountability and continuous quality
improvement by facilitating strategic planning,
facilitating the integration of planning and budgeting
processes, and providing clear strategic direction to the
members of the campus community.
The mission of the SPO
has five essential elements:
- To provide an
integrated, comprehensive planning capability for the
School community that will lead the preparation and
implementation of the School’s strategic plan.
- To provide accurate,
consistent information about the School, its external
environment and its peer institutions.
- To support and
maintain a systematic and dependable planning process
that reflects the School’s demographic,
programmatic, financial, building, campus design, and
community development goals and objectives.
- To provide timely
analysis and planning recommendations to School
leadership.
In an effort to
make strategic planning at the School a dynamic and
interactive process, the SPO will create a web site on the
School’s site dedicated to strategic planning, which
will include departmental plans as they are approved;
institutional, state, and national demographic data;
articles, notes and readings of interest in the
area of educational
institutional strategy; and collateral School plans and
documents. The web site will also provide online links to
appropriate independent school and higher education
data/information and links to web sites of interest.
The SPO will work
to encourage institutional planning units to maintain and
provide online access to appropriate databases that would
be of assistance in planning. It will also seek to provide
a strategic planning and discussion convener software
program that will facilitate an online development and
discussion process for planning that some departments may
find useful in involving constituents and promoting
participation.
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