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Practical Ways to Put Your Plans into Action. League for Innovation in the Community College Sunday, March 10, 2013 Dallas Kathleen A. Paris, Ph. D. Interim Campus Manager Madison College, Madison, WI KParis@madisoncollege.edu. Planning in Your Organization. Just getting started
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Practical Ways to Put Your Plans into Action League for Innovation in the Community College Sunday, March 10, 2013 Dallas Kathleen A. Paris, Ph. D. Interim Campus Manager Madison College, Madison, WI KParis@madisoncollege.edu
Planning in Your Organization • Just getting started • Have a plan, but not much action • Have a plan and lots of action Please add your dot on the flip chart!
“The purpose of planning is not to create plans, but to create results.” Patrick J. Below Author and Consultant
Strategic Planning • An organized process through which members of an organization reflect upon the challenges, opportunities, capabilities and resources of the unit, and the needs of their constituents, and identify priorities, future-oriented plans, goals, and action steps.” Professor Brent Ruben Rutgers University
Strategic Planning Is • Establishing major directions for the organization • Concentrating resources in a limited number of major directions in order to maximize benefits to stakeholders • Ensuring that the budget dollars follow the plan rather than vice versa. Paris
Your Thoughts? Why do you think most strategic plans are never implemented?
What We Learned About Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Six Practices Correlated with Success 1. Meetings to get input prior to planning 2. Collective review of data 3. Meetings to review proposed plan
4. Identifying measures of success (metrics) 5. Identification of annual or short-term goals 6. Periodic checks on progress
Benefits of Facilitation • Those using professional facilitators were more likely to report higher levels of benefit than those using ad hoc facilitators or no facilitators.
1. Creating the Plan The seeds for implementation are sown in how the plan is created.
Involve stakeholders Stakeholders = Those who will be affected
Why involve stakeholders? • You need information about their needs to create an effective plan. • You need their support for implementation. “Involving stakeholders is not a courtesy, it’s a necessity.”
Use a smaller committee withmultiple ways for many people to have input into the process.
Representative Model Stakeholders have designated representatives on the Strategic Planning Team whose responsibility it is to communicate with their stakeholder group and bring back feedback. Example: faculty, teaching staff, clerical support staff, administrators, employers, community representative.
Study the data together: Where are we strong? Where are the gaps? What action is suggested? Require participants to interact with the data, not just listen to a report.
Review and refine plan before finalizing • Formal hearings • Brown bag sessions • On-line feedback • Listening sessions
Tweet what you learned! Learned about __________ # 145 #INND13
Longand Short Term Elements 1. Mission (Purpose) 2. A long term vision (3-5 years out) 3. Priorities or goals that are updated (and reported on) every year
Questions to Ask • Is this doable in the timeframe? • Is it a focused plan or a catalogue of all the things we are doing? • Has someone’s “to do” list taken over? • Are the goals measurable?
The plan is a contract… • Leader: I will ensure that resources are available for what we are planning to do • Everyone else: I will do my part to achieve the goals in the plan.
Different versions for different audiences • If you can’t fit the plan onto one page, it’s not done yet….
2010 • Arts & Sciences Strategic Plan • Madison College • Mission/Purpose • The Madison College School of Arts and Sciences exists in order to serve a diverse community with quality and flexible learning opportunities that support: • General Education foroccupational and technical programs • The Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degrees • Seamless transfer to baccalaureate programs • Lifelong learning • Vision for 2013 • Cultivating the spirit of innovation anda shared sense of purpose throughout A & S • Strategic Priorities • A. Effective advising for students • B. Physical space matches growth • C. Higher proportion of full-time faculty • D. Innovative and flexible learning options • E. Data based decision making • F. Producing global citizens
Use Visuals to Show Progress Service Learning and Community-Based Research http://www.chancellor.wisc.edu/strategicplan.old/graphs06/serv-learning.html
http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.htmlhttp://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html
Sharing Make it easy to see plans from the whole campus—all departments, services units, administrative units.
Use in public speaking • Champion your plan priorities whenever possible • Keep the message consistent • Encourage everyone to do the same
Find appropriate ways to communicate the message • On the back of business cards • Banners • Table drapes • Bookmarks • Pens • Notepads • Coffee mugs and water bottles • Mouse pads and flash drives • What else?
The point person • Ensures that the goal is moving forward • Connects people working toward the goal • Serves as the “go to” person for ideas • Reports on progress • Does not necessarily have functional authority over the players • Create a “pull” rather than a “push”