Aside from the often bland, very formulaic planning documents required of school districts by some states, there are about as many ways to conduct strategic planning processes as there are recipes you might find at a busy chili cook-off event.
Books, PowerPoint presentations, blogs, websites, expert speakers and master facilitators are everywhere, each professing to have the best way to create a living, breathing, measurable strategic plan. And it is safe to say each of these has something valuable to offer…a customization that the author has found to be beneficial.
It would be easy to get tied up in knots trying to sort through this mountain of good ideas to put together – if we can continue the metaphor just a little longer – the right strategic planning “recipe” for your school district. Rather than putting you through that turmoil, below is a starter list of ideas we have found to be a good beginning. Where you go beyond these ideas should be personalized to the needs and expectations of your district leadership and community.
Take a candid look at your current plan. In addition to the obvious question – What did we accomplish and not accomplish? – think carefully about whether the document is useful, written (and structured) in a way that makes it a true working document. If you can’t summarize the three to five big ideas you wanted to accomplish when the plan was written, then it probably was mostly a dust catcher on a shelf.
Assemble a planning team that’s ready to work. Certainly, there will be some “appointments” that will be made because those individuals expect to be asked. But think hard about the rest of the team. Who asks the tough, and maybe even uncomfortable, questions? Who inspires others? Who really seems to be thinking one step ahead all the time? Mix in some community folks, and don’t be shy about including a critical person or two.
Set a workable timetable. If you allow the process to drag on beyond two (or, if necessary, three) months, the interest level of the participants will fade, as will the quality of their input.
Have people select the top two or three areas they would like to work on. Prepare a list of the component parts you anticipate having in your strategic plan (finance, curriculum, facilities, etc.) and ask people to select their top choice, their second choice and their third choice. As much as possible, let people work on their top choice – unless that leaves nobody on the finance team, for example.
Test the validity of your working draft with the community and your staff. Once you have a core document, conduct research with these two audiences. What are your key questions? Is this on target? What’s missing (if anything)? No need to get down in the weeds with specific questions about how you are planning to get things done; just find out if these two key stakeholder groups think you are heading in the right direction.
Is your district about to embark on a new strategic plan? Call Patron Insight at (913) 814-7626. We have assisted dozens of school district clients achieve successful strategic planning efforts.
