Larry D. Lauer

Events this week had me thinking once again about strategic planning.

I attended a meeting to review the progress being made by a strategic planning committee and was reminded of how many different kinds of plans are undertaken in a university, and how often they are undertaken at different times and in the wrong order.

Universities do strategic academic plans, master facilities plans, fund raising campaign plans, communication plans, and marketing plans!  And they are often done in an order where decisions are made about fund raising goals before anyone knows what the academic program plan will look like. Or campus facilities and buildings are being designed for the future before academic needs and goals are known.  Then the institution is in a situation where plans already in place must be reconciled with plans that are bound to change them!

I also was reminded that I have been associated with many nonprofits that have had very similar planning experiences.  They too would consider facilities and building needs, fund raising objectives, program development,  communication initiatives, and marketing targets, each in isolation from the other, and all along assume it will just work out in the end.

If we did all this right, an analysis of the market (industry and career trends, etc.) would come first, followed by an assessment of overall institutional strengths, as these will have to be reconciled above all else. Differentiating the organization is critical to establishing its competitive advantage.

Then a program strategic plan should inform the facilities needs plan, and both together should inform the fund raising plan. Elements of marketing and communication planning should be involved throughout the entire process so that a brand identity grounded in core strengths and values can be clarified, and target markets appropriately identified and researched.

None of this is rocket science, and yet it is rarely done. The meeting I attended this week ended with an acknowledgment of all this, and a firm vow to next time get it right!  Music to my ears, indeed.