Frequently Asked Questions
The following set of questions are gleaned from unit reflection reports which cover the first five years of Our Commitment to Impact, as well as discussions with people involved in strategic planning efforts across all of Penn State’s campuses.
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GENERAL STRATEGIC PLANNING QUESTIONS
Who should I contact for questions about strategic planning?
General questions and requests can be sent to strategicplan@psu.edu. To schedule a meeting directly, click here for a list of our services and scheduling options.
What information about our organization plan is available outside our unit?
The public Strategic Planning website only includes information about the Mission, Vision, Goals, Objectives, Key Performance Indicators (if present), and mapping of each plan.
DATA QUESTIONS
If we are going to measure our progress, we need data. Where do we find accurate, usable data to support our work?
We in OPAIR are here to help! For starters, here is a basic list from Institutional Research of common datasets where you might look first: https://opair.psu.edu/institutional-research/resources/ This list includes the Penn State Data Digest and the IPEDS Data Center – both of which are commonly used for planning purposes.
If you cannot find what you are looking for — or if you need assistance producing visualizations for reporting, you can contact OPAIR for assistance at https://opair.psu.edu.
We have several KPIs and metrics in our plan where we talk about increasing numbers or growing programs. How can we show that our future increases are meaningful when we need to report them?
If you are going to be measuring meaningful change, you are going to need to know where you are starting from. One of the first tasks that your implementation team might consider taking on is benchmarking.
Go through your plan, identifying areas in which you plan to collect data and do some research on finding the present state – then use that present state to set your targets. Also, be realistic about what “meaningful change” means. Stating that you have increased participation in a program by 50% when the enrollment has increased from 2 to 3 probably does not qualify! (See also: the following question.)
Our organization initially designed some metrics that look as if they may be difficult to attain, because we are not in control of certain aspects of the process. (For instance, an increase in enrollment.) What do we do if we do not think we will hit our numbers?
In a case like this, where targets may have been set a bit over-aspirational, these thresholds can be adjusted. However, if those measures need to be changed, there should be clear documentation about why these adjustments are necessary – and that should be reported clearly.
One way to prevent this sort of outcome is to do a review of your KPIs and metrics to see if your targets are outcome-based or effort-based. An outcome-based goal may involve elements which are outside the sphere of influence of your organization – while an effort-based goal focuses more on the actions your organization will take to try to achieve that target. For instance, a KPI of “double the size of Program Z” as a measure of success requires students to affirmatively choose to enroll – which is an independent decision. Creating and executing the process which might realistically lead to that doubling of enrollment might make for a more realistic goal.
PROCESS QUESTIONS
Now that we have a plan, we want to get people excited about it. How can we help people see that the work of the strategic plan is not an “add on” to all the work they are already doing?
First, look at your plan. New initiatives or ideas that made it into your long-term aspirations should be logical extensions of the work your organization is already doing! Your plan may also assist in identifying current work and activities that may not be accomplishing their original intent or are not applicable in the new plan. In this case, it might be appropriate to make the adjustments within practices or structures to better align with the new plan.
However, if your strategic plan truly reflects the priorities of your organization, then those priorities – and tactics to advance those priorities – should be a part of the individual goal setting and performance review process from top to bottom. Job Responsibility Worksheets should include elements of the plan and related competencies.
This responsibility goes both ways. Leadership should develop and provide a list of resources, contacts, and quick references to individuals and teams executing and implementing elements of the plan. The plan can also serve as a tool to identify tasks that your organization might stop doing if they are no longer serving the needs of the organization.
We have learned that colleagues in other organizations are planning some strategic initiatives that parallel some of ours. Can we work with other organizations on projects? Can we see or find out what other organizations are doing?
To answer both questions at once: Absolutely! Collaboration is encouraged! We in OPAIR are engaged in this partnership creation work. As part of the plan review process, we will be looking for and offering to facilitate potential connections that emerge from the different organization plans.
ORGANIZATION BUY-IN QUESTIONS
How do we keep everyone focused on the plan? Everyone paid attention to our last plan during our initial rollout, but we lost momentum thereafter.
This is where your communication plan, discussed in the implementation section, is key. To keep your plan on the minds of the folks in your organization, you can draw on a few principles from the world of advertising:
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- Develop a set of taglines. While your plan may be detailed, your main goals are broad. How would you describe your goals in a few words each? Some organizations in the past have created a “motto for the goals” which summarizes what you are trying to accomplish.
- Be consistent. Once you have your taglines or mottos, use them in messaging, in meetings, and base discussions and events around them. Demonstrate how these goal themes resonate with actions throughout the organization.
- Be thorough. Do not just save these lines for specific planning meetings. Use them in standing meetings, in all-organization or staff meetings, in leadership councils. Keep communicating these simple principles throughout.
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One of our Strategies was not scheduled to begin implementation for a year. How do we get the team responsible for these tasks geared up to begin when the time comes?
If this is a newly formed team, we would suggest having a kick-off meeting led by a member of organization leadership to lead the charge of this new team and to inform them of the importance and connection of this item to the organization’s overall plan.
If this is an existing group, we would encourage you to have a similar meeting to remind them why this action’s execution is integral to the plan and demonstrate how it was originally designed to be implemented and what other efforts their work link to, both inside and outside the organization.
Why is it so important to have an Implementation Czar?
While the successful implementation of a strategic plan is ultimately the responsibility of all members of a unit – as the old saying goes: “If everyone is responsible, then no one is.” The Implementation Czar should be in a position where they can help individuals calibrate their individual responsibilities with personal goals, to allocate (or strongly recommend allocation of) resources, and to serve as the “face” of the plan in the organization – encouraging all members of your team to lend their hands to the efforts.
As organizations vary in size and complexity, the Implementation Czar may well be a person who acts in a project management role. However, strategic plans are commitments of an organization to both itself and the university community. The Czar must be in a position in the organization where they can assure those commitments are upheld, which goes well beyond the process of shepherding a project. That said, if the Czar is not a project manager, then there should be someone with those sorts of skills appointed to the implementation team.
After prioritization and implementation planning, we discovered that parts of our timeline are not realistic. How should our organization get back on track?
First, remember that you created your initial timeline with the best information you had at the time. Changes to the timeline are inevitable (as we discovered with COVID!) and need to be accounted for. When you update your timeline, make sure you document the change.
Also, make sure you determine why you needed to make the change. Was the delay caused by insufficient attention by the person assigned to the task? Was it a budget issue? Did priorities change out of necessity? Document these changes and address the root causes as best you can.
REPORTING AND BUDGET QUESTIONS
[More information to come]