A Plan for Planning

Today was the scheduled day for the administration to meet and begin working on the Strategic Plan. This is the day Dennis, Jon, Tim, and I begin the process to identify all those things that we need to do as an institution and prioritize them over the next five years. It is the day designated for us to think about the future ILT and draw a map to get there. It is one of the most fun activities that we get to do as administration.

This process is a part of the planning required by the accreditation agency. It is one step in a much larger process that includes assessment, planning, and evaluation. It is a process that requires information from students, donors, investors, board members, faculty, and staff. The assessment part happens when surveys are sent out, data sets are compared to historical data and data from other institutions, and reports are gathered from every part of the institution. This assessment is analyzed by the board, faculty, and staff to identify strengths and weaknesses in the institution.

The administration then creates a Strategic Plan which is designed to outline a way to correct weakness and capitalize on opportunities over the next five years. This, however, is done on a yearly schedule so things change a lot year from year. The goal here is not to create a plan that we have to stick to for the next five years but to go through the process of identifying what needs to be a high priority, what needs to be a low priority, and to plan for next year specifically. The next step is to get board input on the Strategic Plan.

Once the Strategic Plan has board approval, the other institutional plans need to be updated. There are four other institutional plans that must be updated each year to align with the Strategic Plan. They are the Assessment Plan, the Business Plan, the Enrollment Management Plan, and the Donor Management Plan. These plans give direction to each department of ILT so that the goals for each year are achieved. It also gives the information each department needs to create their budget for the upcoming year. The budget is the last step of this process. Resources are allocated according to the revenue available to put the plans in motion for the next fiscal year.

This process, which starts with data collection and ends with a budget, is not always glamorous. There are some parts of it that can be no fun at all. But today was the fun day, the day to dream about what ILT can be and how we can shape its future.  If you have any ideas about what you think could be the future of ILT please leave a comment. Are there programs or services which you think ILT should offer? Please let us know. We are always looking for the next great idea.


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