Notes to criteria questions
2.2. The development and deployment of your strategy and action plans are closely linked to other Education Criteria items. The following are examples of key linkages:
- Item 1.1 Senior leadership: how your senior leaders set and communicate organizational direction,
- Category 3 Customers: how you gather student, other customer, and market knowledge as input to your strategy and action plans and to use in deploying action plans,
- Category 4 Measurement, analysis & KM: how you measure and analyze data and manage knowledge to support key information needs, support strategy development, provide an effective basis for performance measurements, and track progress on achieving strategic objectives and action plans,
- Category 5 Workforce: how you meet workforce capability and capacity needs, determine needs and design your workforce learning and development system, and implement workforce-related changes resulting from action plans,
- Category 6 Operations: how you address changes to your work processes resulting from action plans
- Item 7.1: specific accomplishments relative to your organizational strategy and action plans
- Item 7.5: results for overall strategy and action plan achievement
2.2a(6). Projected performance might consider new programs and services; new value creation; market entry and shifts; new legislative mandates, legal requirements, education standards, or accreditation standards; and significant anticipated innovations in programs, services, and technology. Your process for projecting future performance should be reported in 4.1c(1).
2.2b. Circumstances that might require shifts in action plans and rapid execution of new plans include disruptive internal or external events, changes in your competitive environment, changing economic conditions, the emergence of disruptive technologies, and sudden changes in student and other customer requirements and expectations.
The example of effective practice that may enable the organization to response better to the Criterion requirements (basic and overall approach requirements, A-B and A-O, see below table for description).
a. Action Plan Development and Deployment
- In the action plans, the Actions have been defined in measurable terms, which align with strategic objectives and enable the organization/Faculty to sustain competitive position for major program offerings and services for students and key customers or markets.
- Actions to achieve key organizational results (such as operational performance requirements) are defined and tracked at all levels of the organization.
- Expected performance and productivity levels are defined in measurable terms for all action plans.
- Planned actions are challenging, realistic, achievable, and understood by employees throughout the organization. Strategic action plans are rolled out with easy-to-understand communications and clear measures. Tests to evaluate whether communications are understood, such as brief backs, are used.
- Resources are available and committed to achieve the plans (minimize unfunded mandates). Capital projects are funded according to strategic plans and priorities.
- Plans are absolutely used to guide operational performance improvements. Plans drive budget and action, not the other way around.
- Incremental (short-term) tactics to achieve long-term plans are defined in measurable terms and timelines are in place to help monitor progress.
- Strategic plans, short- and long-term desired outcomes, and performance measures are understood and used to drive actions throughout the organization.
- All individuals in the organization, at every level, understand how their work contributes to achieving organizational (or their unit) goals and plans. Personal performance appraisals are based, in part, on relevant action plans.
- Plans are followed to ensure that resources are deployed and redeployed as needed to support goals.
- Workforce plans support strategic plans and goals. Plans show how the workforce will be developed to ensure capacity and capability exist to enable the organization to achieve its strategic objectives and actions.
- Key issues of training and development, hiring, retention, workforce engagement, involvement, empowerment, and recognition and reward are addressed as a part of the workforce plan, in the context of achieving strategy. Appropriate measures and targets for each are defined.
- Innovative workforce plans involve one or more of the following:
– Action plans and associated performance measures provide the basis for individual worker performance management, reward, recognition, and compensation [links with processes in 5.2a(4)].
– Redesigning work to increase worker responsibility and engagement.
– Improving labor-management relations. (That is, prior to contract negotiations, train both sides in effective negotiation skills so those involved focus on the merits of issues, not on positions. One process goal, for example, is to improve relations and shorten negotiation time by 50 percent.)
– Developing gain-sharing or equity-building compensation systems for all workers to increase motivation and productivity.
– Broadening worker responsibilities; creating self-directed or high- performance work teams. - Key performance measures (for example, workforce engagement or work-climate surveys) have been identified to gather data to manage progress. (Note: Improvement results associated with these measures are reported in 7.3.)
- The effectiveness of workforce planning and its alignment with strategic plans is evaluated systematically and refined based on the evaluation findings.
- The process to develop action plans to support strategic objectives is systematically evaluated and subsequently improved.
- Projections of two- to five-year (or longer) changes in performance levels are developed.
- Data from competitors, key benchmarks, and/or past performance form a valid basis for comparison and future projections. The organization has valid strategies and goals in place to meet or exceed the planned levels of performance for these competitors and benchmarks.
- Expected future levels of competitor or comparison performance are used to set and validate the organization’s own plans and goals to achieve or sustain leadership positions.
- Future plans and projections of performance consider new acquisitions, optimum but secure growth, cost reductions through operational excellence processes, and anticipated research and development of innovations internally or among competitors. The accuracy of these projections is mapped and analyzed. Techniques to improve accuracy are developed and used to improve future planning cycles.
b. Action Plan Modification
- In highly volatile environments, which may be greatly affected by rapidly changing economic conditions, regulatory changes, customer requirements, or new technology, to name a few, strategic planners create alternate scenarios, such as plan A, B, and C. In the event that the expected future and plan A is threatened by these conditions, the organization moves to execute plan B quickly.
- Ongoing environmental scans are conducted to provide an early warning of emerging problems, which shortens the organization’s reaction time to rapidly execute new plans.
