Once you've developed a comprehensive list of strategic options, it's time to evaluate, prioritise and select the ones you want to pursue. Departments (or schools for those schools having no departments), centers, and student groups will submit nominations for strategic initiatives. At such a busy point in the year, I’m sure that, like my family and I did, you all enjoyed the break and the opportunity to spend time with family and friends, as well as to gather energy for the finish of the semester. Most companies have a long list of initiatives that they want to work on, but they do not have a good way of identifying which strategic initiatives are most important in reaching the overall vision and goals. Recommendation 2: Examine strategic planning documents with a skepticism. For your business to sustain long-term growth, … According to strategy guru Michael Porter, “Competitive strategy is about being different. When identifying strategic initiatives to action plan, leaders should consider issues of urgency, scope of work, the number of initiatives to implement at once, resource allocation, and school or district capacity. Visit the Policy Office for more information. Prioritize and track strategic initiatives. All strategic initiatives … Several reasons, says MIT Sloan Senior Lecturer and global strategy expert Donald Sull, including the inability to identify and understand company goals, the disconnect between strategy and initiatives, and the failure to allocate resources in accordance with strategy. http://spsingh.me/2013/12/15/how-to-prioritise-anything/ Recommendation 3: Strategic initiatives exist to close performance gaps. Note that your strategic objectives should describe your strategy—not just a typical strategy. ( Log Out / Indeed, initiatives are “where the rubber hits the road,” as Americans would say. Once the existing initiatives have been identified, the next step is to map the initiatives to strategic objectives. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Roadmaps must identify the set of critical milestones that provide senior leadership with a basis … Jeffrey S. Vitter Sometimes the strategic objectives are not clear, or are nonexistent. Nominations must be submitted on or before, The other, which will come online next week, is an. (We respect your privacy). Participative culture where HR initiatives fully support the overall strategic plan. Their evidence did not convince me that they had a strategy. A strategic objective is a business need that can be defined in quantifiable and measurable terms. I’d also like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to the staff members who will continue to work through the semester break to keep KU running and prepare for next semester. Most organizations face a similar situation: Each initiative – or proposed initiative – has an owner somewhere in the organization who believes in it and wants to secure (or preserve) funding and resources. Low-Hanging Fruit These are the strategies that might be partially done and all they need is an extra push to complete or are relatively quick and easy to accomplish. Research Investment & Strategic Initiative Grant Program, RFA for the Higher Education Solutions Network from USAID, Sustaining the Planet, Powering the World, Post-Summit Report & Recommendations to the Provost, Building Communities, Expanding Opportunities, Harnessing Information, Multiplying Knowledge, Genomic Biodiversity Summit Opening Remarks, Genomic Biodiversity Summit Presentations, School of Architecture, Design & Planning, School of Journalism & Mass Communications, Sample of Research Centers and State Surveys Areas of Emphasis, Provost Retreat Summary, August 9-10, 2010, online discussion board of suggestions for strategic initiatives, KU faculty members selected for 2020-2021 Class of Senior Administrative Fellows, Four KU faculty members receive Distinguished Professor status, Holly Storkel named vice provost for assessment and program development, Stories of Resilience: How KU Rallied to Teach Remotely in Spring, Chancellor announces promotions, tenure for 2020, Identifying Strategic Themes and Initiatives. The fundamental issue, I think, is a legitimate confusion over the meaning and purposes of strategy. A final recommendation is this: understand the definition of a strategic initiative as an endeavor intended to accomplish three inter-related outcomes: 1) achieving a strategic intent, delivering important benefits to strategic stakeholders, and 3) transformation of the organization. Facilitating the Business Model Canvas: A Few Lessons Learned (Part 1), Designing Strategic Initiatives for Results: The Two Kinds of Coherence, The Real Reason Strategy Implementation is Difficult (and the Solution to It), Grasping Essentials When You’re NOT the Expert, Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, Strategy, Ambiguity, and Strong-Minded Thinking. There are many tools and techniques that we can use to analyze a portfolio, create strategies, and rank prioritize them. This issue of Provost eNews is focused on forming strategic initiatives and how we need your individual and collective involvement in the process. The Provost Office offers an anonymous form so you can raise issues important to you or respond to issues and activities on campus. Identify risks that can drive variability in performance. What is important – that is, strategic – is subjectively determined by the individual! A company defines the strategy based on the market demands and internal and external challenges. Strategic initiatives are what bridges your strategic vision to the reality of … The process will be as follows: In order to make informed nominations, it is important for departments, centers, and student groups to be aware of the many exciting and diverse activities at KU. The word, strategic – as a modifier – is a way of saying that the thing being modified is judged as important: a strategic decision is more important than a regular decision, a strategic goal is more important than another goal, etc. KoltoKan listened to my whispers but respectfully disagreed. So, it is critical to understand the different roles required and their specific accountability for results. To assist the process, the Driving Discovery and Innovation (DDI) work group will provide two sets of information: We hope that both sources of information, which you can find via the strategic planning web site, will help drive groups’ discussions and their ultimate nominations of strategic initiatives. Operational Excellence or Strategic Excellence? They provided me a set of presentation slides, anchored by a graphic with a nifty slogan. We also identify the key risks related to each goal, and design KRIs that can track those risks and act as an early warning system, thereby flagging up when the business is at risk of not achieving its goals. Our strategic action plan will continue to support and value all forms of scholarly excellence. The CEO, supported by the corporate-strategy function, compiles a list of three to six priorities for the … Too often, though, this is not the case and the organization is unable to reap the benefits offered by using strategic initiatives as a tool for closing performance gaps. To stay ahead of the competition, companies need to systematically build a portfolio of strategic initiatives. Given this, it is no wonder that executives collectively struggle with (or avoid altogether) cross-functional or cross-organizational prioritization exercises. As staff, you are the backbone of this institution; your commitment to KU is crucial and very much appreciated. Five Mental Anchors that Impede Your Strategic Initiative, Beginners Guide: Competent Strategic Initiatives, Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, & Ambiguity (VUCA), Four Recommendations for Effective Program Governance, Six Strategic Thinking Skills: Developing the Proactiveness Habit, What’s the #Strategy? My sincere thanks go to all of you who keep our offices, museums, student services, and libraries open, clean, and running year-round. Workshop on Leading Strategic Initiatives, Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives, How to lead your organization in 2014? Create Your Plan. A plan is a detailed list of what needs to be accomplished, by … They need a way to prioritize. The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university's programs and activities. In March, after nominations have been made for strategic initiatives, the deans, in coordination with the strategic planning committee, will synthesize the information, identify synergies, and seek input from an external panel of experts. | Fred Zimny's Serve4impact. The confusion is compounded because of the way that people interchange the words strategic with strategy. A while back, KoltoKan (a disguised name for a large NYSE-traded organization), let me peek into its portfolio of projects and programs for the purpose of offering suggestions on how to identify the true strategic initiatives from the other imperatives. I am looking to get some practical tools and techniques to help get clarification from stakeholders on priority and help them see what is important from a strategic perspective and how they need to relate back to larger corporate objectives.”. For each objective and target on the map/scorecard, managers must identify the strategic initiatives required to deliver the performance outcomes. Not: WHERE is your strategy? Recommendation 4: Keep the number of strategic initiatives small. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Evaluation is typically based on four criteria: feasibility, strategic fit, interdependencies, and; financial risk and reward. Finals Schedule | GPA Calculator. You can learn more by following this link. Identify additional partners and invite them into your strategic planning process. Let Me Tell You a #Story, Strategy is Not Long-Range Planning, Vision, Mission, or Values, Five Ways to Involve Smart New Voices in the Strategy & Agile Innovation Conversation. This model follows four steps: 1) Identify improvement initiatives. Quite often, people confuse strategy and tactics and think the two terms are interchangeable in strategic planning, but they’re not. Strong pockets of synergy, as exemplified by The Commons and other centers on campus, give glimpses of what can be achieved. Recommendation 1: Get clear on the differences between Corporate, Business, and Functional Strategy. You can find the data and reasoning supporting the recommendation at this link. Strategic Initiatives Strategic initiatives are the means through which an organization translates its goals and visions into practice. ( Log Out / He is a recognized thought leader in designing and delivering strategic initiatives. -- The deans and the strategic planning committees will identify the desired criteria for strategic initiatives. Put another way, it is where the real work of strategy implementation takes place. To create an initiative plan, you need to define both your larger goal and what is required to achieve it. 3) Prioritize by allocating priority points to each initiative. Rather, they were members of a wider community of academics whose discoveries and interactions inspired one another. They are the products of hard digging. —"Best for Vets: Colleges," Military Times. Strategic initiatives that build links across KU’s schools and campuses are one way to leverage our tremendous disciplinary strengths and to build such broad communities of scholars. I welcome and value your involvement during the next few months as we work together to identify strategic initiatives. In regards to prioritization, I have following links to share: Required Sexual Harassment / Discrimination Prevention Training. http://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/128692-how-to-prioritize/. The definition of strategic objectives is simple. 5th nationwide for service to veterans
A strategic initiative plan may include multiple initiatives that are designed to work together toward a single larger goal. By contrast, we can develop a more objective definition of a strategy as a coordinated set of policies and actions to address performance problems and opportunities in the context of creating advantage over rivals. The criteria will be finalized in the coming weeks; they will be used as the basis for later choosing strategic initiatives from the set of those nominated. Tuition | Bill Payments | Scholarship Search Effective leadership through appointment of the right HR Head. The KU strategic planning effort has set forth a broad-based process designed to receive and incorporate constructive input and feedback about strategic initiatives. Some have Strategy Offices and even more are adopting Enterprise or Strategic Project Management Offices. Provide our students with unique experiences that will position them as highly recruited and valued drivers and innovators of social and technological change. These are the unknowns, … The document had passed by the eyes of a well-know consulting firm (Bain) and the graphic had been was posted across KoltoKan’s many facilities. Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor I am sure that some of you will ask, “What if the work I do doesn’t fit neatly into one of these strategic themes? Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Pingback: How to lead your organization in 2014? 2) Rate the initiatives based on impact and ease of implementation. In the November 18 issue of Provost eNews, we mentioned that an exciting part of the planning process will be to identify and develop strategic themes at KU, so as to bring together individuals from multiple disciplines to form vibrant communities of scholars. What are your favorites? Regardless, 100 strategic projects is still too many when the benchmark should be approximately 5 strategic initiative programs, each with a good charter and leadership. Identification of human resource practices that make HR as strategic partner, namely, serving the business needs of your … Financial Aid | Loans | Beak 'em Bucks, Libraries | Will this mean I am not valued or that my area of study will not be supported?” Please be assured that KU will continue to be a comprehensive university that has a broad foundation in the liberal arts and supports an array of professional disciplines. The identification of a number of strategic initiatives that cut across the many disciplines at KU will add another dimension and leverage our expertise for greater effect. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. As a general rule, a given business unit should have no more than 5 or so strategic initiatives active at any moment. During my involvement with KoltoKan, I would whisper and sometime directly challenge the analysts with the an observation: “I’m not sure that you have a strategy.” My reasoning is simple. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. To write a powerful, precise, and most importantly ACTIONABLE objective, the business need must be bound by both a ba… Often, people confuse goals with strategies, so validate those things proposed as strategy. The most critical role to define first is the initiative leader. Follow the “Verb + Adjective + Noun” format. In the same way, modern-day researchers who are experts in their individual disciplines inspire one another and build synergies to meet society’s grand challenges. Is it Possible to Have a Perfect Strategy? We recognize the importance of interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and engaged scholarship. Strategic initiatives are formulated as a direct response to a change in the business environment. (I like the Business Model Canvas as a tool for defining a business and distinguishing it from others). Identify the interventions that your initiative will perform to create these preconditions. Oread seemed pretty quiet during the holiday break after all the activities of the last few months. Although many people regard strategy as a document or set of presentation slides, they are confusing the artifacts with the information contained in the artifacts. Mt. Develop indicators for each precondition that will be used to assess the performance of the interventions. Your plan should include the following: An end goal, or what you hope to achieve when the … A strategic partner canprovide you with capital, or let you leverage their brand to give you more exposure. Almost all strategic initiatives require cross-functional participation. A final recommendation is this: understand the definition of a strategic initiative as an endeavor intended to accomplish three inter-related outcomes: 1) achieving a strategic intent, delivering important benefits to strategic stakeholders, and 3) transformation of the organization. Greg Githens is the author of How to Think Strategically (2019). They will spotlight our ability to be forward-looking and relevant in challenging times. Below are a couple of simple, but effective, techniques that help identify potential Strategic Issues: Fully explain the concept of Strategic Issues before starting the review of information and challenge your team to think about the strategic implications of the information. Strategy execution depends upon the ability to identify specific actions, resource them, and tie action and results to milestones. It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value.” Strategy is … Identify a long-term goal. Start with the concept of a business strategy as one that is organized to deliver one strong value proposition over the competition. The full picture of the initiative is fleshed out by also incorporating key milestone/task dates. The first step is to work with business units and functions throughout the organisations to identify initiatives and projects that are currently ongoing or are already planned. Welcome back from Thanksgiving break! A good strategy provides a filter for determining which of many “strategic” projects should be aggregated and passed into the select list to attain the designation of strategic initiative. Only after such an analysis and discussion do the leaders settle into the more typical planning exercises of financial forecasting and identifying strategic initiatives. Writing Center | Math help room Having reduced the number from 600 to 100, KoltoKan’s project portfolio analysts were congratulating themselves and deserve some recognition for making progress. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and are the Title IX coordinators for their respective campuses: Director of the Office of Institutional Opportunity & Access, IOA@ku.edu, Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY (for the Lawrence, Edwards, Parsons, Yoder, and Topeka campuses); Director, Equal Opportunity Office, Mail Stop 7004, 4330 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205, 913-588-8011, 711 TTY (for the Wichita, Salina, and Kansas City, Kansas medical center campuses). The important business and momentum of our strategic planning will continue at full speed during the break. The target state is an improved situation to achieve stable or better business results. Do you have a concern, or would you like to offer your thoughts on a proposal put forward by this office? His ongoing research has found that eight out of 10 companies … Roadmaps must identify the set of critical milestones that provide senior leadership with a basis … Top 50 nationwide for size of library collection. Greg Githens provides coaching, workshops, hands-on, and more. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. ( Log Out / She/he is the single point of accountability for the successful completion. Feasibility fy key success factors related to implementation of change initiatives based on rich qualitative data gathered from health leader interviews at two large health systems implementing multiple change initiatives. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. The initial list contained 600 designated strategic projects, and it was clear to most that more focus was needed. Strategic initiatives with defined objective linkages, scopes, descriptions, dates, and deliverables are an excellent start to clearly understanding your strategic project. A manager at an airline recently wrote me, “one of the biggest challenges we have here is that all projects seemed to be deemed strategic or part of a larger strategic initiative and priority is constantly changing through the year. All strategic initiatives are programs, and benefit from the use of program management tools. Design Thinking: Five Landmarks for Strategic Initiatives, Seven Must-Do’s for Better Strategy Execution. They had documents labeled “strategy” produced by “strategy” meetings; but, they were confusing goal setting and mission statement writing with strategy. When it comes to setting priorities, strategic coordination more difficult because organizations have flattened and decentralized. Tools and insights for turning vision into results, Need a strategic planning facilitator, implementation coach, neutral mediator, workshop, seminar, or hands-on program manager? Change ), Enter your email address The company as a system to be transformed consists of different elements to be managed and continuously change… ( Log Out / All plans depend upon assumptions, so it is essential to recognize their presence and … One of 34 U.S. public institutions in the prestigious Association of American Universities. When a fair amount of strategic initiatives can’t get off the ground without a precursor, the initial strategy becomes a necessary priority. Related resources: Involving Key Influentials in the Initiative Involving People Most Affected by the Problem Defining and Analyzing the Problem Describe the vision for the community or initiative (their dreams for how things should be). This issue of Provost eNews as well as past ones can be found on the Provost eNews web page. If you are looking how to set strategic priorities as part of your strategic planning process, this webinar will help you write, identify and develop your objectives and strategic priorities. I know that there are thousands of organizations like KoltoKan that have huge portfolios of projects and programs. Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor. Address emerging and escalating global grand challenges and societal issues where KU can have special impact; Build scholarly communities that challenge, engage, and inspire individuals from many disciplines around a common theme; Enhance KU’s national and international visibility and impact; Engage and motivate funding agencies, foundations, state government, community, alumni, and friends to provide much-needed resources; and. Ultimately, in April, the steering committee will recommend a number of initial themes to form strategic initiatives. Contact him at GregoryDGithens@cs.com or 419.424.1164. One consumer goods organization takes a more directed approach. That means when writing strategic objectives, they need to be phrased in a way that answers two simple questions: How much? Hours & locations | See my prior article at this link for more explanation. In other words, the strategic initiative team needs to create and follow an execution plan. I’d like to let you know how thankful and proud I am to have joined the KU family, and I am filled with gratitude for the students, staff, and faculty whom I’ve met during my first semester. The criteria will be finalized in the coming weeks; they will be used as the basis for later choosing strategic initiatives from the set of those nominated. Indicators for each precondition that will position them as highly recruited and valued drivers and of... Performance outcomes unit should have no more than 5 or so strategic initiatives of to... 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