Our philosophy guided our process

NSCC’s strategic plan outlines a vision, priorities, and global metrics. Its annual tactical plans are where the specific ideas will be employed to bring the strategic plan to fruition.

Rather than spell out all the implementation details, we outline an annual process that allows NSCC to be nimble and respond to rapidly changing issues in the community. The pandemic has taught us all well how to pivot in the face of a shifting world.

This approach to tactical planning has that nimbleness built in, as it leaves a great deal of room to further define key strategies. The strategic plan outlines the “who,” “why,” and “where,” but the tactical plan will outline the “what” and the “when.”

Each year of the tactical plan will be iterative and cumulative, building on the successes of the previous year and learning from its mistakes. This bold approach allows for risk taking as a necessary part of innovation.

 

Karina standing with arms crossed outside in front of tree

Never give up. Never let outside circumstances interfere with your education. Education is important and if you don’t have a good education your future will be limited.

Karina Vasquez Garcia, Student

Business Administration Transfer Degree


Tactical and department-based strategies

Key to the success of the strategic plan are the tactical and department-based strategies for achieving and implementing the plan.

NSCC will mirror the process of community-/constituency-based solicitation used in the planning process for plan implementation. This plan leaves considerable room for adapting and responding to change over the five years of implementation, providing structured priorities but allowing for adjustments along the way. Those will occur in the annual tactical plan. Embedded in the tactical planning process is a measurement capacity. Global metrics for the plan and specific Priority metrics were outlined above, but within each yearly tactical planning cycle is an opportunity for success as determined by implementation of specific metrics. As the process is outlined below, success measures are part of the overall planning process.


YEAR 1: Stewardship and Coordination

PLAN IS APPROVED IN FALL 2022.

The end stages of the strategic plan approval process overlap with the start of implementation. The first step will be creation of an ad hoc Strategic Plan Tactical Committee (SPTC), which will fall under the governance structure, working monthly with the Forum Steering Committee, and bringing items for discussion before the appropriate standing committees. A call for volunteers will go out for membership, with the chair of the Forum Steering Committee and President jointly choosing the members.

The role of the SPTC will be one of stewardship and coordination, deciding which parts of the tactical plan can be acted on in isolation, which parts need to be coordinated among departments, and which might require voting by other governance committees. The tactical ideas will arise from the department level (the draft plan will be shared for tactical input for year 1 implementation this Fall), originating with the supervisors of each department, then the directors of the areas, the deans, provost, and so on so that cabinet can assign resources and departments can move ahead with implementation.

For any approved project (e.g. creating 25% of classrooms with hyflex capability) a single person will be identified as responsible for organizing and implementation. The SPTC will steward this process as it unfolds throughout the year.
These project leaders report their progress, problems, needs, etc. to the SPTC. This group would have ultimate responsibility for monitoring and reporting on results and will report both to the Governance structure and to Cabinet.
The SPTC will create clear, easy to read dashboards and graphics to help the community track progress on each of the goals of the plan and take action when progress is insufficient.

After the development and implementation in Year 1, the process will unfold according to a set schedule that is consecutive instead of simultaneous.


YEARS 2-5

Spring 2023: a call for new volunteers for service on the SPTC the following academic year will go out.

Summer 2023: departments gather tactical ideas, directors collate, dean/provost aligns with cabinet for resource allocation. Project leads identified and reported to SPTC.

September 2023: tactical plan for the year is approved and launched.

January 2024: metrics measurement for previous year begun.

March 2024: data/methodology distributed to departments to assess efficacy.

April 2024: Mini-college retreat for prioritization.

This approach to the tactical plan sequences metrics development, prioritized resource allocation, and a review process that makes for a dynamic plan, one that keeps abiding goals even as it has the flexibility to respond to new challenges.

The SPTC and college and governance leadership will assess the effectiveness of the implementation process itself and adjust it as necessary.

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