Strategic Planning & Implementation Support Services
Our Strategic Planning Services tap into our founder's 20 years of experience guiding organizational growth and employ a structured process of stakeholder input, plan development, and implementation support. Built on the principles and practices of design thinking, our interactive process of crafting or updating your school's strategic plan ensures buy-in, foresees challenges, targets improvement, and supports continuous learning.
Phase I: Stakeholder Input
From the start of the process of creating or updating your school’s strategic plan, we work to collect input from all stakeholder groups (e.g., teachers, students, parents, administrators, school board, etc.) in order to inform the development of a strategic plan that has a holistic view and clear vision for the next three to five years.
Working with school leadership, we employ a systematic methodology that ensures consistency and validity in the data collected through a combination of observations, interviews, and focus groups. These facilitated dialogues set the foundation for both the creation of the strategic plan and its subsequent implementation.
Phase II: Strategic Plan Development
Following a review of the synthesized stakeholder input, we engage all key stakeholders in a highly interactive strategic planning retreat built on principles and practices of design thinking. Throughout the retreat, your leadership team and key stakeholders collaborate to craft a clear vision for the school, establish a prioritized list of targeted outcomes, and develop an initial plan to accomplish each.
Depending on the experience and skill level of school leadership at managing change, we may also focus on aligning professional development activities to support plan implementation. Following the retreat, we lead the process of generating your final plan through subsequent data gathering, feasibility testing, analysis, detailed planning, and by reengaging all stakeholder groups to gain support and build a sense of shared ownership in supporting the school’s strategic direction.
Phase III: Implementation Support
Successful plan implementation requires a combination of skill development, ongoing leadership coaching, and strong communication systems. This work begins on day one with a formal introduction of the plan to the whole school community, centered on the refined vision and strategic priorities. This facilitated dialogue among teachers and administrators fosters commitment to the plan and engages the whole staff in developing personalized goals that contribute to achieving each of the plan’s milestones.
Throughout the year, teachers and administrators engage in professional learning programs that build your school’s overall capacity to support improvement efforts. Depending on your school’s current skill base, these programs may include topics such as
- instructional leadership development
- curriculum development and implementation
- formative and summative assessment practices
- performance development planning for instructional skill improvement
- monitoring outcomes and managing intervention and support systems