Strategic Plan Process

2022-2023 Strategic Plan Process

Establish Committee and Appoint Members

The President and Cabinet will identify the members on the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC). The SPC will carry out the process of Strategic Planning. The SPC will be chaired by the Vice President for Technology and Institutional Effectiveness and a Tenured Faculty Member. Throughout the process the Committee will collaborate with the President, Cabinet, and the Priorities and Planning Committee to provide updates on the progress as well as gain insight and input.

Environmental Scan/Campus Feedback

The SPC will conduct an in-depth environmental scan and provide a report to the Molloy community. Environmental scanning is an exploration and analysis of the internal and external factors affecting the institution. Internal scanning combines institutional data points with insights from stakeholder feedback. In addition to obtaining feedback from appropriate constituent groups, Cabinet will assess the previous Strategic Plan and provide this analysis to the Committee as a means of providing context and continuity with existing initiatives. External scanning is a process that systematically gathers and interprets relevant data to identify external opportunities and threats that could influence future decisions. The Committee will utilize the STEEP methodology to conduct the analysis. STEEP identifies trends and forces in each of these 5 categories:

• Social
• Technological
• Economic
• Environmental
• Political

Determine Institutional Priorities

Institutional Priorities are defined by the work of the SPC through the environmental scan and campus feedback. The priorities are the key focus of the strategic plan. They guide the plan with “big picture” concepts that the Molloy wants to address. Institutional priorities will be brought forward to the Board of Trustees to gain their initial approval on the direction of the Plan.

Define Strategic Goals

The SPC, with the direct input of the President, Cabinet, and the Priorities & Planning Committee, will propose an initial set of strategic goals based on the Institutional Priorities to the Board of Trustees for approval.

Determine Objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Once the goals are approved by the Board of Trustees, objectives and appropriate KPIs can be defined. The objectives are more specific than the goals, supportive in nature, and allow the goal to be achieved through multiple unit/departments and/or schools. The objectives must be measurable in order to adequately assess achievement. The KPI’s are formulated once the objectives are set and should be carefully looked at by the Committee to ensure they reflect the overall direction of the strategic plan and well as the research obtained in the Environmental Scan/Campus Feedback phase.

Obtain Final Board Approval

A draft of the final Strategic Plan should be distributed to the campus community and minor revisions made based on the feedback. The Chairs of the SPC will provide a final draft of the Strategic Plan to the President, who will then seek Board of Trustees approval.

Create Operational Plans that address Strategic Goals/ Objectives

The Strategic Plan must be executed through the Operational Plans. Operational planning is the work of producing results. Once the Strategic Plan is implemented, one or more Vice Presidents will be assigned responsibility for implementing all goals and objectives. The Vice Presidents will use the goals and objectives to guide the development of their annual operational plans.

Monitor, Learn, and Adapt

Operational and unit-level plans take shape in the context of the Strategic Plan and support its implementation. They are also the functional points of first assessment. Assessing achievement of strategic goals is done incrementally by tracking the completion of operational and unit-level goals and objectives. Using year-end operational reports, results are aggregated across the campus and compared to the success measures established by the responsible vice presidents and, where appropriate, Academic Deans. KPIs will help track success of the Strategic Plan when assessed at the operational level annually. This is done at the end of every year and new operational plans are then completed annually until year 5 of the Strategic Plan.

Use Evaluation/Assessment Results for Improvement

Each Vice President Unit and the appropriate Schools/Departments within the Office of Academic Affairs are responsible for conducting their own assessments and providing the data to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. It is the role of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness to ensure that institutional assessment is being conducted regularly and results of the assessment are used by the College for planning and institutional improvement. It is also the role of Office of Institutional Effectiveness to ensure that KPI data is gathered, analyzed, and disseminated properly. Assessment results should be provided to the appropriate governance committees including the Priorities & Planning Committee, Financial Resources Committee, and Institutional Assessment Committee, as well as to the Office of Academic Affairs and the Cabinet. Ultimately, a comprehensive assessment report must be provided annually to the Board of Trustees by the Vice President for Technology & Institutional Effectiveness and the Provost to ensure the Board is aware of progress is being made relative to the Strategic Plan.