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Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Compass PD Episode 34: Delving into What is Strategic Planning Pt. 1
Ready to reimagine the strategic planning process in education? Join me, Dr. Carrie Hepburn, as we embark on a thought-provoking journey with the brilliant Dr. Chris Greiner, unraveling the essence of strategic planning and its impact on educational institutions. Dr. Greiner introduces us to the concept of strategic plans as promises districts make to themselves and their communities, shedding light on how this approach can transform the reactive nature of many educational districts into proactive, goal-driven entities.
The engaging conversation takes a deeper look at the crucial role of stakeholders - including board members, teachers, community members, and volunteers - in crafting a successful plan. We underscore the necessity of comprehensive, forward-thinking plans that respect and celebrate the district's achievements.
Compass PD supports communities in this vital work. The strategic planning process can breathe life into communities, providing valuable support to districts on their continuous improvement journey. Whether you're a district leader, school board member, or an educator invested in strategic planning, this episode arms you with practical insights to begin the exciting process of goal setting and achievement in the educational field. So, buckle up and prepare to transform your strategic planning process with us!
Hello, hello, hello, dr Keri Hepburn here from Compass PD. Today I'm joined by a very special guest, my good friend, dr Chris Griner. For some of you you may not know, but I've known Chris for 15 years-ish, something like that. I was trying to thank Chris when I was kind of like going back through my Rolodex. It has been a minute. I've known him in just like several different capacities. 15 years ago he was the head principal of the high school my son attended. Then he moved into a curriculum instruction assessment role as the director of curriculum and instruction in a large school district when I was a teacher, and then he hired me to work in his curriculum department and he was my boss. Now we get to stay connected in education as he continues his role as the chief academic officer in the district.
Speaker 1:And here I am at Compass PD. I'm going to tell you. I tell people this all the time. Whenever I talk about Chris Griner, I talk about how, when I was under his leadership, I grew faster, with more depth, and I became a better versed educator and curriculum leader. It isn't uncommon for me to hear from educators who have served alongside him saying the same sentiments. He wants to do great things for kids and he serves those around him tirelessly to ensure that happens. It isn't easy and it involves difficult decisions and conversations, but it's something that he does and he always keeps his eye on the goal of impacting student learning for the better. So Chris has probably been one of the people that's influenced me the most when it comes to being a curriculum, instruction and assessment leader. Welcome, chris.
Speaker 2:Thank you, dr Hepburn. Hiring you to join our team was one of my best hires and the team we had in place was fantastic. It was some of my fondest memories in my over 26 years in education. Some of my fondest memories were being part of our team. Thank you for having me today.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 1:I always grow every time I get to sit down and talk education with you, so I'm excited our listeners will get to have the same experiences I do.
Speaker 1:For those of you who have been listening to the podcast lately, you're going to notice that our organization works with districts nationwide and recently, something that we've noticed is a trend that we wanted to address in this podcast, which is why I asked Dr Griner to join us. We've noticed school districts are having, first of all, too many initiatives and then they're finding themselves in a place of being reactive versus proactive. Knowing that Dr Greiner is one of the best when it comes to leading districts through the process of setting and achieving goals, I wanted to have him come talk with us about the strategic planning process Before we get started. We wanted you to know that we're kicking off this discussion today and plan on having a series of supporting podcasts to help you through this process. As always, we hope you walk away with the information to support you as a district leader. I thought we'd start first, chris, with what is a strategic plan.
Speaker 2:In its simplest terms, carrie, a strategic plan really is a promise that a school district is making to themselves and their community. A strategic plan is change, but it's focused change and it's change that really aligns to the mission, vision and values of the organization. Strategic plans are not unique to school districts In 2023, there's been an expectation that school districts and organizations have strategic plans for many years. I would say the struggle that I've experienced in my own in the school districts that I've worked in, and as also as I've visited with other districts through their strategic planning journey, is that it's really not the question of should we have a plan or we don't understand the need for why a plan is necessary. It really comes down to the ability of the organization to execute the plan at a high level. So when we talk about a strategic plan, really we're talking about focused change management, and there's a lot of research out there to support the need for this type of focused change management. There are models like NOSTER that talk about that continuum from vision through action planning, building skills, resources, incentives that really equal lasting change, and that is a process that really an organization has to embark upon and continue to live within continuously. So the idea of developing a plan, putting it in a binder, putting it on a website and then sort of sitting back and hoping that that plan occurs really isn't strategic change management. And that's difficult for school districts because we are managing the whirlwind of the day to day and that never goes away. And so as a district leader, as a building leader, you're balancing that daily whirlwind, managing that. Those are very important things to manage. But the most important work of a school district is actually evolving the district from its current state, so taking that district from where they are now, appreciating the current reality, but also being willing and not being satisfied with staying there. So how do we continue to grow? How do we continue to get better? So when we talk about what is a strategic plan, really it is the process of not only developing those promises that include the vision, the action plans, the goals, but also how do you implement, monitor, evaluate and support that plan throughout the entire life cycle of that strategic plan. So it's very simplistic to talk about, but the work is very complex. As a district leader, it's been my privilege to partner with districts that I have worked in and also partner with other districts to think about the process of focus change management, how it impacts an organization and how to create a cadence of accountability where that focused change is very manageable and digestible for the stakeholders of the school district, so from students to staff, to community, to business partners. How are we all on this journey together and how do we manage that change in a way that's feasible and in a way that's digestible for everybody involved?
Speaker 2:Typically, strategic plans involve a process, and I would say really a four-step process. So there is a discovery, and any time you're sitting down and really beginning this work intentionally, you have to start with your current reality. So what is it that we appreciate about our organization? What are we doing well? What's the evidence to support that? What are the stories, traditions, what is the cultural evidence of who we are? And that's again a really important part to start with is how we understand our current reality and also we discover what are those things about our organization that we want to see improve? What are those outcomes for students? What are those outcomes for employees? What are the outcomes that our community, our local businesses, what are those things about our district, about our community, that we know we can get better? And so that discovery process is really important. That takes us into really a visioning of how can we get better and what is that preferred future that we want for our school district, for our community, and that's a really important exercise to engage in.
Speaker 2:You might, as you look at other organizations, school districts around the country, that mission, vision, values process sometimes has a lot of the same type of language but it really is important to engage the district stakeholders and talk about what is the school district we want to become and what would be the evidence that would tell that story of our growth towards that preferred future. So, visioning a very important part of that sort of a second step in a four step process. That visioning really takes us to developing those goals and action plans that are gonna help us get there and again, that evidence that we're gonna gather along the way to know whether or not we are seeing growth to get to that preferred future. That vision. And then that third step after visioning is we really, as a school district, begin to implement. We begin to shepherd the district through a strategic plan and we typically will land on some pillars that are common throughout a school district.
Speaker 2:When looking at a strategic plan, typically we could see goals around teaching and learning. Are we gonna improve outcomes for adults and for students? That really that symbiotic relationship between how teachers teach and how kids learn, and so we need to provide supports for both. Our students can't be successful if we are not growing our teachers and meeting the needs of the adults in the organization and that's not I say teachers, but really it's all adults classified staff, certified staff, from the district leadership all the way down to really even your volunteers in an organization. So it's all together committing to getting better.
Speaker 2:So teaching and learning a big pillar of a strategic plan. Also, another pillar I found is just a commitment to leadership development and professional growth. So how are we intentional to grow the leaders of our district, from teacher leaders to building leaders, district leaders, our board of education, our superintendent, our community leaders, how are all of those leadership positions coming together and how are they improving to again be the champions of change in their district? And so it's important that we're feeding our leaders and have that as a unique component of a strategic plan. A third pillar would be community engagement. Again, how are we intentionally setting goals and committing to action around engaging our community? That includes students, parents, community leaders, business partners because of the busyness of school districts.
Speaker 2:Many times this is somewhat elusive for districts and so being very intentional around developing and executing action plans to engage community An example I would provide here is much of a strategic plan tends to center inside high schools and a lot of typically our work with high schools and transforming their impact in the community is being very intentional to partner with the community to think about what are those high wage, high demand careers in our own backyard and how are we intentionally bringing business partners into the classroom, into our teacher collaboration as they're planning units, as we're thinking about not only getting our students out in the community, but how are we getting our teachers out into the community to extern and to gain a greater understanding for the skills that our graduates need? So that's just one example of a way in which a school district can intentionally partner with community. But community engagement is critical, creating the needs of our stakeholders that support our school district.
Speaker 2:A fourth pillar, very typically as we develop strategic plans, lands inside of fiscal or operational responsibility. So how are we being good stewards of our finances? As many may know, typically public school districts are funded through local tax revenue. A big part of their expenditures come from local tax revenue. So it's really critical that we are transparent with our community, build in those structures to make it transparent process, to help our community understand how are we spending our money. But also, where do our needs lie? We talk about operational responsibility how are we continuing to provide high quality facilities for our staff and students? And that requires a commitment, that requires advanced planning to look at where might we need to renovate buildings, where might there be needs for future new construction? Where might that lead a district to look at bond campaigns or tax levy campaigns? All of those conversations are very complex and need a lot of advanced planning.
Speaker 2:And so, again, that pillar of fiscal or operational responsibility tends to be where districts wanna land part of their strategic plan. And I would say then, finally, another pillar that I've seen in strategic planning is board governance. So how does the superintendent and the board of education govern a school district? How are they themselves staying up to date on trends involving policy, involving legal implications? So there's a governance component to a school district that's very important and I think is one of the key areas of leadership for a board of education is how do they set policy, how do they set procedures? So again, as a school district, those pillars of teaching and learning, leadership and professional growth, community engagement, fiscal and operational responsibility and board governance are all really important components to what is a strategic plan.
Speaker 2:Because it's just about student learning. Although that's a big part of the mission, vision and values of a school district, there are other components of a school district that need to be addressed in a strategic plan, and so those are the things that I've typically seen as a stakeholder inside districts I've worked in and then also as I have partnered and collaborated with other districts to build their own strategic plan. These are areas where typically we land in order to advance the district and take it to an evolved state where we are improving.
Speaker 2:We're growing and, ultimately, where our students are being most successful. Now I will just add, though, that this is kind of a teaser for some future conversations. The development of a strategic plan is a process, and it is multifaceted. It's complex work. Once the plan is developed, then the really tough lift begins, and that is how do you execute a strategic plan?
Speaker 2:I think the struggle for many districts is not developing a plan. In fact, all school districts I know in the state of Missouri, and I'm sure across the country, there is a requirement to have a strategic plan submitted to the State Department. That's part and parcel to an accreditation of the school districts. So it's not having a plan, isn't the challenge? The challenge is how do we execute a plan in a way that ensures that we're getting better as a school district, and that's where I see the biggest struggle for our school districts is really the execution of that plan. So, talking through, how do we create a cadence of accountability, a compelling scoreboard? Those are things that I think we would touch on down the line, but definitely is a really important part of making sure that a strategic plan is successful.
Speaker 1:I feel like that was a really comprehensive explanation of what is a strategic plan, especially for those who are new to this. We have more leaders in education now without mentors, and we need guidance and wisdom on how to do some of these things and understanding of even what it is and what the purpose is. So, as you were talking, I loved when you said a couple of things. The strategic plan is intentionally designed. It includes a variety of stakeholders in order to build the strategic plan.
Speaker 1:I heard community, I heard board, I heard teachers, I heard leaders in the district. I heard that the strategic plan ensures the growth of all people. So I heard those within the organization, including volunteers, which I think is something that we don't think about nearly enough those that help. I also heard things that it's very comprehensive. So you need to be thinking thoughtfully. It's intentionally designed to be future thinking, thinking about growth and not only learning growth, but the growth within your district. You need to be thinking about your budgets and you need to be thinking about the kinds of growth that could be happening in your community, thinking about the types of jobs in your community, and to me, it just feels very proactive and sets you up for success versus being reactive where you're living in the moment. Does that sound fairly?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's spot on.
Speaker 2:Summarizing, it really is a balance of appreciating the successes and the traditions, the things that we really value in our district already and honoring that. Any district you walk into there are things that they are proud of, and so I think also a strategic plan gives you a chance to honor the good work that's already happening in the district and it provides an opportunity for us to celebrate and tell those stories. So it's not necessarily an idea of well, we're not doing well and we've got to get better. Of course we always can get better, there's always that opportunity to improve. But also it really is a moment in time to stop and smell roses and really appreciate a lot of the good things that are happening inside an organization and being very intentional to celebrate it on that as well.
Speaker 1:I think people would love hearing that, because it does feel like when we're talking about some of these things, it's a complete overhaul, but it's really not. It's about where are we now, what's our current reality, that we have a lot to honor. We have a lot to celebrate. Thank you so much, chris, for sharing your expertise and your experience with us. We really, really appreciate it. I also want to let everyone know that Compass PD does help districts develop their strategic plan, so this isn't work that you have to consider or think about doing all on your own. We have coaches that can come in and support you as you do this important work of building strategic plans, to guide and lead your district, and know that there's still time that you can call us. We can sit down and have a conversation and get started helping you and your community reach those big dreams for your staff and your school and your students. So thank you everyone and have a great day.