Spotlight

“I hope that the material, when fully launched, will be used extensively in the sector”

Such were the sentiments of one of the fifteen members of the panel charged with reviewing and commenting on an early draft of our new Strategy infoKit, officially launched today.

The Strategy infoKit is a culmination of a 2-year project funded by the JISC Organisational Support Committee and is based on the often overlooked premise that planning and implementing strategic activity is something which affects everyone who works within an institution.

The Strategy infoKit is based around four main, but interconnected stages:

1. strategic planning
2. environment scanning
3. managing strategic activity
4. monitoring

A key message underpinning this resource, however, is the importance of taking an integrated approach to all four stages within the context of an inclusive, institution-wide and ongoing ‘strategic conversation’ – now far easier to achieve if institutions successfully utilise the potential offered here by technology.

Members of the senior management team are an important audience for this resource and will appreciate the opportunity to reflect on and compare their institution’s current approaches and the challenges they face with those outlined in the infoKit. But it is also anticipated that middle and junior management with responsibilities for undertaking strategic operations within faculties, departments and teams will welcome the practical, hands-on approach taken and the ‘pick and mix’ style packed full of often simple, but effective, tools and techniques.

Where possible we have sought to illustrate the guidance being given with links to exemplars of good practice from across the sector and beyond. However, we are also aware that many more examples exist out there that we would love to hear about and perhaps use to add further value to this resource. If you think your institution falls into this category and you feel you have some experiences it would be useful to share, why not tell us about it?

Another member of the review panel expressed their intention to “discuss using the infoKit with the senior management team, possibly on an away day”. Again, we’d love to hear of your own plans for using the infoKit and experiences of doing so in due course…

Do you have experience of strategic planning issues? Are you interested in how institutions make progress towards their strategic goals? Would you be willing to review and comment on a new draft resource supporting this area? If so, you sound like just the kind of person we are looking for!

JISC infoNet are currently looking for up to ten institutions from across both the further and higher education sectors who are willing to review the draft content of their forthcoming ‘Strategy infoKit’. Those selected will be given access to the draft content via a private URL, asked to consider the appropriateness of the content, format, structure, ease of navigation and overall usefulness of the resource from their perspective and to provide structured feedback and suggestions by completing an extensive evaluation form. All comments and suggestions made will then be considered before the production of the final version due for launch in November 2009.

Access to the draft version will be available from May 2009 and the evaluation template must be completed and returned to JISC infoNet by the end of August 2009. A grant of £5,000 will be paid to each institution selected to take part upon receipt of their completed evaluation form.

Anyone interested in participating should send an email to Steve Bailey (steve.bailey@northumbria.ac.uk) by no later than Friday 10th April 2009 providing a summary of their current role and outlining their experience in the areas of strategic planning within the further or higher education sectors. It should also include confirmation that they are authorised to undertake this work by their appropriate line management and a commitment to completing the process by 31st August 2009. Those institutions selected will be informed by Friday 1st May and will receive further instructions, the evaluation form and a link to the draft content by no later than Friday 29th May.

We hope to hear from you soon!