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…