From your experience or from analyzing the goals conference in the text, what do

From your experience or from analyzing the goals conference in the text, what do you believe will be the most challenging aspect of writing strategic goals and objectives for the implementation plan? Explain your answer.
Reading:
Lecture 4A
Phase IV in the Collaborative Strategic Planning Process is conducting a “Goals Conference” (Sanaghan, 2009). During the goals conference, each of the broad strategies are written into four of five goal statements and then specific objectives are written for each statement. In this lecture, goals and objectives will be defined in greater detail followed by a discussion of the goals conference and writing the implementation plan.
Strategic Goals
Goals in strategic plans are essentially a sentence description of some broad aims for the university. A goal may be performance related, developmental, a specific project or some combination. Strategic goals are ends to which the university will strive, or what it hopes to accomplish in the long run. It is usually a “what” statement describing the future state of affairs, rather than a “how” statement which is included in objectives. Goals typically start with action verbs such as develop, create, improve, produce, or construct. For example, a project goal may be “to construct a new residence hall for men and women.” A performance goal may be “to improve graduation rates.” In both examples, they are broad in nature and not time-specific.
There are a number of criteria or recommendations for writing effective strategic goals. First, the reason that propelled the creation of the goal should be well documented. In the Collaborative Strategic Planning Process, much of this has been done through the development of the concept papers. The documentation is sometimes included in the written plan, placed in the appendix, or is included as supplementary reports. Second, strategic goals should be congruent with the mission, vision, and value statements of the university. Third, care should be taken so that strategic goals are not competing with one another, such as a goal to increase academic quality if the first year class, and a goal to significantly increase the number of entering students. However, in some cases realistic objectives and action plans may be created so that both goals are appropriate for the university. Finally, strategic goals should be of appropriate length of time, usually two to five years. If it is less than two years, the goal may not be of appropriate scope to be included in a strategic plan. If it is of greater length than five years, the goal may be too large and need to be subdivided into different projects.
Objectives
After setting a general, broad goal statement for each strategy, specific objectives are then established that guide the activities and provide metrics to know whether or not the goal is achieved. Strategic objectives should be describing accomplishments, not activities. A common list of criteria for writing objectives is described in the mnemonic S.M.A.R.T. The first known use of the term was in 1981, in an article by Daron (1981). The following describes these five criteria:
S-Specific: Objectives should address the five W’s…who, what, when, where, and why. It is very clear what needs to be done, who is to do it and by an agreed upon time.
M-Measurable: Objectives should have key performance indicators (KPI’s) that include numeric or descriptive measures that define quantity, quality, financials, etc. Performance is measured against set targets.
A-Achievable: The capacity is there to reach the targets. Objectives must be within the university’s control and influence and be appropriately supported both in terms of human and financial resources.
R-Relevant: Objectives must relate specifically to the stated goal and should be easily integrated into work by faculty and staff.
T-Time-based: Objectives should identify a definite target date for completion and/or frequencies for specific action steps that are important to achieving the objective.
Goals Conference
In the Collaborative Strategic Planning Process, the goals conference is the culminating event for the planning task force. Since the broad strategies and themes have been “approved’ conceptually by the board of trustees, the task is to make the goals and themes operational. Sanaghan (2009) recommends that participants in this process include all the planning task force members, plus other key individuals critical to the success of the plan’s implementation, such as the human resource director, director of physical plant, development officers, student affairs directors, academic administrators, and others. The entire president’s cabinet must attend because they will be playing an increasingly important role in the process.
The facilitators will lead the group to write four or five goals for each strategy based on the concept papers, the vision statement, and value statement. Using a combination of small group work and large group presentations, all participants understands and provides feedback for each of the goals. Sanaghan (2009) recommends that every small group should craft a beginning action plan for each goal that follows the format below:
Goal statement
Three important steps toward implementing the goal (also called objectives)
Resources needed (people, money, technology, office space, etc.)
The time frame for implementing each step
Suggested person who will be ultimately responsible for the successful completion of the goal
A description of what success will look like
Potential hurdles or challenges that would prevent implementation
Realistically, during the goals conference there is only time to develop action plans for the top two goals in each strategy. The remaining goals will be reviewed by the cabinet and others to decide how to integrate them into the plan. Given the magnitude of the plan, it should be made clear during the goals conference that all the goals may not be included in the final plan.
Implementation Plan
At the conclusion of the goal conference, the task force has nearly finished their role. The responsibility for creating the implementation plan shifts to the president’s cabinet. The cabinet understands the complexity of all the functional areas of the university and knows the most appropriate and effective ways to integrate the goals into the work already occurring on campus. Sanaghan (2009) has several key recommendations at this stage of completing the implementation plan:
As the plan is finished the cabinet should remain committed to the guiding principle of inclusivity, transparency, and honesty. Sometimes due to time constraints these principle are not followed.
Within 30 to 45 days of the goals conference the cabinet should complete the action plans and send a proposed implementation plan to each planning task force member for review. Momentum at this stage must be maintained.
The president should convene the cabinet and the planning task force in order for the cabinet to provide rationale for decisions in writing the final plan, and receive feedback from the planning task force. This meeting could also serve as a celebratory event bringing closure to the planning task force and the work of writing the strategic plan.
Once the strategic plan is in final form, it is submitted to the board of trustees for approval. As soon as possible after the board approval, the plan should be widely circulated and discussed at meetings across the campus. Most importantly, the plan should be on the campus intranet and an executive summary should be on the external webpages of the university. All stakeholders and the public should know not only the priorities, but also the action plans that support them.
References
Doran, G.T., (1981). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review, 70, 11.
Sanaghan, P., (2009). Collaborative strategic planning in higher education. San Francisco: NACUBO.