Strategic Planning and Appreciative Inquiry: An Invitation to Plan the Future of NECC
The purpose of this message is to invite all members of the college community to consider participating in the development of the colleges Strategic Plan. By participating you will play a key role in shaping the future of NECC. During the past two months the NECC Steering Committee (the Presidents Leadership Team and the Executive Committee) have been exploring the steps we will take as we begin to develop our new Strategic Plan. After considerable attention as to how we might best approach this, we have selected Appreciative Inquiry as a way to give "full voice" to the college community and community stakeholders.
Appreciative Inquiry is described by Kim Cameron in Positive Organizational Development as "a process of search and discovery designed to value, prize and honor. It assumes that organizations are networks of relatedness and that these networks are alive. The objective of AI is to touch the positive core of organizational life. The core is accessed by asking positive questions"
The AI process of Strategic Planning is inclusive and builds on the strengths, capacities and potential of the members of the college community. It is through expansive questions and an appreciation of shared leadership that we will plan for the future of NECC.
How will this work?
The college will work with two experienced and knowledgeable AI Facilitators (Marge Schiller and Jackie Stavros). We will form a Planning Committee and we welcome participation from anyone in the college community (including students) who wish to be part of the planning team.
What will we do?
The Committee will work with the AI facilitators to better understand what AI is. We will also work together to develop an AI interview guide as a focus of our inquiry. We will conduct interviews and the results of the interviews will be compiled to better understand the best practices of the college, identify critical issues, and create a shared vision of growing stronger together. We will plan a Summit to be held in May 2007.
When will we do this?
The planning Committee will meet for two days in January (January 8 &9, 2007) and interviews will be conducted in January and February. We will meet again in March (March 8 & 9) and review the information collected in the interviews. We will also plan the Summit to be held in May (May 29, 30 &31)
The Summit
The AI Summit is a large-scale meeting process that focuses on discovering and developing the organization's positive core and designing it into an organization's strategic business plan, processes, systems and culture.
The Summit will be opened to members of the college community and community stakeholders and may include as many as 200 or more people. The Planning Committee members and the participants in the Summit will design the Strategic Plan as we share our vision to serve our students, faculty, staff and the community.
Some of you may wish to participate but may have to miss a meeting. Although we encourage participation throughout, it is possible to have a conflict here and there and still be part of the team. Being a member of the team means that you will get to know colleagues, learn about the AI model which may have application for you in your department and in the classroom, and you will be shaping our future as a college.
Note: The Planning Committee may have as many as twenty or more members and every effort will be made to include a cross section of the college community. Administrators and staff who wish to participate will need to have the approval of their supervisor and President Hartleb will be encouraging supervisors to support the participation of staff. To participate you should email Cindy Hideriotis chideriotis@necc.mass.edu by October 25th your subject heading should be: Participation in AI Strategic Planning Committee.
Please remember that if you wish to be involved and cannot serve on the Planning Committee we still welcome your participation at the Summit. Another way you can participate is by conducting the interviews.
You may have questions about this process and would like to learn more. We have scheduled three informational sessions and we encourage you to come and learn more. The sessions will be offered on the following dates, times and places:
Monday, October 16, 2007
12:00-1:00 (Lawrence) L131
2:00-3:00 (Haverhill) TC205
Friday, October 20th
You may also call David Hartleb, Judith Kamber or Terry Cargan. We would be happy to talk to you more about this opportunity to shape the future of NECC.