The "Plan on a Page"; Connecting Stakeholders
Dr. Dave Markward, Superintendent of the Cedar Rapids Community School District, follows-up on his last blog entry titled "The Strategic Plan: Not too thick; not too thin; just right" with a simplistic, yet powerful strategy for connecting stakeholders to the strategic plan. Read on to learn how a "Plan on a Page" is a good idea- even in your personal life! Thanks for sharing Dave!
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A document in our district that has had a great impact in aligning our efforts has been the Strategic Plan on a Page. This was the first tangible document that we created or our continuous improvement journey, and it is now displayed in poster size in every one of our 33 school buildings and in each of our support facilities. Further, each of our employees has a letter sized copy of the Plan, and we’ve developed smaller cards that we distribute to anyone and everyone in and outside of our District. The Plan was partially a result of garnering information from over 1200 citizens and staff members via a survey. Using a Pareto chart, we organized and prioritized the most frequently mentioned needs, expectations, and requirements to inform our strategic work. Then we engaged our senior leaders to select and organize the elements of the document.
Since the ‘roll out’ of the Plan nearly two years ago, the work of alignment continues across the organization. Plans on a Page aligned to the Cedar Rapids Community School District Plan on a Page can be found in our schools, departments, and even some task forces and committees. Here are some various examples:
-Cedar Rapids Schools
-Ensuring Minority Student Success Task Force
-Special Education Services Department
-Technology Department
I may have carried this a bit too far when one of my daughters was married. As the guy who gets to pay for the bride’s day, I had the pleasure of being able to speak at the reception. My wife cautioned me not to get up there and talk about school business. So I didn’t. But I did talk about the importance of having a plan in life that includes a vision, mission, core values, goals, and guiding philosophy. For the occasion, I produced a Plan on a Page for the bride and groom. Since they attended rival high schools, I had to make sure I incorporated the appropriate school colors. I think everyone needs a little direction now and then. Geez, I wish I’d thought of this about 37 years ago!!
