Coker Strategic Planning is an interesting experience

The Coker College Strategic Planning Committee has divided into a series of issues committees and submitted papers that cover a great deal of the thinking that was involved in closing in on issues that should be the foundation of the new strategic plan. Dr. Wyatt, Coker's president, believes strongly in a solid strategic planning process and has Dr. Pat Lincoln, the College's provost, and Dr. Cathy Cuppett, directing the strategic planning effort. The goal is that a new strategic plan for the college will be in front of the college's Board of Trustees at their March meeting.
One goal of the process is to ensure that it is collaborative and early in the process meetings were held with representatives of most of the stakeholder groups for the college.

One of the goals of a strategic plan is to give specific direction for growth to the institution. The importance of planning became even more clear for me as I finished a short book called TRANSFORMING A COLLEGE by George Keller. Keller describes how Elon University transformed itself through planning from a rather non-descript small college into a dynamic institution that is growing in stature in nearly every area of that college.

While the book is a fairly short case study, all the key elements would make the blog post far too long. So, it seems like it might be a constructive idea to list Keller's analysis of the six features that helped stimulate Elon's growth. As the six are listed, it would be well to remember that strong leadership was fundamental to the entire process.

Those six features of Elon University's growth include:

1 -- Quality Everywhere
2 -- Addiction to Planning
3 -- People -- attention to selection, training and rewards at every level
4 -- Distinctive niche (student growth and student centered)
5 -- Financing growth with leverage
6 -- Marketing Skill (all of the Marketing Ps, not just promotion)

This was a quick read that gave me an enhanced perspective on how crucial it is to have a dynamic strategic plan.