STRATEGIC THINKING

What is Strategic Thinking?

Strategic thinking is defined in many different ways:• It is a particular way of thinking which analyzes

opportunities and problems from a broad perspective • It is understanding the potential impact your actions

might have on the organization • Strategic thinkers visualize what might or could be, and • Take a holistic approach to how to expand or improve on

what they, or the organization they represent, are doing

Why is it Important?

• To ensure that an organization does not stagnate or become stuck in products, processes and the past

• It is necessary to think beyond what is the present and how we are doing things now

• It does not dismiss what we do well • It is focussed on continuous improvement and what

we can do better• It serves to actuate the vision of where we need to

be in the future.

Strategic Thinking - Focus• Finding and developing unique opportunities to create value• Enables provocative and creative dialogue among key people

who can affect the organization’s direction• It is the input to strategic planning• Uncovers potential opportunities and challenges assumptions

about the organization’s value proposition• Targets these opportunities • Demands understanding of the fundamental drivers of

educational institutions and actively challenges conventional thinking about them

Alignment

An organization’s strategies must fit with its:• Mission• Vision• Competitive Situation• Operating Strengths

Goal-oriented

• Strategies are the means by which a company sets out to achieve its goals

• Effective strategies set clear expected outcomes and makes explicit links between these outcomes and the corporate goals

Fact-based

• The best strategies are based on and supported by real data

• While strategic thinking by its very nature requires assumptions about the future, these assumptions must be highly informed guesses, based on facts, i.e. actual performance data or results of some kind of pilot test or experiment

• The logic behind the strategy must be clear• Effective strategies tell believable stories

Based on Broad Thinking

Organizations that are strategically nimble are:• able to consider multiple alternatives at once

and• consider a range of scenarios in making

strategic choices

Focused

No PSI can do everything or be all things to all people

Strategy setting involves making choices about:

• what the organization WILL do

and as important

• what it will NOT do.

Agreement

• In a larger, complex organization, successful strategies must gain the support of multiple stakeholders

• This requires a process of developing strategies that are interactive in gathering multiple points of view and in sharing the thinking behind the strategy as it evolves

Engagement

• Strategies that will need to mobilize broad resources must be easily articulated so that they can capture the attention of the people who will be asked to carry them out

Adjustment

• Strategies need to be able to be adjusted to build on learning from experimentation, errors, and new information

at the same time• There needs to be some thoughtfulness in

these adjustments so that they are responsive without being overly reactive or “knee-jerk”

Implementable

• Because effective strategies draw on the particular strengths and skills of an organization, they include explicit considerations of how they will be implemented

• Implementable strategies provide clear guidance for decision making in order to shape behavior throughout the organization

Strategic Thinking - Key Factors For PSI’s

1. Competencies and Skills2. Products, Services and Offerings3. Economic Environment and Industry

Considerations4. Markets and Customers5. Competitors and Substitutes6. Stakeholders and Partners

Competencies and Skills

• What are your Post Secondary Institution’s (PSI’s) strengths?

• How can these be used to create a unique competitive advantage?

• What are your PSI’s weaknesses that might leave you vulnerable?

Products and Offerings • What is the portfolio of offerings of your PSI? (programs,

services, tuition/pricing options, off-site projects)• What are the overlaps/redundancies among the

offerings?• How can these overlaps/redundancies serve to an

advantage?• What are the unique branding opportunities associated

with your PSI’s portfolio of offerings?• How does this branding fit with your PSI’s image?• How do they fit with each other?

Economic Environment and Industry Considerations

• What is the overall economic context in which the PSI competes?• What is the regulatory or governmental environment and how does

it impact you?• What is the structure of PSI’s in your area?• Where is the Post Secondary Education sector headed and where

do you want it to be?• What is your position amongst all of the PSI’s and what do you want

it to be?• How do PSI’s in general connect with other sectors, the community,

other levels of education and what are the implications to how you are positioned?

Markets and Customers

• Who are your target clients, students or sectors for your offerings?

• What are their needs?

• How is your PSI uniquely suited to meet these

particular needs?• Are there other potential clients that you are not

serving?

Competitors and Substitutes• What is the nature of competition for the offerings?• What other PSI’s have offerings that could meet the same

needs? (Build, Buy or Sell?)• What are their unique strengths and strategies?• How are they similar to or different from you?• How might they respond to your strategies?• Are there PSI’s not yet “in the game” that might be

considering to do so?• What are their strengths and weaknesses?• What market conditions might lead to action on their part?

Stakeholders and Partners

• What other organizations (agencies, government departments, industry, community and civic partners) do you need to work with in order to develop and market your offerings?

• What is their relative power compared to you?• What are their strategies and strengths and are

they aligned with you?• What’s in it for them?

VISION 2020

Context

• Through numerous public forums, over 2000 people contributed thoughts and creativity

• Question: if BVC were at its best in the year 2020, what would it look like?

• Huge volume of conceptual data guided development and design of our plan

Appreciative Inquiry:The Process

• Engaged Board, Executive, and College Leadership• Major public event – Opened by the Mayor to more than

1500 of the College’s staff, faculty, students, alumni, and donors

• Also, community visionaries, government officials, business leaders, and the public

• Subsequent consultations, facilitated by Dr. Joan McArthur-Blair, former President of Nova Scotia Community College.

• Consultation sessions included another 500 internal and external stakeholders (over 2000 persons in total).

Strategy Behind Vision 2020• A long-term strategic plan• Long view allows college to:

o implement the plan over extended timeline o in coherent fashion o facilitates sequential and cumulative actions that

bring us closer to vision each year• Plan calls for new capacity-building

investments as well as nurture and sustain previous investments

Engagement – Community Inquiry(or appreciative inquiry)

• Important exercise to engage broader community• Community inquiry brings people together with different frames of

reference to share dialogueo More participants – more options on tableo Assumptions otherwise taken for granted or invisible (those close to

college) challenged and brought into openo Problems are complex; inviting broader participation leads to fully

dimensional dialogue on strategic issues and consideration of alternatives and solutions

• When people have role in creating something – more willing to support it and promote successo Process builds shared vision and fosters shared ownership

Strategic Advantage of the Plan

• When people participate in a strong, collaborative, and respectful process about the future of an organization, there are legacy impacts. People will:o Expect greater involvemento Foster deeper sense of communityo Think more strategically more ofteno Share a vested interest in the plan’s successful

implementation

Bow Valley College

• There is an assumption in Vision 2020 that we are not merely responding to our environment but actually shaping ito BVC is promoting a future by design rather than left to

chance• Vision 2020 calls for an approach to adult education

that starts to separate BVC from its peers There is an opportunity (through learning partner for life or concept of tri-partite agreements) to establish distinctive excellence in adult education and training

Bill DuPerron, PhDDean

Health, Justice and Human Services ProgramsBOW VALLEY COLLEGE

332 – 6 Avenue SECalgary, Alberta T2G 4S6

403-410-1498bduperron@bowvalleycollege.ca

Presenting today on behalf of Dr. Bill DuPerron

Frank G Dungen

Project OfficerHealth, Justice and Human Services Programs

BOW VALLEY COLLEGE332 – 6th Avenue S. E.

Calgary, Alberta T2G 4S6 403-355-4620

fdungen@bowvalleycollege.ca