Warsaw Holds Strategic Planning Retreat At Swan Lake
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
The 30-member team of teachers, staff, administrators, parents, business leaders, a student and community members started each day at 8 a.m. and worked until about 10 p.m., breaking only for 45 minutes for lunch and dinner.
Dr. Steve Barone, president of Transformation Systems Ltd., was brought in to facilitate the meetings of the team. According to Elaine Bultemeier, internal coordinator for strategic planning for Warsaw Community Schools, Barone doesn’t lead the meetings but facilitates them. Having been doing this for 20 years, Bultemeier said, Barone is really good at gauging the mood of the room, assessing body language and asking a lot of good, probing questions.
Monday, the first day of the retreat, Bultemeier said the majority of the time was used to develop the core values for the school system. Generally, she said, it’s the most difficult of the process. Team members were asked about values, what the school system stands for and what they believe in.
One of the six core values the group decided on was, “We believe all students can learn.” Bultemeier said it was an easy one for the team because everyone feels “all” students means all.
No core value is more important than the others, she said.
Another core value was, “Everyone has something to contribute.” Bultemeier said that builds on the idea that the school system values every child. Though a child’s contribution may be small, it’s still a contribution.
During the retreat, the large group often broke into smaller groups for discussions. After some time, the large group got back together to discuss the smaller groups’ ideas. Part of the process, Bultemeier said, is that the values were agreed upon by consensus, and consensus takes awhile.
“If you talk to any team member, they would tell you they were exhilarated and exhausted,” she said.
On the second day, Tuesday, the day began with the team coming up with a mission statement. Since the mission statement is still being tweaked, Bultemeier didn’t reveal it.
Tuesday afternoon, the team was doing what’s called an “internal scan” of the school system. The team discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the corporation.
“Everyone has been contributing equally and they care deeply about our children, and that’s very much appreciated,” Bultemeier said.
The agenda for today was really broad, she said. The team was to look at the opportunities and threats to the school corporation. The threats may include political, economic and competition.
Looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is SWOT analysis. Bultemeier said it’s used in strategic planning often.
Besides SWOT analysis, today’s agenda also included refining the mission statement and delimiters (what the school corporation isn’t going to do).
Teams later in the year will work on the plan before being presented to the school board for final approval.
Bultemeier said the next step in the strategic planning process was for action planning and measurement teams to be identified. The measurement team will determine how the success of the strategic plan is measured and if it’s working. The action team will determine what actions need to be taken to make the plan happen.
In late fall, the Core Planning Team will come back to check how it’s coming along.
Hopefully, Bultemeier said, at the February school board meeting, the board will approve the final strategic plan.
“The board didn’t have to do this,” Bultemeier said. “It was a gift they gave to us to improve the system.”
She said the plan should be a three- to five-year plan. Organizations should conduct strategic plans at intervals, she said, because things change. The plan should be a living document and not sit on the shelf, she said.[[In-content Ad]]
The 30-member team of teachers, staff, administrators, parents, business leaders, a student and community members started each day at 8 a.m. and worked until about 10 p.m., breaking only for 45 minutes for lunch and dinner.
Dr. Steve Barone, president of Transformation Systems Ltd., was brought in to facilitate the meetings of the team. According to Elaine Bultemeier, internal coordinator for strategic planning for Warsaw Community Schools, Barone doesn’t lead the meetings but facilitates them. Having been doing this for 20 years, Bultemeier said, Barone is really good at gauging the mood of the room, assessing body language and asking a lot of good, probing questions.
Monday, the first day of the retreat, Bultemeier said the majority of the time was used to develop the core values for the school system. Generally, she said, it’s the most difficult of the process. Team members were asked about values, what the school system stands for and what they believe in.
One of the six core values the group decided on was, “We believe all students can learn.” Bultemeier said it was an easy one for the team because everyone feels “all” students means all.
No core value is more important than the others, she said.
Another core value was, “Everyone has something to contribute.” Bultemeier said that builds on the idea that the school system values every child. Though a child’s contribution may be small, it’s still a contribution.
During the retreat, the large group often broke into smaller groups for discussions. After some time, the large group got back together to discuss the smaller groups’ ideas. Part of the process, Bultemeier said, is that the values were agreed upon by consensus, and consensus takes awhile.
“If you talk to any team member, they would tell you they were exhilarated and exhausted,” she said.
On the second day, Tuesday, the day began with the team coming up with a mission statement. Since the mission statement is still being tweaked, Bultemeier didn’t reveal it.
Tuesday afternoon, the team was doing what’s called an “internal scan” of the school system. The team discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the corporation.
“Everyone has been contributing equally and they care deeply about our children, and that’s very much appreciated,” Bultemeier said.
The agenda for today was really broad, she said. The team was to look at the opportunities and threats to the school corporation. The threats may include political, economic and competition.
Looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is SWOT analysis. Bultemeier said it’s used in strategic planning often.
Besides SWOT analysis, today’s agenda also included refining the mission statement and delimiters (what the school corporation isn’t going to do).
Teams later in the year will work on the plan before being presented to the school board for final approval.
Bultemeier said the next step in the strategic planning process was for action planning and measurement teams to be identified. The measurement team will determine how the success of the strategic plan is measured and if it’s working. The action team will determine what actions need to be taken to make the plan happen.
In late fall, the Core Planning Team will come back to check how it’s coming along.
Hopefully, Bultemeier said, at the February school board meeting, the board will approve the final strategic plan.
“The board didn’t have to do this,” Bultemeier said. “It was a gift they gave to us to improve the system.”
She said the plan should be a three- to five-year plan. Organizations should conduct strategic plans at intervals, she said, because things change. The plan should be a living document and not sit on the shelf, she said.[[In-content Ad]]
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