1. What are the first words that come to your mind when you think of 'strategic planning'?

2. You can do this! Designing collaborative strategic planning to engage your community and transform your library
WPWVC/ACRL Spring 2016
Eve Wider,
Robin Kear,

3. Why are you in our session?
I am expected to lead or do strategic planning.
I want to work on collaboration in my organization.
Our planning is terrible, last-minute, and/or top- down.
I want to improve our strategic planning.
None of the above

4. What most of our organizations are like vs. what we need to be like
Agile model
Flexibility, responsiveness, tolerance for uncertainty
Shared authority; inclusive planning
Continual striving to learn, align, and optimize value to community
Project-based approach is common; strong use of cross- functional teams
Line staff identify with mission, share vision and sense of direction
Hierarchical model
Clarity and stability
Leadership from the top
Some use of teams but most work still happens in traditional departments
Line staff tend to identify with their particular job roles, not the mission
Eve: Slide created by Karen Calhoun Pitt AUL Organizational Development and Strategic Initiatives
Loosely based on Alex Bennet (2003), Organizational survival in the new world: the intelligent complex adaptive system, p. 19.

5. One Voice on Collaboration
“Over the last four years…I have witnessed the dramatic change in how yearly goals are formulated and executed within the ULS. It has been a great experience to be a part of this transformation and play a small role in creating what we now call ‘strategic options.’ By serving on the PBC, I have been provided with a broad perspective of activities within the ULS as well as the individuals who work so hard to make them happen.” - Planning and Budget Committee Member
Eve

6. Our Story
University Library System (185 employees) at the University of Pittsburgh
In 2011, under the guidance of Karen Calhoun, we started a new planning story
Eve: Story of disconnection, improve morale, why it started in 2011, tell story of new planning process, background context
Previous:
Top-down process
Not known throughout the organization
Planning and Budget Committee largely a “rubber stamp”
Newer:
Illuminated Cathedral of Learning 2008, University of Pittsburgh, Innovation Institute

7. Values
Changing organizational culture is hard but essential to remaining relevant and valued
Agile organizations are not commanded they are nurtured
The agile organization decentralizes and distributes authority
Raising the visibility, transparency, inclusiveness, and ownership of the planning process
Eve

8. One Voice on Collaboration
“I love to learn new things, and the PBC provides not only a great educational opportunity but a chance to make positive contributions to improve our organization. It was a good experience to participate in such a highly collaborative group and to work with and learn from so many colleagues.”
- Planning and Budget Committee Member
Eve

9. Pieces for You to Adapt
Robin

10. A Planning Committee: Depends on Your Size
Elected Librarians
Elected Staff
Appointments
Team Leader
Sponsor
Secretary
Past Team Leader
Consultants
Robin: This could be 3-5 people depending on your library. What kind of committees do you have? Consider someone outside the library too?

11. Environmental Scanning
Ideas and Presentations
by PBC Members
Ideas from the
All-Staff Event
Reports from Key Teams
Outside Speaker
Carry-Overs
Open Scan Sessions
Robin: Librarians do this all the time!
Variety of inputs
Ideas from PBC members
Reports from key teams (heads of tracks, Liaison Librarians, Assessment, Communications)
Carry-overs
Ideas from everyone at the all-staff event
An outside speaker
Open scan sessions
Environmental Scanning

12. Discussion Forums Robin: Variations of the discussion forums:
Birds of a Feather (An informal discussion group)
Future Search (Digital Library and the User Services) (Past, the Present, the Future, Common Ground, and Action Planning. The techniques used — time lines, a mind map, creative future scenarios, common ground dialogue — are all managed to support the principles. People need no special training, orientation, vocabulary, or background to participate. They work in small groups, make reports to the whole, and join in whole group dialogues on what they are learning.)
Targeted Questions for Discussion with Poster Session display (Long Range Plan goals, other topics)
Discussion Forums

13. Poster Session All Staff Planning Event
Robin: Groups present their work back to everyone.
Why do we have this event? To gather ideas!!! Big or small, it doesn’t matter, there is a place in this process for all of them.
The event will be called the Fall Forum, a new name with a slightly different format.
There will be questions to consider.
There will be lunch!
We encourage everyone to attend this event and be heard.
Poster Session All Staff Planning Event

14. Robin: Outside speakers, webinars
Fresh Perspective

15. Transparent Communication
Robin
Transparent Communication

16. Engagement (Internal)
Robin: Themes: football, star wars, Greek creatures, seasons, penguins
Engagement (Internal)

17. Engagement (External)
Robin: During the process: outside university presenters at meetings, dean of student affairs; consultation on research for writing strategic options with outside groups (CIDDE; CSSD)
Ultimately reaching our students and staff in a broad way.
Engagement (External)

18. One Voice for Collaboration
“The PBC has been a great tool not only for bringing ideas to the table and having a real impact on library planning, but for fostering relationships across the organization that otherwise would have been a real challenge. PBC alumni take away friendships with people from across the ULS, and those friendships help us all build bridges for collaboration moving forward.” - Planning and Budget Committee Member
Robin

19. What is the level of staff participation in your planning process?
Everyone is or has the opportunity to be involved.
Only our administration thinks about strategic planning.
A few key individuals but not everyone.
Upper and middle management are involved.
I don’t know.

20. Challenges to Planning
Ideas don’t always rise
Some asks are simply not done
Size of staff
Participation (perceived or actual)
Time commitment
External planning process pressures
Eve

21. Challenges to Planning
Expectations of participants
Strategic ideas vs. operational ideas
Exposes organizational fault lines / tension between staff and administration
Challenge to communicate all the ideas, activities, outcomes
Maintenance: transformative at first, but ongoing is difficult
Eve

22. Surprise Internal Benefits
Acculturation into the library community
Empowerment to make internal connections, pick up the phone, and across the organization
Empowerment to speak up and feel heard
Middle managers feel empowered to go ahead and do projects anyway
Productive outlet for venting, affirmative dialogue
Improved current awareness from outside speakers and open environmental scans
Eve: Benefits from life-cycle model, forward momentum

23. Positive Outcomes Informal internal communication improved
Concrete Examples:
Internal partnership between Special Collections and Liaisons
New external connections with Student Affairs and the Office of International Services
EZ-Proxy improvement implemented amid obstacles in Information Technology
24/5 hours at main library, asked for by students, given priority and implemented
Eve

24. Positive Upper-Admin Outcomes
Feedback ‘Best plan that they had seen’ from Provost to Director
Education of library value to external university community
Adds to library credibility
Ahead of our university’s planning curve, easy to take advantage of our new university-wide participatory planning process
Evidence of decision-making process in the library’s strategic goals
Eve

25. One Voice for Collaboration
“My year serving on the PBC has helped me to gain a better understanding of the ULS as a whole and the planning process. Participating in meetings, events, and subcommittees within the PBC has increased my understanding of our system as well as my confidence and ability to articulate ideas within my own work area. One of the most valuable aspects has been collaborating with colleagues from many areas of the ULS to learn more about their work and departments through our weekly meetings and environmental scans. I've also appreciated being able to see results of my participation by watching my own small ideas evolve and grow into an environmental scan and eventually become part of an approved option for next year.” - Planning and Budget Committee Member
Robin

26. Based on what you have heard today, is participatory planning worth trying in your organization? How can you start?

27. Questions? Thank you! Robin Kear Liaison Librarian, Pitt
@rkear
Eve Wider
Director, Owen Library, Pitt-Johnstown
@evewider