THEIR OPINION

By Jerry Geisler, Debbie Gilliard and Raj Khandekar

Strategic planning key to Metro's future

Imagine two futures for Metro. The first one, without strategic planning, would have Metro operating without a vision, mission, strategic objectives, a strategy that fits, knowledge of how well Metro is performing, and would be unable to correct our deficiencies or to learn from our successes. To put it simply, Metro would only be reacting to changes in the external environment and solving problems as they arose.

Fortunately for Metro, the second future is already underway. President Jordan has shared his vision of "Metro as the pre-eminent urban baccalaureate college in the country," and a process is underway to formulate a strategic plan to achieve it. Interim Provost Joan Foster and Senate President Hal Nees are leading this effort. The strategic planning process will define the vision in operational terms and result in a shared vision for Metro; revisit the mission statement to ensure it is relevant; set objectives that will reflect our priorities and serve as standards for progress and establish a strategy that is a good fit between external forces and Metro's internal strengths and weaknesses. This will make Metro better by clarifying priorities and goals, creating new ways of doing business, implementing new ideas in a timely manner, and providing a framework for making decisions and allocating resources.

To attain the vision, President Jordan has asked that we focus on four initiatives: develop a faculty cadre that demonstrate their commitment to teaching, complete a review of what it means to be a modified open-admissions institution, develop partnerships with Denver Public Schools and area community colleges and develop an interdisciplinary environment.

How are we going to achieve this? Metro will complete the planning process by May 2006. During the 2006-07 academic year, schools and departments will devise strategic plans by reviewing their own mission statements and goals; identifying core values and guiding principles that prevail at Metro; assessing their strengths and weaknesses to understand what is being done well and what needs to be improved; analyzing the environment to learn about competitors, how technology will influence the educational process, and what the future holds in store for higher education.

Strategic planning should help schools and departments identify how they can contribute to Metro's vision. For the implementation phase, faculty and staff will develop action plans and projects; create and refine business processes to clarify role expectations about who will do what, when and how, and work to move Metro toward attainment of its goals and vision.

Metro's people have always been its greatest strength. The strategic planning process needs input from all Metro stakeholders, so be ready to participate in developing our future. What does this participation do for departments and schools? Ask any member of the forward thinking Department of Communication Arts and Sciences. They have already begun the process with our assistance as facilitators. If their optimism, initiative and hard work are any gauge, there is no doubt that a great future for Metro is assured.