Week 1 - The Strategic Planning Process has begun!

The Strategic Planning Committee had our kick-off meeting with consultant Maureen Sullivan on Tuesday, January 22, 2008. At this meeting we discussed the following:

Planning process – We discussed what the planning process would look like and reviewed key components.

The key components will be
Mission
Vision
Values
Strategic directions (also called initiatives)
Goals and objectives
Implementation

The overall planning process will consist of three phases. In Phase One we will draft mission/vision/values statements; determine strategic directions, and decide how we want to proceed with the creation of goals and objectives. Phase Two will be the actual development of goals and objectives. In Phase Three we will write the official strategic planning documents; review them with key stakeholders; and finalize the plan.

Time Table – Phase One activities will take us to May. We will be gathering information and input and developing some of the core documents that will direct our later work. We plan to engage both staff and community in discussions during this phase. Phase Two will begin in May. A good chunk of time will be spent on developing goals and objectives, with plenty of opportunity for staff involvement. Phase Three, writing the plan, will begin by September 1, with final completion of the plan aimed for October 1, 2008

When / how to engage the community? – We spent some time identifying the various community agencies and groups we might want to involve in our strategic planning process and exploring what form this involvement might take. More on this later.

When / how to involve Staff? - In considering the planning process we looked for opportunities to involve other staff. The first one is coming soon! On February 19th we want to invite staff to brainstorm with us as we look at the library mission statement and consider whether we want to create a slogan (or tagline) for the library.

First Work Plan – Moving forward, the committee plans to meet every Wednesday morning. To get us started we identified research avenues to pursue and made work assignments for our next meeting.

Communication – We want to keep everyone informed at all stages of this project. To that end we identified a number of communication methods we hope to employ throughout this process. In addition to the usual E-mails, and Staff/Community Newsletters, you can look for the following in weeks to come – a Strategic Planning Information Center in the staff lounge and our first ever library Blog! Stay tuned!