FAQS

The Strategic Direction will provide guidance for everyone connected with Fanshawe. The Board of Governors will use it to provide direction to management and assess performance. Management will use it to develop local operational plans and budgets. The Strategic Direction will also help employees, students and partners know what to expect of each other through the value statements, what to prioritize and how to contribute to the collective College goals.

The final Strategic Document will likely contain the following elements: A vision statement, a mission statement, a set of organizational values, a set of key objectives and a description of the results to be achieved in the next 10 years. More detailed documents describing the tactics that will help deliver on all these statements will be developed at the operational level, and also departmentally.

The Strategic Direction, in combination with the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Act and our Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA), will provide an overarching plan to which all other plans within the College connect and contribute.

Once the Strategic Direction is finalized, all other plans and strategies currently being implemented in various areas of the College will be assessed and potentially adjusted to fully align with the new direction.

Different organizations choose different definitions and purpose for the labels used in their Strategic Plan. It is important to note there are no right or wrong definitions. The correct definition is one that suits the needs, use, and context of the organization.

For Fanshawe, we will continue to use a Vision statement that describes the ultimate purpose of the organization, regardless of the specific programs and services we choose to offer. This statement will not describe a destination or goal to be achieved (those will be captured in other sections).

It will describe the core meaning of our existence. We are choosing this definition because we are looking for a statement that can ground us during unpredictable, uncertain and stormy times. The Vision will provide guidance, resilience and inspiration, by describing something we can control and achieve despite external forces. It will also provide a sense of perpetuity, unlike a destination which describes a finite achievement.

Meanwhile, for Fanshawe, the Mission statement will describe what we wish to contribute to our community of stakeholders. It helps us describe a customized and differentiated interpretation of the objects listed in the Act and in our SMA.

Together, the Vision and the Mission statement will provide a sense of direction and focus. This focus will be further refined and clarified through the other components of the document.

Components of the Strategic Direction can be aspirational but attainable. Some of the value statements should reflect existing core behaviours that serve us well, complemented by new, aspirational behaviours that will help us align with the current environment and future goals.

A Strategic Direction is not intended to capture all that Fanshawe does. If you compare it to going on a trip, the Strategic Direction is the map and the College is the car.

On a successful journey, there will be lots to do to operate, fuel, maintain and keep the car delivering on its main function. The car is a complex machine with hundreds of moving parts, and several, separate but interdependent components. Yet, once everyone on board has agreed to the direction we are heading, every single part of the car should be able to see how they are contributing to a successful mission.

When using the car analogy mentioned in a previous question, it should become clear that every single part of the College (the car) should be able to connect to the Strategic Direction and “see” how it is contributing to a successful journey. Not all everyday activities performed to operate, fuel, and maintain the car will be captured in the document of course. Each sub-system can even have its own Strategic Direction and plan to help it perform and contribute peak output, the goal being for all sub-systems to contribute to the overall mission, no matter how many layers they are away from the engine.

The value statements, meanwhile, will truly impact everyone and will guide all of us in “how” we do our work. They will represent the expectations we can have of each other during the journey.

The overall horizon of the Strategic Direction will be 10 years. However, the goals, the results and the corresponding action plans will be reviewed and adjusted regularly.

Everyone in the Fanshawe community brings a unique perspective and a wealth of diverse experience and expertise. The more people participate and provide input, the richer the outcome will be, and the more aligned it will be with the needs of our community.

Phase 4 of the initiative is the preparation for the implementation of the Strategic Direction. Although the full implementation plan has not been developed yet, everyone should expect extensive communication and a cascading of the document across all departments and teams. You can expect opportunities to participate in meetings with your colleagues to jointly interpret and apply the document to your area.

After an extensive consultation with the Fanshawe community, it is expected that everyone who chooses to be part of our journey will find some level alignment with the overall direction of the College, and ways to contribute to its success. It is not possible to achieve 100 per cent alignment with 100 per cent of our community.

Still, if there is something you disagree with, it is important for you to seek to understand first through conversations with your peers, your team and with management. Ask for clarification, describe the concerns, risks or fears, jointly look for the ways these concerns can be addressed.

Also note that there will be a validation process in the spring before a final version of the Strategic Direction is adopted. That phase will be a great opportunity to express your views and make suggestions.

One way to approach this is to view the sum of all operational activities as adding up to the College fulfilling its legislative requirements as well as its strategic direction. As discussed in other questions, long-term priorities can be seen as the work needed to travel toward specific goals, guided by a north star, while day-to-day activities keep the “car running” efficiently so that we can move successfully toward the direction we chose. The split of time, resources and efforts toward long-term vs day-to-day is often recommended as a 20/80.

The core elements of the Strategic Direction, i.e., the vision, mission and values are unlikely to change in the shortterm. We will use those components of the document to provide stability, resilience and focus. Meanwhile, recognizing that external factors outside of our control will continue to evolve and have an impact on the College, we will review the goals and particularly the action plans on a yearly basis to enable each area to respond and adjust local, departmental tactics.

The plan will include a section on desired outcomes or expected results. These qualitative and quantitative descriptors will enable us to measure and report on progress.

All employees should take some accountability for contributing to the success of the plan, since everyone plays a role in either achieving strategic outcomes, successfully delivery day-to-day programs and services, or both. Ultimately, the President of College will be held accountable by the Board of Governors for appropriately enabling all management and employees through sound leadership, organizational structuring and resource allocation.

The overall framework, purpose and design of the new Strategic Direction will not be much different from previous documents. The main difference will be that this version is a complete overhaul of previous documents, developed through a broad consultation process, and designed to reflect the current and future realities of our sector.