SEPT. 2024
Innovation and Strategy for the Small American College
from W. Kent Barnds and Augustana College
Welcome to Issue 3 of Innovation and Strategy for the Small American College.
Thanks for reading and keeping the conversation going.
W. Kent Barnds
Executive Vice President for Strategy and Innovation
Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill.
We market tested our strategic plan
Here are the humbling insights and methods you can use at home
One thing that excited me about Augustana's most recent strategic planning process was our use of an outside organization specializing in higher-ed marketing to help us test some ideas that had emerged during our planning. We had not done this kind of testing with any of our previous strategic plans, so this was new territory.
We turned to Carnegie, which had done some psychographic brand work for Augustana not long ago. We had thought they might propose a survey and some focus groups, so we were surprised when they suggested a couple of workshops with high school students to test some of the developing themes and emerging signature initiatives. The workshop format yielded great insights, and ultimately helped shape the final draft of the plan, which was presented to our Board of Trustees.
Things we learned market testing our plan with Carnegie:
- Our strategic plan used lots of jargon that was confusing and meaningless to students, who are supposed to be the beneficiaries. We stripped most of it out. (See the humbling examples below. High school students will give it to you straight if you ask them.)
- We were able to test 10 main themes to understand which ones resonated with students and which didn’t stand out at all. We ultimately shaped the final draft around those things that appealed to students.
- The workshops revealed we spend a lot of time trying to position our efforts to be distinctive within the higher ed community, while students just want clarity. We opted for clarity over cleverness.
- The workshop format also enabled us to test visual representations of our strategy initiatives, which guides how we represent our plan and its intended outcomes.
The workshops even revealed that our working title wasn't a hit. We made a last-minute pivot to Bold & Boundless.
Carnegie shared feedback while market testing Augustana's strategic plan. Click the graphic to view the full size.
There is no one-size-fits-all method of testing your strategic plan, but if you are not making testing a priority during plan development you are overlooking a key part of developing a plan that will have impact and resonate.
Recommendation: Build market testing into your next strategic planning process.
How we leverage the important difference between strategy and strategic planning
One of my favorite thought leaders when it comes to strategy is Alex Brueckmann. He offers hard truths differentiating between strategy and strategic planning, which are two very different things and often misunderstood.
Not long ago, Alex shared this chart, which I believe is incredibly valuable to anyone remotely involved in strategy and strategic planning.
The emphasis on time scale is especially useful, considering that genuine strategy takes time and often involves longer-term bets, while elements of a plan often can be crossed off a list in orderly fashion.
Alex is worth following on LinkedIn.
What does innovation actually look like in higher education?
Recently, I wrote a brief LinkedIn article describing some of my thoughts about innovation in higher education.
The piece was inspired after a question about my title, which includes the word innovation. If you need a couple of teasers, here they are:
- Innovation is seldom revolutionary.
- A watch collection might be a good way to understand the core elements of innovation, especially in higher education.
Professional development opportunities for CSOs
- Chief Strategy Officer Roundtable–Academic Impressions (I've participated in this program and highly recommend it.)
- Chief Strategy Officer Program–Wharton
- Chief Strategy Officer and Transformation Officer Program–Deloitte
What new thoughts has this issue stirred in you, as you consider strategy and innovation for the small college?
Do you have any ideas you’d like to pursue in dialogue?
Connect with me
W. Kent Barnds
Executive Vice President for Strategy & Innovation
Vice President of Enrollment & Communication
Augustana College, Rock Island, IL 61201
wkentbarnds@augustana.edu
Connect on LinkedIn
This message is sent on behalf of Augustana College