November 20, 2023
Taking the next step forward to align Next-Gen K-State strategic planning
Dear K-State Community,
Since launching our Next-Gen K-State strategic plan earlier this fall, I have seen tremendous enthusiasm for the future we have collectively defined for our university. I am continually honored to work alongside each of you as we work together to achieve our vision of leading the nation as a next-generation land-grant university. Thank you for your contribution in this effort!
With our university strategic plan now in place, it is time to expand our strategic planning focus to our colleges and major units. We must have commitment, strategic alignment and support from all levels of the university to fully realize our vision for 2030. Today, I share with you the guidance and alignment worksheet that has been developed to facilitate this next level of Next-Gen K-State strategic planning in the coming months.
Each college and major unit — led by a dean or vice president — must complete their strategic plan no later than September 2024. This is intended to help maintain the momentum we have seen with our Next-Gen K-State strategic plan and ensure we remain aligned in pursuing our goals across the university.
This comprehensive guidance and the strategic planning alignment worksheet are resources to help college and major unit leaders develop their strategic plans and ensure these plans align with and reinforce the university's 10 strategic imperatives, with both intermediate and longer-term outcome targets. The guidance has been designed to provide flexibility and freedom for colleges and major units to develop distinctive and unique plans. Most importantly, these plans should work for the colleges and units developing them, and they should demonstrate clear connectivity to how these entities intend to help achieve the strategic imperatives and priorities where relevant.
My sincere hope is that these minimal requirements provide our university community with clear guidance and structure for the development of these plans without restricting the flexibility, autonomy or innovation of our colleges and major units in developing their plans.
It is important to note that while each dean or vice president is required to develop and align their own college or major unit strategic plan with our university strategic plan, we want to provide the flexibility for these leaders to determine how to best ensure their departments or offices are aligned with their respective plans. The university is not requiring detailed departmental strategic plans; however, deans or vice presidents may decide to have different requirements at the college or major unit level. They may choose to require additional departmental plans, or they may choose to engage all parts of their organization in their planning process to the level needed to ensure support and alignment across their departments and units for their college or major unit plan. Deans are also expected to engage with shared governance in the development of their plans by consulting with college CCOPS or other appropriate planning groups within their organizations. Both internal and external stakeholders should be included in the college and major unit planning processes.
As we shift from strategic planning to strategic doing, I am also excited to share with you a new and revamped website for our Next-Gen K-State strategic plan. This new site will continue to evolve in the next few months to house information related to our plan, the process we used to develop it, the progress we are making in achieving our goals, how we are investing in our strategic plan and related initiatives, the impacts of our plan and investments, the college and major unit strategic planning guidance, college and major unit plans, the annual progress reports on these plans and more. Faculty and staff can also find information relative to current funding opportunities available as part of the investments being made to advance the goals and priorities of the Next-Gen K-State strategic plan.
I invite you to visit this new site and check back regularly, as we will be updating it frequently with new information and details related to how we are working to implement all of our collective plans. If you have questions regarding the new strategic planning guidance and worksheet, please contact Lynn Carlin at lcarlin@k-state.edu.
I look forward to seeing what each of our colleges and major units develop through their strategic plans and our continued collaboration across this amazing university as we work together, as One K-State, to realize our vision and achieve our goals.
Let's go! … and as always, Go 'Cats!
Richard Linton
President