Keeping Everyone on the Same Page
From the outset of the strategic planning process, we knew there needed to be a way for each of the work teams to understand what the other work teams were doing...
in an effort to identify potential duplication as well as themes and patterns across multiple work teams.
To that end, we established the Steering Committee, which included the co-leads from each of the six work teams as well as several community members, other district staff, students, and a parent. The Steering Committee met four times over the course of the strategic planning process, for two hours each time.
In practice, we found that some of the Steering Committee members weren't entirely sure of the Committee's role and the purpose of the meetings. In retrospect, we wished we had been more explicit upfront about the role and purpose of the Steering Committee.
More about: Committee Meetings
key takeaways
- Stay agile
Be prepared to make a course correction. Initially, we felt that it would be easier to recruit members if the commitment was light to honor people's busy schedules. As the work commenced, however, we received feedback that some Steering Committee members desired meetings of longer duration. It turned out that Steering Committee members would have liked deeper engagement than the scheduled time allowed. - Share
Share information frequently in between Steering Committee meetings to keep members engaged in the process.
