Pride and passion
Schulich Dentistry faculty, staff and students showed their pride, passion and commitment for the School at the recent kick-off for the new strategic planning process.
More than 100 people weren’t hindered by the brisk spring air this past Saturday morning, as they attended a retreat to begin what is expected to be a five month process.
Dr. Michael J. Strong, dean, welcomed all the attendees and boldly shared Schulich Dentistry’s goal to become one of North America’s top dental schools in the next 10 years.
He was joined by Dr. Rick Bohay, acting director, Schulich Dentistry, and Ian Madell, Level 5, as presenters and panel speakers.
The morning-long session began with Anne Becker sharing an overview of how the planning process would unfold including the methodology, values and principles supporting the plan. Becker has been hired to manage the logistical aspects of the strategic plan process.
The plan will be developed using a Balanced Score Card Strategy Map process in which the mission and vision are built from the top down and the tactics from the bottom up.
The first step to preparing the strategic plan participants was to share the data, survey results and findings from the Level 5 surveys and recommendations from the internal review.
Following a question and answer session, which featured an applause-rendering and passionate presentation from Dr. Arthur Worth, the retreat participants headed off to create vision statements. The statements were then shared with the group and will be included as part of the work going forward.
Building on the momentum to date, tight timelines have been established for the strategic plan process. From July to September there will be analysis of the survey data and the molding of the strategic plan. In September the strategy map will be finalized and a balanced score card will be prepared. This will bring us to October when the strategic plan will be launched.
Faculty, staff and students will be invited to participate in focus groups and sub committees during the next few months to advance the work on the plan.
