Strategic Planning Update

Coming out of the March 3 retreat with the Board, Leadership Team, and Steering Committee, Hackley's strategic planning process is gaining momentum.

For Trustees, this was an important moment to engage with the process and help the plan take shape. Ian Symmonds participated in the retreat via video conference and shared the broad themes of the research collected by his firm. As he noted for the group, "Hackley is operating from a significant point of strength and the community is ready for an ambitious - rather than incremental - strategic plan." His remarks and the information he shared, as well as the recently completed Portrait of a Graduate, lent important context to the work and helped frame the remainder of the day. 

Energized by Symmonds' presentation, trustees, administrators, and Steering Committee members took his challenge to heart as they collaborated to develop several ideas for an overall organizing principle for the school's plan.

As was intended, this retreat informed the work of the Steering Committee, which met subsequently on March 13. At that meeting, Ian Symmonds walked the Steering Committee through several upcoming steps in the process. Notably, the process will involve more people as five different working groups are established. Over the last several weeks, a number of additional community members - faculty, students, parents, and alumni - were invited to join the process. Each of these working groups will be organized under a guiding principle or charge. These working groups of 12-13 people each will convene on a series of Wednesdays in April and May to develop initiatives to support the vision of the plan. These ideas will be shared with the Steering Committee, who will be charged with synthesizing and prioritizing this work. While not every initiative put forth by the working groups will be incorporated into the plan, the use of working groups for this stage helps to generate the best ideas and creates a more inclusive process.

Overall, the process remains on track, with the goal to present a plan to the Board of Trustees for their September 2018 meeting.