Securing the mission through strategic planning

Abstract

The Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, USA provides a centralized location where collections are made, researched, interpreted, exhibited, and preserved for the benefit of the academic and the broader community alike. In this way, the Museum exists and operates on the interface between the academic world and the wider world beyond. This situation gives the Museum something of an advantage in the current transitional academic climate. This does not mean, however, that the Museum is not challenged by demands placed upon it by the parent institution that is itself in transition. An increasingly diverse student body, opportunities presented by new technologies and related pedagogies, leadership succession concerns, and rising costs in the face of declining budgets, to name a few, all contribute to an academic identity in flux. In response, the Museum fulfills the traditional role of a university museum by providing the core functions of collections care, scholarly research, and exhibition and embraces the role as an interface between the university and the public by acting as a conduit for knowledge on heritage in both its tangible (collections) and intangible (information) forms. The Museum accomplishes this by aligning its academic and intellectual mission and vision with that of Texas Tech University. For practical purposes, this is achieved through a strategic planning process that also mirrors that of the University. Through identifying goals, critical success factors and objectives (including strategies and assessments) the Museum can prioritize all of its activities, from traditional object-based research to innovative public programming. In turn, this process assists in making the most of limited resources and raises the profile of the Museum both within the University and in the world outside. The Cheshire Cat in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland gleefully states that if you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t matter which way you go (CARROLL 1961). While he most assuredly was not talking about strategic planning, a lack of direction is symptomatic of an institution without a plan for how to succeed in the future. An effective way to find institutional direction and future success is through strategic planning. Strategic planning is defined as “determining the optimal future for an organization and the changes required to achieve it” (LORD & MARKERT 2007: 4). It also is recognized as being a management tool. It is used for one purpose only and that is to help an institution do a better job. It does this by making an institution focus its direction, define agreed-upon goals, and assess and adjust direction in response to change. Strategic planning is a conscious effort to produce decisions and actions that shape and guide what an institution is, what it does, and why it does it, all with a focus on the future. It involves setting goals and developing an approach to achieving those goals. The strategic planning process also raises questions that help planners anticipate the environment in which the institution will be working in the future). Acting strategically means being clear about institutional objectives, knowing institutional resources, and considering both when responding to a changing environment (Alliance for Nonprofit Management 2003). Strategic planning is only useful if it is translated into strategic management. Strategic management requires an institution to formulate a mission and a vision for the future, develop a strategy to achieve the mission and vision, and create an institutional structure to successfully carry out the strategy. Although strategic planning is focused on the future, it does not attempt to make decisions for the