At Northern Michigan University, we embrace a strategic planning process that is rooted in integration and shared responsibility. We align diverse perspectives across our institution toward a common vision of success. This approach ensures comprehensive planning that engages and involves each pillar of our university, along with our wide range of stakeholders.
Our Institutional Effectiveness (IE) team plays a crucial role by connecting data-driven insights to strategic decision-making. We develop shared measurement systems and provide the foundation for our common agenda. We also incorporate process improvement and lean thinking methodologies, empowering individuals across our institution to drive positive change and better serve our students.
Through ongoing assessments and adaptation to campus realities, we balance innovation with pragmatism. Through this collaborative approach, we move Northern Michigan University towards our vision:
Like the lake that inspires us, Northern Michigan University will be known as Superior – in the ways we support our people, partner with our place, and realize the potential of all our students.
Jump to:
Strategic Planning Glossary
Strategic Planning Elements
Strategic Planning Methodologies
Click to see Our Compass in Action:
Strategic Planning Glossary
Core Values: The principles that guide the university in carrying out its mission and realizing its vision.
Goal: One or more intended outcomes or results of completed strategies and their outlined tactics in the strategic plan; generally aspirational and directional (e.g., increase/decrease). Progress is measured at strategy level.
Grand Challenges: Strategic themes or areas of concentrated effort identified through the strategic planning process.
Grand Challenge Action Plans: Detailed strategies and tactics that will be employed to achieve goals of a given Grand Challenge.
Key Performance Indicator: One or more data points used to measure the intended outcomes of a strategy.
Mission Statement: A brief message that explains why a university exists and what that university aims to accomplish through education, service, and research. It guides the university's choices and highlights its goals for making a positive impact on students and society.
Progress Metric: One or more data points used to measure progress or define completion of a tactic.
Sponsor: The Northern Michigan University entity (e.g., office, department, center, committee) responsible for overseeing progress for a given tactic.
Strategic Plan: The product of a standardized process to document and communicate the future direction of Northern Michigan University, including goals and strategies we will employ to achieve it.
Strategic Planning: A deliberate, disciplined process to produce fundamental decisions and actions that guide what Northern Michigan University is (as an institution), what it does, and why it does it.
Strategy: A broad description of how one or more components of the goal will be achieved; details collective outcomes of tactics.
Tactic: A project, activity or effort that will be undertaken in order to achieve the strategy; includes the entities responsible for completion of the tactic, tactic timeline, and how progress will be measured within the strategic plan.
Vision Statement: A short description of the university's dream for the future and how it plans to grow and improve. It paints a picture of what the university wants to become and the positive changes it wants to make in the world.
Vital Indicators: Enduring measures influenced by a broad scope of multi-factorial variables. Identifying individual programmatic impacts on vital indicators is difficult; however, unanticipated shifts require immediate evaluation and possible remediation.
Strategic Planning Elements
ELEMENT & DEFINITION | KEY COMPONENTS | |
| Grand Challenge Current strategic priority of NMU. |
|
| Purpose Statement Why this focus area matters to NMU right now. |
|
| Goal What NMU plans to accomplish. |
|
| Strategy The approaches NMU will take to achieve the goal. |
|
| Tactic NMU's projects and initiatives that constitute the strategy. |
|
Strategic Planning Methodologies
Integrated Planning
Integrated Planning is a comprehensive and sustainable approach that builds relationships and aligns the organization for change. It engages all sectors of the university and stakeholders, fostering cross-functional collaboration and collaborative governance to ensure all voices are heard in decision-making. This method aligns planning efforts both vertically, from mission to operations, and horizontally across departments and processes. By linking planning to resource allocation and assessment, it creates a continuous process of improvement rather than a one-time event. Integrated Planning encourages institutions to balance aspiration with pragmatism, working towards a common vision while considering external realities and preparing for evolving needs in higher education. This future-focused and adaptive approach ultimately enables the entire institution to work cohesively towards shared goals and priorities.
Learn more about Integrated Planning from SCUP, the Society for College and University Planning.
Strategic Doing
Strategic Doing, a peer-reviewed and scientifically grounded practice, empowers Northern Michigan University to enhance strategic action planning across campus. Developed at Purdue University and now implemented internationally, this approach creates adaptive, collaborative strategies in the ever-changing higher education landscape. Strategic Doing strengthens NMU's strategic planning through:
- Cross-campus collaboration: Facilitating interdepartmental innovation.
- Resource optimization: Creating solutions with existing assets.
- Structured conversations: Guiding stakeholders through four key questions:
- What could we do?
- What should we do?
- What will we do?
- What's our 30/30? (i.e., follow-up and adjustments)
- Skill development: Ten core skills design and guide collaborative strategic conversations, enhancing our capacity for effective planning.
- Agile implementation: Offering a flexible addition to traditional processes, enabling quicker responses to emerging challenges and opportunities.
- Continuous improvement: Implementing regular check-ins and reviews to align with NMU's commitment to data-informed decision-making.
- Inclusive planning: Enabling broad participation in strategy development, ensuring diverse perspectives from across NMU's campus community.
Strategic Doing helps NMU address complex challenges and maintain agility in changing educational landscapes. It complements existing planning processes, providing a framework for rapid strategy development and frequent iterations based on real-world learning and outcomes. By adopting Strategic Doing, Northern Michigan University has joined a growing network of institutions committed to innovative, collaborative approaches to institutional improvement and effectiveness.
Learn more about Strategic Doing from the Agile Strategy Lab at University of North Alabama.
Lean Thinking
Northern Michigan University is taking steps to embrace Lean thinking, aiming to streamline operations and enhance value across campus. Lean principles, which originated in manufacturing, focus on eliminating waste, improving efficiency, and maximizing customer value. NMU is now beginning to incorporate Lean thinking into its planning processes to encourage continuous improvement and data-driven decision-making.
The Office of Institutional Effectiveness leads efforts to apply Lean concepts, working to identify and eliminate non-value-adding activities, reduce bureaucratic hurdles, and optimize resource allocation. Lean aims to empower staff and faculty to propose and implement process improvements, fostering a culture of innovation and efficiency. By integrating Lean principles with strategic planning, NMU seeks to enhance its ability to respond swiftly to student needs, adapt to changing educational landscapes, and maintain fiscal responsibility. This emerging commitment to Lean thinking represents a step towards consistently striving for excellence in all aspects of university operations, from administrative processes to academic program delivery.
Learn more about applying Lean thinking in higher education.