This is the first in a series of posts about the School of Medicine and Public Health Strategic Framework: What it is, what it means, and how you can use it. Part 2 in this series focuses on resources available for strategic planning, and part 3 covers monitoring and accountability processes.
As Badgers, members of the School of Medicine and Public Health are undeterred by challenge or complexity. When it comes to strategic planning, though, an organization of our size can be a challenge in itself. Our headcount is significant (we are over ten thousand strong), the scope of our collective work is varied, and our impact on health is immense. How do we make sure that we are all moving in the same direction? A critical means of achieving this is the school’s Strategic Framework, which is found on our public-facing website.
Think of the Strategic Framework as an evolving set of overarching concepts that articulate high-priority changes we are determined to bring to life. Whereas the school’s mission states its enduring purpose (Together, we are advancing health and health equity through remarkable service to patients and communities, outstanding education, and innovative research), and the school’s vision articulates what we strive for in the future (Healthy people and healthy communities), the Strategic Framework is like a map that helps chart our path.
The cartographic features of this map are referred to as Pillars and Goals. The current version of the Strategic Framework, which was developed and finalized in 2023 with input from more than 450 faculty, staff and learners, names six different pillars:
- Promoting Health and Health Equity
- Pursuing Excellence in Teaching and Learning
- Advancing Innovative, Impactful Research and Discovery
- Becoming an Anti-racist, Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive School Community
- Creating the Future Together
- Committing to the Success and Well-being of Each Other
Each pillar represents a concept that we aspire to advance through sustained focus. Within each pillar are several goals with more detailed information about features of the concept – similar to how topographical lines on a map help convey information about terrain.
The Strategic Framework can – and should – be used to guide strategic planning. The school’s activities are too broad to be represented by one plan alone, but a “mapping exercise” in 2023 showed that when more than 400 discrete goals from dozens of strategic plans for units within the school were categorized on the basis of Strategic Framework pillars, 89% aligned with one or more pillar and only 11% were so granular that they were unit-specific.
This is a good sign. Despite the scale and intricacy of the school as an institution, observing such a high level of alignment between ideal concepts and actionable goals means that we are already operating in a highly coordinated way – despite the vastness of the landscape we are traveling. And we continue on our quest to advance the health of people and communities, we can all rely on the Strategic Framework to help guide the journey.