This is the third and final post in a series about the School of Medicine and Public Health Strategic Framework: What it is, what it means, and how you can use it. Read an overview of the framework in part 1, and a description of how the framework can help shape strategic plans in part 2.
Our school’s Strategic Framework, which is found on our public-facing website, is like a map that helps chart our path toward achieving our mission and vision. And of course in any journey, travelers face a time-honored question: “Are we there yet?”
Monitoring progress is key to answering this question. The way we do this is through a process that involves the following steps:
- A total of 82 units have been identified as falling under the monitoring plan. They fall into four categories: degree programs, academic departments, centers or institutes, or centralized (school-wide) administrative units.
- Each of these units reports up to a member of the Dean’s Leadership Team (DLT), and each unit is also charged with strategic planning at the “local” or unit level. As unit leaders interact with their DLT contact, overviews of strategic plans and progress on goals will be included in these ongoing discussions. Unit leaders will receive more detailed information about this process.
- It will be helpful if units identify which goals align with any of the six Strategic Framework pillars. It is not necessary to create goals for every pillar, but it’s likely that there will be some that do align. For example, a research center that doesn’t offer education or training programs may not have a goal for the pillar “Pursuing Excellence in Teaching and Learning” but would likely have several corresponding to “Advancing Innovative, Impactful Research and Discovery.”
- Progress on goals that are unit-specific and do not map to any of the Strategic Framework pillars (e.g., ones relating to unit leadership transitions or infrastructure changes) will be monitored by the unit itself.
- Once per year, each DLT member will summarize progress on each of the six Strategic Framework pillars for all units they oversee. These reports will be presented to the Strategic Improvement and Accreditation Committee. That committee, which includes broad representation from a variety of purviews, will review the findings and make recommendations for addressing any gaps.
Why was the SI and Accreditation committee chosen to help monitor progress on the Strategic Framework pillars? This group focuses on matters relating to the school’s accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) to ensure that we meet all of the functions of a medical school, which includes 12 different standards and a total of 93 different elements.
Importantly, the very first LCME standard (Mission, Planning, Organization, and Integrity) states as its very first element:
1.1 Strategic Planning and Continuous Quality Improvement
A medical school engages in ongoing strategic planning and continuous quality improvement processes that establish its short and long-term programmatic goals, result in the achievement of measurable outcomes that are used to improve educational program quality, and ensure effective monitoring of the medical education program’s compliance with accreditation standards.
Strategic planning and improvement is foundational for any accredited medical school in the nation. And in order to improve, we must make it clear not only what we are aiming for, but whether we are still heading in the right direction to ultimately reach our destination.
To learn more about the Strategic Framework monitoring process, view a recorded presentation from the Spring 2024 Faculty/Staff meeting (start at timepoint 55:05) and see accompanying slides from the April 15, 2024 meeting available on the SMPH Intranet.