Opportunity

At the beginning of 2020, dean ad interim of the Tufts University School of Medicine convened a steering committee to conduct regular strategic planning for the school. Confronted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and experiencing struggles with committee effectiveness, the steering committee engaged the TTS Design Practice to provide design and facilitation services to advance the strategic planning conversations towards a work product. The stated goals of the engagement would be to:

• Develop consensus among the committee around a proposed set of strategic priorities for the school.​

• Confirm that the stated mission and values of TUSM continue to effectively articulate the impact the school endeavors to make in the world.

Approach

The strategic planning engagement was socialized as an "extended retreat" to occur over July and August of 2020. The approach for the retreat was characterized by the following plan:

• The retreat will build on the prior work of the committee as evidenced in the Guiding Questions by convening targeted discussions around themes selected by the committee via survey.​

• Prior to the retreat “theme leaders” will be identified to curate and shepherd ideas generated by the committee.​

• Breakout discussions will be facilitated to develop future visions and associated strategic initiatives within each theme.​

• Committee members will be invited to participate in as many of the breakout sessions as they wish.​

• An online survey will be distributed to the full committee to prioritize the proposed strategic initiatives.​

• Finally, the committee will reconvene to ensure alignment of the school’s mission and values with these strategic priorities and propose adjustments, as necessary.

To support the discussions, members of the TTS Design Practice facilitated all plenary and breakout discussion sessions. Sessions made extensive use of custom-built MURAL boards for real-time collaboration, developed by members of the Design Practice. Additionally, throughout the retreat, a daily “Retreat Newsletter” was be distributed to all participants to summarize the outcomes of the days’ conversation, invite further conversation, and inform about upcoming activities.

Impact

Our collaboration with the strategic planning steering committee concluded with a set of goals, commitments, and prioritized actions moving forward. With the support of the Design Practice to advance committee conversations to this point, the committee soon after presented the plan to leadership for approval by key stakeholders through January 2021.

In January 2021, leadership re-engaged the Design Practice to lead a 2-hour facilitated session around implementation of the ideas from the strategic plan.