TACTICAL PLANNING: PROCESS AND PHILOSOPHY

NNSCC’s strategic plan outlines a vision, priorities, and global metrics. Its annual tactical plans are where the specific ideas will be employed to bring the strategic plan to fruition. Rather than spell out all the implementation details, we outline an annual process that allows NSCC to be nimble and respond to rapidly changing issues in the community. The pandemic has taught us all well how to pivot in the face of a shifting world. This approach to tactical planning has that nimbleness built in, as it leaves a great deal of room to further define key strategies. The strategic plan outlines the “who,” “why,” and “where,” but the tactical plan will outline the “what” and the “when.” Each year of the tactical plan will be iterative and cumulative, building on the successes of the previous year and learning from its mistakes. This bold approach allows for risk taking as a necessary part of innovation.

Sarah Stopyra , Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of the Funeral Service program.

Key to the success of the strategic plan are the tactical and department-based strategies for achieving and implementing the plan. NSCC will mirror the process of community-/constituency-based solicitation used in the planning process for plan implementation. This plan leaves considerable room for adapting and responding to change over the five years of implementation, providing structured priorities but allowing for adjustments along the way. Those will occur in the annual tactical plan. Embedded in the tactical planning process is a measurement capacity. Global metrics for the plan and specific Priority metrics were outlined above, but within each yearly tactical planning cycle is an opportunity for success as determined by implementation of specific metrics. As the process is outlined below, success measures are part of the overall planning process.