Collaborative Strategic Plan
Joining forces on strategy
In 2019, William & Mary began a comprehensive planning effort to create a strategic plan. During the plan’s development, university departments, units and schools were asked to develop strategic plans for their respective areas. The University Libraries (UL), Information Technology (IT), and the Studio for Teaching and Learning Innovation (STLI) viewed this as an opportunity to plan together. 
The three units embarked on a mission to develop a collaborative strategic plan that would give structure to our partnership and guide how we can be successful together.
Why a collaborative plan?
A collaborative plan crosses departmental lines, sharing goals and actions that the departments can achieve together. It helps break down silos and encourage collaborative work that will optimize production and advance university initiatives.
At the beginning of the planning process, our facilitators hosted four workshops – two virtual and two in-person – open to all staff from UL, IT & STLI that included a wide variety of highly interactive planning activities. Each of the activities created real data from staff members.
A summary report of the responses was created by the facilitators for review by the steering committee. The steering committee, composed of representatives from all three areas, met to review the feedback and develop a draft plan. Over three meetings, the group developed goals, guiding principles, objectives and actions.
The draft plan was then presented to UL, IT, and STLI staff for another round of feedback and discussion. The input was incorporated into the draft and the plan was finalized in March 2022.
