Similar to strategic planning processes at colleges across the country, Northern Essex Community College invested significant time and participation in developing Success for All, its 2022–27 strategic plan. The challenge was making sure the finished plan became part of employees’ everyday work rather than another glossy brochure sitting on a shelf.
I worked with NECC’s creative team to develop the Strategic Planner, a physical workbook that translated the plan into a practical working tool. It included institutional goals and priorities alongside prompts for reflection and planning, space for notes and action items, and QR codes connecting employees to additional resources. The spiral-bound format was intentionally designed to sit open on a desk, be written in, and be used throughout the year.
The planner was incorporated into new-employee onboarding and later into the annual employee evaluation process, creating a direct connection between institutional priorities and individual work. Following NECC’s adoption of Gallup’s Q12 employee engagement framework (I also led the Q12 communications strategy), the planner also became a source of truth for employees and managers, connecting strategic priorities, expectations, engagement, and performance in a familiar format.
The result was a strategic plan that functioned as a working management and communications tool—not simply a document the college published and promoted.
