Matching Mission with Activities

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A project to better evaluate NASBA’s execution of its Strategic Plan was endorsed by the NASBA Board at their meeting on April 24. Beginning in January, the internal management team had identified 235 activities that align to the 13 areas described in NASBA’s 2018-2023 Strategic Plan. NASBA Chief Sourcing & Strategy Officer Cheryl Farrar told the Board that 74 of the identified activities were mission-related and had not previously been captured. NASBA’s Strategic Plan Smartsheet has been updated to include them. Many of the individual activities were found to address several of the 13 areas.

“This discussion led us to taking steps to capture the strategic objectives’ cost, so they can be linked to the strategic plan,” Ms. Farrar stated. The progress of these mission-related activities is being monitored throughout the remainder of the fiscal year and the Smartsheet updated on a regular basis.

NASBA Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Michael Bryant reported: “One of the discussions led to quantifying the resources devoted to the Strategic Plan. In evaluating our execution of the Strategic Plan, we need some sort of comparative measure of where we are devoting our resources.” Meaningful, measurable activities are being mapped to objectives and, where there is redundancy, activities are being removed and gaps are being addressed.

The staff directors and managers of the business units are determining allocations of their respective activities to the Strategic Plan’s objectives.

It has been recommended to Vice Chair Carlos Barrera that NASBA’s current Strategic Plan be refined during 2020-2021 to refocus some objectives and clarify some definitions.