EPIC Impact Education Group believes a transparent and well-executed strategic planning process brings value to a school district in a number of ways.
Educational research has confirmed that high-performing districts across the country (and internationally) have 1) Focus, 2) Feedback loops in place, 3) Aligned behaviors, practices and systems, and most importantly, 4) Coherence. Nearly every educational leader understands the importance of focusing on a few key initiatives or goals, providing opportunities for feedback during the implementation stages, and aligning time, talent, and resources to maximize efforts and minimize distractions. However, to move a school or district from achieving or high achieving to world class, we must evolve from a solely Walk the Talk culture where staff and stakeholders can model and implement the desired behaviors and practices to an all-encompassing Talk the Walk culture, where staff and stakeholders not only implement, but are engaged, empowered, and understand the why and how their execution impacts the entire mission and vision of the district. This level of transformation requires a deeper approach of engagement, communications, messaging, collaboration, and planning.
Our strategic planning process not only ensures this seamless transformation, but also provides school leaders with the tools and resources necessary to launch, implement, and monitor the plan to success.
Engagement, communications, strategy, and implementation are the cornerstones of our process and coherence is our ultimate goal. Ensuring coherence of the strategic plan will guarantee much deeper reflection, implementation, and execution, which in return will deliver better performance and results. When stakeholders and staff members thoroughly understand the why, how, and what in schools, true magic can happen.
It takes a special team with specific strengths to deliver on such a comprehensive approach with expertise around the table in communications, collaboration, educational leadership, design and branding, and metrics. Our team is made up of superintendents who have led high-performing schools, strategic planning in their own district, as well as strategic planning for other districts, and national communications and marketing experts with extensive experience in education. Our comprehensive approach is also adaptive and flexible which allows us to meet our districts wherever they may be in the strategic planning process, either just starting out, needing communications and/or branding support, identifying metrics, or to launch.
The strategic planning process is more than just building a plan. It’s about bringing the plan to life by collaborating with a variety of stakeholders, having an inspired launch, and supporting and empowering teams with systems, structures, and tools to sustain its impact.