Strategy Starts Here: Guiding Mission, Vision, and Direction in a Time of Change

An institution’s mission, vision, and direction are among the most important fiduciary assets trustees are charged with protecting and enhancing. But routine board meetings rarely provide the time or space to wrestle with these long-range questions.

Drawing from AGB’s A Guide to Strategic Board Retreats, this webinar will explore how governing boards can step back from the tyranny of the immediate to engage in fundamental conversations: Who are we as an institution? What do we value most? What sets us apart? And where must we go in the next three, five, or ten years to realize our mission and respond to disruption?

This webinar will help attendees:

• Strengthen their role in shaping institutional mission, vision, and strategy
• Prioritize strategic thinking over reactive planning and operational detail
• Emphasize integration of strategy with budget and financial forecasting
• Use focused frameworks and generative activities—such as purpose, products, profitability, and partnerships—to structure board-level dialogue
• Ensure key performance indicators and methods of accountability
• Understand how a well-designed retreat can sharpen direction and surface strategic tradeoffs

Boards that take time to clarify strategic direction today will be better prepared to navigate uncertainty, differentiate their institutions, and fulfill their mission for the long term.

Presenter:

Mark Heckler, PhD, trustee, Elizabethtown College; president emerita, Valparaiso University (IN); consultant, AGB