To all NYSLGITDA members:

Prior to our Fall Conference this year, your Board of Directors met and held a Strategic Planning Session which was facilitated by CTG (Meghan and Anna who did a wonderful job). I have attached the final report.

As you can see from the report, the Board basically felt we were heading in the right direction but could focus on a few initiatives. Here are the basic next steps (as you can see Dale, Kim, Greg and I will be pursuing these three initiatives). So as we go forward, we will be reaching out to all members for assistance with accomplishing these next steps. The full report is available by clicking here.

Ed Hemminger
President

Next Steps

Each discussion within the two-day strategic planning session ended with fairly practical discussions about next steps. As such, immediate deliberate actions were not hard to assemble. The three desired accomplishments over the next five years were stated and several board members identified themselves as taking the lead on each initiative. They are as follows:

* Evolution of the Listserv. Dale Nieswiadomy will lead a small group in thinking about the next evolution of the listserv. This includes assembling a small team of people, discussing possibilities, and reaching out to the membership to test ideas and thoughts before any technical development. Once vetted through the membership and Board, Dale will then lead the development of the new listserv.

* Theme-Based Workgroups. Kim McKinney and Greg Potter will convene a small group to think about what these workgroups might look like. Some ideas in the strategic planning session were to take themes that emerge from the Roundtable and ask a couple of members to take the lead in compiling information or to have regionally-based groups. The overall goal is to create some energy around specific topics so that all Association members become more engaged, while at the same time having a forum to discuss topics that are of particular interest. Greg and Kim will draft initial thinking about this and share with the Board for feedback and decision-making.

* State Agency Liaisons. Based on his experience, Ed Hemminger will draft some thinking about the roles and responsibilities of a state agency liaison. Some of the information in that document may include the purpose and potential outcomes of a liaison relationship, as well as identifying ideal candidates from the Association membership. After his initial brainstorming, Ed will share with the Board and have a discussion about the entire initiative for decision-making.

Finally, this strategic planning session was the first step in achieving the desired accomplishments over the next five years. Ideas and plans that were generated in these sessions must be revisited over the next year to ensure that the Board continues to support that direction and that each initiative brings value to the Association. Thus, strategic planning is not an outcome, but rather a process. The full report is available by clicking here.