In acknowledgement of higher education’s shared governance structure, the College chose to utilize a “Collective impact” approach for the development and implementation of this plan. Typically employed as a method for bringing together the work of multiple organizations toward common goals, collective impact relies on the input and expertise of constituents to develop a shared agenda, pursue mutually reinforcing actions, and work toward common measures of success. Recognizing the contributions of constituents that comprise the Grinnell community (students, faculty, staff, alumni, families, friends, and community partners), as well as the breadth of academic and administrative units that govern the college, Grinnell’s plan seeks to foster collaboration across the institution so together we can better achieve our shared goals.
The plan’s implementation is also based on collective impact principles. Rather that form special strategic planning committees, the work of the plan is embedded across the institution through deliberate collaboration between existing working groups and governance bodies. To organize these mutually-reinforcing actions, the college’s Strategic Planning Steering Committee identified networks of campus units best positioned to collaborate on advancing each of plan’s action items.