Cumberland College Board Workshop

Elk Ridge, SaskatchewanJune 21, 22, 2011

A Governing Essential

Workshop Agenda

1. Introductions and House-keeping2. Where to begin – “Do’s and Don't’s”3. Generative Thinking and Working Together4. Three Sense-Making Principles5. Vuja de’ Workshop Exercise6. The Five Themes of Your Task7. The Five Key Initiatives from Your Five Themes8. Revisiting Strategic Plan9. Closing and Contact Information

Where to Begin – “Do’s and Don't’s”

• Learn from others (e.g. students, community)

• Leverage the virtues of collective wisdom

• Asking for lots of ideas & be prepared to reject

• Share your ideas with outsiders

• Be Orpheus-like!

• Pretend to know everything

• Tapping into the resident genius

• ‘Big hairy audacious goal’

• Silo-ism (i.e. treating an idea as a commodity)

• Conventional leadership

Generative Thinking and Working Together

• Wisdom, insight, creativity, sense-making, i.e. how ideas reach the drawing board?

• What kind of generative thinking & working together precedes strategic planning?

• Gaining a new perspective – a paradigm shift• Establishing a new framework within which

problems & opportunities are viewed/decided• Problem framing before problem solving

Three Sense-Making Principles

1. Noticing cues and clues (i.e. events, facts, figures, people and phenomena)

2. Choosing and using frames (i.e. four frames – Structural, Human Resource, Political and Symbolic)

3. Thinking retrospectively (i.e. sense-making by using ‘reflection-on-action’)Bottom Line: Strategy normally emerges out of on-going work (Mintzberg, ‘94)

Vuja de’ Workshop Exercise

• Vuja de’ – Looking at a familiar situation as if you have never seen it before!

• Your Challenge: To look at your College and situational realities as if you are seeing them for the first time

• Your Essential: Look outside your College to discover what you may have been missing

• Your Task: How to best position your College looking 20 years into the future?

The Five Themes of Your Task

1. Realizing the full potential of our resource-based environment – i.e. ensuring the College benefits, new markets, environmental impact

2. Preparing to prosper in a global economy – i.e. ensuring lifelong learning, globally informed

3. Investing in shaping the future – i.e. a strategic approach to managing human resource wealth

4. Broadening the education base – i.e. new programs and services into new markets

5. Providing a strong base for sustainability – i.e. wise management of resources

Your Five Key Initiatives from Your Five Key Themes

1. A Global Centre for _______

2. A Saskatchewan Institute for _______

3. Accelerate action on ensuring _______

4. Give a new _____ the mandate to innovate in _______

5. Institute a _______ fund to invest _______ assets in initiatives to support a prosperous Saskatchewan

Revisiting Strategic Plan

Step One: The Ends (i.e. Vision, Mission and Values)

Step Two: “Alice” (i.e. Accessible, Learner-Centered, Innovative, Collaborative and Ethical Stewardship)

Step Three: The Strategies (i.e. Destination, Customer Value Proposition, Trends Analysis and Goals)

Contact Information

Dr. H.J. (Tom) ThompsonPresident, Olds CollegePhone: (403) 556-8301

E-mail: tthompson@oldscollege.caBlog: www.thompsonongovernance.com