The Nitty-Gritty Begins

We're moving from concepts into details now, and these details are affecting the concept. It's the cycle from the micro to the macro and back again. Room booking, registration processes, financial processes ... all of these must now be addressed, because we're moving into the launch of the first partnership program this fall. Because it's the first one, it will serve as the precedent-setter for a number of things. As such, the discussions are time-consuming and somewhat stressful. Both institutions are having to inspect and perhaps change what they're been doing for years (decades) in order for the partnership to thrive.

Communication is critical in everything. I've now formed a few cross-institutional committees in the hopes that information will flow more easily from place to place. Again, this feels like the macro connecting to the micro. The "doers" need to check in with the "deciders", and without trust and good communications we'd be hooped. Inevitably someone gets forgotten, and so we need to backtrack, inform and re-shape committees and lines of communication. The interpersonal politics are also making themselves felt now ... who wants to work with whom (or not).

At the same time, I'm having to keep the high-end decision-makers well-informed. They're the people that only need to come together every month or two to decide on the broad sweep of things. The upcoming meeting will be a really good check-in to make sure things are progressing as planned.

And things are going very well, in my estimation. We have three smaller partnerships programs and two large and exciting partnership programs being launched. The two bigger ones will take about a year to develop, but they'll be great to work on. The smaller programs are great opportunities for other areas who are more hesitant to experiment a little before committing to something significant.

End of Term, and a Breather

I've now been working on this project for 2-1/2 months now, and it's time for a review of realizations:

- In complex planning projects, so many things happen at once that linear and circular models of program planning are gross oversimplifications. My image of emerging, merging and transforming elements that happen in vague stages is far more accurate than I thought. It's about juggling any number of different balls at once, with different balls being dropped and/or added in at any given time. You may start with four of the same size and colour, but in no time you are given six more of varying sizes and colours, and you need to decide what to hang onto and what you can't. The skill and background of the planner clearly makes a difference in how many balls can stay in the air at a given time. But how can you build a model on that reality?

- Communication between stakeholders is absolutely the most important thing. You almost cannot communicate enough, because someone is bound to assume something and in no time you have the "assuming makes an ASS out of U and ME" situation.

- People outside the planning process have no idea what's involved, and so they consistently underestimate what it will take to launch a program, especially a complex one with multiple stakeholders, multiple programs, etc. The people who launch the idea in the first place also underestimate the need for their own involvement in the early stages. They have an idea, and like the conception and birth, but expect the idea to get a paper route right away.

Lest this sound like complaints, I have to say that I am loving this very challenging project, and things are going remarkably well. However, I'm aware that a less experienced program planner would be sunk in this situation. And I'm aware that someone following a simple program planning model would be side-swiped by the unpredictability of various stages and events.

I've now done the following:

- researched the big picture (environmental scan)

- interviewed most major stakeholders and gotten a sense of expectations

- mapped out a few processes

- started and met with three joint sub-committees

- identified six viable program areas

- gotten into the logistics and nitty-gritty of launching four courses

- done a DACUM brainstorming sessions with one program

- had meetings upon meetings upon meetings to keep everyone informed and engaged

- done tons of diplomacy work with the scared and/or overworked

- developed a program outline

- started to look down the road at formalities like COPSE funding grants, etc.

Thanks goodness for summer holidays. It'll slow down a little.