NJASFAA’s Long Range Strategic Plan

Many companies, organizations, colleges, associations and other entities periodically take an opportunity to sit down, take stock of their core values and raison d’etre, gather information and use that to assess where they have been and where they are going. Many of us have been involved in similar exercises on our campuses or other groups to which we belong. It gives the leadership and membership of the group the chance to evaluate what’s been done well (and what hasn’t), establish goals or desired outcomes and formulate a framework for reaching those outcomes as the group moves forward. A cycle is created so that everything can be continuously assessed after implementation. This is often referred to as Long Range Strategic Planning.

As I assumed the Presidency of NJASFAA, I thought it would be beneficial for our Association to put such a plan in place. I was involved in EASFAA’s Long Range Strategic Plan a few years back while serving as a committee chair. At that time, I saw how valuable it was not only for the Association as a whole, but what an educational tool it was for those with an opportunity to participate. The EASFAA model was to engage many people in the process – current elected officials, committee chairs and past presidents. This gave a cross-section perspective of past, current and future leaders, all of whom used the results of a survey to focus in on issues that mattered most to the EASFAA members as a valuable starting point.

I decided that leading this important initiative should be a NJASFAA member with not only depth and breadth of experience, but also take advantage of someone who kept saying to me “Just tell me what you want me to do to help out.” So I gave this important assignment to Mike Bennett. As many of you know, Mike is a Past President of both NJASFAA and EASFAA, and I could think of no one more qualified to lead this initiative. Mike presented me with an outline for how the process should work over the course of the year, starting with a membership survey. The survey results (and thanks to those who responded) gave us insight into what NJASFAA members thought were the key issues, what the Association does best, where work is needed, how to get more people involved, etc. The results are still on our web site under the “Members” link (you’ll need your ID and password to access them). If you haven’t looked them over, I encourage you do to so.

Mike also made a valuable suggestion that we bring in someone from outside NJASFAA with a fresh perspective and lead us through the process. The colleague he proposed approaching was Susan Howard, Director of Financial Aid at Antioch New England College Graduate School in New Hampshire. In each of the last two occasions that EASFAA has established a Long Range Strategic Plan, Susan was chosen to oversee the process. I enthusiastically agreed that Susan would be the perfect person for the job.

A group of Past Presidents and current members of Executive Council and Committee Chairs met at the Sheraton in Eatontown on Friday, March 5. After Mike and Susan delivered an overview of the process to the group, we broke into smaller groups to brainstorm about many different NJASFAA events, committees, initiatives and goals. Each breakout group was given a few topics to discuss; for instance, one group focused on conference, training, government relations and multi-cultural concerns. Another was assigned technology issues, the web site, newsletter, public relations and the speakers bureau. A third group discussed development, membership, budget, bylaws Leadership Development and Mentoring.

The small groups then shared their thoughts with the whole group for feedback, followed by more breakout sessions for further fine tuning.

Everyone who attended felt that this was a great start to what should be a valuable exercise for the continued success of our Association. Susan will submit a draft written plan to us for more consideration, which will be followed by more exchanges of ideas among the participants. The goal is to have the final document in place over the summer, at which time it will be posted to the NJASFAA web site for all members to review and for future Executive Councils to use as a valuable assessment tool.

David Sheridan
NJASFAA President