OCNews

Hello OC Community members,

I am connecting today to share a brief update about our progress on building our next strategic plan and to invite you to a series of feedback sessions about our first draft.

Building on the great input we received from everyone earlier in the summer, the Working Group has formulated a first draft of a Strategic Plan. The Working Group had the opportunity to receive feedback from the Steering Team as well as from the Board of Governors about the first draft. Now, the Working Group is looking forward to hearing from you through interactive feedback sessions that I will be hosting between Oct. 13 and 21. Because of the success we had during the early engagement sessions, I have chosen to host the feedback sessions through Zoom, as it enables members from all parts of the region to participate at the same time. The dates, times and Zoom link for the sessions can be found here: Strategic Plan | Okanagan College

If you are not able to make any of these sessions, not to worry. So that everyone may have an opportunity to share their feedback we will be soliciting input through ThoughtExchange again.  Those links can also be found at Strategic Plan | Okanagan College. And, as always, you can reach out to me directly through president@okanagan.bc.ca with any feedback.

To help set the stage for our conversations, we have posted on our website a link to the first draft of the plan. Like our plans in the past, we have tried to keep it a brief and accessible document.

Also, on the website is a link to a document that explains the different sections of the draft plan and how they relate to the themes found during the engagement sessions.

To support our discussions and help everyone reflect before the sessions, I have provided a series of questions below:

Question Set #1:

• What are your first impressions of the plan?
• What sticks out as positive to you?
• How would you suggest that we could make the plan stronger?

Question Set #2:

• A key element of the draft plan is the section on cultural foundations.
• Does this section resonate with you?
• If not, how would you strengthen it?

Question Set #3:

• The final section of the plan includes proposed strategic directions. Are there longer-term risks that would lead the College to choose different strategic directions?
• Similarly, are there ways that this section can be strengthened?

With luck, many of you will be able to connect to one of the feedback sessions. The working group is looking forward to hearing your impressions and how we can work to make the next draft of our plan stronger.

Respectfully,
Neil