Oaklands College
“Engaging staff is critical to the success of the vision. We were concerned that a weighty strategic document
was not achieving this. The Big Picture gave us a high impact, visual that has been specifically
targeted to the needs of staff. Everyone loves it, and it has inspired other areas of the college to work
towards a now tangible goal and develop their own one page “sub” strategies.”
- Mark Dawe, Principal and Chief Exec
Download PDFGetting buy-in to a new strategy and vision:
Oaklands College created a new strategy and vision however they needed a version of the strategy document that was simple to understand and clearly explained the reason for the change, the benefits to be gained and the requirements and expectations of the staff. Only through positive engagement with the staff could the vision be realised.In 2003 Oaklands College was found to be unsatisfactory by Ofsted – this coupled with falling recruitment was leading to a spiral of decline and low morale. The need for a physical re-vamp and review of strategic direction was necessary in order to give the college a new focus and set it on a path to success. To achieve their long term goal of transforming the college into one of the best training facilities in the country with an excellent track record in learner experience, Oaklands created a new mission statement with a set of strategic aims and timescales.
Oaklands was concerned that the 15 page strategy document would not effectively convey the college mission, vision and strategic aims to all its staff and partners. With timelines set, they needed to secure buy in to the vision and ensure staff and partners understood their involvement in the vision.
Cognac Solution:
The Big Picture process of interviews and analysis gave insight into the views and concerns of the staff and an understanding of how best to communicate the message in order to answer their concerns and ensure their buy in.We created a Big Picture that contained the information of the vision and its strategic aims but communicated it through navigational text boxes that clearly showed the flow of the process over time from creating the vision through a journey to reality. The use of concentric circles with images in the centre of the big picture brought the vision to life enabling the staff to see how it would work for them and for the wider community, and to understand what needed to be done to achieve these desirable goals.
For ease of reference and to increase circulation of the message we created an A3 pocket version and a navigational PowerPoint version of the Big Picture which was distributed to all staff and many partners of the College.
Results:
The value of the Big Picture is its simple, high impact, visual representation of the vision and strategic aims of the College. Staff now fully understand the changes; they have bought into the reasoning and are excited about the vision. The Big Picture has also been used to engage and clearly explain to stakeholders and strategic partners what the College stands for and aspires to become.