Strategic planning exercises come in all shapes and sizes. Some strategic plans are developed by an individual leader (or small sets of leaders) and then delivered to a community/organization (i.e. top-down approach). We wanted our strategic plan to come from the ground-up, that is we wanted to hear the aspirations of our 不良研究所-wide Department of Medicine community and then develop a plan to deliver on those aspirations.
We created a blank page and participatory exercise that focused on listening to all our members to hear their priorities (or aspirations) and their thoughts on how we might achieve these aspirations. Through a series of open-ended questionnaires, 10 ranking exercises and 10 town halls conducted over 8 months (Oct 2022 - June 2023) with excellent representation across sites, career paths and equity seeking groups we ensured that all voices were invited, included and represented in OUR Strategic Plan.