Situation:

The Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC is consistently ranked as one of the top ten law schools in Canada and one of the top 35 in the world. With the appointment of a new Dean, a 2016 plan that was nearing its culmination, and the need to address key priorities identified in a recent external review, the Faculty was committed to embarking on a new strategic planning process with the aims of advancing key priorities in decolonization, inclusion and wellbeing, curriculum renewal, research excellence, and global citizenship, to name a few. Strategy and Decision Support was engaged to lead this process.

Our Actions:

• Articulated an integrated and consultative governance structure to support the discovery, development, and validation of the strategic plan, inclusive of membership within and external to the Faculty
• Created engagement materials and facilitated consultation sessions with faculty, staff, and student representatives through a combination of community-wide retreats, townhalls,  listening sessions, surveys, and open houses to identify areas of strategic priority for the Faculty
• Led multiple working groups across diverse core areas and distilled insights from community-wide events into a strategic framework comprised of vision, mission, values, and core areas, along with articulation of corresponding goals and action items
• Facilitated multiple steering committee engagements, which mainly involved generating feedback, refining the plan, and securing buy-in
• Provided advisory support on communications and updates to Faculty Council, student representatives, faculty, and staff
• Supported the Faculty leadership in prioritizing high-level goals and actions for the first year

Results:

• Successfully built consensus across diverse voices and perspectives at all levels of the engagement, and developed a compelling, collaboratively co-created strategic plan with actionable priorities that are reflective of the emerging opportunities and aspirations of the Faculty, while also remaining responsive to the many voices of internal and external community partners
• The strategic plan was presented to the Faculty Council in April 2023 for endorsement and was approved. The plan is now being operationalized