Viterbo University’s five-year strategic plan goes into great detail on goals to keep the institution moving forward and the steps to reach those goals, but nobody planned on a pandemic that would force a campus shutdown and nationwide unrest over racism and social injustice.

Going into the second year of the process, two things were amazing to strategic plan co-chairs Sheila Severson and Naomi Stennes-Spidahl: how much was accomplished on the plan given the pandemic related upheaval and how well the plan accommodates the pivots and reprioritization needed to deal with the pandemic and strengthen the university’s push for diversity and social justice.

“It is important to know that while things are not what they used to be, we still have to work on this strategic plan, and the willingness of everybody to dig in is part of what makes this a great place to work,” said Severson, whose observation was echoed by her co-chair.

“I am so impressed from my own experience with the resilience and adaptability and the good humor and care for each other,” Stennes-Spidahl said.

Of the 103 milestones mapped out for strategic plan initiatives in the first year, 97 percent were completed or near completion and 3 percent were delayed or adapted because of the pandemic.

First year initiatives with heavy faculty involvement were put on pause to enable them to focus on completing the semester online and preparing for a fall semester that could involve activating contingency plans.

Before the school year had even ended, work began on mapping the milestones to be achieved in year two. The working groups for the second year include 114 people, which represents more than a third of Viterbo’s full-time employees.

“There are a lot of good people doing a lot of good work,” Severson said.

Severson and Stennes-Spidahl are part of the Strategic Plan Leadership Group, which includes the team leaders from each of the four themes of the plan: Kirsten Gabriel (Delivering Our Promise), Heather Butterfield (Owning Our Future), Jennifer Anderson-Meger (Strengthening Our Connections), and Brian Weber (Growing Our Value).

Going into year two, the Strategic Plan Leadership Group assessed the plan’s original initiatives and in consultation with President Glena Temple and the university cabinet put greater emphasis on parts of the plan that generate revenue and focus on diversity, inclusivity, and social justice.

A Combatting Racism and Injustice working group was formed and has been meeting throughout the summer. The work of that group likely will result in new elements for the parts of the plan focusing on pushing for diversity and social justice. Stennes-Spidahl said it’s possible new initiatives might be added to the strategic plan based on the racism working group’s recommendations.

The mapping of milestones as part of the strategic plan is a vital step, as it breaks down the steps needed to put initiatives into action. By design, the final milestone always involves a framework for monitoring the implementation of the initiative, setting up metrics to gauge success and establishing procedures to track those metrics. The idea is to break from past strategic plan processes that were aspirational in nature but didn’t always translate those aspirations into action and include metrics for success.

Work on setting the milestones began in the spring and is continuing through the summer, taking into account shifts in strategic plan priorities.

“Part of this prioritization process is acknowledging the demands of returning in the fall, of just doing our operations in a pandemic,” Stennes-Spidahl said. “Part of the prioritization is determining what are the urgent things we need to be tending to right now and what can be tabled.”

One thing that hasn’t changed, standing as firm as Viterbo’s core values, are the four themes upon which the strategic plan was built: Delivering Our Promise, Owning Our Future, Strengthening Our Connections, and Growing Our Value.

“Everything we’re doing is focused on those,” Stennes-Spidahl said. “These are the themes we need to be about right now.”