Metropolitan Community College: Transforming Strategic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness Through Data-Driven Innovation

Overview

Metropolitan Community College (MCC), Missouri's oldest community college, serves more than 20,000 students annually across its five campuses. With a deep commitment to student success and continuous improvement, MCC has developed a robust and integrated strategic planning process that aligns organizational goals with measurable outcomes. Through their partnership with ClearPoint Strategy software, the college has transformed their institutional effectiveness program from a cumbersome manual process into a streamlined, data-driven system that energizes their team and enhances decision-making.

The Foundation: Two Guiding Principles

When MCC revamped their strategic plan during the COVID-19 pandemic, they recognized that alignment and buy-in would be critical to success. Two fundamental tenets emerged that would shape their entire approach:

1. "If it gets measured, it gets managed"
2. "Strategy is all about choices"

These principles, combined with the college's mission, values, and vision, became the cornerstone of their three-tiered strategic planning framework.

MCC's Three-Level Strategic Planning Architecture

Level 1: MCC Reimagined

The highest level consists of a ten-year strategic plan highlighting four key themes ("MCC's 4 Es") and 14 overall organizational goals. Drawing inspiration from the Balanced Scorecard Framework, MCC organized goals by perspective to ensure all stakeholders' viewpoints were represented.

Level 2: MCC's Playbook

This operational level contains actionable plans across campuses and shared services, outlining specific deliverables that advance the strategic goals.

Level 3: Institutional Effectiveness Planning (IEP) Cycles

The most granular level involves annual reporting cycles for each of the college's 61 planning units, all housed within ClearPoint Strategy.

The Institutional Effectiveness Planning Process

MCC's IEP cycle serves as a systematic mechanism for data-driven evaluation of operations and processes. As Amie Kendall, Senior Project Lead at MCC's Office of Enterprise Project Management, Planning & Institutional Effectiveness, explains: "The IEP cycle serves as a mechanism for the college to engage in ongoing, systematic, and data-driven evaluations of our operations and processes."

The Annual Cycle

June - Opening the Loop:

• Each of the 61 planning units establishes four annual goals
• Three goals are unique to the department
• One Global Goal aligns with the college's overarching annual objective
• For each goal, managers identify tactics, performance measures, and targets

Throughout the Year:

• Metrics and progress are continuously tracked in ClearPoint
• Real-time data analysis informs decision-making
• Cross-department collaboration is facilitated through shared visibility

May - Closing the Loop:

• Leadership reviews lessons learned
• Departments request necessary resources for the next fiscal year
• Performance data is analyzed and compared across units and previous cycles

The Transformation: From Manual to Digital

The Challenge

Prior to implementing ClearPoint, MCC's well-established IEP process was hindered by inefficiency:

• 61 planning units submitted individual PDF reports
• Tactics were tracked in Excel spreadsheets
• Changes required redistributing forms to all participants
• Reports were stored in SharePoint folders
• Administrators had to manually read every form to assess goal achievement
• Knowledge sharing between departments was limited

The Solution: ClearPoint Strategy

In November 2020, MCC partnered with ClearPoint to revolutionize their institutional effectiveness process. The software platform, customized and branded as "ClearWolf" (after the college's mascot), brought several transformative capabilities:

Streamlined Processes:

• Automated data collection and analysis
• Color-coded fields indicating update timelines
• Automatic redirection to specific planning unit pages
• Updates completed within an hour instead of days

Enhanced Visualization and Reporting:

• Real-time dashboards aggregating information across all units
• Visual tracking of goal progress and strategic theme alignment
• Comparative analysis across departments and IEP cycles
• Natural demonstration of alignment through tagging features

Improved Collaboration:

• Centralized information repository
• Cross-campus and cross-department visibility
• Dedicated 'Launch Page' for managers to connect and collaborate
• Knowledge sharing across the entire organization

Impact and Results

The implementation of ClearPoint has delivered significant benefits to MCC:

Operational Efficiency

• Dramatic reduction in time required for updates and reporting
• Elimination of manual PDF form management
• Automated data analysis providing real-time insights

Cultural Transformation

• Enhanced culture of assessment throughout the college
• Increased employee engagement at all levels
• Rejuvenated institutional effectiveness process
• Positive feedback from planning unit managers

As Amie Young notes: "Our managers feel more connected to the process and are more energized to make updates. ClearPoint has rejuvenated the whole process here at the College. We've received nothing but positive feedback."

Strategic Alignment

• Natural alignment across planning components
• Clear demonstration of interrelationships between strategic elements
• Balanced focus across all strategic themes
• Direct connection between daily operations and long-term goals

Accreditation Support

The streamlined process has impressed accreditation boards, including the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). The centralized tracking system in ClearPoint makes it easy to:

• Prepare required accreditation reports
• Demonstrate continuous improvement efforts
• Showcase strategic alignment and data-driven decision-making

Looking Forward

MCC continues to evolve their use of ClearPoint Strategy, with plans to:

• Further expand automation capabilities
• Enhance focus on accreditation requirements
• Continue strengthening alignment between strategic plan components
• Share their success model with other institutions

Key Takeaways

Metropolitan Community College's journey demonstrates how the right combination of strategic vision, systematic processes, and enabling technology can transform institutional effectiveness. By embracing the principles that "what gets measured gets managed" and "strategy is all about choices," MCC has created a dynamic planning ecosystem that:

• Reduces administrative burden while increasing strategic focus
• Empowers department leaders with real-time data and insights
• Fosters collaboration across organizational boundaries
• Maintains continuous improvement as a living practice rather than an annual exercise
• Provides clear accountability and transparency at all organizational levels

Through their innovative approach to strategic planning and institutional effectiveness, MCC has positioned itself as a leader in data-driven higher education management, ensuring they can continue to serve their 20,000+ students with excellence while adapting to the evolving landscape of community college education.

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