The Founders of Viable Insights had their professional start in the Planning, Assessment, Research & Quality office at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. While there as members of their Applied Research Center team, they had the opportunity to work closely with Rockstar institutional researchers that have spent more than 20 years refining a strategic planning process that has gained accolades with peers of UW-Stout in the academic world, as well as entities within the federal government.
In 2001, UW-Stout became the first (and remains the only) institute of higher learning to receive the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and this is in large part due to the highly effective and inclusive planning process that Stout implemented in an attempt to overcome institutional issues in the late 1990’s. The results of their planning process and cycle have led to increased buy-in throughout UW-Stout, enhancing existing shared governance opportunities and developing new platforms for members of all power levels across the organizational structure to provide key feedback on organizational initiatives and multi-year plans. Viable Insights has maintained its strong relationship with the PARQ office at UW-Stout and is now working with organizations outside the sphere of higher education, helping them implement effective planning methods within their own operations.
Our work in this area provides organizations with the training and guidance needed to establish high-impact, multi-staged strategic planning practices. The planning cycle pioneered by UW-Stout and adapted by our team includes guidance on how to engage your organization, develop a method for setting priorities, create opportunities for shared action planning, and designing meaningful and transparent report out activities with your staff and key stakeholders. Interested in learning more? Let’s chat.