Governance Refresh Senate Meeting February 2016

2 Strategic vs. Tactical Thinking Strategy is the “what” part of the equation. “What are we trying to accomplish?” Tactics is the “how” part of the equation. “How are we going to accomplish our goal?” Strategy is done above the shoulders, tactics are done below the shoulders. Strategy is often what you don’t do. What you’re not going to do is as important as what you are going to do.

3 3 Strategic / Strategies Focuses on what an organization should become Leverages strengths & opportunities, while minimizing the effects of weaknesses and threats Strategies are usually about making decisions that close off alternative paths Strategies are more difficult to implement, requiring a substantial commitment of resources Strategies are for the long term and are more difficult to reverse Strategies don’t change with local conditions Doing the right things Tactical / Tactics Focuses on how to do something Tactics are day-to-day actions that get us to our goals Tactics are often simply a way to get something done Tactics are usually easier to implement, requiring fewer resources Tactics are usually more flexible and can be reversed if they don’t work Tactics can change easily to meet local conditions Doing things right Strategic vs. Tactical Thinking

4 Thinking Strategically Examples of strategic impact: changing the organization structure, outsourcing, selecting vendors to expand what you can do, choosing the markets to compete in. Think about doing things differently. Explore all possible organizational futures, and challenge conventional thinking. Question your own opinions and put yourself in different environments that will help give you perspective and challenge your world view so you can adjust to new global realities. Get out of your comfort zone… think about what could go wrong in order to make a better decision, instead of avoiding making a decision all together.

5 Balancing Service and Leadership Service Organizations Tend to facilitate, enable, report Promote consensus and community building Don’t typically grow capacity Focused on the organization Leadership Organizations Tend to embrace and nurture calculated risk Budget for strategic experimentation Short cycle time from concept to deployment Focused on the mission Overemphasize service = fail to think ahead Focus on leadership = leave members behind Neither is better, needs to be a balance

6 Balancing Service and Leadership Most associations are risk averse, slow moving, struggle with change (service based) In being too organizationally focused, the association can lose relevance Leading the organization to a better place is serving it Challenge is to balance meeting members’ needs today, and meeting their needs tomorrow… though it will likely be different members and different needs SWE’s Mission: Stimulate women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life, and demonstrate the value of diversity.

What we’re hearing from sub-groups

8 Sub-Group Discussions Identify issues to be addressed in order to succeed Proposed sequencing of next steps given inter-relationships, upcoming leadership turnover General thoughts Reconvene to share with overall group