Reflective Journal - Week 12

Strategic planning is all about how we are going to go from where we currently are to where we want to be (our goals). I like how Sean pointed out that making goals is the easy part, the action necessary between making goals and reaching goals is what is hard. I once heard someone say of goals, “goals without actions are simply wishes”. In the past strategic planning was done without exact data or research. Modern day strategic planning is more data based. Data is more easily accessible and being in the information sharing era, research is so much easier and simpler than it used to be. Strategic planning should focus on 6 months to 2 year periods. The days of projecting out 5 years and strategically planning for it are in the past. We currently set long term goals, but strategically plan for the short term to take the steps to eventually reach our goals.

Sean discussed a particular CEO who made his personal values also the values of his organization. Sean discussed how this often affected the care that was offered and the success of the company and the growth of the business. This is a huge factor to be aware of when moving into career opportunities and learning about the ownership of specific organizations. Along with this is examining the organizations mission statement, philosophy, goals, objectives, policies, procedures and rules. All of these things speak volumes as to what type of organization you are working with. It defines why they exist as a company, what their goals are, how they view themselves fitting in the community, and the policies and rules they have in place.

In the team activity we discussed as a group about what masters program UVU should add to best position the school and program in the state. I entered the discussion believing that the program UVU should add is a nurse practitioner program. I have long been excited about the possibility of UVU adding a masters nurse practitioner program and I hope it comes to pass. Discussing with my group members, it seems they all similarly agreed in the benefits we discussed in adding this specific program. We all believe that adding an NP program would elevate UVU’s nursing school to be on par with the other schools in the state. I think adding this program would be a great launch pad for UVU to eventually add additional masters programs and maybe a doctorate program one day!

Nurse leadership also has to work to strategically plan. Strategic planning can go all the way down to the department, floor, or even a specific patient! Typically planning consists of focusing on a population of patients and making goals specific to their treatment. I personally feel that I have spent a lot of time strategically planning many aspects of my life. Planning for me personally is what leads to success. Action without a plan are sort of pointless. I think strategically planning is vital to success in anything and I really enjoyed covering this section!