Elevator Pitch Your Strategic Plan
An elevator pitch is a concise summary that communicates a clear idea of a person, a business, a product, or a service within a short amount of time. Usually the elevator pitch can be shared within the span of a quick elevator ride - think one or two floors, not a whole skyscraper!
How do you communicate the idea of your strategic plan to others?
Can everyone in your school community explain the essence and focus of the strategic plan?
To start, ask your leadership team the following questions that address the purpose for communicating the plan, what the plan is for, and its unique “selling” proposition (i.e., how the plan is different from what exists elsewhere). Then combine the answers into a single “pitch.”
What do you want others to know and remember about the strategic plan? Why this focus and why now?
What makes the school’s strategic plan unique to your institution?
Combine the answers in a 30-second statement (or two) that would make sense to someone who doesn’t live in the community or doesn’t know anything about your school. An extra consideration: can you give your pitch to a student and will the student understand the purpose of the plan?
Let’s think about a sample institution that identified the need to increase graduation through persistence and retention efforts. There was a completion gap between first generation students and other students. The strategic plan prioritized persistence to improve outcomes for students. Here is a sample “elevator pitch”:
At Sample University, we recognize that students, especially first generation students, have barriers to completing their academic goals so our five-year strategic plan focus is on persistence, specifically removing obstacles to making progress and providing supports that address each student’s needs.
What do you want others to know and remember about the strategic plan? The University wants each student to succeed.
Why this focus and why now? Students - especially first generation students - are not meeting academic goals.
What makes the school’s strategic plan unique to your institution? Plan is based on evidence (“we recognize”) of need and efforts include removing obstacles and providing supports - for each student it serves.
Bonus: Create a Tagline
Sometimes there isn’t enough time to give the whole elevator pitch so what is a short tagline can be delivered and used as a way to brand your plan.
A tagline is a final thought that sticks with others. What is the core focus or priority of the plan? A good idea is to have your shared-decision making team or a team with representatives from all groups identify this central idea. Can students embrace the central theme as much as the Board or staff or the families? Can businesses and local organizations see a role in the plan based on the tagline?
In Byron-Bergen Central School District located in western New York, their strategic plan tagline and district mantra is “Many Bees, One Hive,” coined by an administrator during planning meetings. The school mascot is a bee, and the priority of the plan is consistency and collaboration to ensure everyone feels a sense of belonging in the district. Thus, the tagline embodies the core theme of the plan and resonates with all stakeholders.
In our sample school described earlier, the tagline “Pursue, Persist, Prosper” could communicate that students attend the school to pursue their goals, the institution is focused on helping them persist toward their goals, and in doing so, they will prosper. Another idea could be “Clear the Way Everyday” emphasizing that the purpose of the plan is to remove obstacles to achieving success, and it has to be the focus or the lens by which everyone operates on a daily basis, not just when an issue arises or when it is on a meeting agenda.
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