Abstract

Strategy is often discussed in a piecemeal or highly abstracted way. However, in practice, strategy has to fit into the practical reality of how an organisation works, how budgets are allocated, how work is planned, how day-to-day priorities are influenced. The idea behind this talk is to take the audience on a complete journey from the earliest stages of strategy development through to actual implementation. I have presented previously on aspects of strategy and planning, informed by my direct experience and also by surveys of EARMA members, and interviews with EARMA Leadership programme participants. The difference here is the opportunity to look at the entire process holistically and how choices at various stages can have knock-on effects.

It will cover how to influence the development of the overall university strategy, and the strategies of funders and policymakers, how to develop a subsequent research strategy, how to persuade internal and external audiences to buy-in to the strategy, how to get the strategy into concrete plans across the organisation, and how to manage the ongoing implementation.

Attendees will be able to identify particular points in the process where they can exert the greatest influence, and which aspects of the process may cause the greatest difficulty.