{"id":4617,"date":"2021-07-21T13:00:06","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.oclc.org\/next\/?p=4617"},"modified":"2022-03-24T20:47:08","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T20:47:08","slug":"four-ways-to-avoid-the-transition-trap-in-your-strategic-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.oclc.org\/next\/four-ways-to-avoid-the-transition-trap-in-your-strategic-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"Four ways to avoid the \u201ctransition trap\u201d in your strategic planning"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Even well-developed, regularly updated strategic plans are subject to short-term crises and changes in the environment. For the last 18 months, we\u2019ve seen that take place as the world and libraries reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic. But beyond keeping day-to-day activities going, library leaders have also been considering how to manage the pandemic\u2019s effects on strategic, long-range issues. Recent tactical decisions need to be balanced against longer-term strategic aims.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important, as we move further into a post-pandemic planning mode, not to confuse tactical, transitional plans with long-term, transformational strategy.<\/p>\n

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1. Differentiate transitions from transformations<\/h2>\n

For example, most libraries, along with businesses in many other sectors, saw the use of online options increase dramatically. And many leaders are now evaluating how to work that trend into their long-term strategic planning. But increasing your library\u2019s digital activities and services based on demand is a transitional<\/em> move, a reaction\u2014not a transformation<\/em> in what and how services and content are delivered.<\/p>\n

Libraries have been delivering digitally for some time. The pandemic has forced already existing behaviors into focus. Lockdowns and closures of the physical library with no access to collections increased the visibility of digital options. In our collections strategies, we make a mistake if we place print and digital in opposition to each other. While they may require different internal processes, we should understand them both as \u201ccontent,\u201d adjusting how we think about them within the wider scholarly publications environment.<\/p>\n

Increased use of digital content is an intensification<\/em> of trends recognizable across many industries. It is not an acceleration<\/em> of a move in libraries from print to digital content, as we were already there. Rather than reducing libraries and their work to a two-dimensional phenomenon, where what we do is measured as a movement through space and time, we can see this intensification as three-dimensional. We can adapt and evolve within and beyond ourselves, even if, at a practical level, we are confined and constrained by a finite resource base.<\/p>\n

What is needed is a genuine transformation of services where, for example, we operate at the network level first. Where we change what we do and how we do it, and stop congratulating ourselves on a job well done if we believe that \u201crunning faster is running better.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Focus on results that impact your community and institution<\/h2>\n

\u201cRunning faster\u201d is often easier to measure. But strategic transformation means directing your efforts based on tangible results that are important to the people, institutions, and communities we serve. For example:<\/p>\n