![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.dustykennedy.com\/etec-portfolio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/planning-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>In my fourth semester of graduate studies in the Fall of 2019, I blindly entered my online class discussion in Strategic Planning & IDT Programs. I had no idea what the class was going to be about and was worried about the final project. Once I learned what strategic plans were, it clicked and I thought, “Wait\u2026I do this all the time at work, but I’ve never called it a technology strategic plan.” From that moment on, the idea of developing a technology strategic plan for a local business\/non-profit seemed fun. The organization that I chose for the plan was my church, Fellowship Bible Church in Searcy, AR. The church was preparing to move to a new facility and this was the perfect time to take stock of what we had and what we needed. I led 5 staff members and a church member through a S.W.O.T. Analysis to determine what we needed to focus on and then built projects that would help accomplish our goal. In the end, all involved were happy with the results.<\/p>\nPersonal Reflection<\/h3>\n
Even though I had worked on strategic projects before, I had never formally conducted a S.W.O.T. Analysis or any of the structure we learned in class. This proved very beneficial, not only for the final project, but I was able to conduct a S.W.O.T. Analysis for my work team. This allowed me to really practice the format and conduct sessions. Side note: I recently held our 6 month review to see if we needed to refocus our efforts. One of the best comments by the staff was, “We couldn’t have done this at a better time. At the end of 2019, we couldn’t have foreseen COVID-19 causing us to make so many changes. If we hadn’t started going down this path, we wouldn’t have been ready to transition to online services.”<\/p>\n