What does “SOAR” stand for?
- Strengths: What can we build on?
- Opportunities: What are our stakeholders asking for?
- Aspirations: What do we care deeply about?
- Results: How do we know we are succeeding?
What is SOAR?
- “SOAR is a strategic planning framework with an approach that focuses on strengths and seeks to understand the whole system by including the voices of the relevant stakeholders.”
- “… SOAR conversations center on what an organization is doing right, what skills could be enhanced, and what is compelling to those who have a ‘stake’ in the organization’s success.”
- “A SOAR strategic plan is a collective understanding of the organization’s goals, so that everyone at every level can make informed adjustments to decisions and actions when needed.”
- “SOAR creates a strategic thinking and dialogue framework … to guide the system during strategic formulation, planning, and implementation.”
~ Jacqueline M. Stavros & Gina Hinrichs, The Thin Book of SOAR
Where are the origins of AI and SOAR?
Dr. David Cooperrider at Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management, Organizational Behavior Department, developed Appreciative Inquiry (AI) in the late 1980s as a new approach to helping organizations change and grow. The SOAR framework adapts AI to a strategic planning setting. AI and SOAR take a positive approach to uncover the best of an organization and determine how to get more of it!
AI + SOAR Process
STRENGTHS: What can we build on?
- What are our greatest strengths as a college?
- What are we most proud of and how does that reflect our greatest strengths?
- What makes us unique? What can we be best at in our world?
- How do we use our strengths to get results?
- How do our strengths fit with the realities of the marketplace?
- What do we do that is world-class for our clients, patients, students, and other stakeholders
OPPORTUNITIES: What are our stakeholders asking for?
- How do we make sense of Opportunities provided by the external forces and trends?
- What are the top three areas on which we should focus our efforts?
- How can we best meet the needs of our stakeholders?
- How can we reframe challenges as opportunities?
- What new skills do we need to move forward?
ASPIRATIONS: What do we care deeply about?
- What are we deeply passionate about?
- Reflecting on our Strengths and Opportunities, who are we, who should we become and where do we go in the future?
- What is our most compelling possibility?
- What strategic initiatives (e.g. projects, programs, processes) would support our aspirations?
RESULTS: How do we know we are succeeding?
- Considering our Strengths, Opportunities, and Aspirations, what meaningful measures would indicate that we are on track to achieving our goals?
- What indicators would create a fair way to assess faculty, staff, and administrators?
- What resources are needed to implement vital projects?
- What are the best rewards to support those who achieve our goals?