Creating a strong district strategic plan means listening deeply, identifying shared priorities, and building community ownership. That’s where ThoughtExchange becomes a game-changer. It helps districts gather meaningful input at scale, surface top-rated ideas, and foster transparent, two-way dialogue with families, staff, students, and community members.
Here’s how to use ThoughtExchange at every stage of your strategic planning process—along with examples, question ideas, and practical tips.
Step 1: Prepare for Strategic Planning
Set the Stage with Internal Stakeholders
Before engaging the broader community, run a ThoughtExchange with your internal planning team to surface assumptions, hopes, or concerns.
Example Exchange Prompt:
“What do you hope our strategic planning process will accomplish for our district?”
This creates early alignment and ensures your team is grounded in shared expectations.
Step 2: Gather Input from the Community
Launch Communitywide Engagement
Use ThoughtExchange to hear from students, families, staff, and community leaders. Ask open-ended questions to uncover needs, values, and aspirations.
Sample Exchanges:
- “What are the most important things our schools should focus on over the next five years?”
- “What’s currently working well in our district—and what could be improved?”
Because participants can rate others’ thoughts, you get a clear picture of what matters most across diverse groups.
Tip: Use demographic questions to disaggregate responses by role, school, or subgroup, without compromising anonymity.
Step 3: Define Vision, Mission, and Core Values
Add a few closed Survey questions
After the Exchange, add open-ended questions to guide your vision, mission, and core values.
Survey Question Ideas:
- “What values should guide the future of our schools?”
- “What kind of future do you want for students in our district?”
Use ThoughtExchange’s results tools: Article and Advisor, to pull out the top 5 results as the foundation for your final statements.
Step 4: Identify Strategic Priorities and Goals
Validate and Prioritize Focus Areas
Once you’ve drafted potential priority areas based on your results (e.g., literacy, student wellness, family engagement), you can re-test them in an Exchange.
Prompt Example:
“Which of these focus areas will have the biggest positive impact on student success—and why?”
This helps refine priorities and ensures your goals are rooted in real community input.
Step 5: Finalize and Launch the Plan
Use ThoughtExchange to confirm results.
Augment your final findings by using ThoughtExchange’s slides and reports to demonstrate how the community’s sentiment supports the final version.
Tip:
Use summary decks, customer Advisor reports, or an interactive web link to share results.
Step 6: Monitor Progress and Keep the Conversation Going
Use Ongoing Exchanges to Track Progress
Strategic plans are living documents, and community voice should remain part of the implementation phase.
Quarterly or Annual Exchange Ideas:
- “How are we doing on the goals outlined in our strategic plan?”
- “What’s one area where we’ve improved—and where do we still need to grow?”
You can also use Exchanges to guide mid-course corrections, evaluate specific initiatives, or set annual priorities.
Conclusion
ThoughtExchange doesn’t replace strategic planning—it enhances it. It helps district leaders move from compliance-based engagement to real, collaborative decision-making. With the right questions and consistent communication, you can use ThoughtExchange to design a strategic plan that reflects your community’s voice and leads to real, lasting change.