Strategic Partnerships: Thinking Outside the Administrative Box

ABSTRACT

This study examines the strategic partnership and bottom-up style of management used by Wake Technical Community College (WTCC) in Raleigh, North Carolina. WTCC uses a strategic partnership initiative called SAIL (Succeed, Achieve, Improve, Learn), which engages employees to become involved in the process of institutional improvement. In the SAIL initiative, planning and governance of proposed activities are initiated outside of administrative offices. Strategic partnerships are often used to help solve problems which is what SAIL is intended to do. The SAIL process takes place over three phases: Phase I involves topic identification, Phase II consists of proposal development, and Phase III consists of the evaluation and selection of the winning proposal. Phase I encourages all WTCC faculty, staff, and administration to be involved in addressing critical issues on campus by submitting a Request for Proposal that will contribute to institutional enhancement. WTCC used the SAIL process when deciding on their next Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), an integral part of the accrediting process of schools accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The result was a QEP proposal that had been evaluated and chosen by all employees interested in participating. When employees are involved in initiating change, they are empowered and projects are implemented that impact staff in a meaningful way because they are the ones who initiated the idea.