Description
Apply 1-2 futuring strategies and propose an innovation for a Community college dealing with retention issues that will affect funIn previous assessments, you have explored a workplace issue and applied systems thinking in your analysis. You have also been developing an understanding of futuring and futuring strategies from the perspective of an educational leader. For this assessment, you will apply 1–2 of these future strategies and propose an innovation for your workplace issue, including a plan for scaling the implementation. Your intended audience for this would be stakeholders at your organization. However, you will not be presenting this outside of the courseroom.For this assessment, you will apply 1–2 futuring strategies and propose an innovation for your workplace issue, including a plan for scaling the implementation. Use the Assessment 3 Template [DOCX] Download Assessment 3 Template [DOCX]to complete this assessment. Your assessment should be approximately five pages (1,250 words). The materials you created during the preparation steps will build and form components of this assessment. You must reference at least five current (published within the last five years) sources to support your discussion. Refer to the EdD Program Library Research Guide for scholarly literature search tips. Remember to write in the third person. Be sure to de-identify your organization and the individuals involved.Things to Consider Be realistic. What is feasible? Identify actual available data. Use your futurist techniques to help assess a broader range of data available for use. Assessing the future requires a strong understanding of the present. In your assessment: Write an introduction. Be clear in your purpose. (Are you writing to inform or persuade?) Provide sufficient context and an effective thesis statement. (For more details, see the “Draft a Thesis Statement” section of the Plan Your Paper Campus page.) Describe your plan for implementing change to your workplace issue. Integrate 1–2 futurist strategies and scaling into your innovation planning. Write a step-by-step process analysis of how your change implementation will unfold and scale to full execution. Be sure to provide a clear timeline for how the work will be introduced and implemented in your organization. Describe how your analysis brings about change and the anticipated results your stakeholders might experience at varying time intervals. Explain how the implementation of the work involves ongoing collaboration with your stakeholders, including how stakeholders will be kept informed of progress during the implementation. Include how your program will grow from a pilot stage to fully scaled implementation. Plans for scaling the implementation. What you are hoping to achieve.Are you proposing a pilot or full-scale launch on day 1? Description of starting point. Where you will be on day 1? In 3 months? 6 months? 1 year? 5 years? Describe the outcomes you hope to achieve at specific time intervals and the data collected (when and how) and used to evaluate the progress or performance outcomes. (Provide adequate evidence to support how you arrived at your conclusions.) Include how outcomes will be assessed or evaluated and distributed to your varying stakeholders. Be sure to consider both people and processes.
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Futurist Strategies and Scaling Change
in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
EDD-FPX8524 – The Future of Educational Leadership
Prepared by
(Learner’s Name)
Capella University
(Date)
Faculty:
Assessment 3: Using the principles of futuring, evaluate your role as an educational futurist.
Evaluate the recent (last 5–10 year) history of your work issue. Applying one or two of the
eight futurist techniques you have studied in the readings and discussions, forecast your
change implementation. (5 pages; 1,250 words)
Delete all instructions—everything that is italicized—once you have completed the paper. Do
not delete headings.
Introduction
•
•
Be clear in your purpose.
Provide sufficient context and an effective thesis statement.
Recent History/Origins of the Work Issue
This is a required component of the paper but it is not part of the scoring guide.
•
•
Describe the recent history or origins of your workplace issue that may impact the future
of your organization.
o Identify signals or trends that have emerged over time.
o Integrate perspectives from key stakeholders or constituencies within your
organization.
Future Options
Describe your plan for implementing change to your workplace issue.
•
Describe 2–3 possible options for the future, including the future selected to
implement change.
•
Include factors used to arrive at your decision.
Futurist Strategies
•
Integrate 1–2 futurist strategies and scaling into your innovation planning.
Process Analysis
•
Using the provided template, outline a detailed (step-by-step) process analysis of how
your change implementation will unfold and scale to full execution.
o Provide a clear timeline for how the work will be introduced and implemented in
your organization.
Strategy:
Step:
Description
Process
Timeline
Stakeholder Involvement
Outcomes
Data to Evaluate
Communication
Repeat table as necessary for each step.
Implementation
•
Write a description of how your analysis brings about change and the anticipated results
your stakeholders might experience at varying time intervals.
o Explain how implementation of the work involves ongoing collaboration your
stakeholders, including how stakeholders will be kept informed of progress during
the implementation.
o Describe the outcomes you hope to achieve at specific time intervals and the data
collected (when and how) and used to evaluate the progress or performance
outcomes. (Provide adequate evidence to support how you arrived at your
conclusions.)
o Tell your story of how the trajectory of this issue will change as a result of the
organization integrating a futurist mindset.
Conclusion
•
•
•
•
Reiterate the importance of your topic.
Compare your thesis statement in the introduction with the restatement of the thesis
statement in the conclusion. Typically, not verbatim, but there should be alignment
between the two paragraphs.
Summarize your key points.
Present your call to action or suggest what work is needed next, as appropriate.
Systems Thinking and Creative Leadership
in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
EDD-FPX8524 – The Future of Educational Leadership
Prepared by
(Learner’s Name)
Capella University
(Date)
Faculty:
Introduction
XYZ Community College, a public two-year college in central California, faces a crisis
threatening its financial sustainability and capacity to provide affordable access to higher
education for the region. Over the past five years, total enrollments have declined 22% from
peak levels, directly reducing the primary funding stream of state apportionment tied to
attendance numbers. As over 70% of the annual budget stems from this fluctuating source, even
modest shortfalls necessitate painful cuts, eroding quality and student support. Without urgent
strategic changes, the college risks entering an untenable spiral where diminishing enrollment
revenues force program and service reductions that further deter attendees. Addressing the
evident systemic crisis in the Community College calls for System thinking-powered leadership
strategies incorporating stakeholders in collectively reconceptualizing the school’s underlying
funding models, vision, and equitable completion-oriented student support practices.
Systems Thinking
How the System may Currently Respond to the Workplace Issue, as well as Potential
Feedback or Leverage Points that may affect how the Issue may be Addressed
The college leadership views the enrollment crisis through a narrow bureaucratic lens,
emphasizing marketing fixes and across-the-board belt-tightening. This fragmented perspective
obscures the interconnected socioeconomic, political, and cultural dynamics underpinning the
Issue. Applying systems thinking principles reveals the college as the central node within an
ecosystem of institutional actors, community stakeholders, and environmental forces (Hughes et
al., 2018). Enrollment and budgetary health depend on harmoniously aligning organizational
priorities with the needs and realities of students, employers, taxpayers, policymakers, and more.
Internally, siloed planning, closed communication channels between administrators and faculty,
and a lack of data analytics to identify at-risk students represent high-leverage intervention
points to enhance retention. Externally, processes enabling nimble curricular customization,
harnessing industry insights, and forging pipelines with feeder high schools and universities
constitute critical system interfaces (Norqvist & Ärlestig, 2021). Adaptive capacities to sense and
respond to community requirements and engagement levels also require boosting.
Points In the System that Might Play a Significant Role In Addressing the Workplace Issue
The Community College needs to significantly strengthen its responsiveness,
collaboration, and experimentation capacities, which are significant impact areas that Norqvist &
Ärlestig (2021) emphasize. Employers’ Advisory Boards will help inform nimble curricular
customization so that the courses keep up with changing job market conditions. Other vital
points that must be increased to improve retention and completion rates include academic
advising staffing to provide more personalized guidance. According to Benoliel et al. (2019),
Leadership through staff empowerment should concentrate on developing diligent and happy
human resources, thus improving the effectiveness of the university as a whole. Online tutoring
and student success courses are other points needed to sustain support virtually, and needs-based
scholarships to improve affordability. There is also a need for faculty professional development
for relationship-building and mentoring, as well as internships, to connect learning with careers
(Charles et al., 2022). Investing in these student-focused supports can yield retention and
completion gains.
Conversely, areas needing reform include significant group orientations, which could be
more personalized, and excess course options that complicate scheduling. There is also a need to
improve the bureaucratic enrollment processes that cause drop-off and siloed technology systems
inhibiting coordination. More reliance on adjunct faculty who are less available to students must
also be avoided. Streamlining systems, clarifying pathways, and strengthening personal guidance
emerge as priorities. Targeted investments in differentiated academic support and career
integration likely improve engagement and achievement among the diverse community college
student body.
Key Constituencies within the Organization that Will Influence the Plan
The budgeting, staffing, strategy, and operations are all in the hands of the President,
Vice Presidents, and the President of the Board. That’s why their power is essential in any
successful turnaround strategy. The curriculum committee also approves new courses that the
faculty Academic Senate proposes, which are vital in their impact on curricular programming.
Department chairs manage scheduling and faculty assignments, determining who can teach a
particular course. On the front, registrars, admissions staff, academic advisors, and financial aid
office frequently interact with students, monitoring satisfaction levels and providing feedback.
Their input can help identify obstacles that prevent applicants from converting or persisting.
Additionally, the associated student government, athlete groups, and minority student
unions provide conduits for the most impacted end-users to voice their needs. Externally,
municipal partners like workforce agencies and school districts represent target student feeders
and local economic priorities. Regional industry associations can help align high-ROI trades’
skills training with talent pipeline outputs. Meanwhile, university partners, transferring and
applied baccalaureate destinations, will inform changes balancing general versus practical
coursework fitting upper-division prerequisites. Equally important, local media outlets, civic
organizations, public agencies, donors, and elected officials contribute to the college’s brand
reputation, community embeddedness, and, ultimately, its perceived value relative to competing
options, which impacts enrollment decisions. Their regular engagement must inform
programming.
2–3 Trends or Patterns to Help Inform the Leader’s Thinking
Notable patterns reveal underserved demographic groups, namely Hispanic, low-income,
and first-generation students, exhibiting above-average attrition risks and representing primary
growth opportunities. Additionally, micro-credential and skills-focused modular coursework
aligned to emerging high-demand fields appears attractive, given shifting learner and employer
priorities. Across California’s higher education landscape, creative inter-institutional
partnerships, rather than go-it-alone mentalities, increasingly underpin resilient and anti-fragile
systems where risks and rewards are collective.
The first thing that the Community College should consider when it comes to planning is
the notable environmental shifts such as those tied to micro-credentialing based on skills,
demography changes, and the idea of moving from being a lone ranger to working in
partnerships. The first one is the modular course bundles focused on competency development
tailored to high-demand fields like healthcare, technology, and renewables that have been more
appealing due to changing learner and employer priorities (Palermo et al., 2022). Also, XYZ can
be interested in developing IT boot camps, support certifications, and rapid reskilling programs
geared toward cost-effectiveness, targeting incoming generations who demand convenient,
affordable options having tangible career benefits. Furthermore, regional population data
indicates that Hispanic, low-income, and first-generation students are not well represented but
might offer above-average enrollment gains without proper support (Darling-Hammond et al.,
2019).
How People, Policies, Decisions, Infrastructure, And Ideas Are Interconnected in the
Organization
The academic programming of XYZ, a place where people, policies, infrastructure, and
ideas converge, serves as a magnet that draws and retains students while heavily costing the
institution. For example, course relevance, modality, availability, and career linkage to the real
world significantly affect access and completion rates for targeted segments. However, it should
be noted that these services cannot be considered in isolation from other institutions’ goals, such
as financial stability within dynamic environments.
On the other hand, people interconnected with the Community College are present both
within the facility and externally. For instance, there is shared governance whereby faculty
members are responsible for academic programs and policies. Consequently, they must make
hard choices regarding resource allocation that promote expanded access, quality assurance, and
fiduciary accountability. Additionally, student leaders have a significant say in decision-making
processes by suggesting services to assist learners. There is also outside influence beyond college
walls exhibited by state legislatures who propose and facilitate the formation of funding formulas
and benchmarks for schools to achieve or surpass when it comes to financing. Additional
external influence is also evident through accrediting bodies that provide checks on
improvements made.
Known Systems Risks or Gaps in the Organization that Could Diminish Mitigation Effort.
The mitigation effort may exhibit challenges like faculty hiring freezes and state funding
volatility. Potential budget squeeze could result in faculty hiring freezes. The resulting
constraints may have a long-term impact by constraining the development of a broad range of
courses, reducing variety and leading to student-teacher ratios. The institution’s dependence on
the funding formula may further inhibit the college’s plan to improve its financial standpoint. The
approach restrains spending on novel teaching methods and technologies that can attract new
student demographics. Another problem is that variation in funding makes investing in long-term
projects such as classroom technology upgrades, purchasing equipment, and specialized advisers
difficult.
Visual Model/Systems Map
Creative Leadership and Creativity
Qualities or Characteristics of a Creative Leader
Creative leadership addressing this challenge demands leaders willing to take risks and
disrupt the status quo that no longer serves students or the region. Innovative leaders exhibit
visionary thinking, curiosity, and imagination (Samdanis & Lee, 2021). They paint a picture of a
preferred future that motivates change. Fundamentally, the leader must engage stakeholders in a
collaborative, experimental process to reimagine systems and structures. Rather than mandate a
solution, the leader establishes spaces for the community to dialogue. The result is institutional
transformation organically aligned with collective values and context. For many community
colleges like XYZ, enrollment is dwindling. However, creative Leadership can help overcome
this problem (Gurr et al., 2020). Visionary leaders can bring different people together and a new
perspective, and they should be able to prototype new programs that will make students hopeful
once more.
Why Creativity is Important in an Organization.
Organizations must tap into creativity to sustain relevance in a world where things
change quickly (Rumanti et al., 2023). When the external environment at XYZ becomes
increasingly unpredictable and competitive, businesses “as usual” may, at best, deliver average
outcomes if they compare themselves with what rivals do. Instead, the Community College has
to deliberately build some “collision spaces” for the wide range of thinkers. The spaces can be
used by teams where they can be allowed to think of out-of-the-box novel services (Perry &
Collier, 2018). The Community College can also utilize creativity by creating new
communication and partnerships focusing on unique market niches. Creative cultures can further
increase employee involvement and commitment, thus preventing high staff turnover rates.
Evaluation of the Current Organization’s Leadership
The college is governed by a seven-member Board of Trustees elected to staggered fouryear terms by voters inside the district boundaries. The Board delegates day-to-day management
to the Administrative Leadership Council, composed of the College President and four Vice
Presidents overseeing Academic Affairs, Student Services, Administrative Services, and
Workforce Development, respectively, along with several academic deans. Currently, the
Community College’s administration uses mainly reactive tactics and outdated assumptions
rather than being innovative and trying to predict what will happen next. To combat this, we
must start making decision-makers think about design thinking and leadership training focusing
on facilitating collaboration.
Conclusion
The fate of XYZ Community College’s financial viability and ability to offer accessible
higher education in central California depends on a proactive, systematic thinking approach. The
current crisis at the college is a 22% decline in enrollments, which has resulted in funding
challenges. The analysis identifies that leadership needs to shift from traditional bureaucratic
manners to innovative approaches considering all stakeholders. Funding models need
reimagining; the vision should be refined, while student support should focus on equal
completion. It implies that high-leverage intervention points should include internal and external
ones to align organizational priorities with community needs. Key components of the plan
involve ending internal barriers, computerizing communication, and using data analytics to
identify vulnerable students. On top of this, a more flexible curriculum responsive to industry
insights and better ties with educational partners are external elements necessary for any college
in XYZ Community College’s situation. The other mitigation area is that enrollment fall can be
reversed by dealing with procedural bottlenecks while promoting an entrepreneurial ethos and
fostering interdependence among college staff. If the school management team at XYZ
Community College implements these changes systematically in the future, it will have sealed its
fate and that of the community it serves.
References
Benoliel, P., Shaked, H., Nadav, N., & Schechter, C. (2019). School Principals’ Systems
Thinking: Antecedents and Consequences. Journal of Educational Administration, 57(2),
167–184. https://doi.org/10.1108/jea-08-2018-0144
Charles, N., Moon, N., & Dicks, A. P. (2022). Reflections on pedagogical practice and
development through multidisciplinary triadic peer mentorship. To Improve the Academy:
A Journal of Educational Development, 41(2). https://doi.org/10.3998/tia.275
Darling-Hammond, L., Flook, L., Cook-Harvey, C., Barron, B., & Osher, D. (2019).
Implications for educational practice of the science of learning and development. Applied
Developmental Science, 24(2), 97–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1537791
Gurr, D., Longmuir, F., & Reed, C. (2020). Creating successful and unique schools: Leadership,
context, and systems thinking perspectives. Journal of Educational Administration,
59(1), 59–76. https://doi.org/10.1108/jea-02-2020-0045
Hughes, D. J., Lee, A., Tian, A. W., Newman, A., & Legood, A. (2018). Leadership, creativity,
and innovation: A critical review and practical recommendations. The Leadership
Quarterly, 29(5), 549–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.03.001
Norqvist, L., & Ärlestig, H. (2021). Systems thinking in school organizations – perspectives
from various leadership levels. Journal of Educational Administration, 59(1), 77–93.
https://doi.org/10.1108/jea-02-2020-0031
Palermo, C., Aretz, H. T., & Holmboe, E. S. (2022). Editorial: Competency frameworks in
Health Professions Education. Frontiers in Medicine, 9.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.1034729
Perry, M., & Collier, D. R. (2018). What counts as creativity in education? An inquiry into the
intersections of public, political, and policy discourses. Canadian Journal of
Education/Revue canadienne de l’éducation, 41(1), 24-43.
Rumanti, A. A., Rizana, A. F., & Achmad, F. (2023). Exploring the role of organizational
creativity and open innovation in enhancing SME performance. Journal of Open
Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 9(2), 100045.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joitmc.2023.100045
Samdanis, M., & Lee, S. H. (2021). The emergence of creative leaders within social networks:
The case of Andy Warhol in the art world of New York. Frontiers in Psychology, 12.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.635678
Systems Thinking and Creative Leadership Outline
•
XYZ Community College, a public two-year college in central California, is facing a
crisis that threatens its financial sustainability and capacity to provide affordable access
to higher education for the region
•
The college leadership views the enrollment crisis through a narrow bureaucratic lens,
emphasizing marketing fixes and across-the-board belt-tightening
•
The Community College needs to significantly strengthen its responsiveness,
collaboration, and experimentation capacities, which are significant impact areas that
Norqvist & Ärlestig (2021) emphasize
•
The budgeting, staffing, strategy, and operations are all in the hands of the President,
Vice Presidents, and the President of the Board
•
Notable patterns reveal underserved demographic groups, namely Hispanic, low-income,
and first-generation students, exhibiting above-average attrition risks and representing
primary growth opportunities
•
The first thing that the Community College should consider when it comes to planning is
the notable environmental shifts such as those tied to micro-credentialing based on skills,
demography changes, and the idea of moving from being a lone ranger to working in
partnerships
•
The academic programming of XYZ, a place where people, policies, infrastructure, and
ideas converge, serves as a magnet that draws and retains students while heavily costing
the institution
•
On the other hand, people interconnected with the Community College are present both
within the facility and externally
•
The mitigation effort may exhibit challenges such as faculty hiring freezes and state
funding volatility
•
Creative leadership addressing this challenge demands leaders willing to take risks and
disrupt the status quo that no longer serves students or the region
•
Organizations must tap into creativity to sustain relevance in a world where things
change quickly
•
The college is governed by a seven-member Board of Trustees elected to staggered fouryear terms by voters inside the district boundaries
•
The fate of XYZ Community College’s financial viability and ability to offer accessible
higher education in central California depends on a proactive, systematic thinking
approach
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