2030 strategic plan 'will boost productivity'

Dubai: The story goes that John F. Kennedy, former president of the United States, walked into the Nasa space centre unannounced and saw a man sweeping the floor. "What is it you do here?" Kennedy asked him, and the man replied, 'Mr President, I am helping to put a man on the moon.'"

The moral of the story is that a man sweeping is a part of the big picture and any long term goals should include every one from the top, right down to the man who sweeps the floor, says New York Institute of Technology Vice-President, Ph.D Harriet Arnone.

In a lecture addressed to students and faculty of the NYIT at Abu Dhabi campus on Monday afternoon, Arnone presented the importance of long term strategic planning. Arnone is instrumental in the development of the 2030 long-term strategic plan initiative at the NYIT.

Arnone praised Abu Dhabi leaders for implementing the 2030 Plan as a strategic step towards growth and development. "Planning ahead helps to provide clear focus and productivity... the reason we at NYIT choose such a distant future is because it makes people stop looking at the present and look at the future in a very different way. It lets them dream," Arnone says.

The NYIT plan included input from all sectors of those involved: "We involved students and staff and faculty at all levels. Of course we couldn't get every student involved, but those who did were instrumental to the planning."

Arnone highlighted why plans often fail: "Because of unrealistic goals, poor planning, bad implementation. Plans will fail if they are not adaptable. There needs to be phases within the long-term planning."

The importance of dividing the plan into smaller fragments is to keep people interested.

"Most people don't know what they are doing in a year from now, let alone 25 years. Dividing up the plan helps you keep the people involved interested."

Arnone's lecture was a part of the NYIT Abu Dhabi Forum on Strategic Planning in the Real World. The title of Arnone's lecture was 'Fact or Fancy'.