The Hugh Wooding Law School Strategic Planning Process

The Vivian Group Ltd. (TVGL) guided the Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS) through a planning process to develop a three-year strategic plan. TVGL was tasked with completing three core deliverables for the Law School, which is based in St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago:

  • An Organisational Capacity Assessment
  • A Strategic Plan, 2023 – 2026
  • An Implementation Plan

Data collection methods utilised in support of the process included semi-structured interviews and surveys, involving a cross-section of the Law School’s principal stakeholder groups.

The Vivian Group conducted semi-structured interviews with various academic and administrative team leaders over online video conference platforms. We also designed and executed an organisational capacity assessment tool (OCAT) tailoring the tool to the Law School’s needs and interests.

The OCAT was framed around three domains:

  • Operational Capacity
  • Support Services Capacity
  • Management and Organisational Capacity

The OCAT was a particularly useful tool for measuring stakeholder perceptions of organisational performance, and as a foundational initiative for prioritising organisational challenges and setting the groundwork for development of improvement/growth strategies.

Survey tools designed and executed by The Vivian Group in this process included a Values and Culture Survey, which examined how stakeholders prioritised and rated the school in areas of: Shared decision making

  • Principled leadership
  • Continuously Improving Quality
  • Performance delivery
  • Placing customers first
  • Standards of personal integrity, commitment to social justice and other areas deemed by the Law School as fundamental to its work.

Stakeholder participation in the OCAT and the Values and Culture Survey included, administrative and technical support staff, faculty including senior academic team leaders, heads of departments and students. An Employer Perception Survey was also designed and undertaken, to assess how employers rated the performance and competencies of HWLS graduates.

A two-day in-person stakeholder retreat was conducted in Trinidad & Tobago, at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre.

The retreat allowed for review and discussion of the OCAT and the survey accesses; definition and refinement of the Law School’s strategic identity; defining of the 2023 – 2026 strategic priorities; and for the initial framing for implementation.

The process was facilitated over a six-month period, which concluded with delivery of final project outputs:

  • An Organisational Capacity Assessment
  • A Strategic Plan, 2023 – 2026
  • An Implementation Plan
Hwls 2023 Web Cover