SEMESTER AT SEA:
Planning A Business Transformation For A Pandemic Impacted Institution
Client
Semester At Sea
Industry
Education / Travel
Our Role
Co-create a new strategic plan
We recently helped Semester at Sea go beyond “business as usual” and take a voyage to the future as they created their new strategic plan.
The Challenge
The Pandemic Brought Travel to a Halt
Semester at Sea (SAS) has been taking students on unforgettable voyages since 1963. Over 70,000 voyagers have made the world their classroom, traveling to 223 unique ports of call in 114 countries.
After the COVID-19 pandemic forced SAS to cut short or cancel all of its voyages in 2020 and 2021, it needed a new strategic plan that would stabilize the organization and ensure resilience and sustainability for the future.
The question on the table: How do we adapt in the future we don’t yet know?
The Solution
A New, Future-Informed Massive Transformative Purpose
IDEA360 teamed up with Entrellis, a consulting firm, to help Semester at Sea visualize the future and create a massive transformative purpose (MTP) to propel the organization’s strategy for the next three years. After some deep background research and a thorough analysis of findings, we gathered in person with the 40-person SAS team to shape the foundational elements of a new approach.
We focused on creating one unifying MTP and four big strategic bets because Semester at Sea wanted a big change. We helped them hold to that desire through the tools and processes we used, even when they were tempted to go back to more tactical approaches.
Our Approach Included 3 Key Elements:
1. Humanizing The Room
We invited participants to show up as whole human beings with ideas and dreams and struggles and curiosities. The organization needs full participation and in this remote and virtual environment, we need people to connect, engage, and align when they come back together.
2. Journeying To The Future
We enabled the team to discover the myriad possibilities for SAS’s future and hone in on the strategic choices that will facilitate the future they want.
3. Designing Meetings As Experiences
A great meeting goes beyond a great Powerpoint. We amplified the team’s engagement and creativity with interactive experiences and ample opportunities for collaborative problem-solving and decision-making.
The Outcome
A Future-Ready Organization with a New, Inspiring Purpose
In just two 4-hour sessions, the SAS team was able to advance their strategic planning journey by leaps and bounds, rallying around an inspiring purpose and transitioning from tactical, incremental thinking to an expansive, exponential, and future-ready mindset.
They left the meeting with:
- A new massive transformative purpose
Their old mission:
To educate individuals with the global understanding necessary to address the challenges of our interdependent world. With the world as our classroom, our programs integrate multiple-country study, interdisciplinary coursework, and experiential learning for meaningful engagement in the global community.
Their new MTP:
Journeys of discovery that spark bold solutions to global challenges.
- A clear vision of the future that enables them to design their programs to meet new, emerging needs
- 4 clear strategic priorities and the big bets they’re making inside each priority
- An understanding of the strategic choices they’ll need to make in the months and years to come.
Scott Marshall, President, and CEO of Semester at Sea shared afterward: “Unambiguously, the two sessions were collectively a big win. For everyone involved. The sessions were very well organized and the pre-prepared visual templates, group work activities, and various visual media were interconnected and forward-moving.”
