Next week, Kendal residents will get another opportunity to influence the direction of strategic plan that the KCC board is creating.

On Tuesday, the KCC Board and Administration held forums at Crosslands and Kendal focused on strategic planning and residents’ role in the next stage.  The recording of the Kendal forum is available on the Kendal residents website, and should be viewed if you missed the forum.

At the forum, four key strategic themes were announced. They resulted from last spring’s strategic planning focus groups and the deliberations of the committees involved. I can’t disclose the wording of the themes here, since that is proprietary KCC information. You can find that information, plus some explanatory information about each of them as indicated under “For more detail”, below.

I must apologize for having reproduced the text of the themes on this blog. I failed to notice the restriction at the bottom of the slide containing that text. That was sloppiness on my part, and I will endeavor to avoid similar lapses in the future. I removed that text as soon as I received notification of my error.

    On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week a series of sessions will be held to elicit input from residents on these themes. Instructions for registering appeared in my blog post from a few days ago, here:  https://kendaljourney.com/2025/07/22/sign-up-now-to-provide-additional-input-on-kccs-strategic-plan/.

    Note that, unlike the previous SWOT sessions in May, each of which dealt with a specific topic, these 90-minute sessions will deal with all the themes.  

    To give you the general flavor of what you’ll find in the theme descriptions:

    • Theme 1 encompasses most of the healthcare and DEI issues (and some sustainability-related issues)
    • Theme 2 talks about technology and community culture
    • Theme 3 is about our employees
    • Theme 4 deals with financial, environmental, and other challenges

    The KCC Board encourages residents to identify elements of the four themes about which we have knowledge and experience, and consider:  what would we like to see in KCC’s future and what are specific, measurable goals to achieve that future?

    If sustainability is important to you, the fourth strategic theme is probably the one to focus on. It addresses proactive stewardship of resources, specifically environmental sustainability.  Consider all elements of sustainability—energy, natural areas, dining services, etc.  You likely have worked on one or more committees that envisioned a more sustainable future for KCC and paths to get there.  You may have brought fresh thinking to KCC that has not (yet) made its way into a committee product.  In any case, I invite you to sign up for one of next week’s resident input sessions and bring your ideas.

    Broad, measurable, time-limited goals. Lisa emphasized that the goals that will be incorporated in the strategic plan need to be measurable, so that progress can be assessed. Will Hurd emphasized the need for the goals to be stated broadly, with measurable sub-goals underneath them. So as you prepare for next week’s sessions, think about ways that the goals you are interested might be measured. And if they can’t be measured directly right now, is there a survey or study that could be undertaken that would lead to something measurable?

    For more detail: The board and administration have released additional information that will help you prepare for one of next week’s sessions. Links to those documents can be found here:

    https://www.kalresweb.org/2025/07/21/resident-input-requested-for-kcc-strategic-goals/

    Once you get to that page, if you are a Kendal resident you can click on the link called key strategic themes that emerged from the recent SWOT sessions to see a more complete description of what the themes include. Kendal residents can also click on KCC Resident Focus Group Summary for a 3-page summary of the main ideas emerging from the May SWOT process.

    I can’t provide those links or those documents here, since they are proprietary to KCC, and this blog can be read by the general public.

    [I am grateful to Crosslands resident Willa Nehlsen for much of the text in this blog post, which I lifted—with permission, of course—from her email to Crosslands SSAFE members and others with an interest in the environment. However, the fault for disclosing the text of the themes is mine, not Willa’s.]