Strategic planning is often seen as something distant from day-to-day library work—formal documents, corporate language, and five-year goals that gather dust. This course takes a different approach.

Strategic Planning with Purpose is a live, four-week course designed to help library and information professionals create meaningful, flexible strategies that are rooted in real user needs and grounded in practical action.

We’ll explore how to bring people into the process—staff, users, communities, and stakeholders—using tools from empathy design and futures thinking to shape a shared vision that’s both inspiring and achievable.

Alongside live sessions, you’ll complete short, practical assignments to apply your learning between sessions—helping you move from ideas to action in real time. Whether you’re leading a team, managing a service, or stepping into a more strategic role for the first time, this course gives you the confidence, clarity, and structure to plan for the future without losing sight of what matters now.

What you’ll learn:

• How to use empathy and user-led design approaches to inform strategic thinking

• Ways to engage others in the process—building buy-in, ownership, and shared purpose

• An introduction to futures thinking to help stretch your vision beyond short-term cycles

• How to balance ambition with realism through simple planning and prioritisation tools

• Techniques for communicating strategy in clear, compelling ways

• How to measure progress without rigid KPIs—using feedback, reflection, and small wins

What’s included:

• 4 x live, 60-minute interactive sessions (with recordings available)

• A downloadable workbook with tools, templates, and reflection prompts

• Weekly mini-assignments to apply your learning between sessions

• Peer discussion and support through the Empower learning community

• Optional certificate of completion

• Free for Empower members / standalone course booking available

This course is ideal for librarians, information professionals, and team leads looking to take a more strategic role in shaping the future of their service—without jargon, overwhelm, or corporate buzzwords. Just real tools, human-centred thinking, and space to reflect and plan.