NIST Strategic Planning 

VCAT Meeting

October 29, 2019
Why a NIST Strategic Plan? 

Competition New Business 

Models

Aging 

Infrastructure

Changing 

Expectations

Outdated 

Processes

Limited 

Resources
NIST Strategic Planning Steps

Identify Goals

•Using the pre-work and in 

consultation with the NIST 

Leadership Board, NIST 

Director identifies 

Strategic Plan Goals

Pre-work

• Baldrige Organizational 

Profile

• Environmental Scan

• SWOT Analysis with Focus 

Groups

Develop Objectives and 

Strategies with Broad 

Staff Input

• Input sought from public 

forums, internal and 

external sources, etc. 

Final Plan

• Internal and external 

communications plan and 

documents developed

• Implementation plan for 

tracking and reporting progress, 

updating plan, etc. 

• Integrated with strategic 

priorities and programmatic 

plans for LP, MR, IIS

Strategic goal teams form
1.

2.

3.

4.

Deliberate Community Engagement

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION ON 

TECH TRANSFER AT NIST

Goal Team 1 members chat with visitors at the 

Gaithersburg event.

Open House Events in 

Gaithersburg and 

Boulder 

Focused outreach 

events on specific 

topics

Workforce – career paths, 

development, bias, diversity

Support for research and 

facilitating technology 

transfer

Infrastructure – maintenance

External stakeholder 

relations

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION ON 

RESEARCH DATA INFRASTRUCTURE
Goal 1: Position NIST to Advance U.S. Science and 

Innovation

Increase agility, promote collaboration, 

and maintain technical excellence to 

strategically advance emerging 

technologies and address national 

needs.

• Identify and address institutional 

bottlenecks that inhibit all aspects of 

NIST’s technical agility and 

excellence. 

• Create an environment that allows 

NIST staff and associates to achieve 

technical excellence while 

minimizing impediments. 

• Foster a culture that promotes crossOU collaboration, both socially and 

technically, including in areas of 

national need.

Develop and leverage flexible 

approaches to attract, retain, retrain, 

and grow talent (both Feds and 

Associates) in critical areas and adapt 

to demographics and expectations of 

the changing workforce.

• Create, promote, and 

support growth opportunities 

• Prepare (and support/improve) 

individuals for leadership and 

management positions to create a 

strong workforce.

• Promote an inclusive and equitable 

environment

Develop creative models that 

strategically expand our external 

engagement and impact, aligned with 

our mission to maximize the value of 

our technical program.

• Take a more purposeful approach to 

identifying and nurturing external 

partnerships

• Establish and implement rigorous, 

fair, and transparent mechanisms to 

assess the effectiveness and impact 

of existing partnerships
Goal 2: Maximize NIST’s Stakeholder Impact through 

High-Value Service Delivery

Facilitate the transfer of NIST 

knowledge, inventions, and technologies 

from the laboratory to the marketplace. 

• Cultivate a technology transfer-savvy 

research staff by improving 

communications about NIST tech 

transfer processes and policies

• Ensure businesses are aware of 

opportunities to transfer NIST 

knowledge, inventions, and 

technologies

• Pilot new efforts and policies for NIST 

to catalyze technology transfer 

improvements

Provide high quality products and 

services that NIST’s customers and other 

key stakeholders value.

• Continually improve customer and 

other key stakeholder relationships by 

implementing proven practices from 

the Baldrige Excellence Framework 

and disseminating best practices 

internally.

• Make it easier to “Work with NIST” by 

providing an easy to navigate website 

and modern e-commerce tools.

Strategically communicate NIST’s key 

messages so that stakeholders can 

readily identify and share NIST’s 

priorities, capabilities, and value.

• Adopt organizational branding best 

practices to enhance NIST’s 

reputation with key stakeholders as a 

leader in advancing innovation and 

economic impact.

• Enhance internal and external 

communications management and 

policies in ways that encourage a 

“One NIST” culture and support 

organizational branding efforts. 

• Implement strategic communications 

planning led by Public Affairs, with 

participation by all NIST operating 

units, focused on priority messages, 

tactics, and metrics of success.
Goal 3: Create the Infrastructure for a 21st 

Century Research Institution

Facilitating Next-Gen 

Research Data 

Infrastructure.

• Coordinate research data 

infrastructure 

development 

• Establish research driven 

infrastructure

• Provide a Sustainable 

Open Access Research 

framework.

Develop and implement 

plans for major facility 

upgrades.

• Develop a sustained multi-year 

NIST campus and facility 

modernization program. 

• Develop and implement an 

efficient space usage system 

• Develop an analytical 

framework for prioritizing 

investment for major 

infrastructure projects and 

secure funding for facility 

Upgrade NIST’s IT 

infrastructure, develop a 

sustainable plan to support 

future growth.

• Re-engineer network and 

communications 

infrastructure. 

• Establish NIST-wide 

desktop support program 

for all major platforms. 

• Build in the cost of IT 

infrastructure 

moderni ation pkeep 

Adopt and transition to 

modern business systems 

and operational practices. 

• Streamline business 

system workflows. 

• Establish a program to 

stimulate and reward 

internal process 

innovation and 

improvement. 

• Provide default support 

for NIST remote access
Goal 4: Build a One NIST Culture

Ensure NIST has accountable 

leaders/managers with 

broadly defined, recognized, 

and implemented 

competencies.

• Enhance the capability to 

develop and/or hire the ‘right’ 

leaders/managers. 

• Set expectations for 

leadership/management across 

the organization. 

• Create comprehensive tools for 

training leaders/managers for 

success. 

• Create a structure of 

accountability for 

leaders/managers.

Create an engaged, 

empowered, and agile NIST 

workforce aligned with the 

One-NIST vision and NIST 

core values.

• Increase institutional support 

for the standardized attraction 

and recruitment of new talent 

across all career paths and 

aligned with NIST core values. 

• Clarify the role of, better 

integrate, and focus more on 

the careers of the non-federal 

portion of NIST’s workforce. 

• Incentivize cross-collaboration 

between different OUs and 

improve the engagement and 

empowerment of the NIST 

workforce.

Strengthen the workplace 

environment at NIST making 

NIST a welcoming institution 

that empowers its employees 

and rewards innovation.

• Establish a One NIST Service 

Initiative where all employees 

will have the opportunity to 

engage in One NIST-building 

activities. 

• Communicate the broad 

competencies/behaviors that 

are in line with the culture and 

hold all employees accountable 

for meeting these standards. 

Diversity and Inclusion - To 

attract, develop and retain a 

diverse workforce that’s 

representative of the nation 

we serve.

• There is a primary point of 

accountability for diversity and 

inclusion activities at NIST.

• Steps are taken to create a more 

inclusive and welcoming 

community environment for all 

NIST employees and associates.
Workforce Processes Customers & 

Stakeholders

Mission 

Results

Strategy Map – Interdependency between four 

perspectives

Features of a Strategy Map:

• Not hierarchical format, but rather a format that shows the logical order that connects four perspectives – a series of 

cause-and-effect relationships:

o Workforce operate and drive Processes

o Processes deliver value that impacts Customers and Stakeholders

o Customer results contribute to Mission Results

• The chart also shows how the four components are balanced between internal components and external components

• Arrows link objective in one perspective with objective in the next perspectives to the right (arrows cannot go back)

• The function of the arrow is to indicate that achieving one objective is necessary to achieving another objective

Internal to NIST (methods) External to NIST (results)
Ensure that NIST 

has accountable 

leaders/managers 

(4.1)

Facilitate the 

transfer of 

knowledge, 

inventions, and 

technologies from 

the laboratory to 

the marketplace 

(2.1)

Advance emerging 

technologies and 

address national 

needs (1.1)

Facilitating Next-

Gen Research Data 

Infrastructure (3.1)

Attract, retain, 

retrain, and grow 

talent (1.2)

Expand external 

engagement and 

impact to maximize 

the value of technical 

program (1.3)

Workforce Processes Customers & Mission Results

Stakeholders

Provide high quality 

products and 

services (2.2)

Communicate key 

messages so that 

stakeholders can 

identify and share 

NIST’s priorities, 

capabilities, and value 

(2.3)

Strengthen the 

culture of the 

workplace 

environment (4.3)

Create workforce, 

aligned with One-

NIST vision and NIST 

core values (4.2)

Make NIST diverse 

and inclusive (4.4)

Develop and 

implement plans for 

major facility 

upgrades (3.2)

Upgrade NIST’s IT 

infrastructure (3.3)

Improve transparency 

and agility in our 

research, service 

delivery, and business 

operations (3.4)
Goal 1: Position NIST to Advance U.S. Science and 

Innovation

40

37 38

35

22

27

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1.1-NLB 1.1 1.2-NLB 1.2 1.3-NLB 1.3

Increase agility, promote collaboration,

and maintain technical excellence

Develop and leverage flexible approaches

to attract, retain, retrain, and grow talent

Develop creative models that strategically

expand our external engagement and

impact

Weighted Priority Ranking (%)

Both NLB and Goal Teams identified 1.1 and 1.2 as higher priority than 1.3.
Goal 2: Maximize NIST’s Stakeholder Impact through 

High-Value Service Delivery

33

40

33 31 33

28

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

2.2-NLB 2.2 2.1-NLB 2.1 2.3-NLB 2.3

Provide high quality products and 

services that NIST’s customers and other 

key stakeholders value.

Facilitate the transfer of NIST knowledge,

inventions, and technologies from the

laboratory to the marketplace

Strategically communicate NIST’s key 

messages so that stakeholders can 

readily identify and share NIST’s 

priorities, capabilities, and value.

Weighted Priority Ranking (%)

NLB ranked all Objectives equally. Goal Teams identified 2.2 as higher priority.
33

34

29

27

21 21

18 18

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

3.2-NLB 3.2 3.3-NLB 3.3 3.1-NLB 3.1 3.4-NLB 3.4

Develop and implement

plans for major facility

upgrades

Upgrade NIST’s IT 

infrastructure, develop a 

sustainable plan to support 

future growth

Facilitating Next-Gen

Research Data

Infrastructure

Adopt and transition to

modern business systems

and operational practices

Weighted Priority Ranking (%)

Goal 3: Create the Infrastructure for a 21st Century 

Research Institution

Both NLB and Goal Teams identified 3.2 as higher priority than other Objectives.
35

30

23

25

21

24

21 21

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

4.1-NLB 4.1 4.2-NLB 4.2 4.3-NLB 4.3 4.4-NLB 4.4

Ensure NIST has

accountable

leaders/managers

Create an engaged,

empowered, and agile NIST

workforce aligned with the

One-NIST vision and NIST

core values.

Strengthen the workplace

environment at NIST

making NIST a welcoming

institution

Attract, develop and retain

a diverse workforce

Weighted Priority Ranking (%)

Goal 4: Build a One NIST Culture

Both NLB and Goal Teams identified 4.1 as higher priority than other Objectives.
Cost Considerations

Given that these are all worthy problems to address, but we have limited fiscal resources, if new funding is required for 

implementation what Objectives would you most want to see that funding go towards?

Results: IT infrastructure (NLB) and facility upgrades (Goal Teams) got the most votes; all agree 

that growing talent is the third most important Objective. 

NLB (% of votes) Goal Teams 

(% of votes)

3.3. Upgrade NIST’s IT infrastructure, develop a 

sustainable plan to support future growth 70 59

3.2. Develop and implement plans for major facility 

upgrades 60 79

1.2. Develop and leverage flexible approaches to attract, 

retain, retrain, and grow talent 55 44

Designates the Objective that was ranked first priority
Culture Considerations

Given that these are all worthy problems to address, but we have limited leadership and management capital, if successful 

achievement of an Objective would require driving significant cultural change what Objectives do you want to ensure 

management focuses their attention on?

Results: NLB and Goal Teams agree on the importance of accountable leaders and managers. 

NLB (% of votes) Goal Teams 

(% of votes)

1.1. Increase agility, promote collaboration, and maintain 

technical excellence 70 *

1.2. Develop and leverage flexible approaches to attract, 

retain, retrain, and grow talent

* 56

4.1. Ensure NIST has accountable leaders/managers 65 62

4.4. Attract, develop and retain a diverse workforce 60 *

Designates the Objective that was ranked first priority *Received ≤40% of votes
Key Strategies for Immediate Action

Workforce

• Improve collaboration and agility across NIST programs

• Strengthen NIST’s ability to attract, retain, and retrain a diverse 

and inclusive talent base 

• Provide support for a strong and accountable leadership corps 

Infrastructure

• Implement a multifaceted facility renovation and upgrade strategy 

Operations and Processes

• Make it easier to work with NIST

• Strategically communicate NIST’s key messages 
Next Steps

Assimilation of multiple 

separate processes

Current

Integrated 

Planning Cycle

Future

• October 2019 through November 2019– Appointment of strategy leads and formation of 

implementation teams 

• November 2019 – Alignment of OUs with 

Strategic Plan

• November 2019 through January 2020 –

• Inventory of all strategies underway 

• Development of milestones and 

performance measures and reporting 

process and a strategy for monitoring and 

managing implementation and 

performance

• January 2020 – Formal launch of plan 

implementation

• February 2020 – Launch of integrated planning 

cycle combining Lab, IIS, and MR processes.
NIST Strategic Planning Steps

Identify Goals

•Using the pre-work and in 

consultation with the NIST 

Leadership Board, NIST 

Director identifies 

Strategic Plan Goals

Pre-work

• Baldrige Organizational 

Profile

• Environmental Scan

• SWOT Analysis with Focus 

Groups

Develop Objectives and 

Strategies with Broad 

Staff Input

• Input sought from public 

forums, internal and 

external sources, etc. 

Final Plan

• Internal and external 

communications plan and 

documents developed

• Implementation plan for 

tracking and reporting progress, 

updating plan, etc. 

• Integrated with strategic 

priorities and programmatic 

plans for LP, MR, IIS
Strategic Plan Goal Teams – Thank You!

Position NIST to Advance 

U.S. Science and Innovation

J. Olthoff, Sponsor

Maximize NIST’s 

Stakeholder Impact through 

High-Value Service Delivery

P. Singerman, Sponsor

Create the Infrastructure for 

a 21st Century Research 

Institution

D. Brockett, Sponsor

Build a One NIST Culture

K. Kimball, Sponsor

1 2 3 4

Antonio Possolo

David Hoogerheide

Ed Garboczi

Essex Brown

Jeanita Pritchett

Jennifer Marshall

Kelley Rogers

Mark Przybocki

Melissa Midzor

Paul Zielinski

Sae Woo Nam

Ajit Jillavenkatesa (PCO) 

Brian Copello

Dan Sawyer

Ellen Ryan

Gail Porter 

Heather Mayton

Henry Wixon

Jim Fowler

Mary Ann Pacelli

Melissa Schroeder

Millie Glick

Steve Marquis

Heather Evans (PCO)

Ari Feldman

Blair Heiserman

Brian Burnham

Brian Kirby

Brian Zimmerman

Dan Cipra

Gretchen Greene

Marlon Walker

Susan Cantilli

Walid Keyrouz

Laura Espinal (PCO)

Amber Hayes

Chris Oates

Chris Szakal

Jose Colucci

Kara Arnold

Kelly Welsh

Kirk Dohne

Kristen Gilbert

Mary Clague

Michael Souryal

Jason Boehm (PCO)
Questions for the VCAT

1.What methods have been useful in driving cultural change 

in your organizations?

2.What best practices do your organizations follow with 

respect to implementation of strategic planning?
Thank You
Plan Structure

Goal

Objective

Strategy

Outcome oriented long-term 

goal for major function of the 

agency

Objectives describe the 

outcome or impact NIST is 

trying to achieve

Strategies reflect the actions, 

processes changes, practices, 

that will be implemented to 

achieve objective
Lab Planning

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Budget Roll out and ImplementationCongressional 

Briefings/Hearings

Input on stakeholder 

priorities

Adjustment of programs to 

meet funding levels

Spring Planning Cycle

Inputs

Environmental Scan 

Update 

(Congress/Administration) 

Progress Check on Ongoing 

Efforts

Outputs

Lab Priorities FY+2 Budget

Fall Planning Cycle

Inputs

Lab Plans (Update on 

progress and priorities for 

coming year)

Lab Reviews

Environmental Scan 

Update

Outputs

Statement of NIST 

Research Priorities

Changes or modifications 

to cross-lab activities