The mission of University Human Resources (UHR) supports the Look to Michigan vision by providing human resource programs and services that build value, support our people, and shape the future.
The work and process undertaken by the university to create the Look to Michigan vision inspired UHR’s five-year strategic framework. In early 2024, Look to Michigan was described “not a strategic plan, but rather a guide for where we will focus our efforts over the next 10 years — it is a first in our history and builds on our 200-year legacy of leadership and impact.”
While UHR has a longstanding history of conducting thoughtful annual strategic planning, we felt compelled to develop a five-year strategic framework that aligns with the university’s 10-year commitments and impact areas.
The Process
In late 2024/early 2025, UHR began a several-month-long journey of research, listening and learning. This included:
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assessing customer feedback;
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evaluating industry trends;
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conducting predictive modeling on various workforce trends; and
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reviewing prior UHR and Business and Finance (B&F) priorities.
By winter 2025, UHR leadership identified three key purpose areas to align with the university’s vision statement:
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Build business value
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Support our people
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Shape the future
In alignment with the Look to Michigan framework and to show where UHR demonstrates value, the team also developed four impact areas:
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HR policy, practice and systems
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Leadership, learning and culture
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Health and well-being
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Innovation, insights and infrastructure
Continuing to align with the Look to Michigan framework, the leadership team drafted five-year commitment statements, or long-term objectives. The Look to Michigan framework spans 10 years and its resource commitment areas begin with, “In the next 10 years, we will….” Similarly, UHR leadership drafted five-year commitment statements to serve as our long-term objectives. To align with Look to Michigan, the UHR commitment statements state, “In the next five years, we will….” These objectives will serve as the focus of UHR’s work and resources over the next five years.
Once we drafted UHR’s purpose, impact areas and commitment statements, we gathered team member feedback to ensure each UHR employee identified the line of sight between their individual and team’s work, and the larger objectives of the UHR division. In April 2025, more than 10 teams met to provide feedback to further refine the framework and commitment statements.
Developing annual objectives and key results
The final step in the process is currently underway to develop annual unit, team and individual objectives and key results (OKRs) for FY26 to support the longer term resource commitments of UHR’s five-year objectives.
For FY27 and beyond, an annual cycle involving strategic planning, outcomes reporting via an annual report, quarterly strategic communications to update the community on our progress, quarterly budget analyses, and ongoing team member performance conversations will occur to support continuous improvement and advancement of our objectives and purpose.