JA:2021-29. Surfacing for Strategy: Organizational Learning for the Strategic Development of an Expanding NIOSH AgFF Occupational Health and Safety Research and Outreach Center

Introduction: The Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (SCCAHS) is the newest NIOSH AgFF research center, established in 2016. As a young Center with a large mandate, SCCAHS is learning about itself and its external environment, so it can develop and position itself strategically. Added complexity from the Center’s extensive multidisciplinary nature and internal make-up spanning six academic institutions, adds the unique challenge to include participation for Center-wide planning activities.Methods: In the summer and fall of 2019, the Center’s Planning and Evaluation Core led a multi-phase “surfacing” activity in which internal and external actors’ perspectives were considered through individual interviews and/or online surveys. These activities focused on exploring the Center’s development thus far, how it operates currently, ideas for the future, and an assessment of perceived external trends. The combination of both internal and external perspectives is designed to help the Center understand the unique perspectives of its stakeholders while surfacing patterns of similarities and differences within them. External participation is uniquely helpful, because it offers the Center an opportunity to gauge how it is perceived by the many other stakeholders it interacts with, as well as to engage with outside perspectives about external trends. Additionally, including external stakeholders creates the opportunity for new and expanded participation in the organization’s shared future.Practical application: Individual participation by internal and external actors is anticipated to increase the sense of stakeholder ownership and empowerment for the Center’s shared future. With the Center’s first reapplication on the horizon, this surfacing activity is anticipated to be highly useful as the Center makes plans to further develop and expand into its catchment area. The data collected from this surfacing activity feed into Center planning activities, where results will be considered in developing strategic directions for its 2021 funding reapplication.