Jan 6, 2010 9:33:32 AM

Division III formally will unveil a strategic-positioning platform at next week's NCAA Convention that will guide how the division identifies and promotes itself for years to come.

Delegates attending the Convention are being asked to come ready to help put the platform's words into action and will have their first opportunity to do so during the Division III Issues Forum January 15 in Atlanta.

The key to the platform is a positioning statement that describes Division III as a place where student-athletes can discover and develop their potential and dedicate themselves to learning and growth. It describes a campus experience at member institutions that blends rigorous academic study, passionate participation in competitive sports and opportunities to explore many interests.

The platform lists six "attributes" – words describing what Division III stands for – that also will be unveiled at the Convention and identifies benefits of the Division III experience for various groups, including student-athletes and their parents.

The platform document captures what Presidents Council chair Paul Trible says was the primary objective of an "identity initiative" led by the Council during the past year: "To better define who we are, what we value and what we aspire to be."

Trible suggests that the platform "will define and direct all that we do for years to come" – including providing guidance for policy decisions in Division III governance.

Trible will preside over the platform's unveiling, along with Presidents Council vice chair James Harris, Division III Management Council chair Lynn Oberbillig, Division III Vice President Dan Dutcher and Division III Director Leah Kareti.

Delegates attending the issues forum will receive the strategic-positioning platform document and see the first creative expressions of that platform, including a video portraying ideals presented in the document.

"We already have a strong and unique philosophy statement that distinguishes Division III in its approach to intercollegiate athletics," Dutcher said. "We've developed the strategic-positioning platform to help make that philosophy more user-friendly.

"We've learned during the past year that our membership shares a strongly held belief in the positive value of the Division III student-athlete experience and also shares a commitment to practicing the tenets of the Division III philosophy. So, we don't need to change the division's identity, but we need to better communicate the essence of the division – to more powerfully and clearly articulate what it is all about."

The platform's unveiling is an important step – but far from the last one – in a process that began early last year. The identity initiative arose from Division III's discussions during 2008 about whether the division should be restructured in response to continuing membership growth.

"The membership spoke loud and clear and said, we believe in Division III, we cherish its principles, and let's keep things as they are," Trible said last spring in pledging to "build on those discussions and focus on the positives of Division III."

The Presidents Council formally agreed in April to conduct research on the level of agreement among Division III members about what the division stands for and then to consider a strategy for communicating those beliefs.

Division III commissioned Jeff Jacobs of the strategic branding and communications company Relish to conduct the research and then to create the strategic-positioning platform. Jacobs' previous work included the project that resulted in the NCAA's "most student-athletes will go pro in something other than sports" campaign.

He conducted about 60 on-campus and telephone interviews with presidents, athletics administrators, student-athletes, conference commissioners, coaches and faculty, then conducted a membership survey involving about 3,000 respondents to test agreement with various statements of beliefs that resulted from the interviews.

"I wanted to understand, as in-depth as possible, the student-athlete experience in Division III," Jacobs explained in describing the research to Council members. "I felt that if we seek to understand the student-athlete experience, we can understand what Division III stands for."

The survey revealed what Jacobs described as an "overwhelmingly" shared belief that member institutions are making athletics an integral part of a broader educational experience, as well as strong agreement that members are practicing the tenets of the division's philosophy. It also strongly indicated that Division III student-athletes choose which school to attend primarily because of academic offerings.

Division III also sought feedback at gatherings ranging from Regional Rules Seminars to meetings of such groups as the Division III Commissioners Association, National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators and the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, leading up to the Presidents Council's approval of the strategic-positioning platform last September.

Rather than unveil the platform at that time, the Council instead decided to wait until the 2010 Convention and since then has been soliciting ideas from selected groups on the best ways to activate the platform.

Foremost among those groups was the Division III Presidents and Chancellors Advisory Group, which also played an active role in reviewing the platform before its approval. The Presidents Council, in keeping with its intention that the initiative be presidentially led, also provided opportunities through a series of telephone conferences during November and December for all Division III institutional presidents to learn more about the initiative.

Selected conferences also have played an important role in advising on implementation of the platform. Council and Presidents and Chancellors Advisory Group members shared the platform at fall meetings of more than a dozen Division III conferences, and representatives of four conferences – the Heartland Collegiate Athletic, Little East, Middle Atlantic and Ohio Athletic Conferences – participated in pilot discussions to review and advise on the platform's use.

Groups ranging from Division III faculty athletics representatives to sports information directors also have participated in discussions during the fall.

Now, it's the broader membership's turn to participate in that conversation, as next week's issues forum will include roundtable discussions during which delegates will be asked to consider practical ways to put the platform to work on campuses.

Those attending the Convention will be urged to help create and then use tools for describing the Division III experience and to enlist the help of campus administrators, faculty, athletics staff members and current student-athletes in that effort.

"I think we'll benefit as a division if we all join together in making a clearer and more consistent case for Division III," Dutcher said. "That's really what we're trying to accomplish."