I listened to many report on future plans, yet I wondered if they had consulted the people enough who have actually been doing the work? Time will tell. For good growth and development, you have to create a strong foundation of planning and analysis--without that strong foundation, the new work usually flounders, money is wasted, and potential is lost.
My husband attended an event recently that demonstrated keen, new ideas, but weak planning. It was an expensive, creative, and well planned event, but because the event planners did not spend enough time speaking to the people involved, the event was not well attended. There wasn't the needed connection making of past and present to truly create a positive, worthwhile endeavor.
This can happen often in organizations because systematic structure does not create good decision making teams and process. Instead there are planners and doers with little intersection. Unlike gears on a facile machine, the planners and doers work in too much isolation from one another making the work less worthy, meaningful, or impactful.
In today's world, one great need is the need for good process and collaboration--without that, we waste a lot of time and money. I wrote a short fable about this situation long ago which shows how the work by thoughtful teams can be lost if they don't regularly and meaningfully interact with the people for whom they work relies on or aims to serve.
As I think about this situation, I am thinking about my own work--do I consult family members and students enough. With my team, we send out regular newsletters and interact with families as needed. We also engage students in conversations regularly as groups and individually. I do think we do a good job consulting the team regularly with regard to learning endeavors and efforts. We make an effort to do this and do it well. We listen to feedback also and make change accordingly.
Systems today need to rethink how they structure their efforts, design their decision making processes, and promote collaboration amongst all members of an organization. It's a new age for process and collaboration as David Culberhouse (@davidculberhouse) writes about daily, and to pay attention to what this new age calls for is integral to doing the good work possible in education. Onward.
