Independent „

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"Strategic Planning Is anOxymoron"B Y P A T R I C K F . B A S S E T T

The U.S. economy may be on its way back toprosperity,... or it may not be. The indica-tors remain mixed at best, a confoundingcondition which, in turn, has put constantpressure on independent schools to exam-

ine their missions within the financial exigencies of thetimes. As the theme of this issue oí Independent Schoolillustrates, it's not all sturm und drang, nor is it time tobatten down the hatches, since the pressures have led topromising new visions of how to sail smartly forward.For independent schools, this means, among otherthings, a new focus on managing enrollment, develop-ing new pricing strategies, and finding creative solu-tions for increasing revenue streams.

Most important, under the weight of such Stressors,it's time to be highly strategic.

The thinking on "strategic thinking," of course, hasevolved significantly over the years. In the previouscentury, the independent school strategy was to focuson long-range planning, blithely projecting io yearsinto the future. For decades this worked well enough,but in the late 20th century, as we watched most ofthose plans crumble short of their goals, we shifted to"strategic planning," with its curtailed three- to five-yearplanning cycle. But given the increasing volatility of theeconomic and social landscapes, even a five-year plan-ning cycle turned out to problematic. In the immediateaftermath of the market crash in September 2008, toput it bluntly, many schools' five-year plans, at least inpart, were rendered irrelevant.

At that point, all schools set aside their publishedplans in order to re-think how to think — how best toproceed in a constantly shifting landscape, or what FastCompany Editor Robert Safian calls "the Age of Flux."

d The New Strategic Process^ In the words of the guru of strategic thinking, HenryI Mintzberg', "Strategic planning is an oxymoron." What^ he means is that the minute a formal strategic plannings process codifies into goals and action steps, it ceases toS be strategic.

The new strategic process, Mintzberg argues, requiresthat we remain in a strategic posture at all times. This isnot a radical departure from the old process, since it relieson the same essential early steps: brainstorming, SWOT(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)analyses, data collection and analysis, assessment of theinternal and external landscapes and culture issues, etc.What is different, however, is that the planning team nowproduces a five-year vision as well as the first 12 months ofstrategies and tactics to actualize the vision. At the sameüme, the team proposes steps for the following 24 to 36months, and yet leaves these latter strategies and tacticsin the parking lot, so to speak, unfil team members seewhat happens in the first 12 months. This process ofprojecting and implementing in short-term steps allowsthe team to periodically reconsider the original list of nextsteps based on the external and internal exigencies thatweren't anticipated.

This process is crucial because, in the current eco-nomic and social climate, there undoubtedly will beexternal and internal exigencies that we haven't antici-pated. So, when something big changes the course ofour plans (think the devastation of 9/11 and HurricaneKatrina, or the economic meltdown of 2008), the teamcan develop new strategies that hadn't been neededoriginally. The longer-term (three- to five-year) vision isstill the goal, but remaining in a continual strategic pos-ture allows the enterprise to nimbly correct the courseto the vision, in small and large ways.

We still formally articulate an emerging vision everythree to five years, and try to keep that vision intact.

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even when conditions on the groundchange. For instance, a school's visionmay focus on expanding enrollment,adding a new division, creating a sat-ellite campus, and offering brandedonline courses. However, if localconditions change at the end of thefirst year, the school will hold on to itsvision, but may need to find a differ-ent path to the same destination. Tothat end, the school's strategy-makingtask force needs to commit to annualgatherings to evaluate progress againstthe vision and goals, address unantici-pated disruptions, identify new oppor-tunities, and modify the path forwardaccordingly.

In short, the strategic process todaymust be ongoing, not episodic.

I am reminded of President Eisen-hower's now-famous remarks at theNational Defense Executive ReserveConference in 1957. Speaking to thisgroup about the problem of planningfor war and defense, Eisenhowerrecalled a story about a group of

military planners at Leavenworth StaffCollege who objected to the college'suse of maps of the Alsace-Lorraineand Champagne regions of France assuitable for working out defense strat-egies. Instead, they produced maps ofthe Leavenworth area and Cettysburgand proceeded to work out logisticson these maps. About two years later,we had entered World War I and werefighting in the Alsace-Lorraine andChampagne regions. Eisenhower said,"I tell this story to illustrate the truth ofthe statement I heard long ago in theArmy: 'Plans are worthless, but plan-ning is everything."'^

What Eisenhower was saying rein-forces the point of the new strategicmodel: While the planning process iskey to seeking consensus and diver-gent thinking, modeling plans andcontingency plans, once complete, aremerely Plan A, a first draft.

War aside, the same need to adaptquickly arose for all organizations,including independent schools, inthe fall of 2008. The ground rules foreducating students began to morph

and shake — and continue to changeseemingly daily now. With the multipleeruptions and disruptions not onlyon the operational side of schools butalso on the delivery side — especiallywith the emergence of game-changingcomputer technology, new researchinto emotional and intellectual devel-opment, the growing importance ofcreative thinking and problem-solvingskills, and the need for global and cul-tural literacy — the various and com-peting forms of 2ist century schoolsbegan to develop. In such an era, weneed to be attentive. We need to be flex-ible enough to adjust our approachesto meeting our goals.

NAIS itself is experimenting withthe strategic thinking model. Fiveyears ago, we developed a nationalvision,' but have had to pause recentlyto rethink our strategies and tactics,building on and refining the vision ina way that better serves school leaderson all fronts.

Civen the challenges schools face,we believe NAIS must remain trueto its vision and mission of being the

Strategic Planning vs. Strategic Thinking

Strategic Planning

Combines two fundamentally different ways ofthinking into a single process

Needs stability/predictability

Driven by calendars and events

Produces plans rather than actual strategies

Executes plan by publishing document andimplementation schedule wedded to a three- tofive-year cycle

Fixed and inflexible goals sometimes fail to reflectchanging conditions and priorities

Strategic Thinking

Leverages variety and divergent thinking in the nameof creating value

Capitalizes upon instability and uncertainty

Continuous cycle of learning

Prefers strategies characterized by simplicity, clarity,and focus

Executes "road map" (vision of destination and pro-posed routes) by developing flve or so 12-monthpriorities

Notes 24-month and 36-month goals, but places them ina planning parking lot for successive R&D consideration

Adapted from: Jeff De Cagna, consultant. Principled Innovation, "Making the Shift in Thinking" (Workshop for NAIS Board)

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national voice of independent schoolsand the center for collective action ontheir behalf, and to keep school sus-tainability and leadership developmentcentral to our work. But the changinglandscape suggests that we also needto reallocate our resources and empha-size the services schools need mostfrom us — to be a thought leader; ahub of innovation; a curator of infor-mation; and a connector of people,

Pilots do a routine check ofall the gauges before taxiing totakeoff, as schools should do eachyear in August, before the schoolyear launches. But for airline pilotsand school pilots (school boards andleaders), unless one or more of thegauges are flashing a red dangersignal, they know to focus on thethree most important gauges. Forairline pilots, those three gauges arespeed, altitude, and distance. Forschool pilots, those gauges are the

When we remain in a strategic posture — whenwe stay attentive, nimble, and opportunistic — wecan be true to our missions and visions, and cannavigate in the Age of Flux with greater confidenceand uncommon success.

ideas, and trends. We also know weneed to continue to be a dedicatedadvocate for independent educationnationally and internationally. We willsymbolically launch the next iterationof NAIS this fall as we roll out ourrevamped website and the contentmanagement system behind it.

Speed, Altitude, and DistanceAs we are in the stage of focusing onthe prime levers to move NAIS alongthe path of its updated vision and strat-egy, our consultants have shared withus a useful airplane cockpit analogy.While flying, a pilot is surrounded,literally, by hundreds of gauges. Sotoo are schools. Many of those schoolgauges are provided by NAIS: TheDemographic Center's projectionsof school-age population; The SurveyCenter's instruments to gauge parentsatisfaction and young alumni success;StatsOnline's benchmarking tools tocompare one's school efficiencies withthat of its competition; the new Trust-ees Dashboard Indicators; year-to-yearcomparisons on the admissions fun-nel, giving data, attrition, etc.

equivalent of speed, altitude, anddistance, typically: hitting targetson enrollment, annual giving, andstaffing (by various filters, such asnumber, quality, diversity, etc.). Fall-ing short on any of the targets shouldset off flashing lights that require theadministration and board team tore-engage in order to re-think tacti-cal and strategic emphases: i.e., bet-ter market segment analysis, more

experimentation with pricing, clearerdemonstration of the value proposi-tion of the school, and allocation ofresources away from less importantmatters to the critical functions.

Which three of the many goals ofyour vision planning are the three pri-mary drivers for everything else you doin your school today.̂ What renewed,embellished, or new tactics and strat-egies will this year bring.̂ Will youlaunch some signature programmingfor each grade or division level to dem-onstrate investment in adding value.'Will you profile successful graduates toillustrate your student outcomes? Howabout investing in new revenue gener-afing programs to reduce the depen-dency on tuition and giving alone? Isan overseas franchise or sister schoola possibility?

When we remain in a strategic pos-ture — when we stay attentive, nimble,and opportunistic — we can be trueto our missions and visions, and cannavigate in the Age of Flux with greaterconfidence and uncommon success.

Patrick F. Bassett is président of NAIS.

Notes1. Henry Mintzberg, The Rise and Fall of

Strategic Planning, (Free Press and Prentice-

Hall, 1994).

2. For Eisenhower's complete speech,

see www.presidency.ucsb.edu/

ws/?pid=iogp #axzzjzDfiiKZyq.

3. See NAIS's "Vision 2007" at www.nais.org.

Resources for SchoolsThe Strategic Process: 10 Steps for Pianning Your Independent School's

Puture shows schools how to plan strategically in a world of constant,

unexpected change. What's key is shifting from seeing strategic plan-

ning as an isolated event to embracing an ongoing strategic posture.

The book's pamphlet companion version for trustees,/4 Trustee's Primer

on the Strategic Process, highlights the responsibilities of independent

school trustees in developing and implementing a strategic planning

process using 10 simple steps. Both are available at the NAIS online

bookstore at www.nais.org.

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