Kid in a Candy Store; Pig in Slop: The Thrills of Strategic Planning

I think I’m not alone in loving our strategic planning work, but I also know no one is more energized than I am by the exercises that are going on at school these days imagining our path ahead. As a lifelong educator, I am a pig in slop when I get to be surrounded by people who are being given all sorts of tools and scenarios and reading and interviewing work to do all related to the future of our school. 

This week, stage two of that yearlong process being guided by Greg Bamford and Antonio Viva, our two consultants with the Leadership+Design nonprofit organization, occurred over two days. The first day was a series of “Think Tank” brainstorming sessions for parents and alums and faculty and staff; the second day was a second meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee debriefing and discussing the 70 pages of transcript they had generated from interviews with a random sampling of around 100 community members. 

The most important reading you will do about our 2023-24 strategic planning will be a final report expected in June of 2024. But I wanted to share the enthusiasm for the process we are involved in while it is still a work in progress. The interviews committee members compiled and read were loosely scripted, designed to get community members talking about their experiences and feelings about the School. Those interviews were one of two sources being plumbed. The committee also took long looks at many medium and extra-large sticky notes. These were the products of Think Tank breakout groups. The Think Tankers had been asked to consider what they most wanted for our school by 2034. In groups of four and five, they finished four sentences: The FWCD Classroom of 2034 is …; FWCD students in 2034 are (finished with verbs); By 2034, FWCD has boldly … ; In 2034, FWCD is best in the area at … Individuals attending those Think Tanks were also asked to write an “exit ticket” of interests and hopes they had.

I enjoy reading every last line of the interviews and sticky notes, large and small. One exit ticket asked, “Will the decision-makers listen to these ideas?” We are listening carefully. Some of the best insights might be buried in all of the incoming thoughts. Our job is to find those insights. Some exit tickets had very specific hopes (that we build a pool; that we would be more aggressive around STEM; that we would not follow fads but stay true to the liberal arts “the origin of all good thinking”). All of them got a close reading and are a part of the larger, ongoing conversation of our 24-person Strategic Planning Committee.

Whatever the perspective, whatever the hope, whatever the concern, my joy is being in a room with other motivated and engaged community members processing still other community members’ input all aimed at making Fort Worth Country Day the absolutely best possible school and community it can be. I love that we have eight more months of the process and have still more community members from whom we will be hearing.