by Gary Gruber

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” 

The venerable practices of strategic and long range planning have been used for a long time, filled with good intentions and often not-so-good outcomes.  There are those who have suggested shifting the focus from planning to visioning and that is certainly a helpful step.  The NAIS Strategic Visioning/Planning Process is one such example and Hugh Mallon’s Strategic Issues Facing Independent Schools 2007 and Beyond - The Ultimate Balancing Act or the New Paradigm, is another.   The Biblical proverb has it spot on, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”  And you can see the SFLC contribution right here on our web site.

I would like to comment on the meaning and function of design strategies in order to have a clearer vision. We cannot simply look ahead without knowing what direction we’re going and why.  Let’s break it down.  First, the notion of design implies a process of figuring out what something should look like, whether a plan, a blueprint or a building, and just how it might function to serve the needs of the user. 
Think about designing a trip or a building.  You need a map (or a GPS) or a blueprint that tells you where you start, what the requirements and specifications are, the materials needed, and eventually what the expected outcome is going to be.  The strategies involved in this process are what will get you to where you want to be.

Strategy is a word that requires some definitive understanding.  Strategy suggests an agreement on goals and objectives that have been or will be established as well as a means for achieving them.  Consider strategic warfare and  the enormous expenditures of both money and human capital that have been spent in Iraq and Afghanistan.   Many strategies were based on  inaccurate, incomplete, or culturally insensitive information.  The goals and objectives may have been laudable but the means for achieving them simply did not work.  In other words, the design may seem sound but the function of the design must also work and if it doesn’t then it’s obvious that the design itself is flawed in serving its purpose.

At one time there was a Strategic Air Command populated mostly by large aircraft and missiles capable of certain functions.  But that wasn’t sufficient so there was also a Tactical Air Command that had greater mobility and flexibility to do other jobs. Both of these were replaced in 1992 with Air Mobility Command and the Air Combat Command partly because technology had advanced and demanded a different kind of response.
As times and conditions change, different designs and applications are needed for people not only to survive but also to achieve a measure of their best work for both the present and the future.  We live in a world looking for solutions in every area of human endeavor, thus effective planning provides a road map or a blueprint that can help design a better tomorrow. 

It’s all about how design supports the work to be done:  Where there is vision, the people flourish!