“If you don't know where you're going, any road'll take you there”
Beatles aficionados will recognize
this as the refrain to Any Road, the Grammy
nominated opening song on George Harrison’s posthumously published album Brainwashed.
Harrison performed it in public only once - in 1997 - just a few years before
he died of cancer at the age of 58. Harrison frequently used the line to
describe his good fortune that he always knew he wanted to play the guitar
professionally. What Beatles connoisseurs may not realize is that the line was
drawn from a rather famous interaction between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland:
"Would
you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That
depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I
don’t much care where--" said Alice.
"Then
it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"--so
long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh,
you’re sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long
enough."
I was reminded of this delightful interaction as I reviewed the results
from the parent survey that was recently distributed electronically as part of
our WASC/WCEA/Strategic Planning process. Not surprisingly, we received robust
feedback regarding what works and what needs improvement at La Salle (for more
on this, please plan on attending Back to
School Night on Thursday, January 8th). It was clear to me that
our parents - indeed all of the
School’s constituents - want to know what road La Salle is taking as we embrace
a future not ours to control. And, cerrtainly, unlike Alice, we don’t want to
get “somewhere” just for the sake of the getting.
We know that the essence of strategic
planning resides in an institutional determination to choose a path forward which
will advance the Mission while, at the same time, preparing for a future of
twists and turns that will - inevitably - attempt to derail progress. We saw
this dynamic play itself out during the implementation of our 2001 Strategic
Plan.[1] One of the goals, for example,
Aggressively
pursue creative opportunities to resolve existing facilities limitations and
which will maximize the delivery of the curricular and co-curricular program.
took over fifteen years to implement (finding a suitable off-site location
for Baseball so that the existing space can be used to support the construction
of new buildings as part of the School’s Master Plan). In many ways, La Salle
faces a much more uncertain future now than it did fifteen years ago. Back then
the economy operated at full steam, there were three applicants for every
available seat and the School was expanding programs and renovating facilities
to meet the needs of the students entrusted to our care. Now, the lingering
effects of the Great Recession and the bust of the baby boomlet (there are 50%
less students in surrounding public school kindergartens today than a decade
ago) challenge the School to continue its focus on program and facility
improvement while coping with a decline in earned income. Happily, charitable giving from all of La Salle’s constituents has enabled us to
continue to renovate facilities and to support program enhancements that meet
the needs of our students. That having
been said, it would be like “whistling in the dark” if the School assumed that
all would be well if we just stayed the course…which is why strategic planning
is so important to La Salle’s future well-being.
As a result, we have spent the last semester gathering data regarding the
School’s strengths and challenges with a view towards examining their
implications at a Strategic Planning Workshop on February 27/28. The time will
be spent seeking answers to these critical questions:
- What are the central elements of La Salle’s Mission which must be preserved and enhanced over the course of the next decade?
- What strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges confront the School, going forward?
- What should the School do more of, less of, to respond to a future not ours to control?
- What resources are available to the School to meet the challenges of an uncertain future and how can they be effectively leveraged?
Given that La Salle has not only survived but thrived over the course of
the last five decades, I am confident that we will be able to successfully
chart the course of the first decade of the next fifty years.
So, in response to the challenge of George/Alice,
I would like to quote a German proverb:
What's the use of running if you are not on
the right road?
I am absolutely confident that La
Salle’s strategic planning exercise will (like it’s 2001 predecessor) make sure
we are running on the right road.
[1]
To view that document go to: http://www.lasallehs.org/s/639/2col.aspx?sid=639&gid=1&pgid=359&sparam=strategic%20plan&scontid=0
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