Good to Great: The New Strategic Process -

Eight Steps of Strategy and Design for Independent Schools

 De-motivating Concepts: www.despair.com

  Top Down Leadership: All of us are dumber

than some of us.

  Apathy: If we don’t take care of the
customers — maybe they’ll stop bugging us.

  Disservice: It takes months to find a
customer, but only seconds to lose one —
The good news is that we should soon run
out of them.

  Mediocrity: It takes a lot less time— and
most people won’t notice the difference until
it’s too late

  “Gloom Bands” from McPhee & CO:

- set of “7 Deadly Sins” wristbands #3
seller, after bacon-shaped bandages and
librarian action figures.

 De-motivating Concepts
(Found on the Internet—Source Unknown)

SIX PHASES OF A PROJECT

1. ENTHUSIASM

2. DISILLUSIONMENT

3. PANIC

4. SEARCH FOR THE GUILTY

5. PUNISHMENT OF THE INNOCENT

6. PRAISE AND HONORS FOR THE NON
PARTICIPANTS.

 De-motivating Concepts
(Dick Chait at LtP, quoting a university president, 2004)

Paths to ruin for school leaders:

  alcohol the most painful;

  sexual indiscretion the most dangerous;

  strategic planning the most certain.

 The Purposes of Strategic Thinking:
The Big Three Motivators

1. To know, really, how well we’re doing now….

–  “The plural of anecdote is….
data.” ~George Stigler“
–  In God We Trust….
All others: Bring data.” ~Secr. of Ed Spellings
2. To contribute to an ongoing & flexible strategic
“vision” & “road map" (rather than a fixed and rigid
“plan”)
–  “If you want to give God a laugh, tell Him your
future plans” (German Proverb)
3. To move the organization from Good to Great (Jim
Collins “prequel” to Built To Last)
–  “Good is the enemy of great.”
–  More than “making a difference”: “leaving a
legacy”
 Eight Steps of Strategy and Design

1.  Setting a Framework: Strategic Plan vs. Strategic

Vision & Roadmap? Scope and scale. 6-month time-
frame.

2.  Planning to Plan: Inspiring the Board: Good to Great.
The World Is Flat. Populating the Team; Undertaking
the Research & Reporting Out; Organizing the Retreat;
Testing the Scenario(s)

3.  Assessing the External Factors: Environmental
Scanning. (MapPoint; DemographicsNow; NAIS
Opinion Leaders Survey: Forecasting Independent
School Education to 2025). What are the
“inevitable surprises” to address?

 Eight Steps of Strategy and Design

4.  Evaluating your School's Current Position: Experiment with
various tools: “SWOT” (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
threats); “Portfolio Analysis” (via "value proposition surveying");
“War Gaming” (a la economist Joseph Schumpeter); “Customers'
Customers Analysis”; Balanced Scorecard (HBR, Kaplan &
Norton); NAIS's Six Steps to a Financially Sustainable School.

5.  Identifying the Key Issues: Issue identification ("What are our
issues?"); sorting ("How important?"); evaluation ("What if we
ignore it?"), relationship to mission "Why do we care about this?").
What are our three most insoluble problems? Brutal facts?

6.  Reviewing your Values & Mission: The Essentialist vs. The
Existential approach to mission and values. Mission (the present,
the why we exist); and Values (the past and always, the what we
believe; the anchoring, resonating "essential & enduring tenets" for
organizations "built to last": e.g., NAIS's 4 I's.) What are our
unshakeable beliefs?

 Eight Steps of Strategy and Design

7.  Creating Your Vision for the Future: Vision (the

future; the what we shall become). "Vision-casting" to
visualize the desired and preferred future: "Whom will
we serve?" "What skills and values will they need?"
"What do our customers want? Need?" "What should
we be known for in the future that we're not known for
now?" Scenario-writing and testing.

8.  Determining Goals, Strategies, and Initiatives: From
goals (the outcomes) form strategies (action-oriented
approaches, the how) and initiatives (tactical
undertakings at the departmental levels, the what and
when). Backward design the grid of tasks, timetables,
point people. Communicate the vision, “road-map,” and
strategic priorities.

 Planning To Plan: Good to Great

Assess Operational Strength via Collins’ Six Criteria

  Level 5 Leadership

  First Who, then What

  The Brutal Facts

  The Hedgehog Concept

  Culture of Discipline

  Technology as Accelerator
 How To Frame School Planning

Survey constituents annually using…
  The Balanced Scorecard/Value Proposition approach:
periodic focus- group discussion of results, every year.

Assess board and administration using…

  The Good to Great Framework: Internal assessments of
the “brutal facts” and about the school and external
assessment of the “inevitable surprises.”
  Identification of and capitalization upon the
convictions (“unshakeable beliefs”) on which faith in
school is based (Appreciative Inquiry approach)
  NAIS/BoardSource Online Assessment (BOAT) for boards and
Head Assessment Tool (HAT) for Heads

 How To Frame School Planning

Annual Summer Strategic Assessment Retreat

  Strategy Team (board, admin, and opinion-leaders from
faculty and parents) does a gut-check on vision and mission,
assesses immediate strategic priorities and develops 12-
month priorities (placing 24- and 36-month projects &
possibilities into idea parking lot).

The End!
Appendix

Related Slides

 Assessment via The Balanced Scorecard
Use Robert Kaplan and David Norton (HBR 1992) rubric of a
“balanced scorecard” to assess current program and
operations
  Apply four yardsticks: customer satisfaction; business
processes and efficiencies; staff learning and innovation;
financials.
  Develop metrics for each yardstick:
–  Value-proposition surveying of constituents
–  Dashboard indicator comparisons via StatsOnline
–  Faculty/Staff learning/innovation built into evaluation
& compensation system
–  “Real” cost analysis of programs
 Making the Shift in Thinking
(cf. Jeff DeCagna, Principled Innovation jeff@principledinnovation.com)

Strategic planning
Strategy making

  Combines two
  Leverages variety and
fundamentally different ways divergent thinking in the
of thinking into a single name of creating value

process (NB. Ike on D-Day.)

  Thrives on instability and
  Needs stability/predictability

uncertainty

  Driven by calendars and
  Continuous cycle of
events
learning

  Does not produce actual
  Pushes for simplicity,
strategy, only plans

clarity and focus

 Making the Shift in Thinking
(cf. Jeff DeCagna, Principled Innovation jeff@principledinnovation.com)

Strategic planning
Strategy making

  Executes plan by publishing   Executes “road

document & implementation map” (vision of destination
schedule wedded to 3 – 5 and proposed routes) at a
year cycle.
summer leadership retreat
(board, admin with invited
  Fixed and inflexible goals faculty and parent leaders)
sometimes fail to reflect by developing five or so
changing conditions and 12-month priorities, posted
priorities.
on the website.

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

 Built To Last & Good to Great Companies

  James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras, Built To Last,

Harper Collins, 1004. Corporations cited who
historically have outperformed all others by a wide
margin include 3M, American Express, Boeing,
Citicorp, Ford, GE, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Johnson &
Johnson, Marriott, Merck, Motorola, Nordstrom’s,
Proctor & Gamble, Phillip Morris, Sony, Wal-Mart,
and Walt Disney Corporation.

  Jim Collins, Good to Great, Harper Collins, 2001.
Corporations cited who moved from “good” to “great”
include Abbott, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette,
Kimberly-Clark, Kroger, Nucor, Phillip Morris, Pitney-
Bowes, Walgreen’s, and Wells Fargo.

 Sample “Brutal Facts” for Schools

  Competition will increase dramatically for students and
teachers: better public schools, charter schools, for-
profit schools, home schools, etc.

  Rising costs will alienate current and future customers,
make us less affordable and attractive to most of the
marketplace and diminishing our diversity. Smaller
schools will face survival issues.

  Parents will become more consumer-oriented and
difficult to manage.

  Governmental intrusions are likely to increase.

  Resistant cultures will make it more difficult to innovate
and lead and preclude creating thinking about 21st C.
schools.

 Sample “Brutal Facts” for Schools

  After a massive investment in technology, we are still
struggling to capitalize widely upon it to accelerate or
customize student learning.

  Prosperity and the “long boom” upon which our schools
depend will be compromised by global instability,
fractious social issues, a larger US deficit, terrorism and
war.

  Ethical relativism will become more pervasive and
parenting less effective.

  Weakness/confusion/under-performance of many
school boards will be a huge liability.

  Equity and justice efforts aside, we are still not ready to
live in a world where whites are a minority and
Christianity is not dominant.

 Sample “Unshakeable Beliefs” for Schools

  Because of our freedom from government control,

independent schools can be mission-driven and child-
centered.

  Independent schools have the resources and freedom to
innovate in the development and delivery of curriculum
and to share that innovation for the betterment of the
larger education community.

  Independent schools can make individualized decisions
in the best interests of the child and can create diverse,
supportive environments where children can thrive.

 Sample “Unshakeable Beliefs” for Schools

  Independent schools can continue to survive, even in a

tough economy, because of independent financial
controls and our focus on high quality and on
accountability to the families and communities we
serve.

  Independent schools provide an ethos and culture that is
values-oriented, one that will always attract and provide
value to families.

  Independent schools have three sources of capital that
have not even begun to be fully utilized: physical
capital; intellectual capital; social capital.

 “Inevitable Surprises” for Schools
(cf Inevitable Surprises, Peter Schwartz)

  The face of the student population will

change dramatically as varying fertility rates
and immigration patterns define the school-
age population.

  For private and public schools, demography
is destiny.

  A “long boom” economically is no longer
guaranteed for the US.

  The “end of retirement” will be upon us in a
generation or two.

 “Inevitable Surprises” for Schools
(cf Inevitable Surprises, Peter Schwartz)

  New models of public and private schools,

especially lower cost ones, will proliferate.

  Faculty salaries in the public and private
sectors will continue to rise.

  High stakes testing will run its course,
without the anticipated and hoped for effect
of better-prepared and achieving students.

  Schools that successfully integrate
technology to customize learning will
rapidly outdistance their peer schools.

 Eight Strategic Priorities for Schools

•  Affordability & Accessibility: Given that financing

affordable schools that are accessible and diverse is an
overarching challenge and that trends indicate
continuing pressure on raising tuitions...Bentley
should....

•  Recruiting, Retaining, Rewarding Talent: Given the

demographics of an aging workforce near retirement, a
generation in college now not attuned to teaching as a
career, and concerns about recruitment, retention and
competitive compensation of high quality faculty…
Bentley should....

 Eight Strategic Priorities for Schools

•  Advocacy & Marketing: Telling the Independent

School Story: Given the increase of potential
competition for the next generation of students, an
increase that will require greater advocacy and
marketing on behalf of independent schools… Bentley
should....

•  Communications: Given the increasingly demanding

nature of parents… Bentley should....

 Eight Strategic Priorities for Schools

•  Governance: Given the higher level of

partnership and vision required of boards and
school leadership… Bentley should....

•  Accountability: Given the increased likelihood

of media and governmental scrutiny, intrusion,
and demands for public accountability… Bentley
should....

 Eight Strategic Priorities for Schools

•  Innovation & Change: Given the public’s identification

between quality and innovation, its perception of
independent schools as traditional rather than innovative,
and the resistance to change found within independent
schools… Bentley should....

•  The High Tech and Global Future: Given the

imperative for schools to create a 21st C. curriculum so
that students are prepared for a more technological and
global future… Bentley should....

 Technology as Accelerator (cf. Collin’s Good to Great)

Old Message New Message Driving Technology

Diversity is Diversity is here Access via Internet to heretofore inaccessible

important viewpoints, practices, cultures

We are child- We are centered Knowledge not hierarchically achieved or

centered delivered; bloggers challenging authority;
meaning constucted
We have high No excuses: we Multiple means via technology of the
standards have high delivery of professional development;
(for our standards for enhanced electronic means for benchmarking
students) ourselves & surveying
We We interact with Asynchronous 24/7 access to and
communicate parents communications with parents via email,
with parents networks, website, eBulletins

*Adapted from ISTL #61, Feb 2005, William E. DeLamater

 Myers-Briggs & NAIS’s Z+2 Model 
I/E (introvert/extrovert); S/N (sensing/intuition); 
T/F (thinking/feeling); J/P (judging/perceiving)

S (Sensing): What N (iNtuition): What

problem are we How do you process info? are the patterns and
trying to solve? theories for why this
What are the facts, might be happening?
details, frequency? How do we brainstorm
solutions?

T (Thinking):
F (Feeling): What is
What are the
the impact on
criteria by which
we should make How do you make decisions? people? How can
we deliver this info
this decision?
in the best way to
What is the logical
get results?
way to address
the problem?
 6-Steps: Financially Sustainable Schools:
High Stakes Planning

1.  Trend Analysis: What are the five- and 10-year

trends?

2.  Ratio Analysis: How do your school's "dashboard

indicators" benchmark against those of comparable
schools?
3.  Financial Planning Assumptions: What are the basic
assumptions your school makes about its position in
the marketplace, mission imperatives, and
expectations for the future?
 6-Steps: Financially Sustainable Schools:
High Stakes Planning

4.  Data Markers of School Success: How does your

school measure success? What are the budget-related
factors that function as "proxies" for success?

5.  Re-engineering Strategies: What are the "brutal

facts" about your current financial position? Where are
you vulnerable now or potentially in the future?

6.  Projecting Alternative and Preferred Financial

Futures: What are the likely, possible, and preferred
financial futures for your school, and what decisions
will you have to make to achieve your objectives?

 G2G Principle #1: Level Five Leadership

  Personal Humility + Professional Will

–  sublimated egos, focused will: more like Lincoln &
Socrates than Patton or Caesar. The organization’s
success is what drives the leader.

  Asks good questions

  Ambitious for the school and its people

  Shares Credit---Takes Responsibility

  Passes the Power—Diffused Decision Making (NB.
NAIS’s Z- model of decision-making; The Wisdom
of the Crowd: \the Pentagon’s electronic
brainstorming; “dotmocracy” exercise for
brainstorming)

 G2G Principle #2: First Who…Then What

  Who’s on The Bus?

–  Getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off
the bus and the right people in the right seats on the bus.

  Recruit…Train…Retain

–  Knowing that the only brake on moving forward would
be the inability to attract and keep talent

–  Everyone grows

 G2G Principle #3: The Brutal Facts

  Honest Assessment—Unwavering Faith

–  Culture of openness that invites critiques from
all: frequent and healthy debate.

–  The Stockdale Paradox—having the faith that
you will prevail but disciplining yourself to face
the brutish facts of current realities

  Debrief Success AND Failure

–  End each meeting with, “Where did we
succeed…and where did we fail?”

 G2G Principle #4: Hedgehog Concept

  Truly great companies have a simple core concept

that drives everything:

–  What can they be the best in the world at?

–  What drives our economic engine (and what
could accelerate that)?

–  What are we deeply passionate about?

(Need all three to be great.)

 G2G Principle #5: Culture of Discipline

  Disciplined People, Thought, Action

–  Environment of freedom circumscribed by a culture of
discipline.

–  With disciplined people, you don’t need much hierarchy
or bureaucracy (since self-disciplined people don’t need
to be managed).

–  With disciplined action, you don’t need many controls.

–  Combining a culture of discipline with a spirit of
entrepreneurship creates success.

–  Discipline is as much about saying “No” to temptations
that are not one’s core business as it is about saying
“Yes.”

 G2G Principle #6: Technology Accelerators

  Never use technology to introduce a transformation

but rather to accelerate it. Technology is not the
core concept but can drive it.

–  Baumol’s Disease: Schools “less efficient not
more” because of technology.

–  With some notable exceptions, most schools not
yet using technology to “accelerate” core
business.