FAQ
From CWS Visioning
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
What is the difference between Long Range Planning, Strategic Planning, and Visioning?
Long Range Planning: The process organizations use to first identify and determine future direction and goals, then develop strategies, objectives, and action plans to achieve them. What results is a Long Range Plan which sets goals to be achieved over a set period of time. Usually, this process is done by a set group of leaders/stakeholders in the organization (like a board), and then disseminated out to the rest of the organization.
In CWS's case, the last Long Range Plan (LRP) was a 7 year plan, created by the CWS board in 2001, which just expired.
Strategic Planning: This is another take on Long Range Planning, which may be more strategic and action-based in nature, focusing first on the big goals, the objectives under each goal, then specific plans for achieving each one. This process closely considers factors like who these goals will directly and indirectly impact, how they will be achieved, what resources will be needed to achieve them, who will be accountable for those goals and how they'll be measured.
Visioning: This reflects a collaborative leadership model -- one that taps the wisdom and knowledge of the entire community – Parents, faculty, administration and board – to create a body of knowledge and history that will result in a long term plan. Rather that just relying on the knowledge and experience of a few, the philosophy of Visioning is one where Everyone has a piece of the outcome embedded in their history and personal knowledge/perspective – all of which are equally vital in shaping the future.
In the fall of 2008, CWS began this visioning technique over series of weekends . Over 100 people came together over those first weekends to create the kernels of what will ultimately grow into our next Long Range Plan. You can see all that happened and all that was created in those weeks on this very wiki!
The Visioning Team has worked over the last months and used the data created in the first Visioning Events to sort and extrapolate the perspectives and ideas from the community.
From there, the faculty and board are now prioritizing the ideas, which will then go out to the CWS community. Teams are currently being formed which will begin the process of Strategic Planning, and turning our communities ideas into a solid LRP!
What role will the Board and Faculty play throughout this process?
The faculty, which has two members on the visioning team, are very involved in the process in a planning and advisory role. This is vital so that faculty vision and consensus are built into the overall plan. This type of collaboration is very reflective of Waldorf-style leadership and planning.
The Board of Trustees will also be involved in planning after initial work is done in crafting all of the language related to committee design and how they committees relate to each other and other governing bodies as a whole.
Who will be responsible for carrying out the new Long Range Plan?
The process of carrying out the LRP will be divided into two segments. The first begins soon, with the forming of new, category specific visioning teams. These teams will be responsible for writing the sections of the Long Range Plan specific to their category. Implementation of the written plan is yet to be determined, but it will most likely be carried out either by existing entities in the school, by new teams chartered to implement those areas of the plan, or by the existing teams (should their members decide to carry on past the writing phase of the process).
It is hoped that the Visioning Committees will alleviate some of the burden of planning that has traditionally fallen, in large part, on the Board, and that Visioning committees will be an extension of board planning and action. Ideally Visioning committees will work in tandem with board members to carry out the new plan.
What are the eight categories and how did we come up with them?
The categories emerged from the collective data captured during the two visioning weekends held here at CWS in the fall 2008. Parents, administration, and faculty were encouraged to attend so that their input could be shared and become part of the pool of knowledge the Visioning team would use to come up with the committees. Attendees participated in small and large group discussion with many opportunities to add their thoughts. A professional recorder captured data onto running sheets of paper up on the wall. Audio visuals aided in educating the group about various aspects of CWS and Waldorf as a movement. The result from the work of the Visioning Team was the eight committees which are currently being shaped and tasked with appropriate people. The categories are:
Facility and Campus Enrollment and Retention Outward Facing Governance Fund and Resource Development Community Life Program and Pedagogy Faculty
There will also be a team assigned to the Question of a High School. This will be an investigative feasibility study to determine what questions and concerns are most crucial as we look toward the possibility of a CWS High School.
What is the role of the team tasked with chartering a category?
To have Fun and be charged up about getting involved in an area you feel passionate about! Committee teams will initially form a framework of what the short and long-term goals are in tandem with the board and faculty. Initial team leaders may find that the committee takes the lead from there and follows through with implementation. . Members will need to interface with a variety of people, other committees, faculty, board and parents, depending on the topic. It was dramatically evident, through various exercises and visuals, how interconnected and interdependent - almost web-like - all of the categories are. It was a huge success in the visioning process to illuminate this sometimes unseen, critical element of our humanity as a school.
If I elect to get involved, how will I be utilized?
Initially one or two organizing people will be needed to shape the framework of the committee and identify some key long/short term goals. Shortly afterwards, the committee will need additional people to implement those goals and refine the direction. Members will need to interface with parents, faculty, board members or those outside our community for successful implementation.
Again, we want you to find a place that you feel passionate about so volunteering your time will feel enjoyable. You are contributing your gifts in charting the course of our school and our children will benefit as this is such a critical and wonderful time in our school's growth.
If I volunteer, what kind of time frame are we talking about?
A lifetime commitment!
Seriously, it depends on what you are looking for. We want you to feel comfortable with your commitment, and you need to work that out with your committee. Seed organizers have more of a short-term planning time frame, where as committee members may need to commit to a longer period of time to accomplish the goals it set out to do and to be successful. An estimate could be a one-year commitment, however this would have to be worked out in cooperation with other team members. Committees might wish to meet once a week for the first few weeks, and then move to every other week or once a month with phone calls in the interim.
