The SCN Encourager – Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012

I forget the basics way too often. You too?

Do you have a handle on the whole vision and change thing? As a school communicator, I’ll admit that I forget the fundamentals of communications, team-building, and leadership way too often. Some say it’s my old-age. I’m convinced it’s because my superintendent doesn’t allow me to go to conferences in exotic locations. Whatever the reason, I always find the paragraph below from John Kotter’s “The Heart of Change” helpful. He writes that when large-scale change is taking place within an organization, there are four elements that direct the action; budgets, plans, strategies, and visions. All are different, yet all are tightly interrelated:
A budget is a financial piece of the plan.
A plan specifies the step-by-step how to implement a strategy.
A strategy shows how to achieve a vision.
A vision shows the end state where all the plans and strategies will eventually take you.

Tom Page, SCN managing editor