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Part 2.

Today was the second day of the strategic planing retreat. We revised our mission statement and improved it greatly in the process. Now it has some snap. We then broke into groups according to our major 3-year goals and tried to identify 2-3 objectives within each goal to accomplish during the next six months.

The two ways this process differs from anything we've done in the past are the goals and the objectives. Not only are the goals and the objectives derived by all of us, as a group, but we refine them and sign up for them them--we volunteer to serve on them. In the past, only a select few have identified and shaped our goals, and too often people have (understandably) avoided committee work.

The objectives require a who will do a what by a when. A leader must be identified for each ad hoc group or task force. Each objective must also have an identified end result: report to the president, report to the provost, etc.

I was surprised at the buy-in by faculty and staff. People WANT to serve. They WANT to sign up for a system that they know has some built in accountability and structure. Doing so, they are eschewing the familiar yet ineffectual committee structure.

The deadline for accomplishing all of these 6-month objectives is March 15. We will all meet again on April 4 for an entire day to measure our progress and then reassign ourselves new objectives.

In the meantime, we will monitor our progress monthly by publicly charting our accomplishments.

This is a group that wants action, that deserves results.

There is a metamorphasis taking place.

Amazing that wthin 2 days, 120 separate people, 120 passionate, creative, intense individuals, could come together and agree to set aide differences and hobby horses and pet projects and work towards finding common ground. If this ain't love, the it sure looks like it.

We are learning to speak our minds and respect each other and to act with openness and trust. That in itself could be revolutionary. That could result in reinventing ourselves.