The Why and What of Planning

STRATEGIC PLANNING VS. FUTURES PLANNING

Starting in 2013, AISC created a 5 year vision for the school, and the strategic plan was the roadmap to achieving that vision. The entire 5 year plan can be found here. This plan provided guidance for educational programming, professional learning, capital improvement and financial decision-making as all-school efforts were focused on learning, talent, resources and community.

As the first strategic plan comes to an end in 2018, we have the opportunity to re-evaluate our planning model and philosophy. Instead of a 5 year plan, AISC has adopted an annual three-year commitment to school improvement goals. For example, the first three-year plan, which will be created in the 2017-2018 school year, will cover 2018-2021.

We are calling this the Building Futures strategic planning model. Futures Planning will:

• involve an array of stakeholders in the school improvement process.
• provide vision for the future and be flexible enough so that the school can be responsive and pro-active to a changing reality.
• entail a three-year rolling process whereby each year the school re-commits to good work ongoing and adapts and/or develops goals for the future so that we are always working on a three- year plan.
• take into account external re-accreditation and a periodic review of the school’s Mission and Values.

The differences and similarities between the original Strategic Planning model and Futures Planning can be found here:

PREPARING FOR AND CREATING FUTURES PLANNING 

In order to be ready for Futures Planning, we not only needed an organizational structure, timeline and procedure to create the plan, but we needed to widen our view of the future and see what we need to do as an educational organization to stay relevant. 

There are several groups working together to make Building Futures possible. 

• The Board of Directors stewards of the plan, making sure that we have financial and philosophical support. Board members are invited to join the Futures Planning Team. 
• The Futures Planning Team is composed of a cross-section of our community, including parents, Board members, leadership team members, faculty, students, alumni, and staff. This team oversees the implementation of the goals found in the Building Futures Plan. 
• The Leadership Team, which is comprised of the Head of School, Principals, EY-12 Directors, and Chief Business Officer, take the Building Futures Plan, and they create EY-12 targets and then sectional targets that help the school accomplish the goals. 
• School Teams are made of faculty with a leadership team member providing guidance. These teams actualize the goal and help to implement changes or new ideas. 

The timeline and procedure for creating the Building Futures plan is:

December 2, Futures Summit

This full-day event is designed to engage any AISC community member in generative conversation about the futures trends and drivers in society and their implications for education and AISC. 

February 22, Planning Team Work Session

The Futures Planning Team gives the Leadership Team feedback on goals and priorities for the Futures Plan 2018-2021. 

May 2-3, Planning Team Retreat

The Futures Planning Team approves goals for Futures Plan, 2018-2021.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

When making the 2018-2021 Building Futures Plan, we must consider how we keep AISC at the forefront of education and relevant for our students. In order to do that we need to recognize and understand the trends in society and what they mean for education and AISC. 

We are partnering with Knowledge Works, a US-based Educational Think Tank, to help us better understand the world around us. 

They've identified five drivers in the world today. The drivers, their descriptions and a video to help clarify each can be found below:

1.  Work and Readiness Redefined

We are going to need to redefine the role of people in the workplace as artificial intelligence and machine learning displace or change many middle-class jobs. The very nature of work could even change, with wage labor coming to play different roles in people’s lives than it does today.

2.  Customization and Contribution

In many areas of life, people increasingly expect to engage in authentic and relevant experiences that align with their personal value sets. At the same time, they will need to find the right niche in a complex economic landscape comprised of multiple interlocking economies, including the creative, sharing, matching, and maker economies.

3. Elastic Structures

The same tools that are changing the future of work and reshaping economic approaches could be used to manage or reshape any institution. These tools are combining with a cultural shift toward distributed authority and greater transparency to create new ways of doing business. 

4. Optimization of Self and Experience

Given deepening insight into how the brain works, increasing awareness of social-emotional development, and new tools such as augmented reality, virtual reality, wearables, and sensors, people will increasingly be able to optimize our performance and deepen our self-knowledge. New understandings of identity could also emerge.

5. Navigating Complexity

Individuals and communities are going to need to develop resilience to respond to rapid change and navigate turbulence. As work transitions, local economies get disrupted, environmental volatility increases, and individuals and communities face other challenges, standalone structures will be increasingly susceptible to system shocks, and funding for public infrastructure such as public schools could decline.

So what do these drivers mean for education and for AISC? Those are the conversations that took place at the Futures Summit, which occurred on Saturday, December 1, 2016. Please see the Executive Summary of that event here.

These conversations will continue to occur at the next Futures Summit on Saturday, December 2, 2017. All are invited to attend. Please email Kirsten Welbes to reserve your spot today. 

In addition to updates on Building Futures, please watch this blog for articles and videos that share different perspectives on the future.