WHEN IT COMES TO GOVERNANCE REFORM – SELL THE PROBLEM YOU SOLVE, NOT THE PRODUCT
THOUGHTS ON THE PMSA’S RECENTLY PUBLISHED FIVE YEAR STRATEGIC “PAMPHLET”
ASPIRATION IS A WONDERFUL THING
Aspiration is a wonderful thing! Following on from the PMSA’s video released a few months ago, the PMSA’s five year Strategic Plan for 2019 to 2023 has been released, and we just read it. The “full” strategic plan is on the PMSA website (which you can access here: https://pmsa-schools.edu.au/PMSA_StrategicDoc_ForWeb_Spreads.pdf ).
It is light on detail and heavy on fluff, so would probably describe it as a strategic “pamphlet”, rather than a strategic “plan”, but it is (finally) at least WRITTEN details about the PMSA’s thoughts on the future direction of our schools.
ARE WE SEEING RIGOR, QUALITY AND IMPACT?
It contains lots of ideas about what PMSA Schools COULD become, but with no clear roadmap and no tangible initiatives, it falls short of what is expected – especially after 2 years of navel gazing. What it lacks is evidence of sufficient underlying rigour to justify their vision to stakeholders, and in many cases it (rather unhelpfully) focuses on “numbers” of measures to achieve the desired vision rather than identifying specific initiatives that will actually deliver “quality” and “impact”. The PMSA obviously holds the view that a “light” approach to information delivery on this is all that our long suffering community needs (and can handle). If we had a governing body that had a demonstrated track record in trustworthiness, we would possibly agree. Sadly we don’t and the existence of this new document does not change that.
Trust can’t be rebuilt with glossy brochures and videos. Trust isn’t a by-product of marketing and spin. It’s a by-product of actions and behaviours.
WE’RE NOT CONSTANTLY STANDING HERE WITH A BASEBALL BAT, BUT….
Is this just more PMSA bashing? No – and we don’t want to be seen as a constant force that simply opposes everything that comes out of the PMSA for the sake of it. We are not. But we are here to lead public discourse and to challenge thought and direction on matters concerning the future of our schools. If we don’t, then who will help to deliver improvements in the quality of decision-making at this critical juncture in the battle to deliver the sustainable governance platform that all of these aspirations need to be built upon? Should we leave it to the PMSA? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have that level of trust – one day…
To be fair, developing a strategic plan is something that every organisation operating in a contemporary market should be doing. And regardless of differing views about the quality of the output from the current process (yes, we will get to that – and we will try not to be too unkind) the PMSA should be congratulated for “giving it a go”. Yes, that was a compliment (of sorts).
Having said that, whilst we don’t want to stifle creative and aspirational thinking (and some of the “aspirations” we actually agree with in principle) – the PMSA’s vision and strategy is fundamentally flawed. But not for the reasons that you (or they) may presume.
Read on and let us explain it.
FIRST TIME THRILLS?
Firstly, how did this thing called the PMSA’s “strategic plan” get formed? Well, we’re quite sure that whiteboards, butchers paper, coloured pens, “bonding sessions” and collaborative “team-building” exercises over almond-milk lattes may have helped deliver this one – perhaps with a couple of consultants assisting the process too (we hope)? We’re sure everyone in Toowong Towers felt great about the result. Developing it was “new” and “groovy” and “out of the box” thinking. Freshly minted AICD memberships and first time strategy experiences all round. Tick!
For those of you who can’t labour through the volumes of material in the full strategic plan, the PMSA produced a shorter one page summary document. You can access it here: https://pmsa-schools.edu.au/PMSA_StrategyonaPage_Web.pdf. The shorter version contains everything that the “full” strategic plan does – literally. The only additional detail in the “full” plan was the pictures of London Bridge, New York and freeways – are we missing something here??? Is it a treasure map? Is there a “fuller” plan, with more than just pictures, hidden at one of these locations? You know, something that contains a proper analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) impacting the PMSA and PMSA Schools and upon which the identified measures to move us all towards our shared Orwellian “Oceania” have been based? Is it all too confidential for the community to see? Was it done at all?
We would have thought that after 2 years, the offering might have provided some more context to the vision and would have contained some of these things in a little more detail:
MARKET ANALYSIS: A proper market analysis.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS: A proper competitor analysis.
SWOT ANALYSIS: A full SWOT analysis. (This one is critical and probably the most important component in designing a strategic vision.But it is also the MOST important component that you need to have if you are to effectively “SELL” your vision to stakeholders.It demonstrates rigour and a justification for the vision).
MISSION, VISION & OBJECTIVES: A fully developed mission, vision and set of strategic objectives built around the preceding 3 process steps.(Hey, they gave it a go – but without a visible tie-in to the 3 steps above, it’s a hard sell).
STRATEGY MAP: A proper description of the strategy map and balanced scorecard to be adopted in monitoring performance and managing the implementation of the strategy.
DETAILED INITIATIVES: A detailed list of key initiatives to reach the strategic objectives – (and what we mean by this is “tangible” stuff, not half-formed thought bubbles that offer no evidence of deeper considerations as to their means of implementation, or which are difficult or near impossible to measure.Examples would NOT include things like: “Financial predictability and sustainability of schools, including existence of waitlists.” Or: “Evidence of increased appreciation of Christian education in our society and the number of Christian advocacy-based partnerships.” Or: “Number and legacy impact of international opportunities fulfilled, in terms of enhanced systemic access for current students and educators.” These are actual examples from the PMSA Strategic Plan.We could go on – but we won’t).
TRACK AND REPORT ON PROGRESS: Details of how the organisation proposes to establish a proper dashboard to track and manage progress against measurable initiatives which can also be used to report to stakeholders on a regular basis.
This stuff is corporate development 101. We think that it would have been appropriate to present a greater level of tie-in with whatever analysis was undertaken (if any). Why, well because a “dynamic” approach to strategy implementation requires the use of metrics that specify a clear line of sight between deliverables and the desired strategic outcomes. The irony is killing us, but our old friends Deloitte got it very right in an online article on this very subject, entitled “Dynamic Strategy Implementation”, where they stated:
“The decision to make a significant change in strategy is often not made lightly; it is the result of much thought, discussion, and analysis by a firm’s leaders. The communication of the new direction, however, is often made as terse and aspirational as possible: A series of four to five statements about strategic intent or direction—for example, “be customer-centric” or “accelerate innovation”—are announced to employees and investors alike. The high level and abstractness of these statements are often justified by the rationale that “to implement we have to keep what we say very simple.” Unfortunately, implementation of the strategy begins to fail right then — before the teams are formed or the detailed plans are laid out. Why? This occurs because too much of the meaning of each strategic intention is left tacit or unclear, and because each strategic intention is presented and then acted upon as if it could be accomplished on a stand-alone basis.”
It then went on to state something which is fundamentally important to the genesis of the PMSA’s current strategic plan, but which has not been addressed within it – the current crisis created by the PMSA which has resulted in its schools drifting off course. The Deloitte article stated that dynamic strategy implementation calls for greater attention to understanding the idea of - “What should we learn from the fact that we are off track?” Not a truer word has been said in the case of the PMSA. (If you’re interested to read more, you can view the full online article at: https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/topics/strategy/dynamic-strategy-implementation-delivering-on-your-strategic-ambition.html).
LET’S WALK BEFORE WE RUN, SHALL WE?
Aspirational aims are great, and they should be pursued – where they align with the three levels of analysis referred to above. For example, measuring our “notional ranking” against international peer groups is a second rate diversion when we’re not performing against our direct competitors down the road. It would be great to outrank a school in Yugoslavia or Eastern Quebec, but we suspect that they’re not exactly sending students to Brisbane in the near future.
And so, trying to deliver “big” ideas in the context of PMSA Schools in their present state is a temporal dilemma that the PMSA has either failed to grasp or is desperately hoping will dilute debate around the current problems.
Not so fast! The pursuit of these ideas when founded on a governance framework that is neither contemporary, effective or sustainable is an over-reach which takes the focus away from more immediate and pressing problems. It is so ironic that this document attempts to paint the PMSA as aspiring to become a more CONTEMPORARY and forward thinking organisation (which is admirable) but it places modern governance reform down the list as an afterthought. Governance reforms rated a lowly number 5, and the measurables for that focused on “quantity” over QUALITY. All the promise of (possibly) doing something on governance – without any commitment and without a timescale. Who knows when “Horizon 1” will start or end? THIS IS AN UNRECONCILABLE CONTRADICTION that does nothing to advance their aims or fix our schools.
A TUPPERWARE PARTY GONE WRONG ?
Delivering a “soft” and “watered-down” message about some futuristic utopia that may be delivered in 5 or 10 years time gives every impression of an a time-worn political strategy being employed by an organisation that is struggling to cure a decision paralysis created by its own politics and biases. It is the strategy of DIVERSION, and we see it all the time in ineffective politicians, and misguided businesses struggling to re-build brands. Watch my left hand and you won’t see the lack of movement in my right hand? The “vision” of this document would be far more believable if it was accompanied by an equally compelling vision for the governance framework that must deliver it. It does NOT.
It FAILS to explain the roadmap and accompanying intellectual rigour which we optimistically presume has (and is being applied) to get us to our destination, and the architecture necessary to deliver it. No doubt the “architecture” will be a blown-out and high-cost organisational structure at Toowong Towers over the next few years. We will all be paying for that! Watch this space.
Overall, it looks more like a glossy property development catalogue. We were waiting for more, but by the last page we expected to be hit up for a cheap three bedroom apartment (at a discount) and a free a set of Tupperware. We couldn’t contain our disappointment. Free Tupperware would have softened the blow.
OUR TWO CENTS WORTH
Yet again, Nietzsche’s words never rang so true –
“The consequences of our actions take hold of us, quite indifferent to our claim that meanwhile we have 'improved’.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
Get back to the knitting and DEMONSTRATE more rigour to the community is our advice, PMSA. More information (not less) is what has been consistently asked for. Given the lack of trust in your organisation, it is NEEDED.
The current problems aren’t getting fixed and no amount of glossy pamphlets, groovy videos and communiques about nothing will take community focus away from them. That is why -
We are not going away.
Beyond PMSA
