2006
Week 5
February 3, 2006

Hi

New term: sand load. That is the mass of sand a river washes downstream over a period of time. A dam blocks that continuous shift, so considering a dam at Ashland, for example, includes planning for sand load and its slow blockage.

All of us know this happens. Now we know a word for it. I have tried to think of other applications. I guess cholesterol plaque buildup is sand load in the blood stream. But more fun, we slowly tune out repetitive rhetoric -- preachers? talk radio? neighbors? spouse? It may add to the sand load collecting in the mind from a steady stream of words, and the restriction clearly does reduce the capacity to think.

Much better word: pleonastic, which is using more words than necessary. To be distinguished from tautological -- the repetition of phrases or sentences. You can be sure I will be using pleonastic on the floor. Dare I create a new religion: Pleonasticism? And assign it to Senator Chambers, to fill his proclaimed gap in personal religion?

Omaha Schools dominated the news this week. Hearings on seven bills highlighted the tension. The basic question: How can the schools (and the people!) of Metro Omaha plan for the best possible education for all of our students ten to twenty years from now?

We have three major challenges/barriers to overcome: high percentage of second language students, high percentage of lower income students, and far too many parents and citizens who think education does not involve them. The first two require a higher ratio of teachers and therefore more $$$, and the third reduces the test scores, which also translates into more teacher costs.

One of our districts raised the key question above by proposing a plan dependent on moving district boundaries. The plan would not accomplish the goal, but it certainly posed the critical question. I have been disappointed beyond words that other districts spent months talking about and picking at that plan instead of coming up with a winner that could carry the day. And the years.

Our leaders in education are top notch, but they led us on a merry chase of our collective tail, confusing strategy with goal. I would not be so frustrated if I had not experienced the chase before and therefore recognize the unproductive pattern of thought.

A few years ago I was one of several pastors who was trained to be a consultant for Nebraska churches to help them with long-range planning. It was quite a ride, extending over ten years.

I love congregations. They are united by something called faith but their diversity is unending. One finds in any congregation a chaotic mix of hopes and dreams, idealism, bare bones reality, fear and genuine love. The "practical" ones capture the idealists in controversy on, for example, strategies to pay the light bill next month, and "dreams die a'borning." Caught up in survival fears, faithful members miss the chance to change and grow.

We called the process ‘Management by Objective,’ which was adapted from a business model. The church model did wonders to change how a group of earnest folk could think about how to choose their future. As you first met with a board, it was a slow go. But when they caught on it was fun.

The key was do learn to distinguish between Objectives and Strategies. OBJECTIVES are where you want to be ten years from now and STRATEGIES are what steps would take you there. I spent many wonderful days and nights with folks who became excited when they saw the difference and could begin to "sing from the same page." They became ready to agree on a strategy which may have been a point of tension because it took them where they all wanted to go. Wow. A couple can decide on most anything. However when you have a group, the talk goes in circles until everyone involved figures out where the idea fits in the timeline.

In Omaha, we are arguing strategies when we have not actually agreed on the Objectives, framing the long range goal. We have lofty phrases (which everyone quickly agrees to) such as, "Helping all children prepare for life." However, until you have something so specific it can be measured you do not have an Objective.

One frustrated superintendent noted that the student councils of all the schools could get together and have a plan in a week. Yes. There is wisdom hidden in the humor. Young people are not locked into the adult world of turf battles. Past battles on strategies create turf. Turf can be intellectual concepts or forced assumptions from past arguments, as well as land and buildings.

Well, some of those kids will be on the school boards before this is settled. I am discouraged. We are better than that.

I am also hopeful. People really do care about the objective of excellent schooling for every child. We better be. It is the most important economic development challenge we have to face in Nebraska.

Get together with a good group of folk and decide where you want to go. I promise that if you do the work of deciding it, you will get there !

Lowen