Quotes and Excerpts - Management

Excerpts from articles on

Consensus + Committment = Control

"Dynamic Strategic Planning is a method of effectively pursuing a goal or goals in a rapidly changing world.... 

"Dynamic strategic planning is an ongoing process of planning that enables a congregation to make plans but also to adapt and change those plans as circumstances change. In fact, the underlying assumption is that the plans will change and that they must change if the Church is to be effective in today’s world.

"Clear goals based on sound theological principles, a step-by-step action plan, action, reflection, learning, replanning and acting again constitute an ongoing process that enables us to build communities of Christians that are effective in carrying out the mission of the Church.

"This program... teaches the steps of dynamic strategic planning through a process of identifying the concepts and then practicing each step....

Strategic Planning and Systems Analysis Course Introduction U of Washington: "In this course you will develop a systems approach to thinking, planning, and problem solving. Many of you will find it mind altering. You will learn concepts and relations that help you see the forest, when before you saw only the trees. ...  You will learn to apply ... the systems thinking approach made popular by Peter Senge....You will practice the various elements of strategic planning: setting the mission, conducting stakeholder analysis, scanning and assessing the environment (internal and external), identifying and stating strategic issues, developing a strategy, implementing strategic plans, and defining the role of leadership.

Strategic thinking: To think strategically, participants must be "involved, connected, committed, alert, stimulated." ..."Such thinking must not only be informed by the moving details of action, but be driven by the very presence of that action" (Mintzberg, 1994, p.291).

 

 

 

"Pew warmers are passé. They're stuck at half past yesterday and simply are not ready for the high demands of the current explosion." 87

 

 

From Dan: Seems to be quite a trend going on these days, I think these things are connected.

1) My company was recently bought by another company. The new company had individual meetings with us to explain the "company culture". At the end of the meeting, we were asked to verbalize our commitment to the company culture, with a yes or a no. Visualize this, one adult, saying to another - "Now if you agree to our culture, please answer Yes".


Unbelievable. This is the same tactics car salesmen use to get you in a "yes" verbal pattern.

2) In a meeting room of another company, I noticed some hand-written notes on their white-board, apparently taken during an exercise on how to train team members. In an outline, one of the points said - "results-oriented". Another said "facilitate - don't preach". And lastly, it said "get a verbal commitment".

3) This one really hit me square in the face Berit. It's a television commercial for Lexus automobiles. It shows a gentleman walking thru a metropolitan area, with extremely fast-moving scenery, attempting to give the impression that things are changing very quickly, and the gentleman (aka the viewer) is looking things over, as if contemplating what to do. Then the narrator steps in, and says something about how the world is changing very quickly, and then in a very pointed way, says - "Are you IN, or OUT". I got a very creepy feeling when he said this.
 

He was asking for a commitment, and drawing a line in the sand. It's Us or Them. You're with us or against us. You're either in the group, or out, and if you're out, you're going to be passed by.

This onslaught is happening very quickly and seems to be increasing exponentially.

 

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