This past weekend I had the distinct pleasure of attending an all day "retreat" on Saturday to go over the strategic plan for the public school district I work for. I think by the title, you can clearly tell it was not a pleasure. I also included the word retreat in quotes because it was not a retreat at all.
It's not like we got to go away for the weekend to some resort or exclusive location. Instead we were just about a mile away from our district in one of the local township halls. There was nothing glamourous or exciting about it.
Honestly, about the only good thing that came from it in my opinion is that a few of my co-workers got to see a side of me that they don't normally see. A good side and I think it's something that surprised them. I think at work I try to maintain an air of professionalism almost to the extreme. Many people feel I am cold and unapproachable, when really that's not true.
I'm a nerd for sure and a bit goofy, so I tried to hide at least the second part of that when I am not at home.
It also didn't help that I think our table was considered the black sheep of the group. We were the only table that didn't have a school board member. It wasn't really our fault, there was supposed to be a board member at our table, but he didn't show up.
I don't think the trainer you can see in the photo above liked me too much. Which is fine, because I didn't care for him so much either. He was quite dismissive to all the ideas at our table and while I tried to use humor to get my point across, I think that prompted him to exclude the ideas we had which were actually serious.
He had this style that was aloof and while I'm guessing he felt it inspired synergy and creative thinking, it really just caused us to be more confused than anything else and made him come off as dismissive.
We tried to get him to explain our particular task several times and he just shrugged his shoulders and stated something like "it's whatever you want it to be". There was actually a point where he was basically ignoring us, so one of the members of our table got up and wrote down our idea herself on the magical notepad. It ended up being the idea everyone like the most.
Two of the main tasks of the seminar were to come up with a mission statement and a vision statement for the district. I've gotta be honest, I'm not really impressed with what the group came up with. I honestly, can't even remember them now.
I tried to make the point that we shouldn't be making statements that we think people want to hear, but what we really want for our students, because if that isn't our main focus, then we aren't going to succeed anyway.
The consensus was at our table that after six hours of our day, we really didn't feel like we had accomplished anything we couldn't have done in an hour at our own location.
It's amazing to me that people get paid to do these kinds of services. It feels a bit like a con job to me.
We did get fed lunch, which is kind of cool I guess. It was build your own sandwich and it wasn't the worst sandwich I have ever had, so there's that. Unfortunately for the secretary that organized all of this, they were expecting around 50 people and only 20 showed up, so there was a ton of food left over.
I think they brought it back and I could build my own sandwich again today if I wanted to. Assuming the veggies aren't all soggy and limp.
I know it probably doesn't sound like it, but I really did come into this event with an open mind. Unfortunately though, I don't feel like we accomplished a ton. The fact that we have another half day of activities we need to go through before we are finished with the process doesn't have me too excited.
I think ultimately what bugs me the most is the fact that we came up with a bunch of ideas that we either don't really believe in, but we think they sound good, or we will never act on because the resources or funds are just not available.
Which leads me to believe it was ultimately a lesson in futility. I got a free three ring binder out of it though!
On top of that, I'm sure at the next board meeting the members will talk about how productive and great it was. Maybe they weren't at the same meeting I was.
Then again, maybe I will get hauled into my supervisors office today and reprimanded for not taking it seriously.
Who knows!?
Have you ever been through a process like this where you developed a strategic plan for your business? Did it include a mission and vision? Do you remember those statements? Did they become part of the culture?
Let's talk about it in the comments! I know he's a busy guy, but I am particularly interested in hearing @tarazkp's thoughts on this whole thing.
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