How does an institution get a better sense for who it is? Our parish went through a process to develop a strategic plan over the last year and we have revised documents that define us but I am not so sure we have a true understanding of who we are and who we want to be. Maybe I lack the wherewithal to fully grasp the written content that defines who we are and where we are going.
How would you be able to tell an institution that has a clear sense of identity from one that doesn’t? It seems to me that if you approached a staff member or active parishioner and asked them to describe the institution, there should be a lot of overlap if the institution has a good sense of identity. If you ask these stakeholders and get some confusion and inconsistency in the answers, then I would say there is not a clear sense of identity.
You could easily argue that my hypothetical test is not the best measure of knowledge of institutional identity, but I think if you look at successful organizations, you will find stakeholders have a common sense of purpose and direction.
I think another test to see if an organization knows itself is how difficult or easy decisions are and how easy or difficult it is to plan. For certain, there are difficult decisions for all organizations but the greater ease which an organization can make smaller decisions and create plans efficiently, the greater sense of self it has.
So back to my original question, how does an organization get a better sense of who it is? A related question might be, “Is trying to be nearly all things to most people?” an identity? My fear is that an organization can pile on activities and staff until its resources run out but not until then. Rather than meaningfully asking who we are the only question is what more can we do.
The necessity to cut back expenses/activity can be an opportunity to say – this is what is most important to us and this isn’t quite as important. Or you can cut things across the board.
One risk, particularly for churches, is to conclude that we need to take care of ourselves first and curtail the financial outreach. I think this is a very dangerous strategy. What sort of message are you sending the people of the parish? If you are short on money, cut back what you give to others?
Well if you’ve made it to this point and were expecting some profound answers to the questions raised, you are going to be disappointed (and you haven’t learned your lesson from nearly everything else I have ever posted). With a clear motivation to headaches generated from banging my head against the wall, I think it’s best I worry about the identity of my sphere of the institution and let the big picture get sorted out by the larger forces.
