Notes From The Garrison 2: Planning

A great friend of mine from the Air Force, Buddy, survived his first fight with cancer while we were on active duty. His relapse happened after we retired.

Buddy began to write a blog from his home, The Garrison, during his treatments. A garrison is a safe place where military units and people can go to rest and recuperate. Since many of us now work from our garrisons, I thought this might be a way to honor Buddy and provide some insights from our garrison. The previous blog entry was installment 1.

Thank you for what you have done for our communities during this incredible time. Our social service agencies have stepped up to support those in need, the colleges and universities continue to educate students, and our churches have discovered new ways to worship and proclaim the Gospel. Well done!!

I would like to propose that it is now time to think about the future. As you remember from the program, planning is a significant part of Visionary Organizational Leadership. In the next few blogs we are going to think about ways our institutions can plan for a future that is a "new normal."

Hopefully you have passed the initial hurtles to continue your missions and have learned lots of new lessons along the way. This is where planning begins for the future. Take time to gather the folks who work with you, for you, and around you (with appropriate social distancing) and have a session or more on the lessons you have learned over the last months. What worked? What didn't work? What feedback have you gotten from the people or families you support, students, staff, faculty and others? The basic question is what have you learned that can help you accomplish your mission in an environment that has fundamentally changed.

Again, thank you!!! Our next blog entry will look at current ideas on how our communities may change in the future because of the pandemic.

tom