Foreshadowing and not Foreshadowing: Strategic Choices

In this very particular moment of socio/political/cultural disruption, it is dangerously easy for schools to attempt to stand still simply out of fear –  to wait for things to find their way back toward a mean before inching ahead. Of course, it is often the best choice to stand still, to avoid panicked responses to changing circumstances impacting the school. Any choice to move forward or not should be strategic, not reactive. Whether the decision regards financial stewardship, an unforeseen change in the school’s market position, or a new teaching tool that may (or may not!) fundamentally change curriculum, moving forward or not is arguably where strategy starts because it depends on the allocation of resources.

The context in which schools find themselves will seldom reward institutional paralysis in the face of a hurricane of change. Schools must demonstrate strategic resilience, finesse, and resolve to flourish in the years ahead. For this work to find the traction it will need leaders who need a toolbox of strategic tools. While too often overlooked, foreshadowing is among the most powerful of these tools.

In this environment of accelerating progress and challenge, foreshadowing is a key to good communication about and execution of organizational change. Leadership should think of foreshadowing as a necessary tool because communicating change too late can make strategic steps look like reactive ones. By giving community members glimpses of what may lie ahead, organizations can:

• Gauge the potential response to changes that may occur.
• Begin to create partnerships necessary to the successful implementation of strategic steps.
• Position the change initiative to be transparent. Even the best idea can fail if constituents feel as if it has landed without warning at the very moment when momentum is necessary for implementation.
• Position conversations regarding the change to be inclusive, while defining the boundaries of the conversation. By foreshadowing, the leadership can name the goals and create the context for the discussion to follow without disenfranchising important voices in the conversation. 

Colleges and schools have traditionally had difficulty foreshadowing successfully because such disclosure forces a dialogue about an initiative before the school leadership knows exactly what it will look like as an end-product. This can feel, and in some cases may be, risky; however, without this step, getting requisite support for change may be impossible and thus represent a far greater risk. Not to be missed, voices from beyond our own leadership team echo chamber make teams smarter.

By foreshadowing and by seeking input, leadership invites a wide range of constituents to the table, while making it clear that standing still and allowing the status quo to hold is off the table.

Thus, foreshadowing is central in getting the wheels of progress to turn. At times, however, cultures need the opposite of foreshadowing – instead of foreshadowing, we need action that is out in front of conversation and certainly any sort of consensus. There are moments when a leader needs to get out front and ask for others to catch up later. Particularly when there is an opportunity to illustrate a strategic vision and take an opportunity that would disappear if there is too much delay, leadership must be willing to move ahead decisively. It is vital here to ensure that key decision-makers are dialed in—the Executive Committee of the Board and the Administrative team, for instance.

Suppose leadership waits for everyone to be ready for each individual move and foreshadows each small step. In that case, the organization will not go far enough fast enough to stay ahead of the entropy, which is bound to be clicking at its heels. It will also subtly send the message that it is too tentative and lacks the assertiveness to navigate the challenges of implementing vision. Sometimes leadership has to go ahead and make a move in order to prove to the culture that the school  is ready to meet challenges and opportunities and in order to illustrate a strategic objective that has already been chosen by the organization. 

Interestingly, this approach is not as far from the foreshadowing model as it might first appear. Indeed, they are both tools to the same end—strategic progress. Taking some steps forward before creating broad-based support is, from one angle, its own kind of foreshadowing of a culture that will be lighter and more fleet of foot. It also announces through real action that there is the institutional resolve requisite for the occasion. Taking action first on some of these small-scale decisions creates an expectation of its own, borne of the fact that the organization has changed the way it goes about creating strategic progress. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, such steps can illustrate through action the strategic vision of the organization. In this way, an individual action, relatively small in the context of the larger strategy, can itself serve as a way to foreshadow future and likely larger steps going forward.

Getting out ahead in this way is not built to be a lasting strategy – it is tailor-made for the period of time when the scale of change requires speed and decisiveness focused on a nuanced and thorough understanding of the strategic direction. I have often used metaphors from the beach to help me sort out my thinking, and there is one that may illustrate my point. Imagine that the organization is on a boat faced with trying to go from the beach to the spot beyond the breaking surf. You would not ponder each individual step that propels the boat forward because the only option other than moving forward is moving backward, and you cannot move backward if you ever hope to get beyond the waves.

Once you get beyond the surf, you can engage in lengthy reflection on your path as you strive to invigorate your strategic vision. In fact, staying with the initial strategy of preemptive moves at that point would be misguided; however, until you get by that last set of big waves, you must do everything you can to preserve momentum forward, or you may find yourself roughed up and thrown back on the beach.