Vision (or not)

Today in professional development, the facilitator presented this nifty graphic which summarized what is required for change in an organization to occur. It looks like
Vision + Skills + Incentives + Resources + Action Plan = Change
With any of the pieces missing you get confusion, anxiety, frustration and other bad outcomes. When the facilitator asked us to relate this piece of information to our personal experience I realized just how bitter I have become. I don't think I'm alone either. The group had been interacting up to that point and then they became very silent. On of the participants asked for a show of hands for how many people know the Duchy's vision. There were no hands raised. I went to the web site and looked it up. Here it is
Tucson Unified School District is a professional learning community that ensures every student learns, exceeds all expected performance standards, graduates, and is able to compete and succeed in a global economy.
Aside from the fact the "professional learning community" is such a meaningless buzzword right now, it's not a bad vision statement, just kind of uninspired. Considering that a vision statement should be inspiring that's not good. A bigger problem is that NONE of the actions taken with respect to the Duchy library community relate to that vision in ANY WAY.
Going back to the effective change, the way it works is:
First you have the vision, then you need to determine the skills needed for that vision, the training needed, the incentives, and the resources that will be available. With that information, you can create an action plan. Is that anything like a strategic plan? Even with no information about resources, no control over skills and incentives, and no articulated vision, Dotland was asked to create a strategic plan. They did. It vanished into that black hole that exists around the Black Queen.
Possibly I would feel less bitter if the Duchy had ever provided ANY of the crucial parts. The closest to the vision anyone can get is "It's all about the kids." Yeah, right, that's helpful. Skills and training, that costs money and requires planning and takes people away from the school site. We can't have that. Incentives. We should be able to at least say if you learn this it will make your day to day job easier. It would be nice if we could say this. However, the Duchy does not have a good track record with making jobs easier. Chances are if you are trained in a procedure that will make your job easier, the Duchy will change the procedure immediately after training everyone. Resources. With a clearly articulated vision and a clear understanding of the skills, incentives and resources that will be available, it is possible to develop an action plan to implement anything over some time frame. Little skills, incentives and resources, looong time frames, lots of skills, incentives, and resources, short time frames. However, it's critical to know what resources will be made available. Have we EVER been told what resources can be used and how?
Bitter? You bet I am!