Number 2
Dear Client:
I'm back
from Honduras where I led a strategic visioning project
with the leaders of Santa Cruz Arriba, a small, rural community on
the outskirts of the capital city of Tegucigalpa.
Sometimes,
clarity is found way outside daily norms. Take yourself out
of your company or organization, out of your daily routine, your normal
living situation. Thrust yourself into a foreign culture working with
people whose economic situation and view of the world are radically
different, who have found little in the way of success as we define
success. New perspectives emerge…about what we believe, why we
do the things we do, how we solve problems, what we value.
What we saw was clarity around strategic visioning…its
value, its pitfalls.
In Santa Cruz Arriba, strategic visioning brought hope to a community
and its leaders that had not experienced hope before. It brought harmony…community
leaders had conversations with each other they had never had before
but have needed to have for a long time. It brought accomplishment…results
that came out of the vision have a good chance of standing the test
of time. And it brought excitement…leaders see the plan as a catalyst
for change, changes that would not occur were it not for the visioning
process.
Like any vision, it’ll almost certainly be revised.
There’s always a tension between following the vision and taking
advantage of opportunities that pop up along the way. Issues, including
good leadership, having the right people doing the right things, finding
the discipline to execute…even believing that the dreams can be
realized...must be dealt with. It won’t be easy…but the
vision will likely stand the test of time.
Santa
Cruz Arriba is sparsely settled…some 500 people live
in 85 households in an eclectic area nestled among striking green hills
on the major highway leading north out of the capital city. There’s
a big Texaco gas station, a handful of small warehouses, an Episcopal
church, a school, two cemeteries, and, under construction, a waterpark…
but no real main street or central plaza like so many other small towns.
Most residents are beyond poor. The average annual
household income is about $1,800 a year. An average of six people live
in each house.
Most houses are one or two rooms. Kitchens are indoor/outdoor
affairs with wood fires. Some houses have latrines; some don’t.
A handful have electricity. Many families sleep two or three to a bed.
Raw beauty of the land hides the grinding poverty.
I
had no idea what to expect, how leaders would take to strategic visioning.
With a limited and different view of the world from North Americans,
would Santa Cruz Arriba residents know enough about the political, economic,
social environment they live in? Would they understand what strengths,
weaknesses, possibilities their community has? Would, could they dream
what might be? Or would they be bored?
15 key leaders immediately became totally focused.
Among them were
the head of the community, the head of the sewing cooperative, the principal
of the school, the Episcopal priest, the head of the water board and
two younger residents.
A visual approach, including use of graphic templates helped
the focus.
Leaders spent four days working through the process and never let up.
First quiet, then an eruption of conversation at the beginning
of each segment as participants began to work. They naturally broke
down into small groups of four or five, brainstormed, then narrowed
down their suggestions. Each group 
picked
a spokesman…almost always the younger members of their groups…to
offer up the results of their conversations. Spontaneous applause came
naturally after each presentation.
In working with the templates, they didn’t always get
what was called for,
or they would be too narrow, too specific in their answers…and
not broad enough.
We worked together to get the right items in the right places, then
write the final words.
But at the end they produced substantive, realistic results
for all exercises.
What was their vision, purpose? To be a model community,
a just place where residents are united and all share. Stunning in its
simplicity…and its complexity.
In Santa Cruz Arriba, yes, it can be done! That was
the battle cry they settled on, a way to counter a pervasive feeling
throughout Honduras, that no, it can’t be done.
In
strategic visioning, the process is to go back before going forward.
Participants started by doing a history timeline of the community
from 1970.
Histories are a way to clean out the closet, identify the good and the
bad, decide what to throw away and what to keep. They’re a way
of seeing what’s been learned over time.
In Santa Cruz Arriba, electricity arrived in the 1970s, as did water
wells with pumps and a two-room school. In the 1980s, the first latrine
was dug and a church was built.
In the 1990s, the Texaco gas station opened and Hurricane Mitch destroyed
six houses.
From 2000 forward, a deep water well was drilled, the school expanded,
a new church built, a sewing cooperative started. The community learned
that being united, working with the government, forming alliances were
all helpful to creating a better place to live.
Next, in drawing a context map, participants acknowledged brutal
facts.
Some examples: 80% unemployment, limited access to credit, no access
to the internet, paucity of jobs, housing shortage, loss of values,
lack of electricity, roads, enough water.
They used a SPOT analysis to make the case for change. Some strengths:
good leaders, new deep water well, active churches, new multi-media
center at the school. Weaknesses: lack of teachers, a middle school,
jobs, housing, government support, public services. They zeroed in on
negativism, the sense that it can’t be done.
In their cover story vision…an over-the-top opportunity
to be creative… participants cut photos from magazines,
wrote headlines describing the ideal in 5 years.
Examples: a photo showing water from the faucet so clean, it was used
to wash eyeballs. A photo of a young executive dressed in coat and tie
illustrating new professionals moving into the community. A photo on
the cover showing an Ozzie-and-Harriet family tending a garden. And
a clenched fist with words saying “Unity in Diversity.”
Bringing
the vision down to earth, participants committed to 6 initiatives:
Become a center and model for recreation and sports for the community
and surrounding areas; become a model for education for students and
leaders for the area; empower people to lead and organize several community
work teams; create jobs with fair wages; obtain basic services including
electricity, telephone and water; and foster a culture that believes
in God and the ability of people to get things done.
Participants agreed on five bold steps to implement the initiatives:
Create 4 new businesses which employ 50 people, start a public works
construction program, start a sports and recreation program with different
offerings for different ages, create a program to train new leaders
and support current leaders, start education programs to educate residents
of all ages and that will support cultural values.
Making specific implementation plans proved hardest.
Participants tackled plans for all 5 steps, looking for quick successes,
low cost items to implement.
Risks
going forward: Leaders will need assistance with process to
work through the specifics in the months and years to come. Not unlike
here at home.
Information will be tough to come by. A BIG question:
Who owns the land?
Who will provide technical assistance? Lots will be
necessary. Hopefully, I’ll be back in Santa Cruz Arriba myself
along with several colleagues to help with details.
All in all, a tremendously rewarding experience. Some ask how I got involved in the first place. The strategic visioning project was part of a larger effort supported by my church. This is the third year we have worked in the Santa Cruz Arriba community.
Yours very truly,
Principal, Conbrio
Conbrio seeks to make a substantive difference with people and build visionary companies, organizations and communities. We do so by collaborating with clients, using process and graphic language to work through the issues, including strategy and program implementation.
To learn more about using graphics in problem-solving and strategic visioning, call me in Dallas at 214-941-8199, Email me at bbancroft@conbrioamericas.com or visit the Conbrio website at www.conbrioamericas.com.
