In the strategic planning process, we have redefined the board members, faculty, staff, and parents who are present in this process as our “learners”. Whether we think about the process as a function of a traditional classroom learning environment or more like the work of professional development, we know that structures mediate participation. Structures include external social and historical norms, patterns, and practices that exist on a micro, meso, and macro level that lead to the co-creation of any shared space.

If we consider the tasks outlined on the “task” framework page and the “talk” outlined on the “talk” framework page, we can ask what that looks like in this strategic planning process through the lens of “participant structures”? What social and historical norms and practices exist? How are participants interacting with each other and how is this enabling (or constraining) participation in the task or talk in this space?

• Social relationships between individuals

• Potential power dynamics at play within the board members

• Potential power dynamics at play between board members and participating faculty/staff

• A feeling of imposter syndrome

• Positional authority by way of board leadership positions

• Length of time on the board

• Age

• Speech patterns/dialects

• Governance practices

• Relation to the church

• Spiritual beliefs and conviction

• Decision making processes

As we think through the lens of participant structures in disrupting the habits of the strategic planning process, we have to acknowledge the inherent historical norms, practices, and patterns that exist within any group. Lisa Delpit shares that meaningful listening “requires not only open eyes and ears, but open hearts and minds. We do not really see through our eyes or hear through our ears, but through our beliefs.” She goes on to say that “to put our beliefs on hold is to cease to exist as ourselves for a moment — and that is not easy.” One might argue that this is actually impossible. But an awareness of the often implicit dynamics of participant structures within a group context is critical to a path of more innovative strategic planning.