Another semester to deal with for my Master's class has just begun. But it's not just an ordinary semester since it will be my last semester together with my friends as 2nd year students. If God permits, after this semester, we will be taking our comprehensive examination and hopefully pass the exam for us to become successful MIT graduates. But before that happens, we still have to surpass the four subjects that we are currently taking. And it already puts me into a lot of pressure just by knowing the teachers of these subjects. :)
"What is strategic planning?", asked Pareng Randy a.k.a SRG (as he would give us a failing grade if we call him Sir Randy) as he started the Organizational Analysis' first presentation. As usual, the people inside the class didn't mind answering expecting Pareng Randy to just give the answer. He then rephrased the question to "what is a plan?". Still no answer from the body. He again rephrased the question to a more comprehensive and simpler question but still did not get a response from the class. Then he started calling names and I was like "woah! I'm dead." Good thing, one of my classmates finally had the courage to answer and saved me from my misery for a while. So, that question started our discussion and sharing about the introduction to organizational analysis which helped me understand what really the subject is all about. Like the Vision, Mission, and Goal (VMG) of an organization, a strategic plan is a short plan for a constant changing environment. It provides an common model that the entire organization can follow. A strategic plan is a process to establish priorities on what you will accomplish in the future, forces you to make choices on what to do, and pulls an entire organization together and get resources. A strategic plan asks questions like where is the organization now, where the organization is headed to, how to close the gap between today and the future, and how to monitor its progress.
Pareng Randy then asked us about our own organization's VMG, whether we tried to embrace it or even memorize it. I felt guilty when I realized that I cant even memorize the first words for our school's vision. (hehehehe..) And nobody did in our class. (hahahaha..) Then he explained to us how important it is to understand and internalize an organization's VMG and be part of creating or revising it.
"What is the difference between a leader and a manager?", another question that made the room silent, like always. It was surprising to know the difference of the two words that seems to have the same meaning. It was quite difficult to point out or even give a meaning to each of the word. Even choosing which one is a teacher was not easy. In the end, a teacher should be a leader. When you are a manager, you are responsible in controlling the people involved. But when you are a leader, you guide the people. As teachers, our task is to guide the students to which path they should take in journeying with their education.
Pareng Randy ended the presentation by discussing the ABCDE model which means Assessment, Baseline, Components, Down to Specifics, and Evaluate. I enjoyed and learned a lot from that presentation. Maybe because our teacher delivered the lesson in a certain way that makes it enjoyable and understandable. I know this will be another "SUNGGO" subject for us, but I'd rather consider it as a challenge. Since Pareng Randy already presented the first topic, we will give our parts of sharing topics next meeting next year. Indeed, it is a good way to start a subject and end the year. ;)
