The Plan: Part I – Criterion 2 Situational Appraisal

It strikes me that quite often, success is a matter of throwing time, effort and resources at a problem until the mission objectives are achieved. The question of sustainable success or elegance in success requires a different solution.

For example, having bottomless pockets may allow a football club to have the best pick of available players, but having managerial intelligence allows another football club to grow the best players. In the predominant worldview, the first club is the grand success; the second is a qualified success, and that most often described in faint praise.

This idea can be somewhat generalised to schools; some schools will always have a large hinterland and the luxury of advantages in time, space, men, money and machines. With the pick of the available population, it would be a surprise if they achieved less than they do.

But let's just suppose that some of these schools are Catholic or Protestant mission schools. Surely their success should be measured in terms of the quality produced with the most effective, most efficient, most human policies and stratagems. There is something pretty unethical, perhaps immoral, about such an institution solving its problems by continually expending vast amounts of filthy lucre. It smacks of the golden calf, the den of thieves, the love of money and the prestige which that money buys.

The counterargument might sound like this: Our mission is to produce students with properties X, Y and Z; in order to do this, we must use methods which produce better results than secular agencies A, B and C. We are therefore being good stewards of the blessings of God when we spend His money copiously, because it is a trade of Caesar's gold for God's kingdom.

It sounds pretty reasonable. But I don't think that the kingdom of God can be bought with silver and gold (although of course treachery can be paid for in silver). Perhaps it is better to focus on the careful examination of means and methodology through the spiritual lens, counting the cost in human kindness, justice and mercy. The gross exertion of effort without serious thought, coupled with the gross expenditure of money without spiritual guidance, leads to the gross capitulation of an organisation to the subtle charms of the world.

Even in the secular world, it is unusual to find ethical and successful organisations which lack transparency, resort to case-by-case analysis with unclear guidelines, and are bereft opf detailed after-action reporting. The overall picture of an ethical and successful organisation is normally one which takes pains to analyse its successes and failures with full and transparent internal auditing, research, and both quantitative and qualitative evaluation.