STRATEGY AND VISION AND MISSION - OH MY!
I’ve had a lot of random thoughts going round and round my brain this month. Not sure if it’s possible to make sense of them all, and they’re all coming against the backdrop of having to close down my company of 23 years … so this month’s blog is more of a rollercoaster brain-dump than a blog, but the main reoccurring thoughts have been around the importance of having a clear strategy and vision and mission (oh my) vs a Squiggly Career - one in which you can just ‘make it up’ as you go along and/or respond (creatively) to the world around you. When does focusing on having a clear path/strategy interfere with creative endeavour, and when is it essential?
For the past few years, I’ve had to focus on strategy and vision and core values in order to raise funding and write policy and lead a team and head a company - taking on more of an executive director and CEO role, while ALSO having to deliver the artistic vision … and it’s genuinely burnt me out! Hence why I am now exploring the idea of having creative freedom WITHOUT the shackles of a well-defined strategy or vision or mission (oh my)!
However, I’ve also seen how the lack of a clear vision or strategic direction can seriously impact on an organisations journey and the morale of a team - however as an individual artist, it can just ‘get in the way’ and (I would argue), impede the creative journey. It makes me wonder whether organisations should have a season where they throw away the strategic vision in order to allow their artists the freedom to open up creatively? Literally allowing for anything to happen. The risk of course is that nothing will happen … or it will be awful or even damaging to the organisation - and in this current financial climate, cultural organisations and artists can’t fail!
I’ve also seen and experienced (too often), time wasted on developing strategy and vision vs actual delivery (mindless meetings that are all words and no action)! So many times I’ve come across projects and companies and artists who all ‘look good on paper’ but in reality have not the experience or ability to actually deliver what they’ve said their aspirations are! I wonder too, if this comes back to the point I made above (and have made in previous blog posts), about this culture of ‘not being allowed to fail’?
The Joy of a Squiggly Career
I had a conversation with an artist recently (of the same generation as me), who commented that when we were young artists learning our craft we had the luxury of being able to fail - oh how happy I am that the internet and social media was not around when I was just starting out! So I really shouldn’t get frustrated now at seeing younger artists spouting ideas and strategy and mission (without the experience to back it up), because I need to realise that they’re currently working in a very different cultural environment where the cultural industries are in crisis! And (to be fair), I also spouted a lot of bullsh*t too when I was a young artist … oh the joys of thinking you know it all - I really do miss the times before opening pandora’s box when ignorance really was bliss!
So I guess, like all things, it’s a constant tight-rope walk, of having a clear strategy and vision and mission, while also allowing yourself the opportunity to embrace the creative (squiggly) journey - or is this just having your cake and eating it too?
Obviously all of these thoughts (as mentioned above) are coming at a time when my own company has (on paper) ‘failed’ - although in reality our journey was a huge ‘success’.
So although I don’t know what my next strategy and vision and mission might be, as an artist, the fact that I’ve been pushed off the tightrope might actually give me the new perspective I need to create something unexpected and exciting … or maybe it’s just time for a nap before I climb back onto the tightrope and continue the strategically squiggly journey - oh my!
What I'm reading (and being inspired by) this month:
A Squiggly Career, online post from the Shaw Trust:
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent
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