When I saw that Matthew Kelly was coming to speak as a part of the Day for Catholic Men in the Diocese of Pittsburgh a number of years ago, I was excited.
He also authored “Rediscovering Catholicism,” but anyone who speaks about “dreams” as a religious experience is someone I have to hear.
My original acronym for the systems thinking necessary to support sustainable faith-based schools was “DREAM.” Matthew Kelly said in his presentation that God gives us many gifts, but gives us two gifts that are particularly powerful: the ability to choose, and the ability to dream.
Personally, I think there’s another powerful gift – to create (at least, co-create since, ultimately, all good things come from God, and we are Christ’s hands on earth). After further consideration, I came up with two more – to love and to worship – but when you really think about it, those are both part of the power to choose, since love is a decision, and since worship flows from love, it is also a decision.
Dreams were very important in Scripture, as they were the place where individuals received messages from God via His angels.
- Joseph was told by an angel in a dream to not divorce Mary;
- The three Magi from the East were told in a dream not to return to Herod, but to return to their home country via a different route.
- In my case, I’ve found that a DREAM is very important to a school. It’s a “vision,” and as Proverbs tells us, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (29:18).
Those letters stand for the 5 elements necessary for the “business” operations of a school – Development, Retention, Enrollment, Asset Management and Marketing.
The letters were rearranged several years ago to form the acronym ARMED, since we must be prepared for face the battles that will come our way within our schools, but still many school leaders agree with the concept of the DREAM.
Many, however, have asked the question, “Where do we start?” because all of it seems to be important.
And that’s where the problems begin – because you start with all of it.
But this is the reaction of most schools I speak with: “Oh, no, that’s just too much. Let’s work on one thing now, and then we can move on to the next one when we have a handle on it. Since you’ve listed Development as the first item, it must be the most important, so let’s start there.”
That was the DREAM acronym. Now that it’s ARMED, that means the Asset Management can be considered to be “first.” After all, when all those elements are placed in a triangular structure (like Maslow’s hierarchy of learning), the base is Asset Management.
So if you’re a Catholic school leader, for example, and the person who takes care of tuition works in the parish office, and you, as the school leader, are responsible for retention of families, marketing, enrollment of new students and development for sustainable monetary gifts, that’s like building a house without a foundation.
All of those elements, however need to be addressed.
The problem is that we were taught to think “linearly.” One thing leads to another, and sometimes, we must choose which path to take, which elevates the “linear” experience to the “process” experience.
Albert Einstein is credited with saying, “We cannot solve the problems of today with the same kind of thinking that created them.” Linear thinking can bear some of the blame for creating these problems, while the other mindset at fault is the “But that’s the way we’ve always done it,” rationale.
So let’s do some new thinking.
Systems thinking is important, but if you need a process to satisfy your desire for linear thinking, The ARMED Framework shows the progression of the elements in the formation of a system. Since the “A” comes first, that’s Asset Management, then Retention, Marketing, Enrollment and Development. It’s not that you can wait to do those things – they all must be engaged systemically.
However, if your school is not using a tuition and fee payment plan provider and third-party service to evaluate financial need, then don’t even think about your ability to progress to the next elements of advancement. It’s like constructing a building on a foundation of sand.
The “if/then” mindset is still pervasive in society, and there are a myriad of results that could happen from a singular action. That’s why people don’t like change – because doing so will lead to other changes which they may not want to make. For instance, if Development starts raising considerable amounts of funding, and enrollment has been handled the way it’s always been done, enrollment could drop precipitously while we’ve been generating development dollars.
In fact, that’s PRECISELY what may happen with the new Educational Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC) program scheduled to kick off on January 1, 2027.
Here’s a current example. A school I’m familiar with has significantly increased their enrollment in 5 years – going from 400 students to over 800. While that may sound like WONDERFUL news, financial aid resources need to increase proportionally. For instance, If the school was allocating $100,000 for 400 students, and only had $150,000 to allocate to 800 students, that could mean that a number of students wouldn’t be able to receive the amount of aid they were used to receiving, which could then negatively impact that enrollment growth.
Another example? How about one that’s outside the education vertical, like our bodies.
If we want to be healthy, we need to have the proper diet, have proper exercise, and give up “nasty habits” like smoking, alcohol, sweets, and caffeine.
What if we just say, “I’m going on a diet” to lose weight, and limit our intake of starches and red meat, yet don’t exercise nor give up the other stuff? We gain the weight back…and many times, can’t understand why.
Even people who make a commitment to do all three still don’t reach their goals…because there are two other things that are necessary: time and money.
If you’re going to adhere to a diet which requires you to each three nutritious meals, with lighter energy boosters during the day, you’ll need the time to allow you to eat at 6, 12, and 6, with a healthy snack at 9 and 3, go to bed at 9 to get at least 8 hours of rest each night, then awake at 5 so you can exercise in the morning before showering and having breakfast. It’s also important to remember that the last action of food intake must be dinner at 6 – with nothing afterward until you “break fast” with breakfast.
That also means being able to make time to go to the grocery store to buy the proper foods…which may or may not be on sale that week…and time to not only prepare them, but to clean up as well.
It’s a system…in fact, a system of systems…and must be treated as such.
So what does all this have to do with Matthew Kelly?
He offered 5 noteworthy comments in his presentation on “Rediscovering Catholicism,” but all of them are applicable to everyone in every situation…even businesses, and particularly, Catholic, Christian, and faith-based schools. After all, “catholic” means “universal.”
In no particular order (remember, it’s a system, and no singular elements has more importance than another), the 5 comments are:
– Systems drive behaviors. If you want to change behavior, you need to identify the system that’s causing it;
– Excellence is not sustainable without coaching;
– Every journey toward something is a journey away from something else;
– If you can’t measure it, you can’t change it; and
– The system consists of best practices, engagement, accountability, change, and dedication – and accountability is the game changer.
Want an easy way to remember the systemic elements? It’s as easy as A, B, C…and D, E – accountability/best practices/change/dedication/engagement.
Awesome book. Read it…but only if you want your current mindset to be significantly challenged.
And remember, where there are challenges, you’ll find changes (look at the first three letters and the last four letters of “challenges”).
As for the dreams you have for your school, it’s the vision you have for it. Check out the two words created by the first letters of the above 5 comments.
© Michael V. Ziemski, SchoolAdvancement/STAFFAdvancement, 2012-2026
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