#visionplanning

Kings owner Vivek Ranadive is reportedly growing frustrated and impatient.  In “Future-Making, Inclusive Design and Smart Cities,” Maureen Meadows and Matthijs Kouw propose a three-step process for the successful integration of smart technologies into the urban sphere to create “smart” cities. While this article is solely focused on the building of future “smart” cities, it dawned on me how much this process can be applied to any organization, public, private, educational, etc. Their proposed process is as follows:

Visioning: An established plan chosen by an individual or groups of individuals. In order for visioning to work, the preferred path must be understood and embraced throughout these individuals and organizations. Who the stakeholders are, identification of a desired future vision (which is contingent on an analysis of the organization’s current situation), and the development of action plans are required, but these steps are not exhaustive by any means. Multiple Perspectives: This goes back to visioning, requiring identification of who should be involved in the process of developing this technology, namely stakeholders, persons or groups that affect, or are affected by the organization. Those who actively support the collective preferred path and those who want to sabotage it must be identified so as to not cause dissonance within the organization. Collective Composition: The various scenarios that can be anticipated. Visioning planning scenarios involve on the organization’s internal relations and which issues the organization has control of. Visioning scenarios are developed first by the identified stakeholders, but doesn’t have to be one way forward, rather they should be the stimulus to create information over these debates, the pros and cons. Strategic planning scenarios, in contrast, create discussions about what possible external environments are largely outside the domain of the organization’s control.

As an avid sports fan of the NFL and NBA, I specifically thought of all the failed and currently failing sports franchises whose lack of winning championships, or even just making the playoffs, is as a result of the dissonance of these three steps. Since the ultimate goal of sports franchises is to win championships, which starts by assembling the team’s infrastructure in the administration, coaching and player roster, the lack of winning inevitably leads to unrest, in all parties involved, but especially in the brass. Just yesterday a story came out by Bleacher Report about the inner frustrations currently happening in the NBA’s Sacramento Kings franchise. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Sam Amick and Jason Jones, Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has voiced his grievances to general manager Vlade Divac, head coach Luke Walton, assistant general manager Peja Stojakovic and Chief Operating Officer Matina Kolokotronis during the 2020 season in a group text. To add to the fire, there are also rumors that the Kings star guard Buddy Hield could request a trade this offseason if he does not reclaim his starting spot in the lineup this season. The King’s stakeholders have been calling for a “sharp assessment” of head coach Luke Walton’s coaching which is major part of Ranadive’s complaints in the group text. This probably due to the fact that the Kings have heavily struggled in close games, losing an NBA-high eight games by three points or less this season.   It seems to me that the Kings’ poor vision planning is the cause of this dischord within their franchise. The brass has the power to control their team’s performance; they’ve assembled a young roster full of talent which has been underperforming. They also have the power to choose who is coaching their team. Right now Walton has led the Kings to a 21-33 record, a .389% winning rate. Ouch. In my opinion, the coaching is the problem. I think Luke Walton is beginning to lose the locker room’s faith. Walton coached the Los Angeles Lakers for three seasons before the Kings hired him this season, and his time in L.A. is widely considered a failure, as he went 98-148 and never got the Lakers to the playoffs. While there does not seem to be any signs that Ranadive is going to make any major changes in the team, but one thing is for sure: if the Kings don’t make the playoffs this year, heads will probably roll.

Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2875943-report-kings-owner-vivek-ranadives-frustration-with-execs-coaching-mounting