Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • June 2013
13
Most social behavioral science
experts define culture as the learned
behaviors regarding the symbols,
ideals, and intangible aspects of
an organization. Culture guides
the values, interpretations, and
perspectives of the organization
and how those elements are shared
and transmitted by the members
of the organization (Banks, Banks,
& McGee, 1989). One significant
strategic plan to multiply an
organization is to: discover who
you are as an organization, identify
your culture, and effectively
communicate your culture to
the community. Lou Gerster,
former Chairman and CEO of
IBM maintains that “culture isn’t
just one aspect of the game—it
is the game.” What does culture
have to do with a band booster
organization? Culture defines and
somewhat dictates a band program
and/or booster organization’s
opportunity for success; defining
and communicating your culture
bring clarity and effectiveness to
your community.
Establishing a mission statement,
generating core values, and
implementing policies of operation
create clarity and help to define the
culture of the organization.
A vision, or mission, statement
is a description of what the
organization would like to achieve;
it offers broad guidelines for a
course of action. This statement
brings definition to the task, thereby
offering direction and motivation.
Soon after the completion of
Disney World in Orlando, someone
asked Michael Vance, the creative
director, “Isn’t
it too bad Walt
Disney did not
live to see this?”
Vance quickly
replied, “He
did see it and
that is precisely
why we are here
today.” Vision
enables your
organi za t i on ’s
ability to maxi-
mize its efforts
thus avoiding
pitfalls of wasted
energy and time due to unfocused
efforts or worse yet, focused
energies on matters that are not
necessarily productive towards
your program’s goals and objectives
(Hawkins, 2012).
After your vision has been
defined, core values should follow.
These values, 1-10 in number,
form the foundation by which your
organization works and conducts
business. These critical practices
are basic overarching elements
by which each member of your
organization goes about work.
They are the essential elements of
your organization and articulate
what your booster organization
stands for, clarify who you are,
guide organizational practices, and
explain why things are done in a
certain manner.
Finally, oper-
ational policies
are established
for each booster
board member,
f u n d r a i s i n g
opportunities,
and critical
cha i rpe r sons .
These policies
are practices,
detailed pro-
cedures, and
individual com-
petencies for
tasks to be
matched to the appropriate booster
members based on their compe-
tencies and skill sets. A strategic
review of these guidelines should
be systematically scheduled to
ensure the organization is making
crucial modification in response
to changing times to maintain an
accurate reflection of the evolution
in the program’s culture.
One of the key components
to your organization’s successful
maximization of efforts is the
effective communication of the
culture that reinforces and educates
the community-at-large. Successful
Strategic Plans to Multiply:
Defining and Communicating Your Band’s Culture
By David W. Vandewalker
Booster Club
Training
Monday, July 22
8 am - 6 pm
Cost is
$
100 per school ,
wi th no l imi t
on number of booster
club members from
one school . Boosters
may pre - register onl ine
or register on si te
during the convent ion.