The Craft of Planning has Many Hats

By:  Theresa Fresco

This free verse poem was part of an assignment in Larry Beasley’s PLAN 548P class.  In each class involving group work, one student is assigned the role of ‘the sage’ where they are responsible for listening to group discussions and capturing the essence of the issues and topics being discussed.  This class aimed to explore the many different roles that planners play.  

The craft of planning has many hats,

Each hat dependent on a situation or a context.

Each hat assuming a role encompassing different positions,

Some stronger than others, some more uncomfortable than others and some that are more palatable,

But all are necessary,

Presenting us with the challenge to understand and appreciate all the hats we wear.

With each hat comes certain skills for certain situations --

When to speak, when to listen,

When to come forward and give direction and when to step back,

When to be a bridge between different worlds, disciplines, positions and interests,

When to mediate,

When to build relationships,

When to foster dialogue,

When to empower those excluded or disempowered,

Skills that ensure ‘you don’t bite the hand that feeds you’ but also not to choke on the old and crusty bone of irrelevant and unjust practice,

Skills in the realm of the technical, social, environmental and political,

Skills that allow us to stand our ground, not to accept the common denominator and hold to and implement a vision.

Remember that each hat comes from somewhere—

They have a history,

They embed values,

They embrace a language,

They command certain aspects of our training, our personalities and our beliefs,

And,

They are always in a state of flux.

The craft of planning has many hats,

Showing us the challenge and excitement of the multiplicity of a profession that is always evolving, never boring and continually pushing us to be better than we are.