Strategic Fun?

For obvious reasons, I have been thinking quite a bit about the state of affairs at PRIO over the past year. The finding, in short, is that PRIO is doing well. We do very well academically, with strong individuals and teams that operate at the international research front across a number of important topics. Maintaining our academic integrity, we engage in formulating policy, brokering information, facilitating dialogue on a variety of themes and in several key conflicts in the world. And, generally, it seems that people at PRIO finds it to be an attractive place to work.

Yet, there are many things we can do better. The last strategy (2005-2009) served us well in fostering a common understanding on most important issues, and the review conducted this spring showed that we have been fairly successful. Yet, there were issues in that strategy which have not been addressed. Then, we will also need to move to stay ahead.

We need to envision the big questions that should be central to PRIO’s research agenda in the years ahead. We need to think through our priorities in publication and dissemination. We need to reflect on how we can most constructively engage and have an impact. We need to continuously cultivate the best possible working environment. How do we do it? How should we expect the world to change, and how do we respond to it?

Tuesday and Wednesday this week are the days for the Strategy Get-Away at Hankö. I have a dual ambition for the get-away. The first leg is what I touch on in the paragraph above. I am sure we will return with a rich pool of ideas that we shall be molding and fine-tuning as we progressively work out PRIO's 2010-2014 Strategy. The second leg is to be having fun together, to learn to know each other even better, perhaps through activities and forms of collaboration somewhat different from what we do in a normal work day at PRIO. I believe that the best ideas may emerge exactly when we have fun. I look forward to playfully working together with you at the Hankö sessions!