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When the university becomes the stage for the future it wishes to create
Implementing strategic planning in a
university is, above all, an exercise in deep listening, applied creativity,
and collective responsibility. A university is more than classrooms and
laboratories; it is a living organism that thinks, breathes, and feels with
multiple brains and hearts. The challenge lies in aligning this diversity
toward a shared purpose without suffocating the freedom that defines the
essence of the academic environment. It was with this spirit that a university
in Santiago, Chile, decided to apply the Quasar K+ methodology, developed by
professor and playwright Antônio Carlos dos Santos, which offers a model that
integrates science, theater, and management to build living, meaningful, and
transformative strategies.
The process began with
what Antônio Carlos calls “institutional breathing,” a phase inspired by the
MAT methodology – Mindset, Action, and Theater – in which leaders, professors,
staff, and students were invited to take part in a journey of active listening
and body expression. In theatrical circles, participants were encouraged to
physically represent their perceptions of the university. Some shrank inward,
symbolizing fear and insecurity; others stood tall with open arms, signaling a desire
for expansion. This initial stage was essential for mapping the affections,
blockages, and invisible potentials that do not appear in traditional reports
but ultimately determine the success or failure of any collective project.
Science confirms this: emotional states modulate cognitive and collaborative
performance (Damasio, 1996), and therefore, no strategy will be sustainable if
it doesn’t touch the emotional field.
From this emotional
and collective foundation, the creation of the Institutional Mission began.
Based on the book Strategic Communication: The Art of Speaking Well,
participants were invited to formulate short, resonant, and memorable phrases
that could be clearly stated in any classroom, hallway, or auditorium. Using
theatrical games from the ThM methodology – Theater Movement – proposals
emerged such as “Transforming knowledge into social power,” “Teaching with the
whole body,” and “Breathing the future with feet on the ground.” After a
process of listening, performance, and open voting, the chosen mission was: “To
cultivate knowledge with meaning, presence, and transformation.” It wasn’t just
an institutional slogan, but a symbolic pact to be lived and performed daily.
With a clear and
living mission, it became possible to envision the Future Vision more clearly.
At this stage, an exercise inspired by Erwin Piscator’s epic theater was
applied, in which groups created scenes representing the ideal university in
2035. Professors engaging with Indigenous communities in native languages, students
creating sustainable startups, cafeterias with organic food, and fluid hybrid
teaching. The scenes were recorded, transcribed, and synthesized into the
phrase: “To be a pulsating, plural university and a protagonist of social
reinvention.” This vision was accompanied by images, music, and poetry produced
by students, activating multiple languages to consolidate the institutional
imagination—a practice aligned with contemporary neuroeducation research that
supports the use of multimodality for deep learning (Immordino-Yang, 2017).
With the vision and
mission embodied in the voice and body of the community, the process of
drafting Strategic Policies began. Here, Quasar K+ proposes the use of
institutional dramaturgy: each policy is an act, each project a scene, each
action a gesture with a beginning, middle, and end. For instance, the inclusion
policy was titled “Open Scene,” and the sustainability policy, “Green Acts.”
Each team wrote “action scripts” based on clear objectives, drawing inspiration
from the book Moving Letters: The Art of Writing Well, which teaches how
to craft strategic texts with fluidity, clarity, and emotional impact. These
scripts were discussed in open workshops and took on visual and performative
forms, making them understandable even to those unfamiliar with the technical
language of management.
The formulation of
Objectives and Goals followed the logic of OKR (Objectives and Key Results),
but with a creative adaptation of the Quasar K+ method. Each objective was
symbolically represented in theater workshops using objects, sounds, and
movements. For example, the goal “Increase student retention” was represented
by a bridge made of books and ropes, symbolizing support and transition. The
goals were not just cold numbers but emotional and social indicators, such as
“smiles per hallway,” “spontaneous compliments,” and “projects with direct
community impact.” These indicators were validated based on the sensitive
evaluation methodology (Guerra, 2021), which recognizes subjectivity as relevant
data in public management.
To ensure continuous
Feedback, the university adopted the TBMB methodology – Mané Beiçudo Puppet
Theater – in which teams created symbolic characters that represented the
challenges and achievements of the planning process. In monthly meetings, the
puppets “performed” to tell what worked, what stalled, and what needed
rewriting. A puppet named “Planning Joe” would say phrases like, “The goal was
delayed, but hope wasn’t,” generating laughter, reflection, and acceptance. This
light critical tone allowed feedback to be not only tolerated but eagerly
anticipated. As Boal (1992) argues, theater allows us to confront reality in a
playful and transformative way.
The entire process was
documented in Scene Notebooks, hybrid records that combined technical reports,
emotional letters, drawings, graphs, and chronicles of everyday university
life. These notebooks were kept by each department and shared with the
community, generating a sense of co-authorship and belonging. Reflective writing,
as demonstrated by Pennebaker’s research (2007), improves mental health,
strengthens bonds, and increases commitment to long-term projects. By
documenting the backstage of planning, the university also created its own
poetic and strategic memory.
The pinnacle of the
process was the event “University on Stage,” a kind of public premiere of the
strategic plan, featuring artistic performances, dramatic readings of the
official document, workshop videos, and sensory exhibitions. Presidents, staff,
students, and guests could experience the plan not as a PDF file but as a
living organism. The reaction was overwhelmingly emotional. Many were moved to
realize that the plan was, in fact, the result of a collective, affective, and
creative construction. And more: it was understood by everyone, from the
librarian to the doctoral candidate, because it had been built using everyone’s
language.
Implementing Quasar K+
in a university is far more than applying a methodology: it is about activating
the creative, scientific, and human potential of an institution that, by
definition, is already plural and open to the new. When the science of planning
meets the art of theater and academic rigor merges with sensitive listening, a
new way of managing is born—with body, with soul, with purpose. And as Antônio
Carlos dos Santos himself says in his book Breathing, Voice and Diction:
“The university that breathes together speaks with more clarity and teaches
with more truth.”
Access the books by Antônio Carlos dos Santos on amazon.com or amazon.com.br
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