For most organizations, strategic planning is something you think you do pretty well, but deep down, you know you could be better at it. Everybody and every organization plans, some are really intentional and strategic and others pretty much fly by the seat of their pants. Here are some things to think about as you approach planning in your life, ministry and church.
Determine your loop
Your loop is the amount of time you need to evaluate in order to make sure that you new plan takes into consideration your past successes and failures. If you don’t know where your blind spots are, you’ll miss crucial opportunities to avoid repeating mistakes and the chance to capitalize on some of your strengths.
Consider this: how well you have implanted previously plays directly into your ability to implement in the future.
If you’re planning for something in the next three months, then look closely at the past three months. What were the hang-ups and misses that prevented you from implementing well? How have things like teamwork, morale and other changes in your church helped or hindered forward momentum? If you’re planning for the next year, then look at the past year for insights. If you’re working on a ten year plan... then, you guessed it, look back over the past 10 years.
Your loop is determined by how far out you’re planning.
Let your dreamers dream
Who are the dreamers in your church or ministry? The process of dreaming is usually cut short for a couple of different reasons:
- People are uncomfortable with coming up with new ideas because it’s not their strength. Put the people who like to dream in a room together and let them have a no-holds-barred dreaming session (or two).
- Some people get frustrated with creative planning sessions because they feel a need to implement. This is because you told them to implement, but because they immediately go to thinking about how to implement a new idea before its ready. Dreams take time, and need to be kicked around the room for a while first.
- Your first idea isn’t always the best idea. Unfortunately, overly eager implementers will take the first idea they hear and start working on it right away. Let the dreamers dream, and ask them to come up with multiple ideas.
Be committed to the dreaming process.
Run your dream through 3 filters
Not every idea is a good idea. Use these filters to weed out some of the bad ideas.
1. Does this fit our vision and culture?
Some ideas come from outside sources. Something you saw at a conference or maybe its something you saw on the Internet or in a book. Make sure the ideas being presented line up with “who” your church or ministry is.
2. What are the obstacles (everything has a cost)
Some ideas are great, but not possible to pull off. Maybe they are possible but the price tag makes the risk too great. Consider if you have the finances, the time and the gifts/talents on your team to pull it off. Perhaps the idea is not for the immediate future and you need to wait for God’s timing.
3. What do we need to consider based on what we learned from our loop?
Lastly, take what you learned from your loop (see above). What are the key learnings about your strengths and limitations that will help you make your plan a reality.
Develop an action plan and assign responsibility
Every good plan needs milestones (major goal points), tasks (a list of what needs to be done) and it all needs to follow a calendar plan. If communication is a struggle for you, then consider some ways to manage your project with some tools. I recommend these project management tools.
Manymoon- is free and it has a paid upgrade service
Huddle- offers a free trial before you pay for their service
Basecamp- has a free 30-day trial service and then several pay options
Build in accountability
Every good strategic plan needs accountability attached to it. Someone (or some people) who will hold the people implementing the plan accountable. It’s very easy for entrepreneurial leaders to be sidetracked by the next great project and let their current projects slide. By building in accountability, you’ll be able to protect your organizations reputation of being able to implement what you start.
