NORTHFIELD, Minn. — March 1, 2011) — Does your place of worship bring in new leaders at the beginning of the year? If so, how do you form a team heading in the same direction? Recently, I completed a planning process for a church. Here’s how.
What is strategic planning?
Strategic planning is “A disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions. These shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it.” (John Bryson, University of Minnesota)
Every three to five years a comprehensive approach will be useful. In this case, that 'long' plan had been done in 2008. It required considerable time and money. Now, two years later was time for a check-in and check-up.
A ‘simplified’ version of planning will aim a team in the same direction.
What are the benefits of having a strategic plan?
Church Strategic Planinng by Homini at flickr
- Ability to work toward a shared vision
- Strengthen a concept of teamwork
- Ownership and buy-in for strategy from Board Members
- Exposure to trends, realities and innovations
- Better ongoing decision-making supporting strategic direction
- Improved communications and public relations
- Enhanced organizational capabilities
What are the steps?
Pre-Planning
Months before a ‘strategic planning session’ begin pre-work. In this case, these were the steps:
- Casual comment from the minister about interest in planning
- Coffee conversation and sharing of expectations and experiences
- Written proposal to pastor and feedback to modify it
- Face-to-face presentation to Church Council
- Adapt the proposal using feedback from Council
- Written proposal to pastor for final approval
- Develop mailing list for invitations
- Review existing strategic plan
Deciding Upon The Players
One of the key questions for any planning process is ‘who will be involved?’ In this case, these were the twenty players:
- The Church Council Members
- Committee Chairs
- Selected former members who created previous plan
- Three pastors and business manager
Creating Elements of the Planning Process
In this case, the methods used included:
- On-line survey to gauge perception of progress on current plan
- Six hour facilitated session to form recommendations, work teams, timeline & accountability measures
- Write draft strategic plan and send to Pastors
- Pastors sends plan to planning participants and ask for feedback for accuracy
- Allow one week for input to change the plan
- Church Council ratifies the strategic plan
- Strategic plan is communicated widely and referred to at each Church Council meeting
Each church will require a customized approach. For this medium sized congregation, this was a 'just right size' plan. Once you know the steps, it is easy to assist your church with a strategic plan. Good luck!
Please comment: Does your church have a strategic plan?
For more on strategic planning processes see Online-Leadership-Tools.
Photo Credit: Homini
Leadership development expert & consultant, Donna Rae Scheffert helps propel people toward their goals easier, faster, and with more fun. Sign up for a RSS feed and read more from Donna Rae at Online-Leadership-Tools. Follow Donna Rae on Twitter or LinkedIn. Read more Making Change at The Washington Times Communities.
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