A Step-by-Step Outline of a Pretty Good Strategic Planning Process

Developing a “plan and execute” culture within the local church is crucial to success. Here’s a “step-by-step” description of the process of creating a strategic plan. This can be accomplished in a relatively short time and with minimal difficulty and cost. Check this out and give it a try!

Stakeholder Needs
Using numerous data sources (internal opinion surveys, external demographic studies, performance metrics, etc.), church leadership identifies its “stakeholders” and conducts an extensive exercise to understand their “needs" better. This first step in the planning process will also include a thorough evaluation of how well the church has met the stakeholder needs to this point in its history.

Strategy
Equipped with an understanding of the stakeholders' needs, church leadership develops and documents a “strategy.” The strategy will include a mission, vision, and core values. The strategy is a statement of “what” the church will do to meet its stakeholders' needs.

Systems, Processes, and Methods
From there, key objectives that make up the church’s plan for implementing the strategy are identified. The objectives have owners, and progress toward accomplishing the objectives is tracked throughout the year.

Results
To track progress toward successfully meeting the stakeholder needs in all areas of the church, a set of Key Performance Measures (KPMs) is developed and reviewed regularly. Some of the usual measures include average weekly attendance, average weekly giving, giving per capita, and monthly baptisms, which are presented in graphical form for regular review.

Organizational Review
The next step is determining the human resources required to accomplish the plan. To ensure the resources exist to accomplish the plan, a complete review of the church’s organizational structure and personnel is completed. Is the leadership structure in place to adequately accomplish the plan? How should the organization change to improve its performance? What additional personnel will be needed?

Financial Plan
Finally, a financial plan is developed in support of the strategic plan. If enough financial resources are unavailable to accomplish the plan, the plan is modified to eliminate the lower-priority key objectives.