North Strategic Plan

Why Strategic Planning?

John M. Bryson is the author of the book Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan

Why am I trying to implement a strategic planning process at the North Philadelphia SDA Church?

• Among the younger set of members and attendees, there is a demand for greater accountability and good governance. The war generation remains. They are systematic givers. You can count on their contributions regardless of what's going on. They are giving it and will allow the LORD to deal with whoever messes around with the money. Not necessarily so with the boomers and younger generations.


• People are more vocal than they were in the past


• We need to reengineer ourselves; to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and quality of our processes to better serve our members and our community for Christ


• We need to integrate plans of many different kinds -- strategic, evangelistic, business, budget, information technology, human resource management, and financial plans, as well as short-term action plans like the acquisition of property for a parking lot


• It's going to be harder for us to acquire the resources we need to fulfill our mission as we are already in debt

This is a must if we are going to compete, survive and prosper.

We need to talk about the key issues in the design of an overall strategic planning process from the initial stages through subsequent implementation, review and evaluation.

We want to demystsifiy the strategic planning process for the member who has no degree at all and make it understandable and accessible. We want to present to them a simple plan.

What is Strategic Planning and Why Do It?

It is "a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it" (Bryson, 2004).

North is in a constant state of change and flux. People are coming and going, new policies are implemented almost monthly, new populations of the congregation have varying needs and expectations. We want to be strategically managed so that we define where we want to be and manage change through an action agenda to achieve that future.

Strategic planning is...

• a way of thinking, acting and learning


• usually takes a comprehensive view by focusing on the "big picture," but it also leads to specific, targeted actions


• is often visionary and usually proactive rather than reactive


• is flexible and practical


• is a guide for decision making and resource allocation

As a church we need to...

• Document and discuss the environment in which we exist and operate, and explore the factors and trends that affect the way we do ministry and carry out our roles


• Clarify and frame the issues or challenges that face us as a church


• Clarify our church's goals, and articulate a vision for where we want to be as a church.


• Develop strategies to meet our mandate, fulfill our mission, etc.

Several Complementary Ways of Looking at and Thinking About Strategic Planning

VIEW NUMBER 1::THE ABCs OF STRATEGIC PLANNING

A. Who and what are we, what do we do now, and why?

The answers to this question document our current condition and establish the baseline from which we may develop our strategic plan. The answers are not as apparent as we may think. If we explore the question and document our answers in a strategic way, we'll discover much that we do not know and we'll gain new insights.

The better a job we do in exploring this question at the start of our planning effort, the better the foundation of our overall plann will be.

B. What do we want to be and do in the future, and why?

Given where we are now, where do we want to be in the future? Yogi Berra said, "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." We need to identify a desired direction and prayerfully and proactively work together to get there.

C. How do we get from here to there?

This question answered closes the gap between question A and question B, where we are to where we want to be.

The gap consists of the strategic isues the church needs to address.

We address the issues by formulating and implementing strategies and actions that respond effectively to the issues.

Click here to see a graph of the ABCs Model

VIEW NUMBER 2::THE BUILDING-BLOCK VIEW

This view assumes that several different building blocks from different phases may be worked on at any one time.

The four phases are

1. Organizing the planning process and analyzing the environment


2. Identifying and analyzing strategic issues


3. Developing strategies and action plans


4. Implementing strategies

Though some of these building blocks may be in place, we should still revisit and document them within a structured strategic planning process. Because the church constantly incorporates new people both through baptism and transfer, we should continue to revisit these building blocks. We ought not assume that everybody knows what the mission and mandate is now and in the future.

PHASE 1 - lays the foundation for overall strategic plan itself
ORGANIZING THE PLANNING PROCESS AND ANALYZING THE ENVIRONMENT

• Readiness assessment - Are we even ready to do strategic planning?
• Plan the plan
• Stakeholder assessment
• Mandate analysis
• Assessment of internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and challenges

PHASE 2 - establishes clear sense of direction for the organization
IDENTIFYING AND ANALYZING STRATEGIC ISSUES

• The committe will look at vision, mission and values
• Strategic issues, goals and objectives

PHASE 3 - more detail about how North will address the issues we face and build bridges from ourself to our environment (Temple University to the East and the urban poor to the West of 16th Street)
DEVELOPING STRATEGIES AND ACTION PLANS

• Strategies
• Action plans
• Budgets

PHASE 4 - where the ultimate payoffs are achieved and assessed
IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIES

• Implementation
• Monitoring
• Evaluation

Click here to see a graph of the Building-Block Model

posted by Keith S. Goodman @ 12:57 AM