Documenting a strategy is one of the most important steps in any “plan and execute” leadership culture. I will blog more about a “plan and execute culture” in a future post, but for now, suffice to say that it’s one of the most important aspects of a healthy leadership culture, be it in or outside the church.
The purpose of a strategy is to succinctly communicate to the reader “the plan” for accomplishing something. At the organization level, the strategy is the “Strategic Plan.” The strategic plan communicates the mission, vision, core values, critical strategies, objectives, and tactics. The combination of all of these “statements of the plan” is the strategy (or plan) for getting it done.
A subset of the strategic plan is a number of other strategies dealing with specific areas of the strategic plan. For example, here at CCV, we have 9 core values that help to communicate those areas of our strategic plan that are “non-negotiables” for our church. One of those core values is “We Will Be A Church Planting Church.”
Consequently, we’ve documented a Church Planting Strategy. This strategy breaks down “the plan” for church planting here at CCV. It’s that simple!
A strategy should state the plan in whatever detail is needed based on the particular area. A strategy includes the who, what, when, where, why, and how of a plan to do something. Start with a sentence of fact that states the plan. From there, give the specifics of the plan in enough detail to commit the organization to actually doing something. If it makes sense, give a timeline and sequence of events. What must happen and in what order? Are there key milestones to communicate about the plan? Who will be involved in accomplishing the plan?
You get the idea. Take a look at the Church Planting Strategy I’ve used here as an example and go from there.