Leadership Factory 11 – Plan to Win with Strategic Planning

Listen to this inspiring episode of Leadership Factory: Building Leaders with Purpose where you’ll discover how to plan with your team for success:

The key to great planning is focus.

Give me the wisdom and knowledge to lead them properly, for who could possibly govern this great people of yours? (2 Chronicles 1:10 NIV)

Key Questions for Accomplishing the Mission

What is my mission? Do I know what I’m going to do? Do I know how I’m going to do it?

Do I know what I’m capable of?
 We overestimate our capabilities in the short term and underestimate our capabilities for the long-term.

Do I know what my team is capable of?

Do I have a good communication pipeline?

Do I use this information to make changes when necessary?

What barriers are keeping me from accomplishing my mission?

Biblical Examples of Planning
God did it…

Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, from ancient times. In days I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass . . .” (Isaiah 37:26, NASB)

Noah did it… (Genesis 7–9)
Nehemiah did it… (Nehemiah 1–5)
David did it… (2 Samuel 7; 1 Kings 5:2–3)
Jesus told stories about it…
  • The Wise and Foolish Builder (Matt. 7:24–27)
  • The Builder Counting the Cost (Luke 14:28–30)
  • The King Planning for Battle (Luke 14:31–32)

What is the one plan that you are working on now that 
excites you the most?

Steps to Effective Strategic Planning

  1. Plan to plan.
  2. Identify your goal.

Why do we exist?
 What are we trying to accomplish?

  1. Evaluate the present situation.
  2. Prioritize the needs.

Beware of the tyranny of the urgent: We tend to do the most urgent things, but not the most important things. When the ultimate is neglected, we become a slave to the immediate.

  1. Ask the right questions.
  • Target: Who are we trying to serve and what needs are we meeting?
  • Leadership: Do we have the right people at the top to accomplish our goals?
  • Counsel: Whose advice do we need in order to succeed?
  • Direction: What are we going to do in the short-range, mid- range, and long-range?
  • Organization: Who’s responsible for what? Who supervises who?
  • Funding: How much will it cost and where is the money coming from? What are our expected expenses and income?
  • Reporting: Are we on target with our progress?
  • Communication: How can we let everyone know what we’re doing?
  • Evaluating: Are we seeing the quality we expect or demand from ourselves?
  • Refining: How can we keep improving and make it better?
  1. Set SMART goals.
  • Specific: Objectives are easier to define when the goal is specific.
  • Measurable: A measurable goal allows you to evaluate how well you are doing.
  • Achievable: A goal is only worthwhile if it is attainable and completed.
  • Realistic: Set goals you can reach.
  • Timely: A goal is “a dream with a deadline.”
  1. Communicate and clarify.
  2. Identify possible obstacles.
  • The Mental Walk Through
  • The Next Steps
  1. Manage and direct your resources.

3 Resources to lead and direct: People, time (schedule) and money (budget).

  1. Monitor and correct.
  2. Study the results.

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