Visioning and Strategic Planning
(9 Month to One Year Process)
Assist in a cultural or strategic change within your church or organization. Co-create with your board, staff and key lay leaders the culture or future you desire. Unleash the energy in your church or organization as you engage in dialogue with all voices and discern your next steps. Create a real energy shift within your spiritual community or organization. Strategies you never thought possible emerge as your reality. It’s fun; it’s energizing and it fulfills a specific topic around which your church or organization wants to focus. We stay connected with key leaders throughout the process with coaching and check-in meetings via phone to answer questions and guide the unfolding process.
Sample Visioning and Strategic Planning Initiative:
Objectives:
- To review, affirm and/or edit the mission, vision and value statements of your organization
- To discover, affirm and celebrate the key strengths of your organization
- To dream the vision of the next phase of your organization’s development
- To design the intentional strategic priorities for unfolding the vision of your organization
- To co-create the practices and implement the destiny for your organization
Dates and Steps of Engagement:
Form and Guide Appreciative Inquiry Advisory Team (choose dates) — clarify the Intentional Affirmative Topic Choice, design the AI Interview Guide, select participants, and schedule interviews, meetings and actions. All this work will be completed at least one month prior to the first training day.
Hold and Facilitate One-Day Training Session (choose date) — conduct a full day training session with staff, board and extended leadership on Appreciative Inquiry process and how to complete interviews. Also train Appreciative Inquiry Advisory Team how to synthesize the data emerging from the interviews. Interviews usually take approximately 4—5 weeks to complete and map results.
Hold Day and a Half Appreciative Inquiry Summit (choose dates) — facilitate an extended group of organization leaders and members in discovery, dream and design phases. Celebrate the Positive Core of what is true. Dream the future of your organization. Choose three to five intentional strategic priorities. Form design teams around intentional priorities. Design teams meet for training day approximately 4—5 weeks after AI Summit.
Hold Training Day and a Half for Design Teams (choose dates) — lead a day and a half training session for all members on the three to five design teams. Chart their work for the next five–six months. Clarify mission, vision and values. Provide tips and checkpoints on how to successfully complete a plan. Set up interim monthly design team reports to AI Advisory Team. Consultant supports these interim check in meetings.
Hold Design/Destiny Day (choose date) — facilitate presentation of reports from all Design teams and synthesize the decisions for board and staff to allow all these plans to manifest the organization’s destiny. This meeting is held at the end of the Design team period. It is best to be completed in time frame for all decisions to be melded into organization’s annual budget.
Coach Key Leaders During the Process (dates of entire engagement) — be available for telephone and email consultations during this entire time for Senior Leader, President of Board, AI Advisory Team members, and Design Team leaders.
Sunday Speaking — be available to speak to your church each of the four weekends I am present during the process. I have created four Sunday talks on Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny that will help the whole church be more engaged in the Appreciative Inquiry process.
To Learn More of the Appreciative Inquiry process please read introductory article under Writings.
