Part 2 of a series on Planning for Year 2023Â
Read part 1 to catch up on an intro to long term planning
Click to read part 3 – how to set faith-stretching yet realistic goals
Why does having a numerical goal (connected to a long term plan) change things?
1) It forces you to plan differently
2) It gives your staff and students hope/vision
1) It forces you to plan differently
What happens when you realize that you need to not just reach freshmen but need to reach 80 of them?
It forces your team to think in new ways — to try things you’ve never done before.
It takes “reaching freshmen” from an abstract idea/wish to a concrete reality that needs to be planned.
It makes you realize:
- We’re going to need more than just our staff team of 3 in order to make this happen.
- We’re going to need 20 freshmen Bible study leaders (paired up, leading 10 studies) in order to make that a reality
- We’re going to have 120 in freshmen studies by the end of the fall in order to have 80 still in studies by the end of the spring
- So we need to figure out a way to have conversations with 400 freshmen (if 1 in 5 will get involved in a Study)
- So we’d better get in contact with 800 freshmen
2) It gives your staff and students hope/vision
Having numerical goals that fit into a long term plan turn ordinary, mundane tasks into vision-enfused opportunities.
Scope is demotivating if you don’t have a long term plan to accomplish reaching the entire campus.
It’s really depressing to constantly hear “we want to reach the whole campus, every single student with the gospel” and then look around the room and see you have 50 students involved. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that ain’t gonna happen this year.
But when your staff and students see a bigger picture for HOW we really are going to reach the entire campus, AND how their hard work this fall fits into that big picture, their work becomes meaningful, full of purpose.
Our staff and students need to know that we’re not just involving freshmen to make our name great, to enlarge the Cru kingdom. We have a long term plan to raise up enough equipped laborers that we will eventually share the gospel with every student on campus. I’ll only work so hard for an organizational vision, for Cru. But I will work tirelessly to spread His fame.
Tomorrow: How we set goals that aren’t arbitrary guesses about the future
(Hint: a 12 year step-by-step plan from Jim Sylvester has been enormously helpful)
How has having specific, faith-stretching goals forced your team to plan differently?
photo courtesy of danorbit