Our job as leaders is to see what others don’t see- to look at the same reality that everyone experiences and be able to perceive what is really going on and what needs to happen next.
A big part of that is accomplished through concentrated days of Team Planning — where we chart our course for a new year.
In most of college ministry, that time is now.
So toward that end here is some, hopefully, very practical stuff you can use to set up your planning time:
A couple key thoughts on planning:
- Click to read yesterday’s post on our favorite way to do planning
- We are big fans of Buckets and Holes solutions:
- Using what we’re good at to fix what we’re bad at
- We’re not scrapping our methods and long term goals every year and starting from scratch.
- Our planning is framed by a 12 year plan to accomplish the vision: “that everyone on campus would know someone who passionately follows Christ”
- We’re committed to building a movement by reaching a progressively larger freshman class every year and reaching more pockets of campus (If you’re not real sure how to go about Movement Building on a college campus, read this article: Taking a Movement from 20 to 200 )
- So what we ARE planning is: “what do we need to do THIS year to reach a larger freshman class and more pockets of campus?”
Good analogies for planning:
- We spend the semester furiously climbing a ladder
- Planning is a time to stop climbing and assess whether our ladder is leaning against the right wall, to re-evaluate where we’ve been and whether we are headed in the right direction
- Imagine we’re on a long trek thru a dense forest
- We spend the semester plowing thru underbrush and pushing aside branches that are hitting us in the face
- This is an opportunity to climb to the top of the tallest tree and see where we are at — to check our surroundings, look back on progress so far, and to scout out what lies ahead
- To figure out if we’ve even been heading in the right direction
Some good questions to help you assess your movement in different ways:
- If you were to ask a _____, what would they say about Cru (your ministry)?
- Greek student
- Avg freshman in dorm
- Intl Student
- African American student
- Athlete
- Hispanic student
- Student from another ministry
- Administration
- What kind of people want to come to our movement?
- Who is most invested in our movement right now?
- Who is NOT coming to our movement? Why?
- What kind of people have come to Christ through our movement?
- Who are we uniquely positioned to reach?
- Who are the “connectors” in our movement? Who can they reach?
- If we got kicked off campus and they brought in an entirely new team, what would the new team change or do different?
- As you look at how staff and students spend their time every week, what needs to change for the sake of effectiveness?
- Are we attracting natural leaders? If not, what could we do differently that might help us?
Lastly, a few great planning quotes:
“The organizations that matter are busy being run by people who figure out what to do next” — Seth Godin
 “Breakthrough results come about by a series of good decisions diligently executed and accumulated one on top of another.” – Jim Collins
 “You will see less happen in one year than you would ever think, but you will see more happen in five years than you would ever dream.” – Jim Sylvester
“Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior.” – Dee Hock
“You’ve got to think about the big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” – Alvin Toffler
“The best way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas.” – Linus Pauling
“Chance favors the prepared mind” — Louis Pasteur
photo courtesy of  sierragoddess