GOAL-PLANNING AND STRATEGIZING FOR THE NEW YEAR
Goals are useless without a mission statement. What does your organization “stand for?” What is your purpose for even existing? If you do not know the answers to these questions, you won’t accomplish much. Because: If you don’t know where you are going… How will you know how to get there? More importantly, HOW will you know you’ve even arrived??!! It sounds silly and pretty basic but, if you read Pete Carroll’s autobiography, he admits that he had NO answer to any of these questions; therefore, his coaching career floundered. When he was able to answer these questions, the success of his team’s sky rocketed!
So, Step #1: Develop you Mission Statement.
This weekend my wife and I spent 28 hours at our church’s Leadership “Advance!” Our pastor decided he didn’t want to use the normal word “retreat” because we wanted to come out of this weekend moving ahead (advancing) toward achieving the goals God has set down for our church for 2016. Before he shared with the leadership team the goals for 2016, he brought forth 4 CONVICTIONS that God had placed on his heart. He hesitated to call them “problems” but, in essence, that’s exactly what they are. It got me thinking that IF we cannot identify our problems, how can we fix them?! And if you think your organization doesn’t have any problems, you’re just kidding yourself! You are setting yourself up for failure before you’ve even started. This was a brand new way of identifying goals and I was all ears.
To give you an example, here are the 4 Convictions that our pastor shared with us:
1- Empty seats are a problem.
We need to be inviting people to attend one of our church’s worship services so they can hear and see the love of Jesus Christ for
themselves.
2- Empty hearts are a problem.
There are over 1 million unchurched people in the greater Hampton Roads, Va. area. Their hearts need to be filled with the hope
that only Jesus Christ can provide.
*** You can see where conviction #1 and #2 “collide!”
3- Empty stomachs are a problem.
I saw recently in the Pilot that the percentage of children who go to bed hungry in Tidewater is 25-40% of all the children in our area.
This is unacceptable.
4- Empty hands are a problem.
At our church, we need to get more people involved in serving. Whether it’s inside the church building or out in the community,
we need more people getting involved in helping others.
Based on those 4 Convictions, our pastor then laid out his goals for 2016. I won’t go into those here. Suffice it to say that you become aware of your “problems” and then… you ask yourself the next question:
WHAT are we going to DO about each of these problems?
Get the answer to each of those questions and you have formulated your goals!!!
Once you have your goals laid out, you have to address the final leg of this journey. Now you have to form your strategies. Strategies are the “HOW” of achieving your goals. You’ve identified your “convictions” which in turn has led to what it is you want to do to overcome those problems. Now you develop the action steps your organization will need to take to reach each of your goals.
Let me take a “football” team goal and run it through the process so you can see how this works.
1) CONVICTION: We have not been scoring enough points on offense. This is a problem!
2) GOAL: We want to average 30 points a game next year.
3) STRATEGIES:
1- Have a “System” of offense.
Develop an “identity” on offense! Are you going to a) spread people out? b) are
you going to be a “run first” offense? c) will you be an option attack?
*You need to be known for doing something… that defenses have to stop!
2- Staff Development.
The coaches need to spend time studying and learning our offense better— in the
off-season.
Hire a new Offensive Coordinator?
OC studies how to call plays; i.e., HOW to attack defenses with your offense
3- Player Understanding
“Skull sessions” with the players (in the off-season) installing the offense through
weekly playbook –study sessions.
4- Execution
Paying attention to details when you start on field practice sessions. Demand a
higher level of execution than ever before.
5- Player Personnel.
Fitting the right personnel in the right position. You can’t run an option offense if
you don’t have an option-type QB!
6- Reward Progress.
Find ways to reward “good behavior!” A great block earns a helmet sticker. A
great catch gets you out of some conditioning. Something that recognizes
progress!
I hope this gives you something to think about. Break things down by identifying your problem areas. Have a strong conviction that these problem areas must be addressed. Come up with goals that will solve those problems. Then, develop strategies that will give you the steps you need to take to see those goals achieved.
Finally, our pastor closed the session with a powerful statement. A statement that encapsulates what dedication and persistence ultimately produce. Here is the statement:
The bigger the impact you desire to make, the greater the sacrifice is required!!!
