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This week’s episode builds on Monday’s article, part six in the series titled “Complementary Contradictions.” Here is the transcript of the podcast.

Sometimes, you get conflicting words of advice, one which is good and the other which is not, and it requires discernment to determine which is the right advice to follow. But often, these seeming contradictions are, in reality, complementary and, when used appropriately and in the right way, can work together to help you make better decisions. In this series of articles and podcast episodes, we are looking at different leadership ideas or principles that seem to contradict, are opposite sides of a coin, or at least differ from each other, and we are pairing them up to see how they actually complement each other to make you a better leader. This week, in part 6, we talk about what happens when a plan comes together, and next week, in part 7, we talk about what happens when a plan falls apart.

In the last two weeks, we talked about zooming out and zooming in, in order to first see the big picture and then to take care of the details piece by piece. You have heard the saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees,” and that was our primary metaphor for these contradictory, complementary ideas; contradictory in that you cannot do both things at the same time – see the forest AND see the trees – and complimentary in that you have to go back and forth – look at the forest, then at the trees, and back to the forest – repeatedly in order to successfully navigate where you are going and what you are doing. That pair of principles is a great prerequisite to the next pair of principles, which is all about having a plan and managing the detours.

In my experience as a school administrator, I was committed to cultivating an environment that challenged students to think well and to think biblically. That involved constantly seeking out the best ways to do that, including trying to identify the methods that would help me do that most effectively and efficiently. For example, I took typing on a physical typewriter my senior year of high school to prepare for typing papers in college. By the time I became a teacher, I was learning to type on a computer with a word-processing application. By the time I became an administrator, students were learning word processing applications in 9th grade, and it wasn’t long until they became junior high courses instead. And now, it has reached the point where students are learning to type and code algorithms in kindergarten and lower elementary. 

With that understanding of the progression of technology as the background, I reached a point in my leadership experience when I came to believe that in order to teach students with excellence, it was important for every student to have a device in their hands in the classroom, either a laptop or a tablet. So, I began to research. I looked up studies and data on the use of devices and their impact on learning. I visited other schools that were already considered “1-to-1,” meaning one electronic device for every student. I researched specific devices and apps, with the pros and cons of each. With the help of the IT director, I explored the hardware (network speed and strength, Wi-Fi devices, charging stations, etc.) and software (Learning Management System, programs, and apps). I prepared a pilot test run with a teacher and a classroom. And finally, I prepared for the rollout of this next step in how we were educating our students to prepare them for college and career. 

Essentially, I had created a plan that resulted in every student having a tablet in their hands when they came to school in the morning. It was the result of a lot of things – research, preparation, identification of needs and potential solutions, getting feedback and listening, establishing a process, and eventually implementing it. It was thrilling on that first day of school of a new school year when it was now normal for a student to walk into a class, take out an electronic device, open the app and take a quick pre-assessment to give the teacher immediate feedback before the lesson, or start collaborating on a research project with other students, or begin typing a paper, or watch a supplementary video to the lesson to improve understanding. This was all the result of a plan to do something new, but to do it intentionally and well.

That’s what it looks like for you when you put a plan together first, before jumping into a new change. There are important steps for you to follow and a strategic plan to prepare that are necessary in order to set you up for success. Maybe there is something new you need to do that you haven’t been doing. Maybe there’s something you have been doing that hasn’t been working. Maybe there’s something you have been doing that has been marginally working but needs to be better. Before that happens, and so that you can implement and navigate well, you need to create the plan.

What does that plan look like? It looks like a step-by-step process of analyzing, evaluating, identifying, defining, and implementing a plan for future direction and growth, otherwise known as a strategic plan. I would encourage you to read the article that matches this podcast, where I list eight specific steps in the planning process that I believe are essential. Understand that my steps are not necessarily the only way to do it, but it’s a starting point for you. You may find other strategic planning methods, or you may modify the steps I have given to match you, but regardless, you need a plan. 

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What matters for you is that you have an intentional and methodical process for assessing where you are, determining where you need to be, and drawing the map that shows how you will get there. The map is your plan, and therefore it is crucial for getting from here to there without getting lost. If you do it well, you will experience the joy of arriving at the destination that you have been eagerly anticipating. And it happened because a plan came together.

Sometimes, you get conflicting words of advice, one which is good and the other which is not, and it requires discernment to determine which is the right advice to follow. But often, these seeming contradictions are, in reality, complementary and, when used appropriately and in the right way, can work together to help you make better decisions. In this series of articles and podcast episodes, we are looking at different leadership ideas or principles that seem to contradict, are opposite, or at least differ from each other and pairing them up to see how they actually complement each other to make you a better leader. This week, in part 6, we talk about what happens when a plan comes together, and next week, in part 7, we talk about what happens when a plan falls apart.

I was fairly young and had just become the headmaster of a small Christian school. I knew that the school had been operating with an interim headmaster, that enrollment had drastically declined over the previous couple of years, that they had recently gone through a major shift in identity, that resources were very limited, and that a desired plan for building a new school facility appeared to be stalling out. I felt the emotional mix of excitement about the possibilities and the anxiety of feeling overwhelmed and in over my head, but I also knew that God had clearly and specifically directed in my life to put me in this position. I had previous administrative experience, but not as a head of school, and I had no real training in strategic planning. I simply knew that I had a major project ahead of me, so I rolled up my sleeves and began to assemble a plan of action.  

I started with an intentional process of trying to determine the current status – resources, people, programs, obstacles, etc. – and identify direction and goals, followed by prioritizing those goals and deciding what steps would need to be taken to achieve them. It began with the simple process of first zooming out and then zooming in, the pairs of principles I put together in the last couple of articles and podcast episodes, which I described last time as writing things down on individual, notebook-sized sheets of Post-it notes and placing them on a large empty wall. When they were all up on the wall, I stepped back and began to look at them, individually and together, and then began to sort them into categories and themes and to look for connections, arranging them by groups, priority, and sequential order of process. When I was all done, I had my first official strategic plan.

Strategic planning could be defined as the process of creating and initiating a specific plan to address a determined and identifiable goal need, and my own process in that school was a very crude (although efficient and effective for me at that time and place in my leadership development) form of strategic planning. In the years since, I have learned from experience, education, and training much more about effective – and ineffective – strategic planning. Therefore, even though I helped to facilitate excellent change and growth (with credit actually going to God much more than me; I was only the instrument He chose to use), I now know a number of things I would have done differently or additionally, in my first attempt at strategic planning.

There is an experience that takes place in the book of Ezra, in chapters 9 and 10, that provides a great source of learning for us on this topic. Ezra had already successfully led a group of leaders back to Jerusalem from their place of captivity. The physical temple had already been reconstructed, and now Ezra had returned to facilitate the restoration of the spiritual temple – the hearts of the people. After he arrived in Jerusalem, he took the time to assess the situation and determine the issues (in this circumstance, they were the issues of unfaithfulness and unholiness) and prepared a strategic plan to address the issues and restore the people and the nation before God. This is the process we see when we focus on in Ezra 10:6-17. There we find a description of the process, from inception to implementation, of a specific and measurable plan to address the issue that they faced. In this process, Ezra led the way by his example and his intentional methods, showing us how we, too, can undertake the task of strategic planning for our ministries and organizations.

  1. Step one: Preparation (v. 6) – Enter the process ready, so spend time preparing yourself for the task ahead; this includes your spiritual preparation, humbling yourself before God.
  2. Step two: People (vv. 7-9) – Gather the right people together, including (a) those who will be affected, (b) those who will help make the process, and (c) representative leadership from among the followers.
  3. Step three: Need (v. 10) – Identify the issue(s) or need(s) that must be addressed; before you can prepare a plan, you must be able to articulate what it is that needs to happen, or where it is that you need to go, based on where you currently are and what you are currently doing. Don’t make it complicated.
  4. Step four: Goal (v. 11) – Identify the goal or goals that are to be achieved; this implies identifying the means and steps of correcting or resolving the need that has been identified, and determining what will need to be accomplished that, when done, will fulfill the plan.
  5. Step five: Listen (vv. 12-13) – Listen, giving people a voice in the process, especially those people who may be impacted or affected and those people who have “ground floor knowledge.” Listen to what they say and let them know that they have been heard.
  6. Step six: Process (vv. 13-14) – Establish a process for implementing the plan in four pieces: (a) determine the steps in the process, from start to finish; (b) select leaders to oversee the process of carrying out the plan (this also helps to provide accountability); (c) create a calendar, schedule, or timeline; and (d) when all is said and done, it needs to be more than just talk, and so the process has to be initiated.
  7. Step seven: Obstacles (vv. 13, 15) – Identify and prepare for obstacles and opposition so that you are ready to respond.
  8. Step eight: Implement (vv. 16-17) – Take the action step of implementing the plan and the process, keeping the end in focus, and identifying when the goals have been reached.

The A-Team was a popular television show in the ‘80s, and one of its iconic lines came when the leader of the team, Hannibal, would say, “I love it when a plan comes together!” That’s the joy of a strategic plan. It’s the opportunity to zoom out and see the big picture, zoom in and craft a strategy for the details, and zoom back out to see what will be when you put your plan in place. When you are stepping into a new situation, facing a need for change and growth, have carried out or completed the last strategic plan, or have simply stagnated . . . it’s time for a plan to come together.