A Practical Guide to Building Strategy for Faith-Based Organizations

Table of Contents

What to Expect in this Guide ..... 3

Prophets of a Future Not Our Own ..... 6

Why Strategy Matters ..... 7

The Full Process: An Overview of Strategic Planning ..... 8

An overview of the strategic planning process. ..... 9

Preparing for the Journey: Important Considerations for Success ..... 10

Setting the stage well for the strategic planning process. ..... 11

A list of strategic planning stages. ..... 12

Organizational Mindset:Suggesting Rules of Engagement for the Process ..... 13

Rules of engagement you can suggest to your organization. ..... 14

Facilitating Strategic Planning Conversations ..... 15

How to lead the strategic planning process. ..... 16

Norms to keep in mind when facilitating any meeting. ..... 18

Diagnosing Your Situation:  Some Practical Questions to Ask Yourself ..... 19

Never discount the power of a good question. ..... 20

Make a list of your own strategic questions. ..... 20

Researching Your Context:  Looking at the Facts of Your Situation ..... 21

Research the forces affecting your organization. ..... 22

Surveying Your Audiences:  Collecting Your Best Intelligence ..... 23

Questions for internal audiences. ..... 24

Questions for external audiences. ..... 24

21 Strategy Development Exercises: Pulling the Best from Your Strategy 

Development Team ..... 25

Exercise 1: Metaphors Through Pictures ..... 26

Exercise 2: Headlines from the Future ..... 27

Exercise 3: Appreciative Inquiry ..... 28

Exercise 4: Priority Cards ..... 29

Exercise 5: Centring Our Priorities ..... 30

Exercise 6: From/To ..... 31

Exercise 7: Flow and Deficit ..... 33

Exercise 8: Tweeting the Organization’s Story ..... 35

Exercise 9: Mission, Vision, and Value Propositions ..... 37

Exercise 10: Organizational Mapping ..... 40

Exercise 11: Market Segmentation ..... 42

Exercise 12: Empathy Mapping ..... 44

Exercise 13: Customer Segmentation ..... 46

Exercise 14: Simplified Customer Journey Mapping ..... 48

Exercise 15: Opportunity Statement ..... 50

Exercise 16: Strategic Choices ..... 52

Exercise 17: Four Actions ..... 54

Exercise 18: Breakthrough Questions ..... 56

Exercise 19: Identifying Choke Points ..... 58

Exercise 20: McKinsey 7S Model ..... 59

Exercise 21: Premortem ..... 63

Culture Eats What for Breakfast? Questions to Ask as You Execute the Plan. ..... 65

How culture eats strategy for breakfast. ..... 66

Communicate the Plan Well ..... 67

Best practices for communicating the strategic plan. ..... 68

Launching The Plan ..... 69

Strategic Plan Templates:  Organize this New Intelligence into a  Meaningful Plan ..... 71

Creating a meaningful plan ..... 72

Template 1: Strategic Themes Template ..... 73

Template 2: Strategy Framework ..... 74

Template 3: Template for the operating plan ..... 75

References and Resources ..... 76

Acknowledgements ..... 78

The Authors ..... 79

Chris Bosch, Principal and Founder, Chisel Consulting ..... 79

Lon Wong, Partner & Lead Consultant, Chisel Consulting ..... 80