Bible Students

Abstract

This paper aims to describe the nature and practice of strategic leadership planning. The paper is divided into four sections covering a biblical theology of planning, as well as the preparation, process, and practice of strategic leadership planning. The sections will end with a case study of the principles described applied in the author’s professional context. This paper is an informal sequel paper to the author’s CBL551: Studies in Team Building final paper, and will seek to follow the preparation, process, and practice of the changes proposed. Additionally, as this is the last paper for the Christian Leadership emphasis in the author’s degree, he will seek to synthesize all of the material from the emphasis courses. Resources are included which the author has found especially helpful for reference by others seeking to replicate the success of this process. By the end, the reader should have a robust understanding of the theory and practice of strategic leadership planning, as well as confidence in the author’s understanding of the topic. 

Strategic Leadership Planning and the Bible

There are three prime examples of leadership and leadership planning present in the Bible. Those three examples are Moses, Nehemiah, and Jesus. The leadership of these three individuals will be expanded upon in this section. Each of these figures practices strategic leadership planning in their own way. The three steps to strategic leadership planning are preparation, process, and practice. 

Preparation

Preparation mainly focuses on the character of the leaders and team. The individuals must be equipped both spiritually and professionally in order to bring change. Moses, Nehemiah, and Jesus were all three equipped both spiritually and professionally. Moses was equipped under the leadership of his father-in-law Jethro. When Moses was a shepherd in the wilderness, he was being equipped spiritually and professionally for his later leading of the Lord’s sheep (Israel) through the wilderness. As a shepherd, Moses was equipped with the character traits of leading sheep, who need direct leadership in order to do what they are supposed to do. Moses spent much time speaking with the Lord before and after that time, as well, contributing to his personal relationship with the Lord, which is needed for every leader.

When Nehemiah heard of the neglect for Jerusalem, his spirit was moved and he desired to travel back to Jerusalem. The journey from Persia was far. The journey was a time when Nehemiah was able to continue literally moving forward, but was also a waiting time before he was able to be a hands-on leader with the people of Jerusalem. Nehemiah must have had much time with the Lord during that long journey, as any good leader should. He was prepared by God for leadership as an employee of the government, and likely spiritually through the long journey to Jerusalem. 

Jesus’ famous time fasting in the wilderness is the prime example of preparation before making change in ministry. Jesus went out to the wilderness to fast, was tempted by the Devil, and chose the Lord. Leaders in the church would benefit from solitude, as touched on below. Solitude is spiritual formation when it is used to be drawn closer to God. Jesus was professionally prepared for His ministry through His spiritual formation, as His calling was as a preacher of the Kingdom. These three figures were prepared spiritually and professionally for their call from the Lord. 

Process

The Process of change is the step of assembling the theoretical plan of action before implementing it for change. This includes the vision, mission, values and goals, as well as reaching both in and out of the community for support. Moses did many of these things. The vision of Moses was to bring the nation out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. The mission was to follow the will of God for national deliverance. The values were obedience to His Word, faith, and unity. The goals were to overcome the plagues of Egypt, wilderness wanderings, venomous snakes, starvation, and the other small episodes of Israel’s deliverance. The goals were what the nation aimed to overcome in the short-term. Moses reached into the community by facilitating the presence of God through directing the building of the Tabernacle and giving of the Law. These practices were following the leading of God and not on his own, but they resulted in the sanctification of God’s people and the support of the people. Moses reached out of the community by demonstrating the power of God to all of Egypt, resulting to a mixed multitude coming out with him. 

Nehemiah also did many of these things. Nehemiah had a vision of Jerusalem’s walls being rebuilt, a mission to build up the community of God in Jerusalem, the values of unity and strength in the Lord, and desired to overcome short-term goals of opposition each day. Nehemiah reached into the community and built them up through the admonition of his ministry, and through the equipping of the people to defend themselves against opposition. He reached out of the community by showing that God’s people would not be stopped, and the victory would belong to God’s people. If anyone outside of the community desired victory, they would need to come inside. 

Finally, Jesus also does all of these things. The vision of Jesus is to have the Kingdom of God on earth and to forgive mankind. Jesus’ mission was to disciple a few individuals and act as a sacrifice to make this vision happen. His values were unity, love, obedience, faith, and service. His goals were to overcome the individual encounters with opposition and to daily train His disciples. Jesus reached into His community by building up His disciples through teaching and spending life with them. He reached out of the community by constantly bringing others in and calling out the hypocrisy of those who opposed Him. All three of these figures had the necessary parts of preparation. 

Practice

Executing the process in practice is usually as straightforward as simply doing the process already planned. When the leader has a proper preparation and process, they are able to effectively apply them for the practice step. Moses executed his processes in the wilderness, where he led the Israelites out of Egypt and near to the Promised Land. Nehemiah executed his processes by building up the walls of Jerusalem. Jesus made disciples, died and resurrected, and sent His disciples out. 

Strategic Leadership Planning Stages

This section will aim to outline the preparation, process, and the practice of implementing strategic leadership planning. This section will draw from the theories of experts in the area of implementing internal and external change at work, as well as drawing from the author’s experience of implementing change through CBL551: Studies in Team Building. 

Preparation

Preparing for the implementation of change is one of the most important steps. This is where much of the success of the plan is determined, as the ability for influence in change is determined largely by how the change is planned. Does the plan have a proper foundation? Does the plan have proper support? Does the plan have a mechanism by which to succeed? Is this the right time and setting for this plan? These critical questions can be often ignored in the process of preparing for change. When there is not a proper support for the plan, a proper idea for answering those questions, the plan will likely fail. There are three main ways for the leader to prepare the ground for new work. First, the leader must be prepared for change. Second, the team must be prepared. Third, the setting and mechanism must be prepared.  Under “Attributes of a Healthy Team Build,” the author discusses the need for both professional and spiritual development of all three of these areas. The professional and spiritual development under the light of preparation will be discussed below. 

Preparation in Theory.

First, the team leader must be prepared. The preparation of the leader is a matter both of education and character. First, the leader must be prepared in education. The leader must be willing to put in the work to become educated on the methods of implementing change. A leader who has passion without direction (an educated method of change) will not accomplish as much as they could otherwise.

What does education preparation look like? A leader becoming educated does not have to be expensive. Becoming educated on change can be as simple as reading related literature on implementing change in a ministry or other team setting. Books which help this in various degrees include The Gospel at Work, The Call to Follow, Handbook on Church Discipline, Advanced Strategic Planning, Sticky Teams, and Multipliers. Education through written literature is especially helpful. Additionally, online resources such as Carey Nieuwhof’s “On-Demand Leadership Courses” and “Biblical Training” online courses give excellent free resources on implementing change. The educated leader should be educated in many aspects of both church and secular culture, including the community, the call of ministry, and handling conflict. In today’s technological age, there is no excuse for not becoming educated with free resources for implementing change. 

The leader must also be prepared in character. The leader who is not prepared in character to implement change with grace, love, mercy, and care for the individuals on the team will not be who they are called to be by God. This also means any kind of change must ultimately be for the glory of God. If a leader seeks to implement change which is not for the glory of God, but is for the glory of man, the leader is heading away from God and must repent. Christian leaders in any area must seek to lead their team to God, not away from God. Spiritual disciplines are an important part of the life of the leader, especially one who seeks to implement change. Without the personal fortification spiritual disciplines bring, the leader will not be able to implement change as a proper minister of God. 

What does character preparation look like? Spiritual disciplines may be financially and resourcefully expensive. Spiritual disciplines of a leader include self care and spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines are one of the most essential aspects of the proper leader. Spiritual disciplines, or “practicing the Presence,” include prayer, rest, silence, and Bible reading. Self care is similar to spiritual disciplines. While spiruitual disicplines largely make sure the Christian is being poured into, self care makes sure the Christian is not being over-poured out. Practices of self care include accountability, conflict-resolution, limits, addressing trauma, exercise, diet, and an identity placed in Christ. Leaders must also take control of their own schedule, not allowing other people to control it. For the sake of self care, leaders must know the difference between the “urgent” and the important.

Character preparation may be financially and resourcefully expensive, and leaders should be prepared to do what it takes to be Christians of character. This may mean working less hours at work in order to make time for family and self care. This may mean buying Bible resources which encourage regularly being in the Word. This may include smashing a laptop and purchasing an accountability service, such as Covenant Eyes. Whatever it takes, leaders must first prepare their own soil for tilling before aiming to prepare the soil of their team. If leaders are not willing to prepare their own soil before attempting to lead others, they are likely leading for selfish purposes.

Second, the team must be prepared. This must happen both on the part of the leader and the team members. Leaders must seek to grow their team in the same way they grew themselves. Team members must seek to follow the character growth of the leader. When the leader is able to grow themself spiritually and professionally, growing others will come naturally. The team must begin to be prepared for change. This requires spiritual and professional development. Teams, in the first place, are created to discover and address problems,

Additionally, preparing the team requires a felt need for change on their part. The team must feel there is an actual need worth going through the effort of fulfilling. The leader should do this in two ways. First, before the onset of a problem, the leader should be constantly showing their team what proper change looks like. Otherwise, if the only information on change comes when the leader wants to make a certain change, it can be taken as lobbying by the team members. Second, the leader should show the team what the current issues are, and propose rough solutions to them in order to guage both their agreement in seeing the problem and their views on a rough-draft plan.

Third, the setting and mechanisms must be prepared. The mechanism of change can be as simple as whole-team meetings. Leaders must brainstorm a time and place for the whole team to meet, or another way to communicate all of the changes and passion to the whole team. The passion must be communicated in person if possible in order to rally the team to a shared goal. When the leader is excited about a change, the team can also be. The setting can be prepared through a serious assessment of the problem needing to be changed. A problem which is fully laid out and exposed is prepared for a correction. 

Preparation in Practice.

This process was used in the author’s place of work. There were multiple interpersonal and professional problems with the team. The author addressed these problems with both leadership and the rest of the team, without directly proposing ideas to the team. First, the author prepared himself and leadership through communicating the problems observed and some possible solutions. One important note is that the author and leadership already had a Christ-centered relationship, which allowed for a Christ-centered discussion. When there is no Christ-centered relationship already in place, the situation can quickly become what seems to be an attack on one party, rather than desiring the best for the workplace. Encouraging spiritual relationships before conflict or the need for change arises is key to addressing conflict and change, especially when not in explicit leadership. 

The author then discussed the proposed solutions to fellow team members, gauged their interests, and considered their suggestions. Listening to the suggestions of the team is important for involvement as well, as the team will rally much more around an idea they are able to have a tangible part in. Finally, the author, leadership, and team members were able to work together to lay the problems out bare, revealing both the wide-reaching effects of the problems and where they arose from. The team was ready to address the problems at their root, and were rallied together for that purpose. 

Process

When professional and spiritual development are under control and the problem has been assessed and laid bare, the next step is to understand the process one will go through the address the problems. First, the process requires a solidified method of solving the problem for the team to rally behind, and a method of communicating and holding the team to the process. Next, the team must reach inward and outward for resources and support to address the problems. Finally, the team must assess the plan before implementing.

Process in Theory.

The theory of the process involves how the plan will hit the ground in the application process, as well as the direction of the changes, and how the changes will affect the inside and outside communities. 

Implementation

The strategy of the Process is how one intends on implementing the change. Implementing the change is how the change will interact with the current work situation. For example, the implementation of the process may be weekly meetings with the team in order to make sure the plan is running well. Monthly or weekly meetings are an effective way to be constantly evaluating the plan, and to see if it makes the proper changes to the work place. The strategy of implementation should be applied to both the impersonal and interpersonal aspects of the mission. This means meetings should be used both to check on the advancement of the mission, as well as the spiritual and professional development of the team as a whole. 

Values, Mission, Vision, Goals

Next, the values, mission, vision, and goals of the changes should be discovered. The order can change from work setting to work setting, but there is a logical following from values to mission, vision, and goals. First, the organization must discover what its values are. This is an evaluation of where the organization currently is, in contrast to their previous set of values. The written set of values is likely outdated and inaccurate if it has not been evaluated in some time. The values of team or organization can be discovered through having each individual on the team write down the top three values they have at the company. A combination of those values can be compiled, which highlights the top five values of the organization. The actual values of the organization may be a good place to restart the direction of the organization from, or may be a good place to implement change for the value systems of its members. 

From the values, the organization must understand its mission. Where does the organization lie in terms of what they seek to do? What does the organization offer to those inside and outside of itself? The mission is what the organization exists for, their main goal. This can be discovered through a careful examination of the services of the organization. Similarly to the values, the actual mission of the organization could be very close or very far from its written mission. 

From there, the vision of the organization can be imagined. What would it look like far into the future to have a healthy mission and values? Where could the Lord take this ministry with His help alone? The vision does not need to be something realistic with the current or expected abilities of the organization, but can imagine what the organization could do when used by the Lord. The vision can be imaginative, though it should be realistic enough for the team to rally behind. 

Finally, the goals are extrapolated from the previous three statements. The goals are what the team should expect to be able to do in short amounts of time. For example, a church evangelism team may have a goal of bringing in 10 new unchurched individuals each month. While this goal may seem small, over time if this goal is consistently accomplished the church will grow exponentially, especially as resources and people become more plentiful. 

Reaching Inward and Outward

The organization should also seek to build itself up from the inside and bring in others from the outside. In short, the mission should have a method of collecting and growing resources. Resources should be poured into those inside the organization, and those outside of the organization should be affected by its mission. 

Reaching inward includes the spiritual and professional development of those on the team. The implementation of change must include consistently growing those who are on the inside, pouring resources into them. Reaching inward can include both spiritual and professional practices. On the side of spiritual formation, leaders can lead their team in restorative practices such as attending seminary. While this is not typically considered a spiritual discipline, formal spiritual education is useful for all kinds of things, including future employment. In terms of professional development, leaders can host mission-related seminars or a job-related book club. These kinds of developments invest in the individual team member, faithfully crafting a team which is both equipped and willing to do the mission of the organization. 

Reaching outward includes drawing in new support for the organization. If the organization’s mission is helpful, those outside of it should be shown its usefulness in order to also rally behind it and come on board. For an organization like Chick-Fil-A, reaching outward may include hosting events and creating an atmosphere of family time. This kind of usefulness in the community will cause others to desire to rally behind its mission of serving the community well. The inclusion of outside people will be a never-ending well of new resources, including finances, time, networking, and talent. 

Assessment

Finally, the organization must have a proper method of assessing their application of the changes. Both the progress of the team and the regress of the problem should be measured. This can be done through looking at the goals of the organization. Are the goals being consistently met? Are the goals too high or too low? In terms of the individuals, are they growing in the areas they are being led in? Assessment does not need to be overly frequently. Formal assessment can be every few months. However, there should remain a constant line of informal assessment, which brings any issues immediately to the respective team members. This way, there can be opportunity for an immediate fix. Assessment is an essential part of implementing changes. Without checking the faithfulness to a set course, one can quickly go off-track. 

Process in Practice.

The process of applying changes in the author’s workplace followed a very similar path. The method of implementing the changes were to occur through meetings. First, there was a formal whole-team meeting which outlined the changes which would be made, as well as the benefits each team member could expect through the changes. Then, there would be frequent daily meetings, regularly reaching three times a day. These meetings were short times of prayer, Bible reading, and assessment of the daily work so far. The first meeting established the expectation of the changes, and the following informal meetings helped to make sure the course was being followed. 

The values of the team were evaluated through informal discussions, and then a synthesis of the most important and frequent responses. The work context of the author discovered that they value spiritual disciplines, creative expression, and spiritual discussions, to name a few. These values would determine what this work context would contribute to those involved and those outside. The work place of the author was discovered to exist for three main purposes: To spiritually and professionally build up those working there as a temporary work environment, to serve the local community, and ultimately to glorify God. The vision of the work place was to be a place of high professional productivity in order to make room for high creative expression and spiritual development. In essence, the highest foreseeable goal would be to have the daily goals done so efficiently that the team had plenty of room to experiment with professional development and have time to read the Bible, pray, be vulnerable with one another, and have Christ-centered conversation. The goals, which were derived straight from this vision, are written down as a list of daily tasks which must be accomplished. There is a daily list as well as a recently added monthly list. These lists are expected to be completed with relative speed, giving realistic room for creative expression and spiritual disciplines in the workplace. 

The leader of the work place reached inward to equip the team for creative expression (through the use of a work place creative cook book) and a Bible reading plan in order that everyone can be on the same page. The leader also reached outward to encourage support from the Chief Operations Officer and the Chief Executive Officer, which created room for the team members to express creativity and a desire to know the Lord with others with a good conscience. Finally, assessment is done through the daily informal meetings. Individuals meet constantly and evaluate how they are being faithful or unfaithful to the mission of the place of work, while planning to do better. 

Practice

When the character of the parties and the method of action are ready, the final step is to execute the processes against the problems. Momentum is critical in this step. If the team waits too long to implement a plan, others will become less enthused and the momentum needed will be lost. Momentum is needed from leadership, from the team, and from those outside in order to continue the practice well. Leaders must be quick to execute the plan before momentum is lost. When a leader has a virtuous team and a solid plan, quick implementation will not be a problem.

Practice in Theory.

As mentioned, when preparation and process are under control, practice is only a matter of faithfulness to the course already set. Accomplishing what was set before the team is the key aspect here. The goals should be met, the team should be developed both spiritually and professionally, and the resources should be collected and used. The way to ensure this is happening is through a team which is rallied behind the changes. A team which desires the changes can push hard to make change happen. In order to do this, momentum must be kept, as excitement about change can quickly be diminished when the team believes change is not possible on the Practice stage due to a lack of interest from other team members or leadership. Assessment should be a constant part of the Practice step. 

Practice in Practice.

In the author’s place of work, Practice is accomplished through four main pathways. First, the whole team met in order to begin the implementation of the changes. The leader of the team articulated the changes clearly and with enthusiasm, encouraging the team to give all they had to the mission. Second, daily meetings continued to ensure the goals and mission were being faithfully followed. Due to this, there has been a constant sense of accountability. Daily goals must be met, but there is also great reward to accomplishing them. Third, momentum continued from the initial official meeting. Three weeks after the first, there was a second official whole-team meeting which gave a formal assessment. The daily goals had been essentially met every day for the previous three weeks, which was a great success and encouragement for the team. Additionally, further liberties and development were given, as well as updates on professional development. Finally, the leader encouraged from the beginning an atmosphere of constant informal evaluation of others. If one person was dragging the team down, they would be encouraged. If they were doing poorly, they were likely spiritually low, and would benefit greatly from spiritual encouragement, Bible reading, and prayer. Then, the team would be able to accomplish the daily goals, giving even more time for Bible reading, prayer, and professional development through creative expression. 

Conclusion

The reflection on the author’s place of work has demonstrated one thing clearly: When taking change seriously, it does not matter if one is higher-level management at a company working with business majors or a prep-cook for a college cafeteria working with 21-year-olds. A college prep cook can aid in implementing beneficial change in their work environment through following these three steps of implementing change: Preparation, Process, and Practice. Careful character development and planning can result in change which hits the ground running, and creates long strides of change in the right direction.

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