Instructions for Completing a Strategic Plan Using the 360 Surveys
To create an actionable and effective strategic plan for your church, begin by going through the Church 360 Surveys (Member, Quantitative, and Qualitative). These surveys will give you an objective view of your church’s current health across seven key areas. Based on the feedback and scores gathered, you will outline your church’s top priorities and translate those into a focused action plan.
Here’s how you can use the 360 Priority Tool and 360 Strategic Planning chart to guide you through the process:
Step 1: Review the Survey Results
- Download the surveys and ensure they are filled out by the appropriate individuals in your church (leaders, members, and external voices).
- Consolidate the responses, focusing on the average scores for each of the seven systems (Organization, Numinous, People, Regeneration, Disciple-Making, Operations, and Advancement).
- Analyze the scores to identify where your church is thriving and where there are gaps or areas for improvement. Look for areas with a significant difference between leader and member scores, as these can highlight potential misunderstandings or blind spots.
Step 2: Prioritize Using the 360 Priority Tool
Using the results, begin completing the 360 Priority Tool:
- Fill out the chart for each of the seven systems by entering the average scores for both leaders and members.
- Identify your priorities for each area:
- Start: New initiatives or areas that need attention.
- Stop: Areas or practices that should be discontinued or changed.
- Revise/Strengthen: Practices or strategies that need improvement or enhancement.
- Add comments for additional context or observations.
Based on your analysis, identify the top three critical areas (from the seven systems) that require immediate attention. These should be areas where either the score is particularly low or there is a significant gap between leader and member perspectives.
Step 3: Create the Strategic Plan
Once you’ve outlined the key priorities, proceed to the 360 Strategic Planning section. Break down your top three priorities into actionable steps:
Priority Project #1:
- Project Title: Define the project name (e.g., “Strengthening Volunteer Training”).
- Overall Goal: What do you hope to achieve with this priority? (e.g., “Create a comprehensive volunteer onboarding process”).
- Start Date: When will the project begin?
- Target Completion Date: When do you aim to complete it? Project Steps: Break down the project into smaller steps with deadlines.
- Step Description: Describe each task.
- Owner: Assign responsibility to a leader or team member.
- Target Start Date: Set a start date.
- Target Completion Date: Set a target date for completion.
Priority Project #2: Follow the same process for your second priority.
Priority Project #3: Repeat for your third priority.
Step 4: Implement, Review, and Adjust
Once the strategic plan is in place, go on to the next step. You will create a dashboard that you can review at each meeting or monthly to:
- Monitor progress regularly.
- Review milestones and adjust timelines or resources as needed.
- Ensure that the right people are held accountable and that tasks are completed on schedule.
By following these steps, your church will be equipped with a clear, focused, and actionable strategic plan that aligns with the insights gathered from the surveys, leading to stronger health and growth in the key areas of your ministry.