Video Transcript: Phase 1 - Master Planning

The last time we were together, I talked about the importance of organization,  and that's what we're going to talk about now. It's called master planning. Let me share with you my story. I was a seminary graduate, and I had been involved in  ministry for about five years, and a man by the name of Verley Sangster, back  then, he was the National Urban director for young life, and he was based in  Denver, and he invited me, along with a number of pastors and youth leaders  together for to meet one day a month for eight months, and he took us through  the entire all of the master planning materials that were coming out of Master  Planning Group International. Like I said, I was a seminary grad, and I had  never heard what I was taught. I never knew you could think this way about  about leadership, and didn't know that you could think this way about  organization. Someone once asked me, Why is master planning so important to  you? What makes that why would you not favor some of the other strategic  planning materials? And I told him, I said, you know, I came out of the  neighborhood. Okay, my father was a 10th grade dropout. I had great skills in  music, but then I got saved and brought into ministry, and I did not know how to  think presidentially about an organization, and yet, here I was seeking to  establish one the beauty of the master planning material, I found was in its  profound simplicity that Bob had put together materials that someone like me  could immediately take and grab and apply. They didn't You didn't have to be a  rocket scientist to do it. It was very simple, and so I did that. Shortly after, like I  said, I was a graduate for about three years. 10 years later, I was co officiating a wedding, and the gentleman who was part of he was the head of the leadership  foundation that helped sponsor that that event. And so while we were doing the  wedding, I said to him, you know, I want to thank you again for what you allowed me to experience. And he looked at me and said, Would you like to do it again?  And so we got together with another one of the consultants for master planning,  and we spent the next two years. We did it twice, same thing, but two years  back to back. Only this time, the first year I assisted her, and then in the second  year, she assisted me. And then at the end of that two year period, I had the  privilege of meeting with with Bob, and he gave me permission to teach the  master planning portion of master planning group international and so I have  been, I have been doing that, but it is amazing how that has changed. How  changed organ so many organizations do not know how to move forward. They  do not know what to do next, or why and why it's important, and how to bring  appropriate resources to bear on the need at hand, and master planning allows  you to do that. A master plan is a written statement of a group's assumptions  about its direction, its organization and its resources. Now what happens when  you don't have a plan, when an organization does not have a plan? Well, here's  one thing that happens, drifting day to day. There can be a lack of clear focus.  You can be in firefighting mode, or you can be a leader who feels like she or he  isn't really initiating, you're just responding. You're firefighting. There's a lack of 

growth readiness, there's transitional stress. There's no leadership training.  Leadership is maybe forced to work beyond its experience level, or your  leadership may be just non existent. You have a team that's making differing  assumptions, and so you've got progressive frustration, tension, pressure,  someone has said all miscommunication is the result of differing assumptions,  and it results in intention and pressure and frustration. You have an unclear  dream, especially in your in a ministry that is donation dependent, your giving  will probably drop without a clear plan. Supporters don't feel there is a need for  their for their resources, and then there's no clear context for decision making,  and so you have paralyzing indecision. You don't know what to do next, because there's no context in which to make good decisions. So planning is important.  What are the benefits of a clear plan? What happens to a ministry that Does  that, does plan? One is it increases team spirit because everyone plays off the  same sheet of music. Another is that it defines a philosophical framework  needed for organizational growth, growth, problem solving, staff orientation,  effective communication and wise decision making, and then third, it reduces  organizational frustration, tension and pressure by putting assumptions in  Writing. I want to pause for a minute. James he says, Don't say you're going to  live and do this and do that. Instead, say, if the Lord wills, we will live and also  we will do this or that. James does not. There are many people that feel that  planning is is contrary to faith. And I want to emphasize that planning really is an evidence of faith. If God has called you and he's called you to a purpose, then  he he wants you to think about in him what you will do next, and why and how.  So planning is not contrary to Christian thinking. Planning actually is an  expression of faith in what God has called you to do. Remember, we asked the  question of young people, where is God in all of this? God is in the planning as  well, and we'll talk about that as we get into the master planning. And the arrow  master planning is a, it has, it's a doctor process. And then the D stands for  direction. So you have direction, organization, cash or resources, tracking,  overall evaluation and refinement, probably the most time consuming, and yet  the most, perhaps the most important part of this is direction. And as you can  see, there's an arrow up here. I don't know how well you can see this, but this is  a the master planning arrow. Now, when you get involved with master planning,  you will receive, you will receive a huge arrow. It's like this big, and it fits on your you can, you can post it on your wall. But here's the process, and I'm going to  go over this quickly. If you get involved in you can certainly do more of this as  you read some of Bob's books, or if you want to be involved with training that the center will provide you can do this will will walk you through it, but basically, you  start with your burden. What? What is it that that grieves you, what makes you  weep or pound the. Table, what burden Do you feel? This is the emotional side  of planning. And then you move into if this is your burden. Then what is your  purpose? Why do you exist? Your your purpose flows out of your your heartfelt 

burden. And then you think, Well, if that's my purpose, what areas will I always  be involved in? What areas will I always be involved in in order to accomplish  that? And so you write down the three to seven areas that you will always be  involved in. And then from there, say you have an objective. You always be  involved in running a youth club. You'll always be involved with working with kids in a club setting. So you put that here. Well, what happens is this line here  contributes to fulfilling that objective. Okay, you have your your goals here, here  you have your preparation. So you you set your your objective is youth clubs.  Then you come over here and put your to say, youth clubs in here. And then you think through your you think through your roadblocks, your read, your your  resources, your ideas and your milestones. What have you already  accomplished? What ideas do you have that are not your goals, that are not  goals, it's just ideas. What are your top three roadblocks, your top three  resources? And then you begin to think through and this timeline can be three  years, five years, 10 years, whatever is best for you, but you basically have  short range, mid range, long range, goals. And so, if you're going to do this, then what are you going to do in the next three months? A part of this is how you  think about goals. The goals are they're not lists. They're stair steps to dreams.  You recognize that if you set and goals have to be measurable and doable, you  don't set unrealistic goals. So it's like, the idea is, how do you eat an elephant?  You eat the elephant one bite at a time. So this over here may feel like an  elephant, but you can eat it if you give yourself time to do it. But what happens  when you put something like this together? What happens when you thought all  of this through, you figured out this is my purpose. This is why I exist. Here are  the areas I'm always going to be involved in, and this is how I'm going to get  there. If you have that posted on your wall, what is that going to communicate to people who walk in and see your arrow? It's going to communicate to them that  you know what to do next, you know why, and you know how it's going to  communicate that this person has a vision and a mission that is serious, and  they'll be able to give you a clear yes or no as to whether or not they want to join you in your in your mission. And so I've used this when I'm doing training, and I  asked people to first start with your burden. Okay, What need do I feel deeply  burdened by uniquely qualified to me, what makes me weep or pound the table  and have them write that down, and then I ask them, Well, if that's your burden,  why do you exist? Why do you exist? And then, if this is what your purpose is,  then what areas will you continually be involved in in order to accomplish this,  per this purpose? That's the arrow the other areas of of the process are  organization, cash, tracking, overall evaluation and refinement. They all are very important pieces. If you have your direction, your organization and your cash,  then you have a master plan. You have a plan. It's the tracking, overall  evaluation and refinement that keeps it, that keeps it alive. I have found that  when organizations go through this process, and once it is takes it, takes the 

most time you first do it, but then once you've done it, then doing it over and  over again. In fact, if you take what's on the arrow and you put it into 8 ½ by 11,  write it out differently as an 8 1/2 by 11 document, you're going to establish  something a. That the master planning folks call arrow logic, and you will never  be the same again. It's the way you will think. It's the way you will plan. It's you  when you, when you, when something comes at you, says, someone comes up  with an idea. You'll figure out, where do I Where do I hang this. Someone's just,  someone's just throwing an idea at me. Well, where does it fit? Is it an idea? Is it something want to act on? And if so, when am I going to act on it? First year,  second year, fifth year, or next three months? So right now, it's like a hanger in  your head where stuff comes at you, and you now know where to hang it based  upon your purpose and your objectives and why you exist. So it's a wonderful  tool that helps sharpen your thinking and your mission and your calling by taking that calling and putting it down on paper so that everyone else can see. So I  hope this will be of help to you. Again, you can look at Bob Biehl’s book. It's  called strategic planning, formally, master planning, or again, if you need more  information, you certainly can contact the Center.