The Power of Goals
By Bob Armstrong, Director of Partnership for Missional Church®

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It was 3pm on Saturday and the team of six people was engrossed in conversation around their table. Heads were bent close and their discussion was punctuated with laughter and rapid note-taking. What could have them so engaged in the middle of a weekend afternoon after two days of hard work? They were working on their SMART Plan of Action…can you believe that? This team had learned that getting a plan they all owned down on paper before they left the PMC event kept them focused, energized and engaged. In fact, review of the past decade has shown that local churches that develop the competency and habit of using SMART Plans of Action fare much better on their PMC journey than others.

Too often teams, tired and anxious to leave, put off writing their SMART Plans until their next meeting. Then they can’t quite remember what they were supposed to do or wanted to do. They lose momentum and energy. Then before you know it, time has passed and they haven’t gotten much of anything done. They come to the next event embarrassed, discouraged and easily put off. While the teams who show up to their next meeting with the SMART Plan in hand, often already have had some success in accomplishing it and are building momentum.

So what specifically is a SMART Plan of Action? It has five elements: Specific Objective; Missional Focus; identifies who is Authorized and to whom they are Accountable; Resources required; and the Timeline for accomplishing it all. SMART plans are a tool used in all sorts of areas, not only PMC. But they are essential to keep the team focused and clear about who is doing what when. Obviously the key is not just writing the plan…but doing it. PMC Local Church teams that develop this habit early build enthusiasm and momentum throughout Phase One of the PMC journey so they are ready for the emerging challenges of Missional Experimenting in Phase Two.

SMART Plans have an important place in Phase Three: Visioning for Embodiment because they also facilitate delegation and sharing responsibility. We frequently hear church leaders complain that only a handful of people ever do anything at their church- citing the oft-quoted 80/20 rule. How many people are willing to take on responsibility for something not knowing how long it will last (is this actually a life sentence); what resources are available; does everyone in the congregation have a say in how it is done? Even when well-meaning and committed members of the church say, “Yes” to this kind of vague responsibility, and have a bad experience they are much less likely to volunteer again. However a SMART Plan clarifies all those items beforehand so everyone knows what is expected and possible. It increases the chances of success and the prospect that someone will accept. Best of all, it makes it easier to recognize and celebrate success which we all need.

If SMART Plans are so valuable, why is it so hard to write them? Because in order to focus on that we will do, we have to say, “No,” to other things. Arriving at the consensus on our focus is the difficulty in the church. According to Augustine sin is dissipating our lives in the pursuit of too many goods. We fritter away our time on so many things that none get accomplished. So in order to say, “Yes”, to a common goal, we need to be able to say, “no”, to other ideas and dreams. Sometimes that includes dreams and ideas of our own. That can be painful and difficult. The teams that learn this are the ones who just do it, each event with their small manageable plans. Then their experience teaches them it is valuable and worthwhile when they have more ideas and dreams at stake.

The biggest challenge in during Phase Two of Missional Experimenting is to learn how to let go of their ideas for reaching people and stay open to what they might learn along the way. In order to do that they need clear plans that focus on experimenting and learning. We will share more about this in our next newsletter.

Bob Armstrong is director of Partnership for Missional Church in North America.