Do you feel some days like you are drowning in the day-to-day? In fact, are things going really well, but they still seem out of control at the same time? Sometimes keeping things on the rails feels like a full-time leadership job, and not a fun one.

Then a board or staff member suggests the need for more coordinated strategic planning, a process you know you and your team don’t have the margin to plan or implement.

I get it; it is pretty much like trying to get back into a proper weekly exercise routine after months or even years out of one. We know it is important, but what are we going to give up to create the margin?

The real question is, what are we sacrificing by not doing it? Organizational health? Vision achievement? Long-term organizational health?

One way to create space for this kind of process is through outside help, that catalyst and capacity to give you the margin to get strategic planning embedded into your organization.

But it might not simply be hiring a strategy consultant. It might be strategically outsourcing some functions for several leaders to create margin. Perhaps a bookkeeper for a season so your Director of Finance can be involved. Or a fractional Executive Pastor to handle a couple of projects for your Executive and Senior Pastors. Now we are talking!

Church leadership is very complex these days. Technology, shrinking capacity, economic pressure, post-Christian cultural moral erosion. Church leaders need to be more flexible and creative than ever to live out our mission – to be disciplers known for our love.

If you are feeling stuck, but you can’t see why, give us a call. We can help you find a way forward.