Appendix I.

Diocese of Colorado Springs
Planning Guide

Introduction

Short and long-term planning are integral parts of every successful organization, including the Catholic Church. Many people don’t have the most positive reaction to spending time on planning. If they have been through planning processes – some are very elaborate and expensive – and they have little to show for the experience, it can be very frustrating. One of the main reasons for this failure and frustration is an inadequate implementation strategy. This diocesan planning guide includes effective implementation strategies that will help all of us to achieve our goals.

Planning is not really a complex activity, so the primary intent of this brief guide is to share with diocesan and pastoral leaders a simple yet profound process that we as a diocese are already using successfully in our planning for the future.

The planning model that our diocese has adopted has three basic elements:

1.   the goal we want to achieve (desired result)
2.   where we are now (current reality)
3.   the steps we need to take to get from here to there (action steps)

When we work through these three elements, we have created a blueprint for activity that virtually assures us that we will reach our goal.

Creative Visioning vs. Problem Solving

Essentially, there are two kinds of planning, each with their own unique focus. In the first, the goal is clear because of the circumstances to which we find ourselves reacting. In this scenario, we are problem solving. We know we are focused on solving a particular problem if we find ourselves reacting to situations with intense thought and action in order to address some present difficulty. For example, if the parish youth minister resigns, the goal clearly is to replace the youth minister with the best person we can in the shortest amount of time. In the problem solving planning process, as soon as the immediate difficulty (or problem) is addressed, we turn our attention to some other problematic situation, without addressing the underlying structures that keep these problems in existence.

The second type of planning is more creative. We begin by asking the question, “What do we want to create?” “What is our image or vision of the future?” Another way to ask the same question is, “What does our desired end result look like?” When we are planning creatively – and some would say proactively – we bring into existence underlying structures that transform the existing problems into action steps that move us toward our goals. We intentionally change the underlying structure to guide our energy so as to bring into existence what really matters to us. This guide employs this creative approach to planning.

Toward a Spirituality of Creative Visioning

From a spiritual perspective, this system of structural thinking and acting gives us the experience of intentionally and effectively putting into effect the power of the Holy Spirit. We can experience a Spirit-filled and Spirit-driven life as we pursue the goal of all Catholics – individual holiness. The Holy Spirit guides our collegial and collaborative process of naming and clarifying the goals God wants us to achieve. The Holy Spirit is present in our current reality that is stated accurately, briefly, and concisely; the Holy spirit guides us in choosing action steps which will bring us to our desired result; and the Holy Spirit leads us in evaluating and adjusting our action steps when needed.

Our Overall Goal is Holiness

Because we are striving to discern God’s Will in all our efforts and because our overall goal is holiness, everything we do should have prayer as its source and inspiration. So let us begin our planning guide by asking for God’s help: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.

The Process

• The first step in the process is to determine what result we want; this is our goal or desired end result. It is important to articulate what we want to achieve in as much detail as possible. Many find it helpful to think in pictures at this stage and answer the question, “What will it look like?” If more than one person is determining the goal, each needs to express the specific picture from his/her point of view. If there is agreement on what we want to achieve, the likelihood of success is very great. As football coach Lou Holtz once said, “It’s tough enough to get the boat to its destination when everyone is pulling in the same direction, let alone when some guy stands up and starts putting his life jacket on.” Our aim is to have everyone in the boat committed to – and rowing toward – the same destination.

  One way to check the effectiveness of the articulation of our goal is to apply the following checklist:

  1. Form a mental picture of the results you described. Remember that the desired result should be observable. Ask yourself, “Is this the result we want to create?” If the answer is yes, then refine it. If the answer is no, then continue to describe the result you really want . . . without too many more details.

  2. Are you creating results or problem solving? Creating results is bringing something into being; problem solving is making something go away. Describe what you want to create, not what you want to go away.

  3. Is your goal describing a process or an actual end result? Process tells how; end results tell us what. For example, “Start calling potential volunteers for a Stewardship Committee” is really a process step toward a goal that may be stated, “By our next Pastoral Council meeting, I will have seven volunteers to serve as a Stewardship Committee.” Process always serves an end result.

  4. Is your goal describing an ideal or an actual end result? Ideals do not make good goals, because they tend to be general and sweeping statements that do not have a final destination. Be sure your goal is attainable.

  5. Did you include comparative terms like “better” or “more” in your goal statement? If so, change them. They are difficult to measure, and the desired result must be measurable. Quantify your goal wherever you can. The more specific the goal, the more you can make real decisions about what you want to create. For example, if the goal were “We will have better communication throughout the organization,” it is difficult to see what success or even progress would look like for that goal. On the other hand, if the goal were, “Each manager is expected to return phone calls and e-mails within a 48 hour time period,” we can measure our progress and level of success easily.

  6. Does your goal statement contain a time element? Without a deadline or a due date, people may lack motivation or a sense of urgency.

  
  

• The second step is to look clearly and comprehensively at where we are now, our current reality in relation to our desired result. This is more difficult than it sounds since it’s quite natural to express the present in as positive and generous a way as possible. For example, who wants to state bluntly that we do not have the skills needed to achieve our goal? But it is critical that we be completely honest (read “blunt and brutal”) in the assessment of where we are now. We must also be willing to confess our fears about moving forward since these, too, are part of moving through change and part of our current reality. It is in this step – if we are straightforward with each other, and with our reality – that we will be identifying the obstacles and pitfalls we must overcome in order to be successful. Failure to be willing to spend the time to identify these completely will result in our stepping on “land mines” as we proceed toward our end result.

  A comprehensive analysis includes reflections on the present human, fiscal, and leadership resources available to achieve the goals. It is also important that we recognize that there are major obstacles within us that may sabotage our best efforts. We must confront these and develop strategies to ensure that they will not undermine our work. These obstacles are reflected in such questions as: “What is my honest attitude about what we are attempting to accomplish?” and “Do I have feelings of cynicism or pessimism as I work on these plans?” Do we find ourselves thinking, “Here we go again with another project doomed to failure?” Facing such thoughts and feelings honestly is the only way to prevent them from damaging our efforts. Discussing them with those with whom we are working will help us to overcome them, or at least to develop ways of managing them. For example, if someone is pessimistic because of past planning failures, exploring what elements in the present plan might cause it to fail would be a positive outcome of that attitude.

  Once you have determined your current reality, apply this checklist;

  1. Did you use your goal as a reference point in describing current reality?

  2. Did you describe the relevant picture?

  3. Have you included the whole picture? Fill in additional details until you have it. No editorials, just the facts.

  4. Translate any assumptions and editorials into objective news reports. For example instead of, “Our leaders are too stubborn to change”, say “We have not implemented a new personnel system in eight years.”

  5. Check to see that you have stated what the reality is without exaggeration, and not how it got that way. Translate as needed.

  6. Include all of the facts you need to fully capture the current reality.

  
  

• The third step is to build the action steps that will take us from our current reality to our desired end result. This action plan will contain the activity to be done, the projected completion date, benchmark dates (when we check its progress), and the person responsible for achieving each step. Including this information builds in the monitoring and accountability strategies. Some of these action steps will be activities done immediately; others will be medium range activities, and still others may be more long-term steps. The important thing is to brainstorm as many of the action steps as we can think of, then go back to prioritize them and put them into an effective sequence. What the action steps all have in common is that they are helping us change our current reality into our desired end result.

  Apply this checklist to your action steps:

  
  

  1. Does your goal have action steps for each involved office and department of the organization?

  2. The ultimate test question is: “If we took these steps, would we achieve these results? If the answer is no, then continue to fill in more action steps until the answer is yes.

  3. Don’t include too much detail. Employ the ABC acronym: accurate, brief, and concise.

  4. Develop the detail in each action step as you address it.

  5. Make sure that each action step has a due date.

  6. Make sure that every action step has an accountable person assigned to it who takes responsibility to see that it gets done.

Summary

The Office of Planning and Accountability supports planning efforts at the diocesan, regional, and parochial levels. In order to prepare for the future, we need to be willing to answer the question, “What do we want to create?” We have to state objectively and without judgment the current reality. And we need to brainstorm all of the action steps to move us from our current reality to our desired end result.

The next two pages contain illustrations of how the planning process we are explaining could be visualized. Oftentimes, a picture helps us to place ourselves into the process more completely than does the textual explanations.

Additionally, the Office of Planning and Accountability exists primarily to support visioning, planning, and implementation efforts throughout our diocese. Pastoral and diocesan leaders are encouraged to contact this office for assistance of any kind as they plan their goals.

It is not enough to have great goals, however. To be successful, we must develop effective implementation strategies. Putting plans into effect is what makes us successful, and the single most important activity for everyone in our diocese – in planning or any other endeavor – is prayer. We need to be praying that we are able to see God’s Will and Plan unfold in our lives and in the lives of those we serve. If we approach our planning humbly and confidently, looking to God for inspiration and courage, He will respond with a generosity beyond our wildest imagining.

Illustration A

This illustration – taken from The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz – reflects the movement through the process from our current reality to the desired result. As we articulate both the reality and the result, we are striving to be accurate, brief, and concise. The danger, as illustrated above, is to become unduly preoccupied in the conceptual box. While it is normal to feel the fears, raise the “what if” and “maybe” questions, and indulge in theories and speculations, we must respond appropriately to the obstacles that these raise for us by establishing clear action steps to overcome them. In this way, we address those areas that would have sabotaged our efforts toward successful achievement of the desired result.

Illustration B

This pictorial demonstrates another way of envisioning the process. Oftentimes, after we have articulated the desired result and our current reality, we find it difficult to lay out the action steps because we get caught in fears, speculations, abstract theories, and “maybe” or “what if” thinking. When we get trapped here, we end up spinning back on ourselves and the process stalls; this can occur anywhere along the continuum. If we can recognize this when it happens, we can work through these obstacles by establishing clear action steps that will address and overcome them, and propel us toward our goal.