With the new year comes new opportunities, new hopes, and new endeavors. That fresh-start feeling leads you to make goals for yourself for the coming year and provides an opportunity for growth. However, that feeling shouldn’t stop with your personal goals; it should also carry over into the vision you have for your parish. By using that new year optimism and implementing these 5 resolutions, your parish’s 2019 strategy will begin to come together more quickly and more clearly than ever. Plus, you may even have fun doing it!
1. Learn from the past while moving forward
You can’t change the future without learning from the past. Did you achieve all the goals that you made last year? If yes, how did you do it? If not, where did you fall short? Figuring out why you succeeded or why not is crucial to growing your ministry. After that, you can better develop plans that are designed to either repeat your successes or avoid the snags that kept you from succeeding last year.
2. Anticipate what is to come
Think about the coming year and what trials are likely to come with it. Does your parish need costly maintenance repairs, or do you need to add a few employees? Preparing well in advance for things you know that your parish will eventually need can help you properly forecast your budget and leave room for any surprises that may happen throughout the year.
3. Make your objectives more specific
Before sharing your plan, make sure to map out exactly what it is you want to accomplish. First, define goals that fit your parish and your mission. Secondly, figure out how you are going to measure success. Then, set a realistic timeline to measure your progress and ensure timely completion. For example, don’t just say that you want to increase monthly attendance. Make it clear by saying that you want to increase monthly attendance by 15% by the end of 2019. Good planning and definition will help ensure that you have the best foundation in place to achieve success.
4. Set more frequent milestones
Breaking down big goals into smaller ones helps to keep everyone from feeling overwhelmed. If the tasks are kept short and simple, you’ll be able to keep your team more engaged and focused on completing the parish’s overall goal. If you want to raise $12,000 for a mission project by the end of June 2019, break it down into 3-6 monetary milestones with a clear halfway point. This will help unite and energize members to see the goal through until the very end.
5. Celebrate every win
Though it’s easy to get tunnel vision when you’re focused on achieving a major goal, make sure to celebrate with your leadership team and parish any time you reach a milestone or complete a goal. It’s important for your members to know that their contributions are making a difference and helping the parish to achieve its goals. Sharing stories of your achievements is a great way to get everyone excited about your ministry and will help maintain the giving momentum throughout the new year.
If you’d like to learn more about how ParishSOFT can help your parish meet its 2019 goals, contact us at 866.930.4774 x6 or email parishsoftsales@parishsoft.com.
