Setting Goals for the New PrograM Year
by Ashley Graham-Wilcox
The new program year is around the corner – are you ready? As we gear up for another season of impactful ministry, it's crucial to set clear goals and equip ourselves with the right tools and strategies. Depending on your main goals for the next year in your church work, here are some tips, tricks, and resources to help you thrive.
Goal #1: Aim for Consistency
Consistency is key to building online and in-person engagement – but it’s a lot to keep track of! If you’re aiming to be more consistent with your social media posts, website updates, e-newsletters, or SEO, take time now to set yourself up for success.
Create a Communication Calendar: Plan your newsletters, social media posts, and announcements in advance. Take a day to look at the program calendar, church holidays, secular holidays, community events, etc., and map out the dates and topics for the next 3-6 months. Schedule a weekly check-in with yourself to keep on track (Seriously, put it in your calendar!).
Standardize Processes: Take the time now to develop templates for emails, flyers, and other materials to ensure a uniform look and feel. Identify what social media posts have performed best recently and map out a template. Create forms for communication requests or newsletter submissions, and document the steps for every regular communication task. Ensure your log-ins are up-to-date.
Feedback: Schedule time to gather feedback from colleagues and audiences, and to self-reflect on these new systems and tweak as necessary.
Tools like Teams, Slack, Trello, Asana, and Monday are great for calendaring — and they also might be more than what you need, when a paper wall calendar serves you just as well. Canva allows you to create branding templates and can be shared with a team. Google Forms is free for gathering content and feedback. All that to say: Don't create new systems or invest in new tools just for the sake of it; think about what you'll truly use and then commit to using them with consistency.
Doing this work upfront not only builds your community’s and the algorithm’s trust in your communication consistency, but it also gives you tools to rely on during stressful times and that you can hand off to someone when you go on – gasp! – vacation.
Goal #2: Prioritizing Self-Care
If your goal for this next year in your job is to feel more balanced and to avoid burnout, work to reset your existing structures and habits now.
Reflect: Take time now to reflect on where you are, mentally and emotionally, at work. Identify what is driving you bonkers and make plans to address what you can and let go of what you can’t. When do you feel your best at work, and how can you tap into that space more often? Talk to a therapist or coach to do this work, or use an online tool.
Set Boundaries: Consider where you may need to establish boundaries: Between work and personal time? In your communications with colleagues or congregants? About your role on Sundays? This won’t be one-size-fits-all (For example: I like to have work email on my phone, because of the flexibility it offers me; others want to be only accessible via email from their work computer.) Have conversations with your supervisors and colleagues now to ensure those boundaries can hold. Set aside time to self-reflect regularly on how these boundaries are going.
Regular Breaks: Schedule regular breaks throughout your day to rest and recharge – and get out of the office. Movement and fresh air work wonders. Find ways to “make” yourself take a break, like bribing yourself with a walk for iced coffee or scheduling a weekly friend call during your lunch hour. I’ve recently been hearing about The Pomodoro Technique for productivity at work — have you tried something similar?
Get More Support: Easy, right? We know it’s not. Automate what you can (look into Zapier, Hootsuite, and Sprout) and consider utilizing volunteers, interns, or contractors to remove tasks from your plate
Change Systems: We can't avoid burnout in a silo. Burnout – and its siblings anxiety, exhaustion, depression, and stress – are symptoms of bigger systems in which we are often just cogs. The most meaningful work to take better care of yourself may be in remaking the systems we can. That might be re-negotiating your employee agreement for more flexible hours/office location, establishing office-wide feedback practices, or beginning the work of advocating for an assistant. Find peers to dream big with and speak your truth.
Goal #3: Launching Something New
Starting a new initiative can breathe fresh life into your ministry. Whether it's a new program, event, or communication strategy, careful planning and execution are essential.
Pilot Programs: Always start with clear goals, and start small with a pilot program to test the waters before a full launch. This allows you to gather feedback and make necessary adjustments without committing extensive resources upfront. Identify a small group of trusted volunteers or community members to participate in the pilot and use their feedback to refine the offering.
Flash Forward: You know your colleagues and audience: Visualize one day, one week, one month, and one year after launching the new initiative. Who will offer feedback? What will they say? What questions will your different audiences have? How can you prepare for them?
Involve Impacted Communities: Yes, get input and buy-in from key members of your congregation and leadership team — and never forget to ask who’s missing from the input and decision-making table.
Internally Communicate: Ensure that everyone on your team is on the same page with the new initiative through clear and consistent communication. Use staff meetings, internal newsletters, and collaboration tools to keep everyone informed about progress, challenges, and next steps. Remember to include volunteers in your internal communications if they have any role in the new offering and will be speaking on its behalf.
Evaluate: Establish metrics and methods for evaluating the success of the new initiative. With clear, achievable goals set, decide how you will measure progress. Collect data and feedback from participants and stakeholders, and use this information to assess what’s working and what needs improvement. Regular evaluation will help you make informed decisions (including about your time, see above) and demonstrate the impact of the new initiative to your congregation and leadership.
As we head into the new program year, let's take the time to plan, prioritize, and set ourselves up for success. Whether you’re aiming for consistency, prioritizing self-care, or launching something new, these tips and resources can help you thrive in your ministry. Here's to a year of growth, impact, and, most importantly, balance. Let's make it a great one!
