It takes strong leadership and organization to formulate a strategic plan. And it takes discipline and execution to get it off the ground. But what about seeing it to the end? If you want to see your strategic plan succeed, you must have flexibility and adaptability.

A rigid strategic plan will hamper you at every turn, force you into corners, and short-circuit your vision. Leaders who are too rigid will run into roadblocks and try to knock them down. But eventually the roadblocks will build up, momentum will die down, and the plan will falter. So, don’t be so rigid. Learn to adapt and be flexible.

Every plan must adapt over its lifetime. The plan you begin with will not be the same one you end with. You can only move on the information you have available at any given time. As you get new information or change perspective, you must change your plan.

So, what types of changes should you be on the lookout for? The first thing is the timeline. What you may plan to take only two weeks may actually require two months. Be ready to move your deadlines to suit the needs, or rearrange resources to stay on time. You may also see a change in budget as your plan moves forward.

Anything from the price of supplies, the whims of the market, or a deficit in giving can cause your budget to fluctuate, so be ready. Also, look out for new information, — such as emerging research, ideas or technology — that may affect your strategic plan.

What You Should Never Be Flexible About

While you should be flexible about your strategic plan, some things must remain constant. Don’t deviate from your vision or the primary outcomes of your plan. The strategic plan of your organization should mirror the overall vision.

Have you answered the big question: Why do we exist? If so, stick with your answer. Don’t change it to try to capture some perceived success of a plan.

And while some objectives may need adjusting along the way, the primary outcome of your plan should remain the same. One reason you should never change the primary outcome is that you’ve made promises to stakeholders about it. You’ve gone to them with your plan and promised a certain outcome if they provide the resources and budget. If you change the plan halfway through without their permission, you run the risk of losing integrity in their eyes.

Let’s say your strategic plan involves purchasing property for an additional campus during the next 18 months. The vision of your church is to reach people who have not been touched by the gospel. So, adding a campus meets that primary purpose.

Perhaps, however, the economy takes a downturn. What you thought could get done in a year and a half may now take three years. Flexibility allows you to shift your timeline, or even consider renting space over purchasing.

Problems are an opportunity to find a new way to accomplish a task.

But remain inflexible about why you’re doing it — to reach new people for the Kingdom. You may have an opportunity to shift existing resources to open an after-school program in the same timeline. But that’s off vision, so don’t do it.

Or you may find a way to use your resources to add on to your existing campus. Now you’ve abandoned your primary outcome. Staying the course means staying true to what you’ve promised to deliver.

Built-In Flexibility

The best way to ensure you are flexible and adaptable in your strategic plan is to build it into the overall structure. Make sure timelines are not set in stone but are built around a range of dates. And always provide margin in any budget to account for unexpected overages. By building these things in ahead of time, you are much more agile when problems come up, and they will.

Another way to build in flexibility is by not falling in love with any idea. Too often, we attach ourselves to the first idea we come up with. We assume it must be a great idea. After all, we thought of it! But as we go through the ideation process, we may find better ideas or ways to make the original idea great by changing it.

If we become too attached to an idea, we won’t be willing to adapt it. Remaining flexible — maintaining a willingness to allow others to change our work and ideas along the way — requires a high level of emotional intelligence.

The real key to built-in flexibility is to have processes in place for follow-up, evaluation and feedback. If you set expectations that each step of the strategic plan will require monitoring, you’re letting everyone know that changes can and will take place. As a leader, it’s your job to follow up on projects and make sure they are being completed.

Many times, we allow our team members to do their work without evaluation. But when we provide feedback on their work, we’re helping them grow. And we’re letting them know that change is a normal part of any work.

Keep the Goal in Sight

The point of a strategic plan is to get to the end. Remaining flexible will not only help you get around the roadblocks that are sure to come, but it is also the key to seeing the whole job to completion. The principle here is “progress produces progress.”

Keep momentum going by focusing on each step and using that to spur on action to the next step. Flexibility finds a way to continue the progress rather than continually circling back or stalling out. And that progress will inspire more progress in another team member or generate progress in another direction.

The important thing to remember is to stay positive. Be realistic about your strategic plan, and let your team know that you expect to encounter problems. But those problems are never the end of a project. They’re an opportunity to find a new way to accomplish a task. They’re an opportunity to work together to solve it.

As a positive leader, you can model flexibility to your team, not only to finish the plan but to help your team grow.

See also:

“Benefits of Strategic Planning: Developing a Strategic Plan, Part 1”
“Get It Together: Developing a Strategic Plan, Part 2”
“Discipline in the Execution of Ideas: Developing a Strategic Plan, Part 3”