Emergent Strategy Planning Update

Aug. 24, 2022.

By Susan Bennett, President, UUCF Board of Directors.

UUCF’s last formal strategic plan was dated 2016-2020. In the midst of the pandemic, we found ourselves with an expired plan and the strong sense that with everything changing so quickly, with so many things we’d taken for granted needing to be reevaluated, with so many rapid pivots being required of staff and lay leaders, we didn’t know how we could effectively plan 3-5 years out in any meaningful way.

At the same time, many of us were reading and being influenced by the book, “Emergent Strategy” by adrienne maree brown. We began to ask ourselves: Would the corporate-type strategic plan we’d used in the past really serve us in doing the transformative faith work UUCF’s mission calls on us to do? Would that kind of plan move us forward in accountably dismantling systems of white supremacy in ourselves and our congregation? Our answer was no. So, we began to explore how we might find a new way. There were many moments when I thought to myself, this is really hard, it’s so much easier to do things we already know how to do, the things we are comfortable with. So I had to start letting go – as I think most of us have – of perfectionism. And I say “start” intentionally, because I’ve found that when you aim to let go of perfectionism, the first thing you need to realize is that you are not going to be able to do it perfectly.

So, last fall, Senior Minister Rev. David A. Miller and I assembled a matrixed team, with representatives from the Board or Directors, staff, lay ministers, Coordinating Team (CT) and two folks outside of formal leadership roles. The team is made up of Rev. David, Vicky Maldonado, Scott Lundgren, Courtney Firth, Cami St. Germain, Karen Wolf, Gina Wells and me. We solicited input from the CT, staff, lay ministers and the board and began to meet. We started by establishing some shared understanding of our situation. We acknowledged that we would not be able to do everything that we could imagine. We agreed that we need to engage in mindful discernment about what we were capable of doing as a congregation, given our financial and human resources. We need to focus on what’s most important, meaningful and sustaining as we work to serve UUCF’s mission. We need to step away from the performative and look with a fresh perspective. We need to change in response to the way the world has changed. We will need to take our direction based on what our circumstances require, but remain nimble (you know, in case we need to pivot).

We then took one of the principles of emergent strategy – “What you pay attention to grows” – and we asked ourselves: Can we identify a priority list of how we would like to use our overwhelmed, over-stimulated, and over-traumatized attention to help the congregation transform and be ready for the unknown and the unknowable of whatever will come next?

The team has had many interesting and freewheeling conversations. We asked ourselves a series of questions based on the principles of emergent strategy and we began to form some answers. The team will meet again at the end of August and work on developing our answers more fully. We will use the wisdom we’ve received from the recent Board/CT retreat, the lay minister’s retreat and the 8th Principle retreat to help inform those answers. Our hope is to have a report to share with leadership and the congregation by midwinter.

This is exciting, innovative and challenging work. We are creating a path forward as we move down the path. We believe that by putting relationships and connection at the center of our congregational work, we can create a shared clarity of vision that will help us all transform ourselves, our community and the world through acts of love and justice.

I hope this is helpful and, as always, I welcome your thoughts and feelings about this and anything else you would like to share with me. I am grateful to be part of a faith community that is committed to growing, connecting and serving.

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