Do You Have a Plan?

We are in interesting times. There is no use is hiding. We must look at the landscape with an eye of acceptance toward actives. And there's so much fear and uncertainty. These are the times that create in our resilience as leaders. There are things out of our control and there are things within our control. It's important to apply our energy toward things we can control. So, Let's get into it.

The Importance of Annual Planning

Without intentional planning, measurement can become superficial: numbers without meaning, activity without transformation. Annual planning is a way leaders root their work in purpose, discernment, and accountability. Keep the following considerations in mind:

1. Honors vision that emerges from below & behind. An annual plan that includes listening to women, elders, community stories, especially those often silenced, yields vision that is more just, sustainable, and holistic.

2. Sets rhythms of reflection, repair, and reconciliation. Just as we need seasons for planting, growth, harvest, rest, our organizational life needs regular seasons of evaluation and renewal.

3. Allocates power & resources toward liberation. Planning makes intentional what might default into the status quo. Which projects get budget? Whose voice shapes strategy? Whose healing is prioritized?

4. Prepares for resilience in the face of climate crisis and systemic injustice. Our communities have always survived through adaptive resilience; planning helps us anticipate, mitigate, and respond.

Steps for Leaders: Building an Impact‑Measurement & Planning Culture

Here are practical suggestions for organizational leaders who want to ground their work in love and ensure impactful, sustainable leadership:

1. Begin with listening & spiritual discernment Hold space to listen—especially with different opinions and experiences from your own, people of low income, elders, those impacted by environmental degradation. Pray, meditate, reflect individually during your spiritual time and as a community. Ask: What is God’s vision for this community? What restorative justice is needed? What work is most needed and how? Then. Wait. Wait for a response.

2. Define core outcomes that reflect holistic flourishing Don’t just choose financial or operational metrics. Those are important and have their place. But also consider picking outcomes that touch creation, community health, spiritual/deeper well‑being, justice. Limit to a few so you can keep them alive.

3. Ensure your leading indicators are prophetic & preventive Things like number of partnerships with local women’s groups; time spent in community dialogue; seedlings planted; cultural & spiritual events held—these are precursors to outcomes.

4. Use both quantitative and qualitative measures Numbers matter, but so do testimonies, art, songs, stories, memories. Survey data + narrative data. Photo journaling. Shared reflection circles.

5. Embed environmental justice & community voices in every plan Let those who have been most harmed tell what wellness looks like. Let environmental health and social equity be woven together, not treated separately.

6. Set up a rhythm of review & accountability Quarterly check‑ins; an annual reflection retreat; community feedback; transparent reporting. Measure, assess, repent & repair as needed.

7. Allocate resources, including for capacity building Data collection tools, staff or volunteers trained in justice‑oriented evaluation, budgeting for environmental initiatives, storytelling and arts as part of measurement and communication.

8. Adaptive, hope‑filled Hope is lived a lived practice and survival is a part of flourishing. Sometimes metrics will disappoint; sometimes systems will resist. But faithful leadership endures. We adapt, we learn, we keep sowing.

   
   

Vision Casting: What Could Be

Casting a vision is a part of the planning process. Imagine your organization ten years from now, shaped by these principles:

• Urban neighborhoods transformed: vacant lots turned into green spaces tended by community gardens; children learning to grow food, elders teaching indigenous planting practices.

• Local water sources clean, air less polluted; bodies once suffering from asthma, environmental illness now flourishing.

• Leadership that reflects a broad the community—who is leading boards, youth voices heard, tradition and innovation in tension.

• Spiritual renewal rooted in ancestral practices, songs, narratives of survival, worship that looks beyond the walls to the trees, the rivers, the land.

• Policy changed: environmental justice laws in place; accountability for corporations; land restored; reparations being discussed and acted upon.

These are just some examples. Yet, consider the importance of clarity and intentionality of your work. Such a legacy is possible if we measure what matters, plan with justice in view, and lead with love.

Final Reflections

A Christ perspective calls us to integrate justice, ecology, spirituality, and community in how we lead. When we measure impact intentionally, when we plan annually with discernment, we resist superficial progress and root ourselves in real transformation.

May our organizations be places where the land, the marginalized, the stories, the breath of ancestors, and God’s future all speak into what we measure—and how we plan. And may we lead with courage, faith, and love that never forgets the sacred earth, the sacred lives, the sacred hope. May our actions honor the Divine that created all things.

I would love to work with you through this process and support you on your journey. Let's set up a time to talk.

Schedule a Meeting with Dr. Chapman