project management

7 Project Plan Elements Every Church Project Manager Should Know

Creating a project plan initially sounds like a simple endeavor. Document a list of tasks required to complete the project, assign someone to each task, and poof…you have a project plan! While that’s a great start, there’s much more to include if you want a project plan that provides critical information to manage the project effectively. Here are the essential project plan elements every project manager should know: Element #1: Task Name A project plan should include clear, concise names for each task on the plan. Ideally, use the language the person who will complete the task used when they discussed the plan with you. This makes it easier for them to remember what that task involves weeks later, when it’s time to complete that task. Element #2: Assigned To This is where you name the individual responsible for completing this task. Note: This isn’t a 2-3 person role. If multiple people are required to work on a task, then you probably need to break the task up into several tasks. Otherwise, assign the task to the one individual you’ll go to for status updates on that task. Element #3: Start Date This is when work on the task can begin. Many tasks are dependent on the output or completion of another task, so not every task can start on the same date. For example: a task to “Finalize Stage Design” must finish before the task of “Submit Purchase Request for Stage Design Elements” can start. Element #4: Finish Date The Finish Date is based on the Start Date plus the number of days a task should take to complete. If your project management software calculates the Finish Date for you, make sure you block out non-working days (holidays, etc.) in the central project calendar. That will enable the software to skip over those dates to calculate a valid Finish Date. Element #5: Dependencies As mentioned above, some tasks can’t start until another task finishes. This is referred to as a task dependency. When a project manager reviews a plan to see if there are ways to overlap tasks to shorten the overall timeline, one variable to consider are task dependencies. Not all online project management tools provide a place to note task dependencies, so you might have to add a note to help you quickly see which tasks have a clear dependency. Element #6: Key Milestones In any project, there are tasks that stand out as key moments or milestones to reach. Examples include receiving approval of the theme and graphics for an event, booking all guest speakers, getting all required permits from the city, etc. You can usually identify key milestones by scanning the plan for dependencies. However, a sure-fire way to find them is to look for several tasks that can’t start until one specific task is completed –  that task is likely a key milestone. Element #7: Critical Path Critical path is the timeline or pathway of key milestones that impact the finish date of the entire project. When a project manager checks to see if the delay of a certain task will impact the plan, he’ll need to see if that task is on the critical path. If it is, then any delays of that task could be a significant issue. Savvy project managers track key milestones and critical path tasks (which tend to overlap) very closely.   Creating a project plan requires attention to detail and clear communication between the project manager and team members. It will likely take more time to develop a plan than you think. This effort involves thinking through all elements of the project, identifying the critical path, and taking the work schedules of each team member into consideration. That investment will pay off when you avoid issues late in the project because of your due diligence in planning. Interested in jump-starting your church’s project management efforts? Purchase the Church Project Management Starter Pack collection of templates and save your team from the hassle of starting from scratch.

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How to Hold Team Members Accountable to Project Deadlines

A challenge that most project managers face is leading a team of people who don’t directly report to them. In other words, the project manager isn’t their boss, and each team member has their main job responsibilities that take priority over project tasks. This makes it more difficult to hold people accountable to deadlines. Fortunately, there are several ways to help team members see the importance of deadlines and be able to meet them. Tip #1: Get Input on Deadlines As you draft the project plan, work with each team member to identify tasks and establish reasonable deadlines. Ask about their other work responsibilities (such as Sunday service prep) and confirm they’re offering deadline suggestions that take the rest of their workload into account. When a team member is the one who provided the deadline, they’re less likely to be annoyed when you remind them a task is due soon. Plus, they should be able to complete the task on time since they kept their regular workload in mind. Tip #2: Provide Reminders We’re all susceptible to forgetting about tasks that aren’t in our regular routine. Project team members are no different. To help them keep up with deadlines, provide a reminder about tasks that are due within the next 2-4 weeks. If the project management tool you use can do this automatically, use that functionality to send the reminders. Tip #3: Be Proactive As you offer reminders and meet with team members, ask if there are any obstacles or potential issues that may prevent them from meeting a deadline. This could be a new job responsibility that their boss added to their plate, a family emergency they dealt with recently that has put them behind schedule, or even waiting on another team member to complete a task before they can start. Discuss those issues and work to remove obstacles or resolve them ASAP. Tip #4: Share the Big Picture Sometimes team members think missing a deadline won’t be a big deal because they don’t know how that task impacts others. To prevent that issue, share a high-level view of the project timeline with the team. Point out key milestone tasks that, if delayed, could derail the entire timeline. Tip #5: Manage the Workload Before the project starts, talk with team members about their current workload. Discuss what tasks they’ll have for the project and how those will integrate into their workweek. Talk with church leadership about team members who may be overloaded. See if they can adjust priorities or delay other efforts so team members can reasonably complete their tasks on time. During the project, periodically poll the team to see if any individuals have capacity to help a team member who’s struggling. Share the workload and reassign tasks if needed. Projects such as planning a big outreach event, launching a new small group ministry, or renovating part of the church building are all additional efforts for an already busy staff. Keep this in mind as you create project plans and set deadlines. Work with church leadership to understand where this project fits in relationship to other efforts – is this a higher or lower priority? Those factors will help you establish a realistic plan and communicate priorities effectively to the team. All of this plays a role in how well the team will respect and meet deadlines.

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Church Project Management: What Should You Treat as a Project?

When it comes to project management and the church, you might wonder what your church should treat as a project. Are weekly services a project? Is facility maintenance a project? What efforts should be put into a standard project management process versus handled as an ongoing task? Thankfully, once we settle on a common definition, it’s not hard to determine what to treat as a project. In this post, I shared the definition of a project from the Project Management Institute as “temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore defined scope and resources.” With that definition in mind, here are examples of what you may want to treat as a project at your church: #1 – Events, Special Services, & Outreaches Every church hosts a variety of events throughout the year. Vacation Bible School, Easter Egg Hunts, Christmas concerts, community outreaches, and other events certainly fit the project definition mentioned above. #2 – New Ministry or Program Launches If your church leadership decides to launch a small group ministry, you’ll have a significant number of tasks to complete before the big kickoff service. From training small group leaders, to providing an online method for people to sign up and more, you’ll need a project team to make this a successful launch. The same concept applies to starting an addiction recovery ministry, establishing a disaster response team, and other new programs at the church. #3 – Facility Updates Remodeling the church sanctuary, installing new equipment, expanding the nursery, or repainting the parking lot lines are all examples of church facility projects. Of course, a new building or renovation effort would qualify as a project as well. For these efforts, you’ll likely need to engage vendors to help with architectural drawings, city permits, and other specialized trades. #4 – Moving Whether it involves staff members changing offices or the church moving into a new building, there are many logistics involved in a move. Setting up furniture and equipment, stocking office supplies and restrooms, coordinating who moves when, and more are all aspects of that project to manage effectively. #5 – Software Migration and Implementation If your church decides to change accounting software or selects a new church management system, you’ll need to track all the tasks required to make that a seamless transition. For these types of projects, you’ll need to get the software vendor involved to make sure the process runs smoothly. #6 – Website Redesign Church websites periodically need a detailed review and update. Managing this as a project will involve considering various factors such as the church logo, font and color selection, integration with online giving options, updating the content for each page, and many other details. Even for a fairly simple website, this project could become quite extensive. Assigning someone to be the project manager can help your team complete the effort in a timely manner. #7 – Capital Campaign A church leadership team considering a capital campaign should treat that effort as a project. Creating a project charter to define the goals of the project can help the team focus on what’s most important for this initiative. #8 – Succession Planning Even if we expect and hope that someone will stay in their current role for many years, it’s always wise to have a succession plan. You could treat this as a project for each role, and include steps such as documenting tasks, identifying skillsets required to be successful in that job, and considering who on staff has the potential to move into that role in the future. This project is a matter of stewarding the future of the church by ensuring there’s a plan ready to fill any role in a timely manner. #9 – Weekly Services Now, this one might be a bit of a stretch to treat as a project since it’s an ongoing effort. However, each service does have a defined start and finish (well, depending on how long your pastor preaches that week…). You could treat weekly services as a project with the following task categories: Your church can leverage a standard project management process to coordinate these efforts more efficiently, saving the church time and making the best use of its resources. Interested in jump-starting your church’s project management efforts? Purchase the Church Project Management Starter Pack collection of templates and save your team from the hassle of starting from scratch.

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7 Essential Traits to Look for in a Church Project Manager

Every church has projects, such as a new program launch, building renovations, outreach events, and more. These efforts normally have a specific deadline, budget, and goals. To keep the team on-task and within the budget, you need a church project manager to keep them organized. Who is a Church Project Manager? Think of a project manager as an orchestra conductor. He doesn’t play the instruments, but he keeps the musicians in-sync. A project manager develops a detailed plan of tasks required to complete the project. This individual works with the project team to develop the plan, assign tasks and deadlines, create and monitor the budget, identify success criteria, and provide reports to church leadership. It’s a role that requires strong communication skills, attention to detail, and the ability to problem-solve on the fly. If your church hasn’t really focused on assigning a project manager to lead each effort, you may not have a staff member who’s trained in that discipline. Thankfully, project management is a skill you can learn with on-the-job training. However, it does require a certain set of innate skills that are harder to teach. Whether you can hire someone specifically for this role or if you need to see if someone on the team has what it takes, consider these essential traits for a church project manager. What to Look for in a Church Project Manager Trait #1: Detail-oriented Project management involves keeping track of all tasks, purchases, deadlines, vendors, and individuals involved in any given project. If you have someone on staff with a strong attention to detail, you may have a budding project manager. Trait #2: Loves Lists If you know someone who’s constantly creating a to-do list, or is even going so far as to write down a task that’s already completed just for the satisfaction of crossing it off, this person might be interested in project management. Trait #3: Thinks Ahead A good project manager is always thinking ahead about who needs to accomplish which tasks in the upcoming weeks. He consistently considers the potential implications if a task isn’t completed on time. When the pastor mentions an idea for a new church event, a potential project manager is already considering the myriad of details needed to accomplish that event and what else it may impact. Trait #4: Leadership A strong project manager is also a leader. For example, when you’re planning a marriage retreat, you’ll need to coordinate tasks from various groups within the staff (family ministry leader, marketing department, service announcements, facilities, and more). This requires someone who is comfortable leading a team where no one reports to him directly. They need to be able to rally people to a common goal, respect the skills and demands on the time of each individual, and still be confident enough to hold each team member accountable to deadlines. An effective project manager earns the respect of each team member and can hold people accountable without alienating the team. Trait #5: Effective Communicator to Senior Leaders When you have someone who loves details, it can be challenging for them to provide a high-level summary. However, your senior pastor probably doesn’t want to hear about every single task (nor does he have the time to listen). A great project manager can go from the 30,000-foot view to ground level and back again as needed. Trait #6: Positive and Realistic Outlook When your mind is full of details, it’s easy to think, “this is going to be really hard, if not nearly impossible, to accomplish.” However, that’s not an attitude a successful project manager can take. You need someone who can see all the details and still be confident that the team can pull it off. This individual also needs to be confident enough to raise potential issues early on. He should always provide a few options to solve each issue and be ready to implement whichever solution leadership approves. Trait #7: Protects the Team A project manager must look out for his team, making sure they have what they need to be successful and that they aren’t working too much. They need to be able to inspire and motivate their team, be aware of the team’s mood, be willing to listen and be empathetic, all the while keeping the big picture in mind. Conclusion Project management is much more than simply keeping track of a massive to-do list and making sure each person gets his/her tasks done on time.

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4 Tips to Reduce Last-Minute Planning

“I have an idea…”.  These are words most planners prefer not to hear. After all, they’d prefer to reduce last-minute planning. In the context of the church, a close second would be, “Hey, let’s (insert big event idea here) next month!”.  Though these sentences often come with good intentions, all the event organizer hears is, “Let’s add more work to your already overflowing to-do list.”   As you know, planning events is a tall order. It includes promoting the event, finding volunteers, renting space to hold it, buying or making decor, securing food plans, and too many other details to list.  Add a tight deadline and a few extra “ideas” to the mix and you have a recipe for stress and late nights at the office. If you’ve been hearing those dreaded words a lot lately and feel like your team is in a vicious cycle of last-minute planning, here are four tips to break the cycle. Tip #1: Bring up the Budget When it comes to ministry, money isn’t everything.  It is, however, part of the church event planning equation.  Sometimes you have to bring up the budget to add a dose of reality.  The next time a department leader mentions a last-minute event he wants to do, kindly ask him about the budget for that event.  If he didn’t include that event in his department’s annual budget, then he’ll have to request an exception or reallocate budget dollars.  It’s my experience that if you do this often enough, your repeat last-minute offenders will start speaking up more in budget planning meetings. Tip #2: Provide Options Now, Tip #1 only works if the procrastinators report to you.  It doesn’t work if the person dropping last-minute ideas is the Senior Pastor.  In this case, brainstorm a few options on how to make his vision happen on short notice.  Those options should include the price tag, how many volunteers you’ll need, how much overtime the staff members will need to work, etc. Of course, be respectful in how you deliver these options. It’s not about trying to get the pastor to ditch the idea in light of the dollar and time costs. The goal is to make sure he clearly understands the potential impact of this last-minute decision.  I’ve personally worked with leaders who were frustrated at staff members who didn’t inform them about these impacts. When they learned of the real-time and money costs after the fact, they wished they’d known ahead of time. Then, they could have made adjustments or scrapped the idea completely. In short, know the impacts of a last-minute event before you begin to plan, and make sure your leaders know, too.  Tip #3: Listen & Be Proactive We all have different talents and abilities. Some of us are hardwired as planners while others are dreamers.  Both sides of that spectrum are important to strengthening the reach of the ministry. What’s also important is taking the time to understand each other’s perspectives.  I encourage you to get to know your visionary team members or leaders. Find out what drives them and why they tend to come up with these big ideas somewhat late in the game.  Then, help them understand how you can make their ideas happen when you have sufficient time to plan. Commit to discussing the next 3-6-12 months and use these scheduled meetings to get their creative juices flowing.  These sessions are a great way to gauge what ideas they really want to execute. From there, schedule additional session time to brainstorm specific ideas.  Tip #4: Offer Tips & Planning Tools Since some of us are more geared to plan than others, take the time to share your knowledge.  What’s important here is to look inward for ways you can help your team members. Don’t just get frustrated by someone’s lack of planning. Instead, educate them on how not planning ahead creates extra work for everyone — and ultimately costs more.   As I’ve discussed before, there are many steps to take that can help with planning events ahead of time. Once your team understands these steps and the benefits of this practice, you can greatly reduce last-minute planning. Go forth and plan ahead!

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How to Get Started with Church Project Management

From sermon preparation to coordinating volunteers and training small group leaders (and more), there’s a lot that goes into leading a church.  One way to keep all these efforts running smoothly is by implementing a project management process for your church. Before we get into church project management, we need to deal with projects.  So, what is a project? According to the Project Management Institute, a project is “temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore defined scope and resources.”  In other words… With that in mind, project management involves coordinating all the tasks, team members, and resources needed to make the project a success. How does this apply to ministry? Most churches have more vision and activities planned than they have resources.  To have any hope of not working late nights and weekends (beyond Sunday, of course), you have to be organized and efficient with what you do have available.  Using a standard process to coordinate and organize the work helps everyone be more efficient and effective. Project management is a term we don’t use much in ministry.  It sounds very corporate-y, so it tends to get tossed aside. However, after using project management principles in both corporate and church environments, I can personally attest to its usefulness. Projects such as launching a ministry program, hosting a conference, or starting a new outreach are in addition to the day-to-day responsibilities and can stretch your team to their limit.  The key to not wearing everyone out while delivering an excellent result is in planning and project management. Before I go into detail about how to use project management principles, I want to introduce you to the benefits you can reap from a church project management process: Benefit #1: Less rework Planning involves doing work on paper before you do it in real life. When you plan, you can brainstorm and think through various scenarios well ahead of any deadlines. You can make your mistakes on paper (and identify better ways of scheduling tasks or handling various situations) instead of when a deadline is looming in front of you. Benefit #2: Increased excellence It’s hard to go the extra mile when you’re already exhausted.  Planning ahead and carefully managing the plan gives you margin.  You can use that margin to do the extra things that take your event over the top and deliver for your community. Benefit #3: Ability to deliver on-time and within budget When it’s down to the wire and it just has to get done, you’re more likely to feel justified in spending the extra money to finish.  However, if you carefully plan the timeline and budget, you’re much less likely to have last-minute emergencies. Benefit #4: Less risk Part of the planning process involves considering the risks involved in the event or new program.  You may need to purchase liability insurance for the event or make contingency plans in case of bad weather. Benefit #5: More creative freedom Using a structured planning process may not sound like it would allow for creativity.  However, when you plan ahead and allow for margin within your timeline, you can create room for brainstorming sessions and a few iterations of creative concepts.  You can’t let the creatives on your team tweak the graphics or décor forever, but you should give them enough time to come up with their best work. Benefit #6: Less stress and late nights You’ve seen (and experienced) it too.  The week before a big deadline is fraught with last-minute changes and many late nights at work.  Tempers may flare, communication is spotty at best, and you’re all just ready for it to be over. It doesn’t have to be that way.  Planning ahead and then working the plan prevents this last-minute craziness. Benefit #7: Increased buy-in from the team Your team needs to understand the “why” behind this new program or event.  Part of the planning process involves defining what success looks like and communicating that to the team.  That unifies the group and enables them to communicate more effectively and make better decisions. Then they can all head in the same direction with purpose and enthusiasm. Benefit #8: More volunteers A lack of planning leads to sending out a desperate plea for volunteers a few days before the event.  The volunteers who set aside their schedules to help likely receive very little communication or training.  In that scenario, your volunteers are frustrated and annoyed. They’re serving because they believe in the ministry of your church – so much that they’ll put up with the chaos this time.  However, don’t count on that continuing for long if you repeat this process often. Benefit #9: More effective communication Invest the time upfront to plan how and when you’ll communicate this event or new program.  You’ll want to consider service announcements, social media posts, billboards, website updates and registration, emails, signage around the church, etc.  When you coordinate this communication, it will be apparent to your congregation and the community what you’re doing, why, and how to get involved. That will increase participation and make the whole launch day run smoother. Benefit #10: Peace of mind Now, I know that God is our source of peace.  I’m not taking away from that at all. In addition to trusting Him for wisdom and direction, we need to use the skills He provides and give thought to our ways.  The simple act of documenting the tasks required to complete a project brings a measure of peace. You can see what needs to be done, who’s responsible for each item, and that you have a schedule in place to get everything done on time.  Yes, you’ll have issues to handle along the way, but the volume is much less when you plan ahead. That brings peace and helps you be a good steward of the resources (time, money, and talent) that God has provided. Hopefully, by now you’re at least intrigued by the benefits of

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Project Management Software for Churches: How to Choose the Best One

Many church leaders see the potential value in using project management software for their teams. Popular tools include Asana, Basecamp, ClickUp, and others. However, there’s often a level of disappointment that happens once a church staff starts using the tool. Why isn’t this making communication easier? Why won’t the whole staff use the tool (and stop emailing me or dropping by my desk with a “quick” request)?  Here’s the deal: Those issues probably have nothing to do with the tool and everything to do with the process.  What do I mean by that? (Prepare yourself for some tough love here…) You can’t put a shiny new tool over a broken process and expect an incredible result. I don’t care how many features the tool has, how much you paid for it, or how “cutting edge” it’s supposed to be. If you don’t have a good process in place it still won’t work. So if that’s true, then what is all this process stuff about? Let’s say you’re looking for project management software to help your communications team put tasks into a central location, assign each, add notes about the tasks, send email reminders about upcoming tasks, etc. Before you sign up and start adding projects, consider this: How does your staff currently receive, manage, and complete communications projects? In other words, how does your team go from receiving a request to providing the final product? Notice I haven’t addressed any special software features here. If you don’t already have the answers to these questions, that’s where you should start before you evaluate any online tools. Here’s how to document your process: Step #1 – Create a rough draft Take a first cut at sketching out your church’s current process (whether you think it works well or not – just write down what IS). Step #2 – Review Meet with your team to see if they agree that what you’ve written down matches how they think things currently work. You may be surprised by where you have disagreements or different understandings. That’s another reason why documenting the process is helpful – it gets everyone on the same page. Step #3 – Improve Ask the team what they think should change about the current process and incorporate that into the documentation. Step #4 – Review with a wider audience Review the proposed process with other departments and/or individuals who’ll be impacted by the changes. Tweak the process until you get something you think will be more efficient. Step #5 – Evaluate Use the process for a few weeks without adding a planning tool. Work out a few issues, update the process documentation, then create a list of which steps you’d like a tool to help make more effective such as: Now it’s time to check out project management software options: Once you have a solid process and you know what you want out of an online project management tool, THEN it makes sense to start reviewing options. One easy way to start comparing options is to visit Capterra.com. You can select up to four tools to compare key features side-by-side. That will help you narrow down the options. Next, visit the website of each vendor to get a better idea of what each offers. Most of the software providers offer a free trial. I highly recommend you sign up for the free trial and have 2-3 people use the tool for that time period. See if you really like the tool, if it helps you manage your process more efficiently, etc. Once you land on a tool your team will actively use and finds helpful, then start rolling it out to more people. Make sure you explain WHY you’re asking them to use a new tool. Help each individual understand how this tool will make their job easier and how it will save them time and stress. Train each individual and answer their questions in the first few weeks. Don’t expect everyone to fall in love with the new software on day one. It may take a while for some to see the benefits. Be persistent, provide more training, and respond quickly to their questions. Yes, this approach will take more time up front. However, by documenting your process and identifying how you’d like to use a project management tool you greatly increase your chances of selecting the best one for your team. Complete the form below to receive a free Project Management Tools Overview guide (including information on the top software vendors):

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5 Church Administration Time-Saving Tools

Time. It’s the most precious commodity yet the one we have the least of. That’s why saving time is a constant goal for church leaders with busy schedules. One way to save time is by streamlining church administration tasks.  When you work behind-the-scenes in the church office, you’ve got plenty of plates spinning. Coordinating events, fixing a website issue, plus a ton of other tasks are all in a day’s work. While I can’t trim your to-do list, I can recommend the following tools to make your job a bit easier. #1 – Project Management Software Asana, Basecamp, Trello, Monday, ClickUp, are a few of the excellent project management tools available. Most have a free or trial version you can use to see which one works best for you and your team. Complete the form below to receive a free Project Management Tools Overview guide (including information on the top software vendors): #2 – Expense Tracking App Keeping track of receipts for an expense report can be a pain. Instead of shuffling through your purse or wallet for that last receipt, use an app on your phone. Quickly snap a picture of a receipt immediately after making a purchase. Assign the appropriate expense code(s) and have a collection of electronic receipts ready for your next expense report. Staff members who forget receipts and finance team members responsible for collecting accurate data will all appreciate the convenience of an app. Two of the top contenders in this category are Divvy and Zoho Expense. #3 – Church Management System (ChMS) As a church grows, you need an easy way to maintain up-to-date records regarding church members and visitors. Contact information, family relationships, baptism dates, and more are a few examples of data you can use to minister to your congregation. A robust church management system enables your team to maintain accurate information, create follow-up workflows, keep tithe records, and more. There are many options available when it comes to ChMS tools. A few examples include Planning Center, Rock RMS, Fellowship One, Breeze, ACS, Elexio, ShelbyNext, Faith Teams, and TouchPoint. #4 – Facility Management Software From facility maintenance requests to tracking who reserved a room, facility management software can help your team stay on top of things. Smart Church Solutions has an excellent tool called eSPACE. Within this software, you can manage inventory, manage work orders, reserve facility rooms and resources, schedule preventative maintenance, and more. #5 – The Church Operations Toolkit At the risk of sounding self-promotional, the Church Operations Toolkit can save your church time and money. Within the Toolkit are templates, how-to guides, expert interviews, and resources to make church administration and operations tasks easier. Instead of spending hours searching online for a template, simply log into the Church Operations Toolkit and download one in minutes. There’s no magic formula to knocking out your to-do list (if only!). However, these are a few tools to make being productive a bit easier. Oh, and if you’re like me and consider coffee a productivity tool…Can I get an amen? 🙂

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