Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church Finds Missional Alignment with Day School to Better Serve Community
Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church Finds Missional Alignment with Day School to Better Serve Community
Industry: Nonprofit Organization
Location: Signal Mountain, TN
Tactic: Organizational Alignment
Results:
Clarified the alignment between the church values, the role of the school, and community needs
Defined operational objectives of the Day School to align values and achieve outcomes
Created an action plan to deliver operational objectives, supported by ongoing coaching sessions
About Signal Mountain Presbyterian Day School:
Since 1996, Signal Mountain Presbyterian Day School (PDS) has served the Signal Mountain community as a day school for children from six months to five years old. A ministry of Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church (SMPC), the Day School strives to plant the seeds of Christian faith and a passion for lifelong learning into infants, toddlers, and preschool children while preparing them to thrive physically, emotionally, academically, socially, and spiritually in today’s world.
The Challenge:
PDS has seen consistent enrollment and a waitlist in the last year, indicating a high need for infant, toddler, and pre-kindergarten care and schooling in the community. As the population of Signal Mountain continues to grow, PDS and SMPC recognize that there are opportunities for growth in their programming. But, to grow effectively, they needed an operational model that aligned with the vision and mission of the church and also met the community’s needs.
So, they came to Bridge Innovate and established two primary goals for the project:
To enhance alignment between the Day School, SMPC, and the needs of the community.
To define updated operational objectives and provide coaching support for leaders to achieve the goals.
The Solution:
To meet the project goals, Bridge Innovate divided the program into three primary sessions.
Session One: Finding Alignment
The first goal was to find a better alignment between the Day School, SMPC, and the needs of the community. Then, Bridge would help PDS and SMPC create objectives that reach those targets while maintaining accountability to implement the goals.
To understand the current state of operations, Bridge collected information from the leadership of the church and the Day School. Bridge also wanted to understand the leadership and accountability structure between the church and the day school. Lastly, Bridge guided the church in surveying parents of students to identify PDS’s strengths, areas for growth, trends, and gaps.
To start the session, the group explored the parent survey results. Together, they identified key growth opportunities, and trends in the results, and discussed broader community needs. After reflecting on the survey, the group researched and discussed competitor daycares on Signal Mountain to understand their unique value in the community.
After looking at competitors, the group addressed the different needs of children, parents, and the community to create a Community Needs Matrix where they documented the following by age group served:
Childcare Needs
Parental Needs
Community Needs
Community Requests
PDS Trends
Societal Trends
Competitive Trends
With the community needs identified, the group looked at the SMPC and PDS mission statements and values side-by-side using a mission and vision alignment matrix. They explored each organization's mission in depth, asking how each mission aligned and what would need to happen to encourage further alignment.
They similarly discussed the church’s values, evaluating how they come to life at PDS and where there are opportunities for better value alignment. With alignment on mission and values, the group created an Opportunity Map, stating community needs and discussing how they related to values alignment and PDS Opportunities.
Finally, based on the Opportunity Map, the group picked four areas to dig into: parental engagement, expansion in the community, improved connection between SMPC and PDS leadership through chapel services, and better use of outdoor space. For each area, the team produced a “Big Idea Brief” to think creatively about their objectives. The next session would then use the Big Idea Briefs to develop operational objectives that meet the goals of the Day School.
Session Two: Defining Operational Objectives
To begin session two, Bridge reviewed the goals, opportunities, and Big Ideas outlined in the Alignment Session.
To address each of the four “Big Ideas,” Bridge taught SMPC and PDS about how to define operational objectives and set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely) goals using the following framework:
The group then focused on the broader strategic goals for PDS, aligning those goals with the PDS mission and SMPC’s values. For each broader strategic goal, partners defined even more specific goals and brainstormed key activities for 2024, 2025, and 2026, noting the owner of each activity. By the end of the session, each operational area had a stated objective, supported by clear key activities and owners to enable PDS to achieve the objective.
Session Three: Post-Session Action Plan & Coaching Sessions
Lastly, the Bridge Innovate team will reconvene with SMPC and PDS virtually to create the ownership structure for each operational objective. They will meet to establish an action plan, ensuring they agree on the goals and have sufficient synergy and owners to complete each goal.
To support their efforts, Bridge Innovate is providing the project sponsors with two one-hour coaching sessions to help facilitate the completion of each action item, answer outstanding questions, and ensure they make progress.
The Result:
By the end of the project, PDS and SMPC achieved clear alignment between their mission, values, and strategic goals. PDS also gained a better sense of their role, understanding how they relate to the church and the broader Signal Mountain community. They also left with a better sense of what the community needs, enabling them to meet those needs in a unique and valuable way.
With improved organizational alignment, the Day School was able to define operational objectives and key activities that empower them to serve the children of Signal Mountain and support their mission well.
Bridge Innovate would love to help you find alignment so you can achieve your goals and accelerate sustainable growth. Contact us today.