Discernment or Strategic Planning
Recently I attended an amazing retreat on discernment sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan and the main guide for this journey was a Franciscan brother named Thomas Steffeson. He looks very much like Opie Taylor (yes, I’m dating myself!) and has an amazing intellect and vocabulary which I reveled in receiving.
In the course of what was essentially one day’s contemplation, I made some radical discoveries that I’m so excited to put into practice. The main discovery I made was that I had been confusing discernment with strategic planning. So what’s the difference and why does it matter?
Brother Thomas’s definition of discernment was “Discernment is a process of being able to make a decision between two or more good options that best allows us to live into the life God has invited us into at this time.” His definition of strategic planning was “Strategic planning is the process in which an organization’s leaders define their vision for the future and identify their organization’s goals and objectives. The process includes establishing the sequence in which those goals should be realized so the organization can reach its stated vision.” Can you feel the difference between the two definitions? For me, the former is embedded in heart and soul, in the deep dive into “Who am I?” or “Who are we?” if for a group discernment. The latter feels flat and corporate and hierarchical with goals being chosen at the highest echelons and edicts being handed down to those who must implement them. It answers the question, “What do we do?”
I’m going to make the bold statement that focusing on “What do we do?” without having discerned “Who are we?” is a recipe for, at best, mediocrity and, at worst, disaster. As Brother Thomas said, “Don’t skip this invitation! Do the discernment before any strategic planning” because “Our dreams die when we put practicalities on them too soon!” A very sad and classic example of this is when a person choosing what to study in college chooses based on things like what will make the most money, what their parents want them to do, what seems like it will offer a number of job opportunities rather than what makes their heart sing. My own son experienced this when he chose to study Art. I encouraged him to do EXACTLY what he wanted with that, yet someone else scared him into believing he couldn’t make a living doing art and should focus on Art Education instead so he could get a J.O.B. in a school system. After one semester of student teaching, he knew it was not for him, went back to focusing on Art in his studies, and now makes a modest and joyful living as a potter.
We’ve all had that experience of coming up with a great idea only to watch it crash in flames under the weight of “How are we going to do that?”, “We don’t have money for that!”, or “We’ve never done it that way before.” As Julia Cameron states in The Artist’s Way, your creative ideas are like infants and you wouldn’t expose your baby to the harsh scrutiny of even well-meaning others who critique and criticize before that baby even begins to grow. Do the same with your wonderful ideas…protect them from the tyranny of HOW and allow them to begin to root in the glory of WHY. I often tell my coaching clients, “When your Why is big enough, the Universe takes care of the Hows”.
So what exactly is this discernment process and how does one do it? I will say it is going to be different for everyone, but there are some common elements we can parse out: it is about important matters, it is about making choices between oftentimes many good options rather than between good and bad, it is about uncertainty and embracing that, it takes time and depth, it requires God’s help (Universe, Oneness, All That Is…however you conceive of that Higher Energy). It’s about answering questions like “What am I being called to next?”, “What no longer serves me and others?”, “Who do I want to become?” As Carl Jung said, “We routinely walk around in shoes too small.” Where are you limiting yourself? Is that from fear? False modesty? The desire for certainty? What is getting in your way?
Brother Thomas offered another nugget of gold when he stated, “God is not about efficiency. God is about growth and discernment”. In other words, it wasn’t “We sat down with a white board and knocked out our plan in a few hours”; rather it is “We walked the desert for 40 years.” Yes, your toes might curl at the idea that discernment can take a loooooong time, but to rush the process really is doing a disservice to yourself and those who are meant to benefit from your discernment.
I shall end with a quote from Howard Thurman which sums up the points I’m making above: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”