Introducing the Territorial Strategy

The Canada and Bermuda Territory is excited to formally release the new territorial strategy. Many of you may have seen the article in the July/August Salvationist foreshadowing its release this month.

One of the “3 why’s” of Mobilize 2.0 is to develop a vision-aligned strategy. This is a strategy that will help us fulfill our vision to be “an innovative partner, mobilized to share hope wherever there is hardship, building communities that are just and know the love of Jesus”.

Our territorial mission reminds us of why we exist and our territorial vision looks forward, showing us where we are heading. Our territorial values demonstrate what we look like when we show up in the world. The purpose of our territorial strategy is to guide us toward our vision; it tells us how we will get there.

Our territorial strategy includes four strategic pillars, each with a set of strategic objectives. Under each strategic objective are actionable strategic initiatives that will help bring the pillars to life.

The four pillars of the new strategy will see the territory:

• Strengthen Spiritual Health—by intentionally looking at what we can do to ensure that our ministries and communities are places of spiritual vibrancy.
• Design for People—by creating people-centered processes and ensuring that we are a place driven by Christian love that enables us to be a strong, sustainable, growing movement.
• Forge Stronger Partnerships—by building on and harnessing the strength of our internal and external partnerships.
• Optimize Mission Impact—by better understanding how and where we can have the most impact.

Developing the Territorial Strategy

More than 120 people have spoken into the development of the strategy. Since November 2020, we have hosted workshops and held focus groups with internal and external stakeholders, all in a collaborative effort to seek a united direction for our movement that is aligned with our vision and inspired by God. These discussions included consideration for how our internal and external environments are changing, including funder and partner expectations, and the challenges and opportunities before us.

Implementing the Territorial Strategy

Work has commenced on scheduling when each of the strategic initiatives will commence and an estimate of how long each will take to complete. The resulting implementation roadmap will need to balance the work required with any possible change implications so that it is realistic and achievable. We plan to release a supporting roadmap for our territorial strategy in the coming weeks. Some of these initiatives are already underway and will be highlighted on the implementation roadmap when it is released.

Holding Ourselves to Account

Sponsors have been assigned to each strategic objective and have overall accountability for ensuring that the initiatives deliver against the stated objective and associated measures. They will also ensure that there is appropriate stakeholder support and buy-in. The sponsor is the champion of their assigned initiatives and will provide progress updates to the Chief Secretary and at relevant executive forums and governance forums.

Owners have been assigned to each strategic initiative and have primary responsibility for the successful execution of their assigned initiatives and achievement of the associated measures and benefits, providing day-to-day guidance on the direction of the initiative. They will also have responsibility for ensuring that the outputs of the initiative are developed with appropriate consultation and engagement from key stakeholders. Delivering on each initiative will take a collaborative effort. Many will require representative input and involvement from many across the territory.

Any strategy should be a living, breathing document, reviewed regularly to ensure that we are on track. Our territorial strategy will run until March 2025, when the next major iteration will be developed. Before then, though, many of the strategic initiatives will be complete, and others will be added when needed.

Once the strategy roadmap is complete, regular progress reporting will be put in place to ensure that we are delivering against committed activities and timeframes. We will determine what measures might best be used to track the success of the strategy in moving us towards our vision.

Bringing the Territorial Strategy to Life

The four pillars of the territorial strategy will provide focus and guide our ministry in Canada and Bermuda in the coming years. Our territorial strategy will stretch us to envision our Army at its best—living our vision and fulfilling our mission. It will promote consistent messaging and guide our actions. More than that, our strategy will challenge teams and individuals to think about how they can live and lead the vision forward.

In the coming months, you will hear more about how the strategy can be brought to life in your local setting. While many of the initiatives will be led territorially, there will be many that can be considered, discussed and actioned in local ministry units.

While the strategy will impact areas of our movement differently, it will help those working in our ministries to better understand how they might contribute to the implementation of our strategy wherever they are. Together, we can strengthen our spiritual health, optimize our mission impact, be people-focused and forge innovative partnerships.

For more information on the development of our strategy, please read the article in the July/August edition of Salvationist. Across the next four issues of Salvationist, commencing with the September 2021 edition, we will look more closely at each of the four pillars in turn.

To learn more, visit: https://salvationist.ca/articles/strategy-the-road-map-to-vision/

Download the Territorial Strategy document.

Download the Territorial Strategy terminology

Download the Territorial Strategy FAQs.