Measuring Pages or Counting Impact?
There’s an old joke that consultants (and lawyers) must get paid by the page, and that’s why they create lengthy documents. I’ve seen plenty of those reports, and so have you. And we know what happens with them. They’re inserted in a 3-ring binder with a nice label on the spine and then put on a shelf, never to be used again. Frankly, the same thing happens in a lot of planning processes even when a consultant is not involved.
If you look inside those binders, you will typically discover several things. In an appendix in the back will be data – lots of it. It will include internal data on attendance and finances and programs and anything else that is measured. It will include external data on demographic trends. The binder may include notes from interviews with various constituents. And, of course, it will include plans. The plans may be extensive in their detail, sweeping in the number of initiatives that are recommended, and far-reaching in the number of years that are covered.
The problem is that a binder doesn’t produce results, and this kind of binder can actually hinder progress. This stereotypical report is a compilation of ideas, as if more pages will lead to more good things happening. I don’t share that perspective, and my guess is that you don’t either. I would much rather create a simple plan with measurable impact than count the pages in a weighty tome.
How do you do that? You start with clarity around your unique strengths and what God is calling you to be. You are realistic about your resource constraints, not limiting God but recognizing that some good ideas need to be done later (not now) and some need to be done by some other church or ministry (not yours). This means that you must be willing to say “no,” and even upset some people, so that you can run hard after a few great opportunities. It’s not easy, but when you quit counting pages and focus on impact, great things can happen.
The Peter Principle in Growing Churches
Have you ever heard of the “Peter Principle.” No, it has nothing to do with the apostle. It’s a term that was coined in a 1969 book by Laurence Peter and it explains that a person will tend to be promoted within an organization until reaching a position where he or she does not have the abilities to do the job. The shorthand phrase is “promoted to the level of their incompetence.” Not a very cheery thought, is it?
It strikes me that rapidly growing churches (and other ministries) must deal with their own unique version of the Peter Principle. When God is moving powerfully and the number of people grows dramatically, the early-stage staff members don’t get promoted. Rather, the scope of their responsibilities tends to grow rapidly as the number of people and things that they manage expands. A gifted worship leader who led one service may end up overseeing multiple bands and vocalists and a creative team. A person who started as the up-front person for children’s worship must recruit and train and direct a team of volunteers and manage programming that runs 7 days a week.
The gifts needed for the early-stage roles are vastly different than those needed in the later, larger stages. And yet, churches are ill-prepared to make these shifts. They don’t invest enough in training, lack good evaluation processes, and are often reluctant to bring in a leader with the needed skills to replace or supervise these long-tenured staff members. As a result, the ministry falls victim to this particular strain of the Peter Principle. If you are in a growing church, what are you doing to prevent the Peter Principle from derailing what God is doing in your midst?
One final note, I didn’t talk about senior pastors in the above illustrations, but I could have. This shift in essential leadership skills is just as notable for first chairs as for any other role. If that’s you, are you investing in your own development as a leader? Your church needs you to!
Is Competition Good?
In many ways, my life has been defined by competition. For me, that has not been a bad thing, because I’ve had more than my share of “wins” in the arenas in which I’ve competed. But an unsettling thought has rattled around in my brain recently: is competition good?
At the risk of sounding un-American, I wonder if we push too far in this direction. I certainly see a level of intensity that makes me cringe when I watch kids’ sports. When parents get into literal fights over the outcome of a 10-year old baseball game, something is wrong. And I’m equally uncomfortable with the enormous lengths that people go to so that they can win the “college admission competition” (including hiring specialists to help fill out applications or downright cheating to get into the “best” school).
Someone may reply, “Competition is a way to motivate people to do their best and to select those who most deserve advancement.” I agree, and this has served me well in life. My competitive drive pushes me to do my best. I love an objective standard that tells me whether or not I won.
So what’s the problem? For those who succeed often, every victory can push us further away from God. The very thing we are running after can hurt us as we begin to believe that we truly are superior to others and deserving of praise. We forget that “every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). That’s a dangerous place for any Christian to stand.
In addition, the competitive drive may spill over into other areas of our lives and we may end up defining every situation as a contest. If you tend to see colleagues as rivals and can’t celebrate their successes, or if it’s impossible to play a friendly family board game, perhaps it’s time to recalibrate your attitude and your inner drive.
This blog is for me as much as anyone. I want to compete for “a crown that will last forever” (1 Cor. 9:25). I don’t expect to lose my competitive drive, but I hope to have a different outlook on this question in the future.
What Axioms Guide Your Staff?
In my last post, I mentioned Bill Hybels’ book, Axiom. I thought it would be worth posting a book review that I wrote a couple of years ago.
When Bill Hybels’ Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs came out, I debated whether to add it to my “must read” stack. On one hand, I’ve been enriched by everything I’ve consumed from Willow Creek. On the other hand, with 76 short chapters of pithy sayings, Axiom is not the type of book that I typically enjoy.
So once I started reading, I was pleasantly surprised by how much Hybels spoke to me in many of the chapters. In fact, I liked it so much that I bought copies for all of our pastoral and program staff, and made it the focus of a staff development day. We each read the book, and then came prepared to discuss which axioms we considered to be most applicable for our personal leadership development and which would most benefit our staff team collectively. It was a rich time of discussion, and I see it offering ongoing benefits.
Hybels accurately points out that axioms, when they are owned by a group, can become a powerful way to communicate and reinforce important values. I’m working on the axiom of “create your own finish lines” and “real-time coaching.” As a staff, we’re trying to adopt the axioms “excellence honors God and inspires people” and “vision: paint the picture passionately.”
I’ve also found it helpful to think about other important axioms for our church, both those that we currently practice and ones that we need to put in place. Currently I’m thinking about an axiom that might be expressed in the phrase “email doesn’t solve problems.” It might not be quite as profound as some of Hybels’ sayings, but it would sure make a difference in how we handle some “situations.” Pick up a copy of Axiom and as you read, make notes about the leadership concepts that will help you and your team go to the next level.
Good Numbers, Bad Numbers
Shortly after one of my children was diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes, we met with our endocrinologist. The key to good long-term health as a diabetic is keeping your blood sugar between 80 and 120. I remember the doctor telling us, “There are no good or bad numbers. The numbers are simply in range or out of range.” What she was really doing was giving me an important caution as a parent. The tendency is to criticize a diabetic child whose blood sugar is high, which only compounds the emotions that the child is feeling as he or she deals with a serious, chronic disease. The better approach is to come alongside the child to help figure out how to achieve the desired goal for blood sugar.
Numbers are funny things. They are an important tool for helping to define reality and evaluate effectiveness. But far too often, especially in ministry settings, numbers acquire “good” and “bad” labels. When this happens, many ministry leaders shut down. These leaders are being asked to do something that does not come naturally to them – to think analytically. They may think that they are being held solely responsible for the numbers and feel threatened if the results are “bad.” They may see numbers as a simplistic way of looking at a very complex issue. So rather than asking what can be learned from the numbers, these leaders reject the use of quantitative measures.
Bill Hybels is known for saying “facts are your friends.” In his book, Axioms, Hybels describes his initial discouragement when he was presented with the results of Willow Creek’s Reveal study. This data came from a congregation-wide survey that explored the spiritual habits and maturity of the church’s members. Even though he didn’t like what he saw, Hybels explains that the church took a hard look at this data and made positive adjustments in its ministries as a result.
This is a great picture of the power of numbers. They help us define reality so that we can make appropriate adjustments. Without a blood glucose meter, my child would just be guessing at the amount of insulin to inject needed to keep blood sugar in range and to have good health. And without some sort of meaningful data, you’re just guessing how to lead your ministry.
For more information on this topic, see my article on “Measuring What Matters” in the current issue of Leadership. The online version can be found at http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2012/spring/measuringmatters.html.
