A strategic exercise for every team or organizational leader in seven steps

Leaders assume that they know what they are doing. And in a general sense, that is probably true. It is easy, however, to be so general in our direction that we miss the opportunities that a laser-like focus could provide. General direction yields general results, while focused direction yields focused results. How do we move from the first to the second?

There is a simple strategic exercise that can help you get there with some other members of your team and a whiteboard work through the following process.

First, write on the board your team's purpose as you currently view it. Don't worry about wordsmithing anything now; just record the purpose.

Second. Make a list of all of your stakeholders. They may be customers, staff, donors, constituents, vendors, or others. Next to each stakeholder, make a note about what is most important to each of those stakeholders. Make sure that you get them all!

Third. Make a list of all your current strategies to reach your purpose. Once you have done this, ask yourself the question: Do these strategies speak to the concerns of your stakeholders, and are they consistent with your stated purpose above?

Fourth. Go back to your stated purpose in One and refine it in light of your stakeholders, your strategies, and the concerns of your stakeholders. Can you get to a purpose statement that is concise, focused, and clear? Keep working on it until you get there, as it may take many tries and multiple minds. Only quit once it is concise, laser-focused, clear, and speaks to the concerns of your stakeholders and mission.

Fifth. Having done this, go back to your current strategies (3) and ask whether those strategies will help you get to your purpose. Having done the interim work, you will probably recognize that some things you are doing will yield different results than you desire, as expressed in your refined purpose or the needs of your stakeholders. Remember, general direction delivers general results, while focused direction yields focused results. Make a note of strategies that need to be rethought, abandoned, or new ones that may be more fruitful.

Sixth. Ask yourself: "Are there any new ways of doing what we do that would be a game changer and not just a tweak?" It is finding the game changers in our strategies that move the dial significantly rather than just a tiny bit. Game changers are new ways of thinking, new ideas that can help you achieve your purpose and outside-the-box thinking. You can tweak all day, but one game changer can propel you months or years ahead of where you are. 

Seventh. Settle on a few key strategies that will get you the highest results rather than on many strategies that will get you a few results each. A laser-focused purpose and the few most fruitful approach will help you get where you want to go far faster and with better results.

Why do many leaders not do this kind of work? They get lost in the activity of the present (activity and results are not the same), the work of the status quo (which keeps you nicely where you are) rather than taking the time to zero in on the most critical issues. Pay attention to the very work that will propel you forward. 

Creating cultures of excellence

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When there is not adequate organizational clarity

If there is one thing that many organizations lack it is crystal clear clarity about who they are, what they want to accomplish and how they are going to get there. This is especially true of non-profits and ministries as the profit motive is not the driving factor. In fact, clarity is the glue that holds the organization together as it grows. In my consulting with numerous non-profits I have observed four related consequences of poor or no organizational clarity.

Conflict
I am speaking here of conflict between leaders and departments. Why? Because a lack of clarity from the top results in leaders one level below creating their own clarity and going in their own direction. When there is a vacuum, someone will fill it. The problem is that we fill it with our version of clarity rather than a shared version of clarity, find ourselves at odds with one another, create silos and find ourselves fighting over direction, finances, resources and strategy.

Relational disconnect
This conflict creates relational disconnect and we often assume that the conflict is a result of people with bad motives or who are not team players. More likely the disconnect is a result of the senior leader not developing a shared clarity about who the organization is and how it will get to where it wants to go. The relational disconnects are a result of poor leadership at the very top of the organization.

Lack of alignment
In this situation, senior leaders and departments are not aligned with one another. Each may be doing good things but often they are working at cross currents with each other. If each were an arrow, the arrows would be pointing in different directions rather than all in the same general direction. This lack of alignment creates conflict and relational disconnect and is deeply frustrating to good leaders who often leave if the situation is not solved. 

Dispersed energy and compromised impact
Because the arrows are not pointed in the same direction and departments and leaders are working at cross purposes with one another the energy and impact of the organization is severely compromised. In fact, leaders are often trying to negotiate issues within the organization rather than focusing on the mission of the organization. There is nothing more distracting and discouraging to people who have bought into a mission than to be fighting intermural wars when they could be delivering on the mission.

Organizational clarity matters...a lot. 

The glue that holds good teams together

It is a fun game: how many cards can we stack on top of another until the house of cards comes down.

In real life, it is more serious - for leaders and team leaders. The measure of our leadership is not what happens when we are leading but what happens when we leave. Does what we built hang together and continue to flourish or does it come apart like a house of cards?

Some leaders build their team or organization on the force of their personality but once they are gone the glue is gone - the cards fall. Other, wiser leaders build their team or organization on values and principles and good people. When they are gone, the values, principles and good people remain and the organization or team continues strong. These leaders have not built a house of cards but a team of strength.

If you are a leader here is a question you should ask. If I disappeared today, what would happen? Would the direction and effectiveness continue in spite of my absence or would it flounder and come apart? In too many cases the reality is the latter rather than the former.

True team and organizational strength is built on a commonly held mission, set of guiding principles, central ministry focus and a carefully built culture that is held, believed in and practiced by everyone. It is in their bones, not just in their leader because their leader has brought alignment around beliefs and practices not around their personality or authority. One builds true long term stability while the other builds temporary but weak alignment.

The mission clarifies what you are about. The guiding principles clarify how you go about doing what you are about. The central ministry focus clarifies what you must do day in and day out to succeed and the culture clarifies the ethos that you are committed to creating. These are the four most important questions every leader answers for their team or organization and they are the glue that holds people together for maximum alignment and ministry passion.

Missional glue is far more powerful than the glue of one's personality - especially if one wants to build something that has influence beyond their time in leadership. It is also a sign of a humble leader when they build around a set of principles and values and a clear mission, rather than themselves. After all it is not about us but the mission God has entrusted to us. 

If you want help in building a ministry based on those principles that will last, read Leading From the Sandbox. It contains the secrets of clarifying those things that are most important for your team or organization. It will take you from a house of cards to a house intentionally built to last.