Quick results verses long term sustainability in ministry

We are a people in a hurry.

We want results (and we should) but we want them now and often rather than ensuring that we do something well and sustainable, we opt for what we think will be the quick solution which usually fails in the long term.

We run ministry campaigns but can neglect the harder ongoing training in stewardship and generosity. We want people in groups but don't provide a long term sustainable model that keeps them there or grows their leaders. We want growth and put great energy into appealing services but don't close the back door through meaningful engagement of those who come - and thus many leave. We desire to train new leaders and design programs but don't mentor them through the process and give them opportunities to lead and grow and receive feedback.

Why do we so often neglect long term sustainability in our ministry efforts? Sustainability takes a lot more time and we want results now. Sustainability means that we know what we are going after, are committed to doing it well, have done our homework, thought through the issues, have someone who will lead the effort and are willing to start small and let it grow. In the short run it produces less but in the long run it produces exponentially more than going after quick results.

Take groups as an example. Almost every church values groups but most struggle to make it happen. They run programs to get them going and then they fizzle out and a few years later they try another tact. Yet there are churches (even very large churches) that have up to 75% of their adults in groups on a regular basis. In the first instance, the desire for quick results circumvents long term success. In the second instance, leaders have done their homework, built a sustainable model and are dogged in pursuing it for long term sustainability and success.

The next time you tackle a ministry initiative, ask this question: Am I going after quick results or do I have a paradigm for long term sustainability?

Helping individuals and organizations go to the next level of effectiveness.
AddingtonConsulting.org

When vision is perfectly designed to take you nowhere

Vision is a funny thing. Lots of people (and leaders) have vision but many cannot deliver on that vision because they cannot develop a realistic strategy that will allow them to accomplish the vision. That is why a vision without a workable strategy is hallucination: an unfulfilled dream, a false hope and an empty promise. Many so called visions for the future are perfectly designed to get you nowhere except in the mind of a leader. 

The problem with this is that vision usually comes from leaders and leaders have followers and staff. It is staff who have to live with the unmet dreams of their leaders and the implications of chasing a vision that they know is a foolish dream. I remember a leader I once worked for who hired a staff member to accomplish a specific task that was vital to the organization. 

As I listened to the vision of that new staff member and his strategy for how he would accomplish it I knew in my heart that "this dog won't hunt" but I was not in a position to do or say much as I was lower in the organizational chain and this was a senior level hire of a senior level executive. Nor was I asked my opinion.

In this case we wasted three years of effort, built a staff we had to eventually let go and lost one million dollars in the process. And I had to pick up the pieces when it fell apart and the staff member was let go. Not only did we pay huge "dumb tax" for the foolish expectations and their results but the senior leader lost great credibility in the eyes of his staff for leading us down a path that resulted in organizational damage and could have been avoided. The Walter Mitty vision of the senior leader was an hallucination.

It is not that this leader (the one who hired) and the staff member (the one who was hired) did not have a strategy to reach their vision. Their problem was that it was not a workable strategy. It was built on false assumptions, optimistic rather than realistic thinking which did not even move the ball down the field a bit but rather went the wrong direction entirely.

How does one avoid moving mistaking vision for dreams or hallucinations? A key is not to develop vision by oneself. Senior leaders should work the visioning process with other senior staff who must help deliver on the vision. That includes a reasonable, workable strategy for how the organization will accomplish its vision. Usually that will mean changes in the current paradigm or strategy that the organization is using. After all, the current paradigm got you to where you are but was not designed to get you to where you need to go next. 

That raises the question of whether the organization and its leaders are ready and willing to refocus their efforts, personnel and resources toward the accomplishing of the new vision? Adopting a new vision without refocusing the organization toward that new vision is also an hallucination. Refocusing may well mean that some staff who were key in the past will need to be let go in order to accomplish the new. It may well mean that other staff will need to be refocused and even organizational structures changed to meet the needs of a new vision and a new day. It is a grave mistake to assume that your current ministry paradigm will get you to a new vision and the next level.

Here are the kinds of questions that need to be addressed if a vision is going to be more than a dream:

• Is this a realistic vision and is it the right vision for us as an organization?
• Do we have buy in from senior staff toward a new vision and what is our plan to create a guiding coalition within the organization to move in a new direction?
• Do we have a realistic and workable plan to accomplish the vision?
• What are the unintended consequences of moving in our new direction?
• How do we need to restructure staff, budgets or organizational structure to focus on the new vision?
• How will we know if we are being successful and how do we monitor progress?

Vision is a wonderful and necessary element of leadership. But, a vision without a workable strategy is simply a hallucination.

Creating cultures of excellence
AddingtonConsulting.org

Why many churches are unsuccessful in finding and retaining high quality volunteers

All churches talk about volunteers and what they can contribute to ministry but many find it difficult to find and retain high quality volunteer staff. The following factors contribute to this problem but all of these can be overcome if we take them seriously.

When we treat volunteers as “second rate staff” rather then treating them like staff we send a message  that they are not as appreciated or important as paid staff. When you think about that you realize how crazy that is when these volunteers are willing to contribute their gifts and talents for free. If we truly want their expertise and involvement we need to give them the same appreciation, information and asking for the same input as they do staff.

When we are not willing to invest the same energy into helping volunteer staff grow and flourish in their ministries as we do paid staff we also send an unwanted message. I would argue that we ought to offer a level of growth and building into their lives that they would greatly value the opportunity to serve Jesus and be thankful that they are being built into. Just as we want to help staff understand their wiring and gifts and grow in faith and EQ, we ought to want the same for our volunteers who will often be the future leaders of the church.

When we are not willing to give volunteers responsibility commensurate with their gifting and experience - as we would with paid staff we desensitize them from continuing with us. After all, if they carry significant responsibility in their non church life and we ask them to fill slots that are below their interest or experience they may become easily bored. Of course some volunteers just want to help and they don’t care much where they end up. Others want to lead or contribute their knowledge and skill in a ministry setting and we should get as close to their heart passions as we can.
After all we are about releasing people into ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12) in light of their God given gifts (Ephesians 2:10-11).

When we don’t listen to our volunteers the way we would listen to staff we lose their trust. Volunteers bring a unique perspective to staff because they can see ministry from the outside in rather than the inside out. Both are important perspectives but too many church leaders are more interested in their own perspective rather than the perspective of the outside in. Listening to only one perspective limits our understanding of reality. Listening to both perspectives not only gives better perspective but it values both groups equally.

Finally many churches lose volunteers when they only focus on ministries inside the church. There are many believers who long to see the gospel penetrate their communities but find little interest on the part of church leaders to do so. When this happens mission driven individuals will follow their passions. And the church loses!

TJ Addington of Addington Consulting has a passion to help individuals and organizations maximize their impact and go to the next level of effectiveness. He can be reached at tjaddington@gmail.com.

Creating cultures of organizational excellence

Living a generous life

A Generous life is one where we see all resources as given by God to be put at the disposal of God. This includes our money, gifts, time, abilities, skills, help and whatever is in our library of resources. Generosity allows us to leave a legacy as we share what we have with what others need. 

When we think of generosity we often think of money and financial resources. The truth is that there are many kinds of generosity. It is often said that the most precious thing we have today is our time. In fact, it is often easier to give money rather than to give our time. Yet, it is often our time that people need. In an added irony, giving others our time gives us much greater opportunity to influence others and leave a legacy with them as most influence is life on life. 

Included in a willingness to give our time is a willingness to share areas of expertise that we have. A generous individual is ready and willing to share their expertise because it allows them to contribute something of value to an individual or a cause that we care about. 

In one of the organizations I consult with there is an extraordinary woman whose office is often filled by those who need some encouragement, a listening ear and wise advice. She willingly shares her time and encouragement and is loved because of it. In doing so she is living a generous life. And ironically, what she can give away is needed by many in the organization. Another individual in this organization loves to stop by and pray for you. He has a gift of faith but is also generous with that gift of faith and willingly shares that gift. 

What can you give away? What can you be generous with?  All it takes is a willingness to share what God has given to us.    

Stop following your boss and get in front

Many smart people make a fundamental error in their relationship with their boss whether that be an individual or a board. They wait for direction rather than taking the initiative to set direction themselves. In doing so they give up a great deal of their autonomy because they are no longer controlling their destiny.

OK you say, "but it is our job to follow our authority." Yes, we are accountable to our authority but it is possible and preferable to influence the direction you are going by getting in front of your authority rather than simply responding to it. How do you do this?

First, you get in front of your boss when you learn to anticipate their thinking and direction, take the time to think deeply about where they are going and make your own plans accordingly. In other words, you are proactively moving in the direction they are moving and where possible are a step ahead in your thinking. If you are right, by being ahead of them, you can directly influence their direction.

You get in front of your boss when you proactively address concerns you know they have before they ask you to do so. Not only have you done the hard work to think a step ahead of your boss but you have done the harder work to ensure that you are already addressing needs you know they will address - before they address them. 

How do you obtain the intelligence to know where your boss wants to go? You listen carefully and ask a lot of penetrating questions about their intentions and direction. And you pay attention to what their priorities are and what issues they seem passionate about. Find out what they are being pressed on by their supervisor or board so that you can address issues that they are being pushed to address. 

Ironically, for those who do this, their supervisor, boss or board often end up following them rather than the other way around. You are now setting the pace, or in the least have major influence as to where the direction is going. This is a huge win for healthy staff who desire to have influence in the organization they work for.

Rather than follow, think about leading by getting in front of the issues.  

  

AddingtonConsulting.org

Letting go of fear and ego to empower our staff

Truly empowering staff is a difficult thing for many leaders to do and many organizations are far more controlling than they are empowering. While this is often driven by good motives - make sure that things don't go wrong, it is highly demotivating to staff and actually keeps staff from growing and developing. After all, without having to take responsibility and risks one does not grow. Simply following the instructions of another is not a recipe for development.

The root of unempowered cultures is often fear that someone may make a mistake which reflects poorly on the leader - which is about the insecurities of a leader. Or, it is hubris on the leader's part that no one can do it as well as they can. Thus the need to control rather than empower. The point is that lack of empowerment is not about the staff but about the leader. When leaders recognize that this is about them, they are more likely to pay attention to the issue.

In unempowered cultures:

• People feel controlled
• Permission is always needed
• The ideas of staff are often ignored
• The best staff generally leave
• The leader is seen as fearful or indecisive
• Staff don't grow
• The organization suffers

Leaders who resist empowering staff end up hurting their staff, their organization and themselves. Their fear or ego gets in the way of forward progress. If you want to develop a healthy organization, however, you will overcome both fear and ego and allow your staff appropriate freedom. 

Here are some things to remember as you do so.

1. Recognize that empowering others may well mean that some things will fail. Failure is a good thing because if nothing fails, little is being tried! Breakthroughs come through trying new things or doing things in new ways. The best leaders allow failure and practice autopsy without blame. The best lessons are often learned when something does not work as we wanted it to.

2. Realize that others will do things different than you. We are all wired and gifted differently. The issue is not usually how something gets done but that it gets done. Be OK with different approaches knowing that yours is only one of many.

3. Give freedom within boundaries. If there are specific boundaries you don't want crossed, be clear about them so staff know where they have freedom and where they have limits. All freedom comes with boundaries after all.

4. Be specific about the outcomes you desire rather than the strategy to get there. Strategies can vary but the outcomes need to be clear.

5. Stay connected and guide the process not through telling or micromanagement but through ongoing dialogue that allows the best ideas to emerge. Ask questions rather than telling someone what to do. Sometimes that will mean stepping back and allowing something not to work and allow the staff member to figure it out.

6. Give appropriate feedback in a way that continues to empower and not control. Share your observations and thoughts but resist telling them what to do.

7. Celebrate success and help staff learn from their experience. It may not be perfect but with time and coaching it will get better and better. The more experience your staff have in figuring things out the happier they will be and the better off you and the organization will be. 

Don't allow your fear or ego to get in the way of empowering your staff!

Helping individuals and organizations go to the next level of effectiveness. TJ Addington can be reached at tjaddington@gmail.com

How are you doing as a leader or how is your leader doing?

How is your leader doing as a leader? If you are a team member, here is a way of figuring that out. If you are a leader, here is a reminder of what is really important.

Does your leader bring great clarity to what the organization or team is about and how it will get there? That is job one of a leader. Clarity gives direction while ambiguity brings confusion.

Does your leader empower you to accomplish what you are tasked with through your gifts and wiring and without micromanagement? Empowerment values people while disempowerment devalues people.

Does your leader meet with you monthly as a mentor coach in order to remove barriers, help you move the ball forward and understand what you are doing? In doing so, does he/she provide you with honest and helpful feedback?

Does your leader keep his or her commitments and promises on a consistent basis? Good leaders don't ask their team to do what they do not do themselves.

Does your leader lead through their team or treat their team as ancillary to their "real" work? Do you feel that their number one job is to help the team be successful or that they are more concerned about their own work? Good leaders lead through their team.

Does your leader keep the team focused on results rather than activity? Are measurable results a focus of your leader? Do they help you strategize for achieving those results or is evaluation a secondary issue?

Does your leader foster a collegial atmosphere where team members work in concert with one another or are your team members isolated and siloed?

Is your leader open to honest feedback and suggestions or do you find them to be closed or defensive? Are there issues that are off limits for the team to discuss with their leader knowing that those issues are too sensitive to discuss?

If you had a choice today, would you sign up to work for the leader you work for? If yes why? If no why?

TJ Addington of Addington Consulting has a passion to help individuals and organizations maximize their impact and go to the next level of effectiveness. He can be reached at tjaddington@gmail.com

Creating cultures of organizational excellence