I read a recent article over at the Harvard Business Review that brought up some interesting points about how successful (“great”) businesses started out, around 70% did not have a business plan!!!
In a “former life” I worded in sales for Xerox and a few other companies, and so I’m still interested in business/marketing information. Actually, I think that most of the things that make someone successful in “business” also would help leaders in the church, I think this is what we categorize today as “leadership.”
Leadership is all about people, how to influence them to do what it is you believe they should do (that’s a nicer way of saying, “getting them to do what you want.” if you’re in the church, you should want the right things 😉 )
I lead our Adult Education program here at the church and I have shifted to training more about “core convictions” and “purpose” than the details. I think this article reinforces that idea.
Most businesses who are successful do not wait until they get their “ducks in a row” before launching out, they simply clarify what they are about and then they go for it.
I am shifting away from controlling all the details of how each Sunday School class is run, and I’m moving towards providing training that focuses on our purpose related to our mission.
I want to be sure my leaders know what we are trying to do: Reach people, Teach people, and Love people (i.e. ministry/meeding needs).
We do this (or at least organize this) on Sunday mornings.
I give them proven strategies and suggestions of methods which have worked, but each class is free to accomplish this task… Reaching people, Teaching people, and Loving people.
When something works, we “scale” – that means we do more of that.
When something doesn’t work, we “fail” – that means we stop that.
The key is to know when to “scale” and when to “fail” and that has to do with the goal, your purpose, your core convictions.
So don’t wait until you are 100% ready with a plan, that might be too late. Once you know what your desired “end result” is, and you are sure on your core convictions (your “why”), then go for it! If you live around here, we could use you to help us create some new Sunday School classes 🙂
