Effectively Prioritizing

Leaders should set priorities. I say "should" because, all too often, leaders let the priorities and agendas of others side-track the organization.

We let the last minute panic of others (usually caused from their own lack of planning) pop up and steal our day. We get pushed down dead end trails running after errant stakeholders. We waste time reorienting ourselves after our attention is distracted for non-strategic matters.

Leaders should set priorities. Think of the "setting" as in setting something in concrete. Assuming that priorities are seated firmly within the strategy of the organization, priorities should not change without abundant discussion, contemplation and analysis. Running up against opposition does not warrant a changing of the strategy embedded priority. If priorities changed, then strategy should have changed as well.

Priorities, if properly chosen, are the stepping stone goals that will move you and your team toward accomplishing your purpose. Priorities serve as the guard rails for the organization to ensure coordination of effort and direction of movement.

An entity that does not respect and defend their priorities will create a culture that lacks accountability and efficiency. The culture becomes one of individuality and disconnection. Efforts are disjointed and lack focus. Multiple paths to no where are entrenched as "the way we do things around here" without priorities.

Priorities should be as sacred as mission to the leader. They are the boundaries in which you will succeed.

Best Practices

The business world is flush with buzz words such as "best practices." However, of all the adages created by the corporate community, "best practices" is one of the more descriptive and beneficial to follow.

A church is certainly not a business and in most cases is better off not trotting down the trail of fads that business entities gleefully follow. The search for "best practices" though is a beneficial goal for the church community and can come in many forms. Here are a few places to seek out those best practices for your congregation:

1. Start with the Bible. Christ was careful to map out for us how His message effectively flows through the people of His creation. At their core, people have not changed. They still seek the same things that Christ addressed. Carefully consider the manner in which the early church engaged with people to find the best practices of approach and execution.
2. Be a student of organizations represented in your congregation. Seek out casual conversations with lay leaders in your church to learn what is working best in their business, school, civic organization. How are they communicating with people? What are their goals for next year? How are roles assigned according to those goals? What motivates people toward action in their organization?
3. Read widely. Subscribe to Google Reader to track articles from innovative publications of best practices such as Fast Company. As you read, make notes in your paper or online based capture system. Look for application not just information.
4. Have courage to experiment. Effective organizations are willing to try new things. Unfortunately, churches usually are not. Be honest with your congregation ahead of time that it is a trial and their support during and input after is critical.
5. Recruit a "sister church" to share ideas and resources. Much like the once popular municipal trend for cities to have a sister city in the East or Europe, the same can apply to a church. Find a like-minded pastor to share ideas and resources. Visit each other's campus and meetings. Organize the manner in which you will share ideas and materials (set up a shared page on BackPack) to make it easy to share and navigate.

The search for best practices can be an encouraging and beneficial activity that the lay leaders of your church can become involved with and benefit from.

Scenario Planning Engages Lay Leadership

Scenario planning can be an effective tool for churches to develop ministry opportunities and infrastructures. A future based scenario plan involves incorporating future trend data and projections into a "what if" planning process. A group is assembled comprised of church leadership who plan as if the event or condition is the current state. For example, a disaster scenario much like the hurricane that devastated New Orleans, can be used to organize emergency response teams as well as developing a process for the collection of emergency resources.

The scenario planning process is a beneficial tool to teach church leaders to engage and plan cooperatively. A church may also choose to engage other churches or organization in their planning which is very helpful in broadening the ministry network for your community. By engaging in the planning process, a church will often discover other more immediate opportunities for them to minister to the community. Whether the condition actualizes or not, the process is the beneficial outcome of the approach. Moving lay leaders and pastoral staff toward more effective planning and execution is a important benefit of this fun exercise.

If you would like to develop a scenario planning effort at your church, the following steps will help you get started.

1. Determine a scenario around which you will plan. Appoint an individual or small group to write a scenario for the group to consider. Use a computer search engine to accumulate data from which they will write a 2 to 3 page scenario description that includes the cause and effect of the scenario. Do not include a solution or response to the scenario. Simply describe what happened in the present tense and the nature of the impact to your community or your targeted community. If you need suggestions search for "future trends" and select a scenario such as world wide flu epidemic, severe shortage of water, or large elderly population without healthcare insurance.

2. Distribute the scenario to your scenario planning team giving them a couple of weeks to study and contemplate possible solutions.

3. Come together as a team to brainstorm solutions. Get everything on the table. Don't allow the group to get too far into detailed solutions until you have discussed each broader solution.

4. Decide upon 3 possible solutions and divide your group into teams to further develop the details of the 3 possible solutions. Don't spend more than a couple of hours on this effort.

5. Bring the groups back together and have the 3 groups present their initial thoughts. As a group, then decide which among the 3 proposed solutions (or a hybrid of the 3) will be the selected solution. As an entire planning group, further develop the chosen solution to include specific actions, resources needed and persons accountable for the effort.

After developing the above plan, step back (perhaps at a later meeting) to see what lessons can be learned from the process and whether there are some immediate ministry opportunities that the group can pursue. Generally, lay leaders will become more involved in the ministry planning process and will often discover a passion they have for a ministry through the process.

By using a scenario planning methodology, pastors and lay leaders become more familiar with their community, their talents and their calling.

If you would like to schedule a Convergence led scenario planning event at your church, contact Casey Cease for details.

Pastor's Priority

Life has many choices. Thousands of times a day we are faced with making a choice -- clothes to wear, books to read, calls to take or ignore. The efficiency of our day is predicated on the skill at which we make these choices. By choosing actions that are aligned with our goals, we experience productivity and feelings of accomplishment. To select otherwise, results in feeling overwhelmed and off-center.

In a recent survey of pastors conducted by Transform Ministries, prioritizing daily actions was listed as one of their greatest challenges. Understandably, pastors are faced with more opportunities in a day than they can hope to accomplish. Pastors serve a unique and difficult role in the church that compounds the difficulty of prioritization.

In my 25 years of executive leadership positions in for-profit and non-profit organizations, as well as providing leadership coaching to pastors, I have concluded that by far, one of the most difficult organizations to lead is the church. Primarily fueled by “volunteer” efforts and an individualistic spirit, the church is a complex organization that is often plagued by mis-alignment of intent which fuels the difficulty pastors find in prioritizing. Every member has a unique perception as to how the pastor should spend their time, and frequently, members of the congregation use the “democratic” platform that they believe the church should offer to them, to convey their beliefs.

As difficult as it may be, there are still some basic guidelines that pastors can use to prioritize their efforts and those of their congregation. Humans act like humans regardless the setting, making leadership principles a bit more generic than many leaders recognize.

The ability to effectively set priorities is in its basic form a question of alignment. Alignment simply means that all efforts in the organization are focused on agreed upon goals with everyone working in concert toward those accomplishments. Once purpose is established and agreed upon by the organization, prioritizing becomes much easier. The equation becomes:

Urgent Purpose + Focused Communication + Aligned Efforts = Success

Prioritization occurs as we select tasks based upon their support of the above three areas. If an activity does not support the urgent purpose of our church, then it should not be a priority. If a meeting is not used to communicate the urgent purpose or organize an aligned effort, it is not a high priority of our time or the time of others in our church. If an activity is not aligned with the urgent purpose, it will be wasted time at best or counter-productive to our goals in the worse sense.

Of course, simple equations often attempt to overlay simple answers on complex issues, but they can serve as an effective “screen” to determine the impact of a considered choice. In general, the mis-alignment of church efforts toward an undefined purpose, has caused considerable disruption among the congregation and frustration with the pastor’s calling.

Step back and ask yourself if you have appropriately completed the success equation for your church. It will become your effective tool for prioritization.

For additional insight into the connection between alignment and accountability, click here to read an additional article at http://www.rodbrace.com/

Convergence welcomes your comments, questions and advice for our readers.