Month: July 2019

ESTABLISH POSTERIORITIES

Planning, Time / / By

To do what really matters, you must set Posterioritites – things you will not do or will quit doing.

“The first rule for the concentration of executive efforts is to slough off the past that has ceased to be productive.” –Peter Drucker

“One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.” — Sidney Howard

Remember, Jesus did not do everything. But He did everything the Father wanted Him to do! He did what mattered.

Identify:

  1. Tasks not to tackle.

Reflection question: What are some things I should not do? What are some things I think I would like to do that I probably should not even start?

  1. Tasks no longer worth doing.

Reflection question: What are some things I am now doing I should stop?

  1. Tasks that won’t be missed.

Reflection question: What are some tasks or programs we could stop and hardly anyone would notice?

  1. Tasks someone else can do.

Reflection question: What are some things others could do that I am now doing?

A young violinist was asked the secret of her success. She replied,  “Planned neglect.” She continued, “For many years I deliberately neglected everything that didn’t help me reach my goal.”

“All true leaders have learned to say no to the good in order to say yes to the best.”  ― John Maxwell 

Some very helpful Reflection Questions that  have helped me identify things I should not be doing are:

  1. What am I willing not to achieve?
  2. What am I not called to do?
  3. What is not important to me?
  4. What gets in the way?

You do not have time to do everything, but you do have time to do everything that matters.

What Drives Your Organization?

Strategy / , , , / By

Every organization that is achieving results has something “driving” it. What the driver is will vary, but without a driver, the organization will fall into mediocrity and eventually decline.

Some will say the driver must be one thing (examples: mission, vision, purposes, or culture/values.) It has been my observation and experience that it can actually be any of these, but there must be a clear driver. I am aware of world class organizations that use each of these. They know their driver and it shapes their organization.

In a healthy organization:

  • The driver often keeps leaders up at night dreaming about it?
  • The driver is what causes an organization to make hard strategic decisions?
  • The driver is the thing that trumps all other considerations in decision making?

Unfortunately, many organizations have no driver or they have too many drivers. Many things could cause this: being overwhelmed by the day to day, lack of conviction, lack of confidence, doing business by routine, or lack of clarity by senior leadership. I am sure there are many other reasons that we could add to this list. When the driver is fuzzy, everything is fuzzy.

Senior leaders must get clarity on the organizations driver and make that the most important thing there is in the organization. I would say that this and leadership development are the most important jobs of senior leaders. Why does your organization exist? What is it trying to accomplish? Why does this matter?

The driver will affect how money is spent, who is hired or recruited, what fill up the calendar, what gets emphasized and what doesn’t. The driver will literally shape the organization.

Does your organization have clarity on what is its driver?

Church Events

Planning, Strategy / , / By

I think it is import for Church leadership to answer these seven questions about every event that they establish:

  1. Why are we doing this event? (What is its purpose and mission)
  2. How will this event help people move forward (take their next step)? Events are never an end, but a step in a process.
  3. How will we make the Next Step clear at and through the event? (Will an attender know what they should do next and is it easy to do?)
  4. How will we measure the effectiveness of the event? (It is not how many attend, but how many take the next step).
  5. Who is responsible for getting ALL the information to the communication people?
  6. By when will ALL the information be given to the communication people?
  7. How will the event be promoted?

If you can’t answer these questions, you probably should not be doing the event.