Questions Every Organization Needs to Answer to Achieve Their Vision

In the past I’ve written about what we at SpringHill call the “6 Key Questions.” They’re questions every organization needs to answer if it desires to make an enduring difference in the world.

These 6 questions (and how we answer them) are:

• What do we believe to be true? Statement of faith, beliefs about reality
• What’s important to us? Core Values
• Why do we exist? Mission
• What do we want to become? Vision
• What do we want to achieve? Big Hairy Audacious “God” Goal (BHAGG)
• What makes us distinct? Hedgehog

Yet if an organization answers these 6 questions but stops there, it could find itself falling short in making the answers a reality.

So there are 6 other questions we address that flow out of the answers to the 6 Key Questions. I call them “The Game Plan Questions’ because they translate the Key 6 Questions into an actionable plan. The 6 Key Questions are strategic, philosophical and long-term in nature while the Game Plan Questions drive the organization towards tactics, goals, actions that ultimately make  the answers to the 6 Key Questions reality.

The Game Plan Questions (and how we answer them) are:

• What are the consistent steps we’ll need to take to achieve our BHAGG and Vision? 20 Mile March
• Where and who will we serve and through what products/ministries? Sandbox
• How will we know we’re being successful? Targets and Goals
• What do we have to do to be successful? Big Moves
• What’s important right now? Annual Moves
• What do I need to do to contribute to our team’s success? Individual plans and goals

Over the next couple of weeks I will provide a deeper look at each of these Game Plan Questions and how an organization can answer them to assure the necessary clarity, alignment and buy-in by its staff and board which is necessary if it’s to have the enduring impact in the world it desires.