“Strategic Planning is Not Strategic Thinking”
As part of my work in re-articulating the SpringHill vision I’ve turned, once again, to one of the best books on leadership ever written The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. In the section titled Inspiring a Shared Vision Kouzes and Posner write…
“Strategic planning often spoils strategic thinking because it causes managers to believe that the manipulation of numbers creates imaginative insight into the future and vision. This confusion lies at the heart of the issue: the most successful strategies are visions; they are not plans. McGill University professor Harry Mintzberg explains that planning represents a “calculating” style, while leaders employ a “committing” style – one that ‘engages people in a journey. They lead in such a way that everyone on the journey helps shape its course. As a result, enthusiasm inevitably builds along the way. Those with a calculating style fix on a destination and calculate what the group must do to get there, with no concern for the members preferences. But calculated strategies have no value in and of themselves…Strategies take on value only as committed people infuse them with energy.’
Leadership that focuses on a committing style is what leadership scholars have called transformational leadership. Transformational leadership occurs when, in their interactions, people ‘raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality. Their purposes, which might have started out as separate but related, as in the case of transactional leadership, become fused…. But transforming leadership ultimately becomes moral in that it raises the level of human conduct and ethical aspiration of both the leader and the led, and thus it has a transforming effect on both.'”
I’ve taken these words to heart and am using them as guides as I lead SpringHill in the re-articulating of its vision.
Thankful for Faithful Supporters
After a four-day business trip to Indianapolis Denise and I took advantage of the spring like weather in northern Michigan and walked around camp (last weekend we snowshoed around camp). As we walked around Copper Country I reflected on the incredible support SpringHill has received over the decades.
Incredible support comes from incredible people who believe in what God has done and is doing in and through SpringHill. They align with the answers to the 6 key questions I’ve been writing about over the last couple of weeks. There’s a mutual commitment to making the answers to the 6 key questions a reality.
It’s important to understand that at SpringHill we include in our definition of supporters – volunteers, prayer partners, ambassadors, and donors. Every person who falls into one or more of these categories is absolutely critical to our effectiveness. We’ve been blessed over the years to have many people in all four groups.
While in Indianapolis I, along-side Craig Soderdahl our Regional Vice President and Kate Wilson our Regional Development Representative, met with friends of SpringHill who included corporate donors, long time supporters , former and current board members and staff, and over dinner, a group of future camper families, prayer partners, ambassadors, volunteers and donors.
Each meeting in Indianapolis was a powerful reminder of the essential role our supporters play in SpringHill today and into the future. The walk around Copper Country reminded me of the critical role our supporters have played over the years. So whether it’s past, present or future, on this early spring day, I’m deeply thankful for our supporters and what they’ve done and do for SpringHill, kids and Jesus.
Peter Drucker on the 6 Key Questions Every Organization Needs to Answer
Jason Hoffer our New Frontiers/TST Director passed this Peter Drucker quote to me from some reading he’s been doing – Management, Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. It perfectly applies to the discussion in my previous posts about the 6 Key Questions every organization needs to answer, and specifically the answers to the last four Key Questions – “why do we exist?”, “what makes us distinct?”, “what do we want to achieve in the long-term?” and “what do we want to become?” Drucker says…
“It is not easy for the management of a successful company to ask, what is our business? Everybody in the company then thinks that the answer is obvious as not to deserve discussion. It is never popular to argue with success, never popular to rock the boat. Sooner or later even the most successful answer to the question, ‘what is our business?’ becomes obsolete. Very few definitions of the purpose and mission of a business have anything like a life expectancy of thirty, let alone fifty years. To be good for ten years is probably all one can normally expect. In asking, what is our business? Management therefore also needs to add, and what will it be”
Notice Drucker’s language of both “doing” (i.e. Mission, BHAGG & Brand) as well as “being” (Vision). Drucker understood that the answer to the last four questions will change over time if an organization and its leaders stays attuned to the world around them.
And I wholeheartedly agree with Jason’s comment about the contemporary perspective of Drucker’s thoughts – “that was written in 1974 – I can imagine if he were to write that now those years would be dramatically fewer”
The Architecture – The Final Two Questions Every Organization Needs to Answer, Part 5
There are two final questions (click here for the 6 Key Questions) every organization needs to answer to assure long-term effectiveness.
Both questions move from the current state of an organization (the focus of the first 4 questions) to the future state. Though the answers to the first four questions provide “guard rails” for the answering the final two questions, they do not specifically define the future.
But the answers to these last two questions do define and articulate the desired future state of the organization. And because of that, the answers can and should change over time, especially as they become reality. Let’s take a look at each question and how an organization can answer them.
What do we want to achieve in 15, 20 or 25 years? Big Hairy Audacious Goal – BHAG (or Big Hairy Audacious God Goal for faith-based organizations)
The BHAG concept’s taken from Jim Collins and Jerry Porras book Built to Last. They state that BHAG’s are bold, challenging and daunting goals that stretch the organization. As goals, BHAG’s are definable, measurable and drive the organization to “think out of the box” while inspiring people to see the possibility of a different future.
Finally,
What do we want to become in 5, 10, 15 years? Vision
We call this the “be” question because in articulating a desired future state – a vision, the answer is more qualitative then quantitative. It centers the organization on what it wants to become. The answer usually include words like “best”, “biggest”, “innovative”, “world-changing”, “life impacting”, etc.
The answers to both these questions drive, inspire and help assure the organization isn’t just looking at today but is aspiring to do and be more tomorrow.
In my next post I’ll provide some resources that can help your organization answer the 6 Key Questions.
To see SpringHill’s answers to the 6 Key Questions click here.
The Framework – The Next Two Questions Every Organization Needs to Answer, Part 4
Once an organization answers the first two of the 6 Key Questions – “what do we believe to be true?” and “what’s important to us?” it then needs to answer these questions –
Why do we exist?
What makes us distinct?
The answers to the first two questions, though absolutely critical, do not make an organization unique. But the answers to this second set of questions begin to highlight the essential distinctness an organization brings to the world.
Why do we exist? Mission
By answering this question an organization identifies its purpose for existence by focusing on the difference it’ll make in people’s lives and in the world. Mission is an action and outcome orientated statement and should be, in part, a response to the needs of the world in which the organization finds itself. For this reason, mission may change or adjust over time in response to the unique opportunities its context presents.
What makes us distinct? Brand (or philosophy of ministry for faith-based organizations)
Every organization has a brand (whether intentional or accidental) – it’s the attributes which make it distinct. An intentional brand requires thinking through the attributes of its products or services which are apparent to those who experience the organization, then making these attributes a reality in every part of the organization. The brand is the tangible expression of an organization’s mission, core values and statement of faith.
Answering these two questions is necessary for an organization to identify its unique calling and its distinctiveness in living it out.
In my next post we’ll look at the final two of the 6 Key Questions every organization needs to answer – “what do we want to achieve in the long-term?’ and “what do we want to become?”
To see SpringHill’s answers to the 6 Key Questions click here.
Creating a Culture of Commitment, Part 2
- What do we believe to be true?
- What’s important to us?
- Why do we exist?
- What makes us distinct?
- What do we want to achieve in 15, 20 or 25 years?
- What do we want to become in 5, 10, 15 years?
In a previous post I wrote that these are the 6 questions every organization needs to answer to assure long-term effectiveness. But it’s not just having answers, its making the answers a visible reality in the culture of an organization that makes a difference.
When the answers become a “visible reality” the organization’s members, be it staff, volunteers or donors, begin to believe in and become committed to the organization’s health and success.
Why does this happen? Linda Hill and Kent Lineback tells us in their new book Being the Boss – The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader.
“People relate to worthwhile purposes and goals. Most of us want to feel a part of something larger and more important than ourselves. When workers were asked how important it was that their lives be meaningful, 83 percent said ‘very important’ and another 15 percent said ‘fairly important’. That’s an astounding 98 percent to whom it was at least ‘important’. Is it important to you and those who work for you? Most likely, it is.
The same survey revealed that less than half of all employees in every industry studied felt strongly connected to their company’s purpose. Most organizations – whether a small group or a large company – are missing a great opportunity by not focusing more on why they do what they do and why they matter to the world.”
Has your organization answered these 6 questions and made them a visible reality in your organization? Can you verify it by commitment of your staff, volunteers and donors? If you can answer yes to both questions your organization is on its way to long-term health and effectiveness.
To see SpringHill’s answers to the 6 Key Questions click here.
- What do we believe to be true?
Choosing the Right Measuring Stick
?
Recently, at SpringHill, we’ve made an intentional change in how we evaluate our current performance. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts we track a number of indicators that help us gauge how well we’re performing against our goals and fulfilling our mission.
Even though, for years, we set annual goals, broken down by period (our year’s divided into three periods like a hockey game) and by month, our default position has been to compare our results to the previous year. There are many reasons we’ve done this but I think, at the end of the day, it’s been our desire to always improve that’s made last year’s results our measuring stick. So if we exceeded last year, we’ve improved and because improvement has been a higher priority than achieving our goals, we’ve been satisfied.
Then, over the last year, our team’s recognized that improving isn’t enough, that we work hard at setting achievable goals that align with our longer term targets. Our goals mean something. They’re important, even more important than what we did last year because, though we may be improving, the improvement doesn’t guarantee we’ve went far or fast enough to reach those long-term targets.
So we’ve made the change, it’s official. We no longer have improvement over last year as our measuring stick. It’s now our annual, period, and “split time” goals that we measure our performance against.
We’ve even taken last year’s numbers off our Scoreboard which we review in our weekly Huddle meetings. We’ll continue to use the previous year’s results as input into our goal setting as well as in helping analyze our current position but it’s now performance against our goals that will drive our work.
6 Questions Every Organization Needs to Answer, Part 1
Over the last week our staff and board reviewed our answers to 6 key questions every organization should answer. They are the highest level description of the destination and the guard rails every organization needs to assure long-term effectiveness.
Here are the 6 questions we reviewed and the place SpringHill provides the answers:
- What do we believe to be true? Statement of Faith.
- Why do we exist? Mission
- What’s important to us? Core Values
- What makes us distinct? Philosophy of Ministry
- What do we want to achieve in 15, 20 or 25 years? Big Hairy Audacious God Goal (BHAGG)
- What do we want to become in 5, 10, 15 years? Vision
The answers to the first 4 questions focus on the “now” and need to be a present reality within the organization. Thus they are the guard rails that keep the organization from getting off track.
The last 2 questions are future focused and provide the organization’s long-term destination. These answers need to be guided by and consistent with the answers to the first 4 questions.
All the answers should be treated like the Constitution of the United States – slow and laborious to change. Why? Because any change needs to appropriately involve every stakeholder group of the organization, and this takes time. If the answers keep changing it’s because the questions have never been truly answered.
Not only is it necessary to answer these 6 questions, it’s absolutely essential that the answers drive everything else in the organization. Every decision made within the organization is to be subservient to the answers to these questions. That’s why these answers are so important, and why they should rarely change.
Finally, we believe answering these questions not to be, a an act of calculation, but an act of discovery, a discovery that will pay richly in a long future of effective ministry.
To see SpringHill’s answers to the 6 Key Questions click here.
The 360⁰ Evaluation
Recently I initiated a 360⁰ evaluation of my leadership. I did it in response to a recommendation in the book What to Ask the Person in the Mirror and after discussing the topic with my peer learning group.It’s important I understand my leadership strengths and weaknesses including any blind spots I might have. Knowing this information is especially critical in light of SpringHill’s current and future growth.
As I expressed to the folks I asked to participate in the evaluation, I do not want my leadership to be a hindrance to SpringHill reaching its potential. Because the truth is, the effectiveness of an organization is always less than or equal to the leadership capacity of its chief executive, never greater.
So if you’ve ever contemplated having a 360⁰ evaluation of your leadership, consider the following recommendations from my experience and the experience of my peers, in helping make the process more fruitful and productive.
- Have an outside human resources professional administer the evaluation on your behalf.
- Use a reliable and valid 360⁰ process. I used The Center for Creative Leadership’s evaluation tool. It’s proven and compares your feedback to a database of 100,000’s of leaders from around the world.
- Don’t make it part of your performance appraisal, it’s better used for developmental purposes.
- Initiate the review; don’t wait until someone initiates it for you. You want feedback sooner than later and not when someone (like your boss) thinks there might be an issue, because, in that case, it might be too late.
- Be open to all the feedback and be prepared to make changes.
Feedback isn’t always easy to get and receive, but as Proverbs 10:17 says “He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.”
The Truth about Faith and Planning
In Christian organizations we often live in the tension between faith and planning. The tension comes because we believe faith and planning to be polar opposites.
Christian history is full of stories of “great people of faith” who did miraculous things for God. We want to be a part of such stories. On the other hand, it isn’t nearly as appealing to be part of a story centered on a cold and calculated plan, professionally executed. Instead we want to “let go and let God” and become part of a “miracle”?
We want to be like Peter who stepped out of the boat to walk on the water but too often we ignore Nehemiah’s thoughtful and intentional plan to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall, or David’s strategic vision and preparation to build the temple. Did David and Nehemiah have less faith than Peter? Or how about this question, would you rather walk on water for a few seconds or rebuild a city or build God’s dwelling place on earth?
I know my answer; I want to do something significant and lasting. And to do something significant and lasting requires planning, preparation and vision. And it also requires prayer (re-read Nehemiah) and faith (re-read David’s temple preparation).
Like Nehemiah and David, God has called us to be stewards of our time, resources, gifts and abilities. As a result, a good steward plans and then assures those plans align with their master’s intentions. And the beautiful thing is, the better the stewardship, the greater the opportunity of being a part of a miracle.
Therefore we need to stop seeing faith and planning as polar opposites, instead we need to see them as essential companions in our work. When we do this, God will do His greater work, allowing us the possibility of being a part of a miracle that’s significant and lasting.
