Eat Mor Chikin – Family Owned Corporations
Last week I had an experience that momentary carried me back to my first job out of college, working for Steelcase, Inc. in Grand Rapids, MI.The moment of déjà vu came on a tour of the Chick-fil-A headquarters in Atlanta, GA that our peer learning group, the Chicago 7, had the opportunity to take.
It happened because, like Steelcase back in the 1980’s:
It obvious Chick-fil-A’s corporate office and its employees clearly show the values and mission of the company.
That Chick-fil-A is also on a fast track of growth in terms of sales, stores and markets.
And Chick-fil-A places a high value on its employees and store operators. For example, Chick-fil-A encourages its employees to use, free of charge and during working hours, the on-site health and fitness center, and provides all employees free meals in the corporate dining room (I had grilled tuna).
But I as I listened to our tour guide, Andrea Lee, talk about the company and its leadership, that’s when my déjà vu was strongest.
You see, Chick-fil-A, like Steelcase’s first 75 years, is family owned and family lead. The Cathy family believes their company’s purpose is something more significant than just a return on stockholder’s equity. It’s clear they believe Chick-fil-A can and should improve the lives of its employees, store operating partners, the communities it operates in, and of course its customers. It seems chicken is just a means to a greater end – that end being inspired people, stronger families, better communities and ultimately – glory to God.
It’s a vision, I have no doubt, if held to, will continue to bring great returns on investment, not just to the stockholders, but more importantly to all the lives Chick-fil-A touches. And it’s a vision worth emulating.
Order S. Truett Cathy’s book here.
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.
What We do During These Winter Months
It’s during these winter months that I’m often asked (mind you, rarely in a judgmental manner) “what do you and SpringHill do all winter long?” People know what SpringHill does during the summer – we have summer camp – but it’s the other nine months of the year that seem to be a mystery to people.
Now I’m not offended by such inquiries because they give me an opportunity to share all that we do during these busy months of winter. So, just in case you’ve also wondered, let me share with you the answer to the question “what do you and SpringHill do all winter long?”
In no particular order here’s a sampling of our work this winter:
Visit college campus’ across the Midwest to find, recruit, interview, reference check, do back ground checks and contract a 1000 people to work this summer.
Then prepare comprehensive and effective training for each of these 1000 new staff.
Create, plan and prepare 5 major programs and curriculums for campers and summer staff.
Make improvements to our property and facilities in time for our first campers to arrive.
Identify 65 church and ministry partners in 12 plus cities to host our Day Camps as well as identifying dozens of partners for 2013.
Market, sell, register, collect releases, medical forms, payments and answer the questions of parents for 23,000 summer campers.
Raise money to make the needed capital improvements and pay for 2500 camper scholarships.
Work out the logistics of weekly opening and closing days at 9 different SpringHill locations.
Oh yes, I nearly forgot, we’ll also serve nearly 12,000 retreat campers between now and the arrival of our first summer camper.
So as you can see, there’s no off-season at SpringHill, just a different season with different work. So as you think of SpringHill in the months to come, please remember this list and then pray for our staff that we’ll do all our work well, so that God might use our efforts to transform the lives of campers and staff we’ll have the privilege to serve in the coming months.
The Symptoms and the Cure for the Out of Control Schedule
This week I met with my friend and advisor Bill Payne. The topic I sought his input on was prioritizing and managing my time. It’s become a bigger challenge as my job continues to evolve in light of SpringHill’s growth (see my post Time – One of Most Valuable Gifts). As always, Bill provided wise and practical input.Below are the symptoms I’ve been experiencing over the last year and some of Bill’s wisdom to help cure the out of control schedule I’ve had. As you read, ask yourself – “are you experiencing any of these same symptoms?” If you answer yes, then join me in trying some of Bill’s input for yourself.
Symptoms:
My time and schedule feel like they’re being driven and managed by everyone else but me.
I’ve had barely enough time to do all that I need and should do in my role.
To accomplished both what I need to do and what everyone else has expected me to do, I’ve cut short or cut out such things as exercise, sleep, house and home projects, reflection time and planning, time with friends and even, I hate to admit this, at moments, time with my family.
The Cure:
Block out time in my daily and weekly schedule as “no meeting” times to assure I have space to do both the important things and the things only I can do.
Trust my team to do their work and to do it well.
Stop trying to please everyone by saying yes to everyone’s requests and begin to say no in appropriate ways. Bill promised that saying no becomes easier the more you say it.
Then stop feeling guilty when I say no.
Finally, stop over playing my desire to please, a good quality I have, until taken to the extreme – which is trying the impossible – to please everyone all the time.
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.
The Huddle and the Scoreboard
Every football team develops a plan for each game. The game plan informs the coaches which plays to call and the huddle is the “meeting” where this decision’s communicated to the players. The scoreboard informs the coaches, players (and fans) just how good the game plan is and how well it’s being executed. Based on the scoreboard, coaches and players make mid game adjustments.
Many organizations have implemented their own version of a huddle and scoreboard to help their teams “win” their game. SpringHill is into its second year of its weekly huddle and scoreboard. Both have helped our team quickly see the score, make the necessary adjustments and then “win the game”. It’s not a stretch to say that both the scoreboard and huddle are two contributing factors as to why SpringHill had its biggest year in its history.
Our huddle is open to all staff but the official “players” are members of our management team who have the responsibility to record the “stats” in the scoreboard and report them in the huddle. Our scoreboard includes the following statistical categories, measured against stated goals:
Camper Experience including spiritual impact, Net Promoter Score (NPS) and safety
Camper registration
Fundraising
Finances
After the huddle each manager reviews the “stats” with their own teams, so within a few days the entire SpringHill team knows the current “score” and can make adjustments in their game plans. We’ve added another tool in 2012 – a bi-weekly Huddle Report that’s emailed to all staff and summarizes the huddle, the scorecard and other important information our team needs.
We used three books in designing the SpringHill huddle and scoreboard – The Rockefeller Habits, Death by Meeting and The Great Game of Business. Each provided great perspective and input.
At SpringHill, we like to keep score, and we like to win, and the SpringHill huddle and scoreboard helps us do both.
False Hero Worship
Our Michigan Facilities Manager, Joe Yahner, calls the celebration of work and projects done at the last-minute, false hero-worship. He mentioned it in an impromptu conversation he, our Retreats Manager Eric Woods and I were having about Winter Teen Retreats preparation.It’s a great description of an all too often occurrence in organizations large and small, including, in times past, at SpringHill.
False hero-worship happens when organizations confuse procrastination, the lack of planning and the accompanying last-minute scramble to get work done, with good planning and execution. When organizations and leaders make this mistake they reinforce the wrong behaviors in their teams. Instead of encouraging great planning and execution, leaders send a message that they value being behind with two minutes to go, and the lack of planning and procrastination which causes it.
It’s like making heroes of fire fighters who start their own fires, and then celebrating their great fire fighting. We become so addicted to the adrenaline rush of fire fighting (or watching fire fighting) that we inadvertently encourage fire starting (lack of planning and preparation).
And if adrenaline highs is your goal then good, thoughtful and intentional planning followed by calm and professional execution of the plan, offers very little excitement. It only offers great, sustainable results at lower organizational and personal costs.
Great planning and execution also offers the deep satisfaction of knowing a job, the entire job, from beginning to the end, has been well done – so well done that the work looked easy (even if we know it wasn’t).
So Eric, Joe and I had our own brief “celebration” in the Trading Post of the good planning and great work done by our team. And based on the first two retreats, we’ll also be celebrating another winter of great ministry.
Jim Collins & Great by Choice
Mark Olson, SpringHill’s former President, was the first to introduce Jim Collins and his work to SpringHill through the book Built to Last.It was in reading Built to Last that I became a fan of Jim Collins, and it certainly wouldn’t be far off to say, over the years, that I’ve become a disciple of Jim Collin’s research/writing. Since Built to Last, I’ve read all his books, have had our key leaders read his books, then continued the practice Mark started of applying the books’ principles to SpringHill.
After 15 years and 5 books, both Collins’ concepts and terminology have become part of the SpringHill culture. Read our strategic/ministry plan and you’ll see how Collins’ work has impacted and influenced SpringHill.
In an effort to avoid becoming an organization that is always chasing the “flavor of the day” we’ve been intentional about staying consistent in using Collins’s concepts and terminology. We acknowledge there are other good management consultants who use different terminology and have their own twist on strategic and leadership concepts. But we believe it’s counterproductive to switch, mix and change language within a culture, in the name of being cutting edge, when the underlying principles are similar or the same.
Finally we’ve stayed with Collins and his work because, unlike so many other experts and their books, the concepts derive from rigorous research not anecdotal evidence, opinion or folk-lore.
Which brings me to Collins’ new book (written with Morten T. Hansen) – Great by Choice, it’s another “great” work based on “great” research. Many of SpringHill leaders have already read it and a number of our department teams, including my leadership team, have plans to carry out the appropriate concepts into SpringHill.
So once again, Collins provides timely and relevant insight for organizations and leaders looking to stay or become “great”. I highly recommend it.
The Tension between Unlimited Wants & Limited Resources
One of the first things I learned in my introduction to economics class back at Central Michigan University was that economics is best described as the tension between “unlimited wants and limited resources.”
This perfectly describes the tension we experience at SpringHill every fall as we finish our upcoming year’s financial plan, or what we affectionately call “the budget.” It’s an “all hands on deck” (or should I say “all brains on deck”) activity because of the importance we place on the entire team’s input and ultimate ownership of the financial plan. It tends to be a time where everyone’s brain hurts and passions (and frustrations?) run high.
But for us the financial plan’s actually the final step in the development of what we call our annual ministry plan for it’s the anticipated financial outcome of that plan. Our ministry plan includes; which SpringHill Experiences (SHX) we’ll offer to whom, where we’ll offer these SHX’s, and the anticipated number of participants. We also work out the details of everything we’ll need to carry out these SHX’s including capital investment and staffing. Finally we align this plan with our 5 year strategic plan to assure we’re headed in the right direction and accomplishing our long-term goals.
We dream big for God which results in big plans early in the process. Then we begin to put dollars and cents to these plans and the tension begins to rise because our dreams are always unlimited but, we discover, God generally gives us limited resources. Over the years I’ve become convinced that God does this so that our big plans become His plans.
And in the end that’s our desire – that our plans will be God’s plans because we want the results and the glory to be all His.
Qualities of Trustworthy Youth Organizations
Denise and I hold two important, but at times conflicting, goals in raising our children. The first one’s simply to assure our kids have experiences that help them grow physically, emotionally, socially, intellectually and spiritually. Secondly, we want to do all we can to keep our kids safe and to protect them from the consequences of evil.
It’s when we need to entrust our children and their safety to those who provide them life transforming experiences that we can feel conflicted. We want to provide our children these experiences and at the same time assure their safety.
The best way to achieve both is to verify that the organizations we entrust our children to have the following three qualities.
Transparency
The organization and its staff are transparent. Transparency mean’s there’s nothing hidden about its history, operations, philosophies, track record and methods. Transparency also includes our child’s experience.
Accessibility
Related to transparency is accessibility. Organizations and staff are accessible to parents. In addition, if necessary, our kids are accessible when involved with the organization. We should expect our phone calls and emails to be returned timely as well as the opportunity to meet the staff when dropping off and picking up our child as well as any other time we want to interact with them.
Professionalism
Professionalism includes a broad range of key activities that we should expect from an organization and its staff including verifiable training, quality control, safety practices and policies that the staff know and demonstrate commitment to by their adherence to these policies.
These three qualities should permeate the entire culture of an organization as reflected in the staff, websites, promotional material and most importantly in their reputation.
With prayerful due diligence, we as parents, can reduce the possibility of any harm coming to our children and yet still provide them those formative experiences they so desperately need to reach their potential.
