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.
The Quiet Force
Matt and the two Resurrection Life camp administrators, Trisha and Rachel I can’t tell you how many times over the past number of months leaders of guest retreats have stopped me to say how much they’ve appreciated working with Matt Hildebrand, one of our Michigan Overnight Hosts, and what a great job he’s done for them and their group.
If you’re not familiar with camping terminology, let me share with you what a camp and conference center Host does (and what Matt does so well).
A Host’s job, just as the name implies, is to take care of guests and groups assuring they achieve their goals for their time at camp. The host is the main point of contact before, during and after a group visits camp. They make sure every detail’s thought through and every department on camp is ready to provide their part of the experience. When the group arrives a host works with them right through the experience, providing for any needs that come up and making any mid-course adjustments so they have an outstanding experience.
For example, this past week Resurrection Life Churches had their annual youth camp with over 600 campers and leaders. When I bumped into Matt, he was on his way to meet with the Resurrection Life Camp administrators in the office space we provide them for the week. Matt’s immediate mission? He was bringing the two administrators card stock for their printers. A simple request, but a necessary one for this group, and one of 100’s like it Matt addressed for Resurrection Life while they were here.
To be a great host, like Matt, requires a desire to serve others and see them succeed, great attention to detail, superb planning and foresight, tremendous flexibility, great relationship skills (and maybe even the ability to walk on water).
So I’m thankful for Matt every time a leader stops me to say what a great experience they’ve had at SpringHill and how much they love Matt, reaffirming what we already know – Matt’s been the quiet force behind their success.
Some Lessons Learned the Hard Way about being Connected 24/7
On any given day I have people contacting me by voice through my office phone and smart phone, via email accessed through my laptop, IPAD and smart phone, text messages via my smart phone, as well as people contacting me through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,and on my Blog all accessed, as well, by my laptop, IPAD and smart phone.This simply means, if I allow myself, I can be responding to people’s inquiries (in other words, working at my job) 24/7 on four different tools through seven different communication mediums (yes insane, but I have no one to blame but myself). So out of sheer necessity I’ve learned the following lessons and have incorporated them into my routine in an attempt to put some sanity into my work and personal life.
- First, when I’m off work, I don’t answer any of the above except for personal contacts and when I receive a text signaling an emergency at camp (we have a protocol for this).
- Second, when I’m on, I look at and respond to inquiries from all 7 mediums only 3 times day – first thing in the morning (usually between 5:30 and 6:30 am), after lunch and before I go home.
- Third, my goal is to respond within 24 hours except over weekends and vacations (I’ll admit I can do better on this one).
- Fourth, I don’t answer any inquiries from any mediums when I’m with people – be it meetings, meals, casual conversations, or on the phone. I think it’s inconsiderate and inefficient use of my time and the time of the people I’m with. My goal is always to focus first and foremost on the person, or people, I’m with.
- Finally, I prioritize my responses this way – phone calls first, followed by texted messages, then emails, my blog and finally Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (so now you know how to increase your chances of a quicker response).
I’m not perfect at all of this, but when I’m disciplined in this way my life seems to have a bit more sanity and make a bit more sense.
Where Center Stage isn’t Central
As I’ve traveled around the SpringHill world this summer one of the things I’ve seen at every one of our locations is the high number of staff who are incredibly talented on stage. Whether it’s speaking, acting, singing, or performing musical instruments every one of our 14 summer camp teams have people who are funny, compelling and clear when they step on stage.
Now the ironic part of having this wealth of talented people doing great work is the fact that what happens on stage isn’t central to our programming, not by a long – shot. It’s the small group and the intimate communities we work so hard to create that is the center of the SpringHill Experience. In contrast the stage, and the talent that uses it, ultimately exists only for the purpose of setting up, reinforcing and making the small group and its leader successful.
In other words, at SpringHill, if Jesus is King, then the small, intimate community is queen, the counselor is the knighted ambassador serving both, and the stage talent becomes the trusted advisors to the ambassadors – our counselors.It can be deceptive if someone observes our programming in action and sees only the great stage productions, without seeing where the powerful ministry really happens – in the small community. Yet the truth is the small communities we’re able to form in a SpringHill Experience couldn’t happen as they do without the aid of the talented people who stand up on stage and do what they do so well. It’s when these talented people share their gift from stage knowing all along when center stage isn’t central their work becomes its most powerful and effective, opening the door for life-transformation.
Being Wrong about Better Planning
I’ve always believed better planning would eliminate the last-minute scramble to accomplish work before a deadline. Over the past few years this is the theory we at SpringHill have believed to be true, especially in preparing for summer camp. We’ve believed if we planned well we’d coast smoothly into summer instead of scrambling and working nonstop in the weeks before camp.
Well, I’m now admitting my theory is wrong. Based on watching our team over the last few years continue to improve its planning for summer camp, I now realize I’ve misunderstood the true benefits of good planning. For one thing coasting into summer camp hasn’t happened; instead our better planning has created more capacity to do more things, and to do them with higher quality.
This, as I now think about it, makes total sense. It’s because our culture has never been a “coasting” culture. Instead it’s always been a “what more can we do to create better life-transforming experiences?” culture.
Our long history of using every last-minute of every last day before the start of summer camp to do as many of these things as possible to exceed our campers’ and parents’ expectations hasn’t changed. But now, with better planning, we just do more of these things and do them better.
So how do I feel about my theory being wrong? Well I have to admit, apart from continuing to improve our pacing before summer; I rather think increasing our capacity to do more things better is the right outcome for good planning.
Getting to “Running Smoothly”
Legend has it that the late, great coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, was nearly useless during games, at least from the player’s perspective. If this was actually true then the question is how can one of the greatest football coaches of all time, the man for whom the Super Bowl trophy’s named after, be of no use during the most important events in a team’s season – the football games?
The answer to that question also answers the question why the SpringHill summer camp teams have been able to describe the first two weeks of camp as “being remarkably smooth”. As I promised in my last post, below are the steps we expended an enormous amount of energy on to assure “running smoothly” this summer became a reality.
Warning – there’s no magic formula here, just common sense stuff written about and practiced by effective organizations, including the Green Bay Packers of the 1960’s, since the beginning of time:
First, we find the right people. At SpringHill we define the “right people” as being “mission driven and mission effective”. “Mission driven” describes people who committed to our mission, align with our values and fit our culture. “Mission effective” people have the skills, abilities and experiences to advance our mission (not just believe in it) and achieve our goals.
Second, we take these “right people” and make sure they clearly understand their jobs in terms of roles, responsibilities and outcomes.
Third, we train and equip “the right people” mentally, physically and spiritually so they will achieve their job outcomes and help SpringHill fulfill its mission.
Finally, we coach, communicate, encourage, inspire, and provide positive accolades and helpful critique about how the “right people” are doing on the job and how SpringHill’s doing overall.
When we take these four steps the odds are very good that, like this summer, camp will “run remarkably smoothly”.
Creative Solutions and Heroic Actions
The Heros – Teri, Joe, Dan, Rose, Dwayne, Chuck, Eric and Josh (missing – Ryan, Allison, Casto, Matt, Jarred, and Jake) What do you do when you’re training 100’s of summer staff and, at the same time, hosting multiple retreat groups, all of which require a lot of meeting space, and you happen to be a camp for kids and not a conference center?
You get creative, and a little sweaty, and sore, and you convert your game room into a meeting room that accommodates over 200 people. And by convert I mean moving pool and ping ball tables, booth seating, chairs, and tables out of the game room and into other locations, and move in and set into place staging, AV equipment, and appropriate meeting room seating.
The game room before the conversion. Photo by Rose Peever 
The game room after the conversion. And that’s exactly what our Michigan overnight camp team did last week. Why? Because we consider it a privilege to ally with other ministries by providing them an outstanding retreat experiences, so we’ll do whatever we can to accommodate their needs, even if it means thinking and do things we’ve never thought of, or tried before.
As someone once said “necessity is the mother of all inventions”, and it’s when you’re committed to serving others, including fulfilling your commitments to them, that opportunity often becomes necessity. So, for our team, it was out both necessity and their desire to create outstanding experiences for our guests, which led to their novel solution, and more importantly their willingness to see that solution become a reality.
So you see, such things as problem solving tools and innovation processes are not enough. Real creativity and problem solving begins and ends with willing hearts and open minds, followed by a commitment to action, even at a personal cost. And how do I know this is true? Because of what our Michigan Site and Retreats team did last week to assure our guests had an outstanding SpringHill Experience.
Paying Attention to the Details
Keith Rudge and Neil Hubers One of the things I love about our Indiana camp Site Team is their incredible attention to detail. Keith Rudge our Site Director, his right hand man Neil Hubers and their team of staff and volunteers make attention to the details a significant goal in all their work. As campers, parents and guests visit our Indiana camp they experience this attention to detail in such things as the care of the grounds, the freshly stained decks and walk ways, and the well thought out safety and security procedures.
Attention to details is important part of the SpringHill Experience because our goal is always to be professional. This means we plan, we implement, we measure and we evaluate every experience as to whether we exceeded people’s expectations. And one of the best ways to exceed expectations is in the attention to the details, because people notice the details. And it’s in the details that people judge the thoughtfulness and quality of our work.
And the amazing reality about attention to detail is this – it doesn’t cost the organization any more to pay to attention to them. Because paying attention to the details is more about habits than money, more a commitment than a skill, more a practice than theory. All of which means there’s no excuse for neglecting the details.
This value of exceeding expectations by paying attention to the details goes back to the earliest days of SpringHill when Enoch Olson, our Founding Director, made sure every detail was just right before guests arrived at camp, including such things as having every sidewalk swept perfectly clean.
But the most important reason paying attention to the details is so critical in our work is because we know that if we can demonstrate to parents our trustworthiness in the details, then they’ll trust us with the most important things – caring for their children.
Prep – Do – Review
Being the Boss – The 3 Imperatives for becoming a Great Leader by Linda A. Hill and Kent Linebeck is a helpful book for new or growing leaders. It provides both a philosophical and practical approach to leading yourself, leading your network and leading your team.
For example one of the most practical suggestions the authors give is a simple, three-step tool for tackling any kind of task or situation, called Prep – Do – Review.
The first step – “Prep. Before acting, take literally a minute to prepare. Ask yourself, What am I about do to? Why am I going to do it? (That is, what goal, no matter how simple, are you trying to reach?) Who will be involved or affected, and what are their interests? And how am I going to do it?
Step two – “Do. Perform the action you prepared to take in the prep stage.”
Finally, step three – “Review. Afterward, reflect on what was done and the outcome, including any expected or unexpected consequences. Identify the lessons to be learned. How would you perform the action differently in the future?”
As you can see one the keys to using it effectively is asking a lot of the right questions. And as Hill and Linebeck state, asking good questions is “a fundamental skill that, in our experience, all effective managers possess to a high degree.”
And the beauty of Prep – Do – Review is that it can be applied to everything from simple tasks to major events, from going through your day or week, to career planning. And, if it can become a regular part of how you work, it will undoubtedly make you a more effective leader.
Life After Graduation
“Now that you’ve finished your master’s degree what are you going to do?”
That’s the question I’ve been asked a dozen times since this past Friday when I graduated from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. I’ve felt a bit like the Super Bowl winning quarterback when the reporter asks, “now that you’ve won the Super Bowl what are you going to do?” Of course the quarterback always answers’, “I’m going to Disney World”.
Now that’s not been my answer. Instead, if I’ve had a moment, I’ve responded by sharing all the things I’ve pushed to the “back burner” during this program, including – trout fishing on opening day, taking care of a very bad lawn, tackling the ever-growing list of house projects, and most importantly, reading what I want to read and writing what I want to write, and do so in my timing.
My Systematic Theology professors, Dr Grinnell (left) and Dr. Wittmer (right) But don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret for a moment the work, effort and commitment needed to complete this program. I gained much more than I ever anticipated in essential knowledge for my work at SpringHill (which was one of my primary goals in pursuing a seminary degree).
Plus I’ve had the satisfaction of living out, in a more formal way, one of my personal “core values” – lifelong learning. And it’s because of this core value that I’ll most deeply miss the opportunity I’ve had to sit in class, and be challenged intellectually and spiritually by both my classmates and professors.
It’s also probably why a couple of people, who know me well, have said they don’t think this will be the last of my formal education.
Well they may be right, but for now, I’m going to see if I can catch a few Brookies in the stream near our house.
