How Goals, Expectations and Accountability help Ministries Thrive
I love business. I should have been a business major instead of a Christian Education Major (what is that anyways?). I think it started early for me when my dad and grandfather would teach my brothers and I about good companies and bad ones. They would sit down with us and show us the fundamentals of a company and how to read the “financials” of each one. Honestly, that didn’t really do it for an 8 year old boy. But what it did do is it give me a passion for determining what a good company was and what a good company wasn’t.
Then, when I got older I was challenged to read books like, “Good to Great” by Jim Collins and I just went crazy. I was fascinated in what made these companies so great. So I started thinking about how could I make my youth ministry company great. What could I learn from Jim and other businesses that would make my ministry not just an average “company”, but a GREAT ONE!
So here are a few things I have learned over the years of looking at businesses and entrepreneurs and how they apply to how we run our ministries.
They had goals, expectations and accountability.
In business there are publicly traded companies and private ones. One of the main differences is that private companies is that they are allowed to keep some things private. They don’t have to disclose much to the public. Publicly traded companies have to disclose more to the public because they have Stockholders.
Stockholders are people who invest in the company and legally own part of the public corporation via stock (publicly traded securities). Stockholders are financially “invested” in the company and have a huge interest in making sure the company succeeds so that they can make money on their investment.
Stockholders invest in a company when the company has good fianncials and looks like a solid investment. One of the ways they know that is if the company is meeting goals and expectations. Publicly traded companies like Apple, Inc., Google and Goldman Sachs report how they do on their goals and expectations 4 times a year in their “quarterly earnings“.
These quarterly earnings show the world how they are doing at achieving their goals and expectations. The better they do at reaching their goals, the higher their stock price goes which means more money for everyone involved (stockholders and employees). There is a real vested interest for everyone involved to meet their goals and expectations each quarter.
Quarterly earnings also shows the world if that company is in trouble financially and may sink in the coming months or years. A good example of this is RIMM (Research in Motion). RIMM is the maker of the Blackberry. After years of being on top of the smartphone industry and holding a huge market share, RIMM began to suffer set backs. In the wake of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android OS revolution in which phones were faster, more user friendly and touch screen, RIMM was slow to push out new phones to compete. Furthermore, with the tablet market heating up and the iPad was selling like wildfire, RIMM introduced the Playbook which was hardly impressive.
All signs were pointing to a some pretty negative news coming from them at their quarter earnings report. At RIMM’s quarter earning report in June of 2011, they predicted that future revenue would fall for the first time in nine years. That kicked off a dramatic drop in stock price, a continued decline in market share and thousands of job layoffs. These earnings were a clear indication that concern over the direction of RIMM was right. They did not hit their goals and because of that, RIMM’s stock price has and continued to suffer because of a constant failing to meet goals. RIMM ultimately went through a major restructuring of their company
Quarterly earnings is a quarterly accountability to how they are doing for the quarter. Without that accountability, companies can get sidetracked and possibly lose focus on what they are striving to do for themselves, their consumer and their stockholders.
How does this apply to Ministry?
Just like in the business world, we should have stockholders who hold us accountable in ministry. But, in order to have someone(s) to hold us accountable, we need goals to be held accountable to with real evaluations of those goals (I talk about one way to be held accountable here).
Honestly, in the over 20 years I have been in ministry, when my goals have been evaluated and I have been held accountable to them, that is the time I have had a lot of success in ministry. However, the years I haven’t been held accountable, those years have not been as fruitful. We need goals, expectations and to be held accountable and here is why.
- Gives us something to strive for
- Prevents people from saying we are doing good or bad without a reference point.
With this Executive Team in place and a Direct Supervisor to hold me to goals, I have accountability. I am able to stay focused and maintain direction.
Application
So, take a minute right now and examine your accountability structure. Do you have people in place to hold you accountable to your goals and purposeful in your mission? If not, what do you need to do right now to get one in place ASAP. If you do, how can you continue to grow and develop so that, as you evaluate regularly, you can be in line with God’s purpose and direction for your ministry? The more you keep this structure in place, the more effective you will be in life and ministry long term.
What do you think? How have you seen goals, expectations and accountability help your ministry thrive? Share them and your experiences below or on social media use my twitter handle @tapounder or #ymsidekick when you share.
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