Most leaders I know are sincere, committed people. With few exceptions, they work really hard to meet the needs of people and to do their jobs. For those in the church world; they pray, visit, share the gospel, preach, serve others and fulfill their other duties. Yet, most don’t see upticks in their impact. Some may want an increase in the number of people they are reaching. Others want an increase in the depth of the people who are already there. Still others want to make a bigger impact for good in their local areas. A lot would like to see things get better and even bigger in all these areas. So, the problem is not a lack of desire. These leaders certainly want it, but it isn’t happening. Even though they are doing these personal things well, they lack the kind of increase they desire.

The Problem

And, a key reason their area may not be growing is that the things they are doing makes it unlikely that it will grow. Their day-to-day activities are strong personally. And, it is true that these things are important. But, interestingly enough, these practices, by themselves, do not help your church/non-profit grow organizationally. If you are practicing these personal activities regularly and you want to see your church/organization grow, there is an additional set of skills you must acquire.

Build on Personal Leadership

Let’s face it. Very little gets done by one person. Some people can accomplish an amazing amount of things alone. But, even these high personal achievers could accomplish exponentially more if they work with and through other people. For most of us, changing the world requires working through some kind of group of people, some type of organization. Church. Non-profit. Business. Group. Cohort. Country. As you know, there are no Fortune 1000 companies that are solo gigs. There never has been a great church comprised of a single member. It takes a group.

Groups of People Function as an Organization

Whether a family, company, non-profit or church; these groups function as organizations and are very similar in how they do things. So, when you group people to accomplish something together, you have an organization. You may call it something else. But the truth is that a group of people function like an organization, no matter what we call it.

It is also true that those organizations must have another set of skills for things to go well. Of course, you must keep the personal skills. But, to go further, to grow, you must add other skills.

The Secret Ingredient: Acquire Organizational Skills

Although most people leading a group of people learn to do the personal basics well, a lot are not aware of the organizational skills needed. And, unfortunately, focusing only on the personal basics…doing them more and harder and with greater gusto…will not get their organization to grow significantly in its impact.

Consequently, the sad reality is that only doing personal leadership well actually limits the impact of your organization.

 

Rich Halcombe

This is a fact that takes most first-time entrepreneurs and pastors by surprise. It goes against the general assumption: “If I am really good at the basics, this thing will grow and do great things. “

What’s Necessary to Lead a Group of People?

For those basics to work on a larger scale and to have increasing impact requires an additional set of skills. Here is the flow of skills that are necessary to lead an organization with increasing impact and influence:

In order to increase your impact, you must accomplish the purpose through other people. And those other people require being clear about the purpose, having a strategy, doing the work, formatting how the work will be done and creating/maintaining the culture. And, as you can see, this is an entirely different list from the personal one.

If these skill sets are not used, your church/organization will have limited impact. You can count on it.

How This Might Look

Here’s an example of how this may play out in a church. Let’s say, for example, church leaders think they are not reaching enough people with the gospel. So, they focus on encouraging their people to share the gospel more often. Would their folks sharing the gospel more personally solve the problem of not reaching enough people? Absolutely! Are their people likely to start sharing the gospel more? Probably not. They probably won’t if you are expecting to keep the same organization, culture and expectations. For overall behavior to change, you must change your system. Changing your system is an organizational skill.

The answer to an organizational problem is not more emphasis on personal skills.

What really pains me is to see passionate, well-intentioned people lack traction because they are expecting personal development to grow their organization. It doesn’t happen like that. There are many similarities between personal development and organizational development. There is some overlap. But, they are two different skill sets. And, without organizational leadership, your personal development will only impact a small number of people.

So, if you want your church or organization to grow, you, as the leader, have to grow in your organizational abilities, while doing the basics well.