If you are like most leaders, you want to accomplish certain things. No matter your ministry or organization, you desire better. Or more. Most leaders lead because they want to accomplish something. Now, what you want to get may be quite different from someone else. But, there is something you want. Some outcome you want to achieve. You may want more lives changed. Maybe you want your community improved. It could be you want to increase people’s attendance or participation. You may want your leaders to have fun AND to have measurable results. Both are possible according to “How Managers Drive Results and Employee Engagement at the Same Time.”
Your “Results” Are What You Are Currently Getting
Results answer the questions “How much?” and “How many?” Quality forms one measure. It answers the question: To what degree did it improve? And, quantity gives another measure. It can answer the question: How many do we have now compared to what we did have? How often do they attend? How much did her life improve as a result of going through your program? Is their marriage better since they joined us? How many leaders did we onboard last year?
Much or many, no matter your organization or your area within the organization, you can see some kind of result.
For a church, results can be external (things we can see from the outside like attendance or serving others) or internal (personal decisions, how they act at home, for example). Either way, you get results.
Everything You Do, in Total, Perfectly Produces Your Current Results
Furthermore, your church or organization gets the results you are organized to get. Do you have an average of 100 people in attendance? If that’s true, if one hundred people are attending your church on a regular basis, your church’s design produces one hundred people in attendance on a regular basis. Your preaching, music, location, building, signage, leaders, worship services, schedule, furniture, things you hang on the wall, how you answer the phone, children’s ministry, how you recruit leaders, how decisions are made, maintenance schedule, regular meetings, organizational chart (either written or informal), income, new guests, new guest follow-up, your disciple making process, social media, publicity, and everything else you do wires together to average one hundred people attending on most Sundays.
These elements, and all the rest, form a system, a group of functioning elements. Every element plays a part and every part contributes to the whole. You can see some elements more than others. Others require more time. Even the things you do unconsciously, because they come second nature to you, contribute to the overall “system”.
Every Part Plays a Part, and Every Part Contributes to the Whole
This means if you want more than a hundred people attending regularly, you must address and adjust the system to increase that number. If you want different results, in this case more people, you will have to change the system.
So, you may be wondering, “Can’t we just change one of the elements of the system?” Of course you can. But, you must realize that only adjusting a fraction of the system will only give you a fraction of improvement. And, that fraction of improvement only happens if you adjust the right element and if you adjust the right element in the right way. It is entirely possible that the element you think you need is not the element that will achieve the desired result. Unfortunately, that is what happens in a lot of places.
Recognize Your Filters
You usually adjust what you see. We tend to manage the things that come easiest for us. So, typically speaking, we improve the element that is already working well. It’s not perfect (nothing is), but it isn’t the primary thing holding you back. And the fact that it comes easiest to us means that we are probably already working on that area.
For example, imagine a church with an evangelism-driven pastor. He loved it, he lived it and he won many people to the Lord. That particular church, however, saw a lot of staff turnover. Their staff people came and went for a variety of reasons. This necessarily affected the number of people they would win to the Lord and (of course) also affected their attendance on a regular basis. So, what do you think the pastor would do when he saw the baptism numbers dipping and the attendance decreasing? You guessed it. He would push personal evangelism.
To Solve a Problem, Leaders Do What They Already Do Well
They sponsored a new evangelism program. Made evangelism the annual emphasis. The church promoted and encouraged evangelism. So, what do you think the result in attendance was? About the same. They also baptized about the same number of people as before the emphasis.
Why Didn’t It Work?
At least in part, the attendance and baptisms failed to increase because the staff turnstile never quit turning. With a parade of different staff people, attendance likely stagnates. Potential attenders feel the lack of stability and continuity. “If there is a frequent change in the preschool minister, how well can they really care for my child?” would be a typical question. It also points out a staff-related hindrance to growth.
Think about all the effort and time that went into pushing personal evangelism. Hours. Hours and hours. Now, we know that evangelism is good. It is a worthy endeavor. If you are doing it, keep doing it. If you aren’t doing it as a church, you need to add it. But, don’t think that attendance stagnation and people not getting baptized is only an issue of sharing your faith personally.
Attendance and baptism result from your overall system in a church.
Everything you do works together. The question is, “Is what you are doing producing the results you want?” If not, you can change the results by changing the underperforming parts of the system, not just the one that is easiest.
Please let us know below: What results do you want to achieve? Then list one part of the system that you think could help your church/ministry/organization achieve it?
Who We Are
LeaderINCREASE helps leaders get clear on where to go and understand how to get there, with less hassle. We understand that choosing to make a difference as a leader isn’t always the easiest.
We focus on providing leaders with resources they need to make a difference and become actionable leaders for their organization. We look forward to helping you achieve your goals as we have done for many others.
