This post shares a few insights I’ve collected from various business sources, and encourages church leaders to learn from the vast amount of leadership and organizational literature that’s out there.
I’ve always been something of a eclectic reader. And especially in my days as a parish minister, I consider it one of my failings that I read mostly religious books, and didn’t pay greater attention to wisdom from other sources. So this is my first piece of “reading advice” –read books about business practices and trends.
There’s a continual stream of research and insightful writing coming from the secular experts that’s directly applicable to motivating, managing and moving people forward in the sacred realm.
Business magazines are often a great source of both practical advice and inspiring examples. Several times a year I pick up copies of Forbes, Inc, and Entrepreneur at the airport, grocery store, or doctor’s office. Business magazines tell you about how human beings are finding success, and dealing with change and failure. They tell you what motivates people who work and worship with us. They profile successful leaders, many of whom have been hired to transform their organization.
FOR EXAMPLE…
A Fall 2007 issue of Forbes profiled Xerox’s new executive. Buried in that article was her story of how she had to “DETACH HERSELF FROM THE ORGANIZATION AND GO OUTSIDE OF IT” –to learn what was right and wrong with Xerox. Sure, she listened to the people within the organization, but she said that she also wanted to learn from the people WHO HAD LEFT THE ORGANIZATION. She wanted to learn what her COMPETITION thought of Xerox. She wanted to know what perfect strangers she met at coffee shops though of Xerox.
As I was reading her story, I felt like I was reading about a great idea for every pastor in every church, who needed to see the forest, but was blocked by the trees.
The business magazines and Bible agree: Self evaluation is critical to any organization, religious or business.
- What do the neighbors around the church think of the church? What do YOUR neighbors think?
- What is the honest opinion of other pastors in the community of your church? (they hear things from the members we trade back and forth)
- What do your former staff members think are the strengths and weaknesses, successes and unresolved issues in your church?
- What do your former members have to tell you?
In my “On the Lam” thread in this blog, I talk about “why we left our last church.” I hope somebody from that church reads that post. I didn’t have the desire to make a federal case of our complaints while I was in that congregation. We were going to move out of state soon enough and decided to leave rather quietly.
But the thing is…. my wife and I know a NUMBER of people who left that church over the years, –people who were actively and seemingly quite supportive, until something happened, just like “something happened” to us there. While we were members there, I can remember hearing about people who had left the congregation, and heard some leaders in that church downplay and even ridicule the reasons why those people left. Probably did the same with our reasons when we left. Which is a real shame, because looking back, many of us left FOR THE SAME REASONS.
The new CEO of Xerox wanted to know “what happened” -what turned Xerox into a former shell of itself? And she understood that the remaining employees could only tell her PART of the real story. These are the sorts of stories and issues you RARELY see dealt with in church journals.