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Strategy Starts in the Mud

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Strategy Starts in the Mud

The best ideas and strategies come from leaders and teams closest to the people being served and the ministries deployed to meet their needs. Think about that for a moment. While we often make strategic ministry decisions around the conference table, consider that a better way is to create strategy and generate ideas with volunteers, key leaders and teams who make ministry happen every week.

It’s not that big picture, top-down leadership doesn’t matter. It’s still a vital part of the way churches create vision, clarify direction and build out Great Commission strategies for evangelism, discipleship, missions and worship. But it shouldn’t end there.

In fact, a key observation of my 30 years in ministry is that most churches don’t fail on mission and vision. Instead, most churches struggle and often stagnate on strategic ministry execution. And execution success or failure rests with the front-facing teams who do most of the hands-on work and implementation of nuts-and-bolts ministry.

Empowering leaders and volunteers to make ministry happen is a paradigm shift for many leaders. Execution with less control or oversight isn’t always pretty, and it’s usually done in a way you wouldn’t do it yourself. But that comes with the territory. This is the “mud” of day-to-day ministry—an analogy for how laborious, challenging and messy it can be to implement those Big Ideas that mobilize the church to go and make disciples. There’s no question that it’s a glorious calling, but the mud remains. Ministry can be messy.

Enter a strategy planning process that often tells instead of listening. Nilofer Merchant says it this way:

As we all know, simply telling people what needs to be done is rarely enough to produce action. Yet that’s exactly what many organizations often do in the strategy process. Creating excellent strategy depends on collaboration throughout the organization.

Collaboration and collaborative leadership take many forms, but some of the most important are organizational strategies and tactics—everything we do (and don’t do) to achieve our missional objectives. So how do you foster a spirit of collaboration as you make strategy in the mud? Here are a few tips:

  • Lead By Asking Questions — Peter Drucker said: “The leader of the past knew how to tell – the leader of the future will
    know how to ask.” Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
  • Ask for Strategic Input — Most Big Idea strategy development happens at higher levels of leadership, but don’t neglect
    input from others. Collaborate with leaders and volunteers to allow for strategic ideas to bubble up from the bottom of the org chart. Ask them: “What does your team believe they can accomplish?”
  • Collaborate with a Cross Section of Leaders — Devolve as much authority for developing ministry tactics as you can. The most effective action plans develop in departmental groups, volunteer teams and hands-on serving ministries.
  • Delegate Execution Decisions to Ministry Teams — Ask departmental ministry teams and key volunteer leaders to develop the action plans for accomplishing your mission, vision and values. Place a high value on bottom-up leadership, strategy development and execution.

So what’s the Big Idea?

Create strategy and generate ministry ideas with volunteers, key leaders and teams who make ministry happen every week. And for maximum ministry impact, delegate execution to ministry leaders nearest the people being served.

Resources

   
Sources

Nilofer Merchant, The New How: Creating Business Solutions through Collaborative Strategy (Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, 2010), 32.

Marshall Goldsmith, “Advice on Getting from Here to There” (Business Week), Accessed March 5, 2025, https://marshallgoldsmith.com/articles/advice-on-getting-from-here-to- there.

6 Steps to Better Staff Meetings

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6 Steps to Better Staff Meetings

A few of my favorite demotivators from Despair, Inc. are the ones describing the pointlessness of meetings, committees and teamwork:

Meetings. None of us is as dumb as all of us.
Teamwork. A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
Committees. Just like teamwork. Only without the work.

All sarcasm aside, the laughter in those statements belies an underlying truth about meetings. You’ve probably been a part of meetings that obscured the solution and created more, not less, confusion. If your meetings resemble those statements, then you’re not alone.

I have a confession to make. I’ve been a bad meeting leader. Whether it was meeting too long or too frequently, ending without a next step or attempting to do too much, a share of my meetings have been ineffective. But while I’ve made every mistake in the list below, I’m learning to make the right adjustments to become a good meeting leader.

Consider a few lessons that I’m learning:

  1. Make it fun. Praying for personal needs, recognizing important life moments and celebrating team wins are all part of healthy staff culture. Make staff meetings as much about motivating and encouraging people as about the meeting’s agenda.
  2. Be prepared. Set a clear agenda and focus the meeting. It can be frustrating to attempt to do too much in a meeting. Limit the scope of the discussion and save “rabbit holes” for sidebars or e-mail.
  3. Be efficient. Everyone should know what’s expected of them before they set foot in the meeting. Communicate a meeting’s purpose in advance so the team can be prepared. And don’t be afraid to cancel a scheduled meeting when it isn’t needed or when the team just needs to take a break.
  4. Keep it moving. Meetings should be brief, lasting only as long as needed to accomplish their purpose. Manage the length of meetings and consider ways to maintain forward momentum. Scott Dobroski, community expert at Glassdoor, advises: “If you’re going to meet in person, determine how much time you need and then challenge yourself to slice it by 50%.”
  5. Detail the action plan. Making assignments to team members (and the team leader) reduces the length of meetings and provides accountability for next steps. Identify items and ideas that require follow up and clarify who’s responsible for making it happen.
  6. Encourage your team. Did everyone leave with a sense of accomplishment? You may not have all the answers you were looking for, but you should have a takeaway. Summarize what was accomplished so everyone leaves the meeting encouraged, motivated and satisfied.

So what’s the Big Idea?

Make the right adjustments to become a good meeting leader. Make staff meetings as much about motivating and encouraging people as about the meeting’s agenda. Be prepared and efficient, maintaining forward momentum. Encourage the team with a summary of what your meeting accomplished.

Resources


Sources

“Demotivators,” Accessed May 4, 2015, http://www.despair.com/demotivators.html.

“Say No to Meetings” by Andrea Murad, Fox Business (April 29, 2015), http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2015/04/29/say-no-to-meetings/.

Create a Culture of Accountability

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Create a Culture of Accountability

People and churches respond to accountability in one of two ways. Either they pull back from the prospect of increased attention or they embrace the opportunity to reach their potential and achieve better outcomes.

Many of us don’t have effective mechanisms for accountability in our personal and ministry lives. For one thing, accountability is difficult. We would rather not push people and staff—paid or volunteer—to go further, do more and be more strategic. Most people don’t naturally seek to do more than standard operating procedure requires.

It’s also true that accountability requires hard decisions and choices that many church leaders don’t want to make. It’s easier to kick the can down the road and hope for the best. But it usually doesn’t work out for the best.

A real culture of accountability can’t skip over any of the truly important things. It has to be practiced regularly and cover vital parts of Christian life and witness. Churches need staff ministers who are accountable for:

  1. Personal Spiritual Growth & Family Time
  2. Professional Growth & Development
  3. Organizational & Ministry Objectives

Consider whether ministry leaders in your church are held accountable for those things. If not, it may be time to consider a few adjustments.

How can you build traction for a culture of accountability? Start with:

  • Clear Vision and Values – Each staff member knows who you are and who you want to be. There’s no substitute for being on the same page. Accountability begins with clear vision.
  • Global Objectives – Each team member knows what you’re trying to accomplish and how you plan to get it done. With clear global objectives, the team is rowing in the same direction.
  • Ministry Objectives – Proper accountability can’t happen unless departments harmonize their plans with “big picture” vision, values and strategy.
  • Realistic Goals – Ministry goals should be achievable with available resources. It’s futile to expect outsized outcomes from insufficient resources.
  • Regular Interface – Ministry staff and volunteers need honest feedback and coaching. A coaching discussion with accountability should happen at regular intervals.
  • The Freedom to Make Adjustments – Ministry plans are written in pencil not pen. Because plans are adjustable, fear and anxiety about accountability is reduced.
  • The Freedom to Fail (and Succeed) – New initiatives and ideas are encouraged, even when they might not succeed. Expect that a certain percentage of new plans won’t go as planned.

So what’s the Big Idea?

Church leaders should be accountable for personal spiritual growth, family time and professional development, as well as church and ministry objectives. Build a culture of accountability in each of these areas with clear vision, realistic goals and regular interface.

Resources

6 Ministry Budget Traps

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6 Ministry Budget Traps

Managing ministry money is one of the first places where vision drift creeps into a church. It happens in the absence of bold vision and a coherent ministry strategy. It also happens with short-sighted or visionless leadership.

Making financial decisions is the golden moment when a church shows its true priorities. A church can say it has strategic priorities, but how it budgets and spends money is a far better indication of what it values than anything it might say.

Why the disconnect? Why do we so often say one thing but do something completely different with ministry money?

Consider the answer in these 6 ministry budget traps:

  1. Silos vs. Vision – Before starting a new budget process, pull staff or volunteer leadership teams together to review vision as well as key strategic areas and initiatives. Work to reduce and eliminate ministry silos with a compelling ministry vision.
  2. Past Spending vs. Future Focus – Previous year spending patterns can be a consideration for budget cuts, but exercise caution. Ask important questions about why the money wasn’t spent. Above all, don’t allow low spending to determine future budgets in key areas.
  3. Programs vs. Purpose – Budgets are a good time to evaluate ministry programs and purpose. Consider the things you should stop, start and continue doing. Does a ministry program need adjustment? Should an existing program (and budget) be ended in favor of something else?
  4. Events vs. Strategy – Ask leaders who supervise budget lines to think strategically. Require that budget requests be linked to church vision and clearly-defined strategies and action plans. Work with your team to prevent last year’s calendar from automatically determining future plans.
  5. Personalities vs. Priorities – The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Some church budgets reflect this, as more money gets allocated to louder voices and departments. Well-reasoned—but quiet and low key—ministry priorities get pushed aside in these situations. Commit to avoid this trap with a coherent, priority-driven budget process.
  6. Status Quo vs. Change – Create a budget process that encourages a vision-aligned, strategy-driven openness to change. The best stewardship of the church’s financial resources is a Q&A attitude about the status quo.

So what’s the Big Idea?

Allocating money strategically is the best way to manage limited financial resources. Make your budget choices completely dependent on what you are called to do (vision and values), who you are called to reach (outreach focus) and how God has called you to reach them (goals, strategies and action plans).

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