{"id":13831,"date":"2017-09-06T20:20:35","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T03:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13831"},"modified":"2017-09-08T09:18:26","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T16:18:26","slug":"from-a-good-church-to-a-great-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/from-a-good-church-to-a-great-church\/","title":{"rendered":"From a Good Church to a Great Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was first introduced to Jim Collins and his book Good to Great<\/strong> years ago at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. Our church, Southcliff, hosted the WCGLS several years via live webcast. Collins’s talk was memorable. The concept that “good was the enemy of great” certainly stuck with me.<\/p>\n

Having said that, it was only recently that I listened to the audio book of Collins reading Good to Great<\/strong> and read the follow-up article Good to Great in the Social Sector.<\/strong> I must say that I enjoyed listening to Collins reading his book that is now a “must read” in many business schools. Even though the audio book was recorded more than eight years after the book was published, Collins’ excitement for these principles came through clearly in his voice. I also appreciated the “updates” that Collins gave at several times during the reading. I do not know if the current edition of the book Good to Great<\/strong> has been updated with these insights. During the reading, Collins seems to pause, then give some commentary about his current thoughts on the subject, then goes back to the reading.<\/p>\n

As a church leader, I fully understand that there are areas where the book Good to Great<\/strong> does not easily translate to church leadership. Yet, Collins addresses these in his follow up booklet Good to Great in the Social Sector.<\/strong> Here, Collins identifies some areas where churches, nonprofits, social clubs, sports teams, political organizations, etc. are very different than businesses.
\nFirst of all, in these organizations, money is not the bottom line. This is especially true for a church. The mission of the church is to share the gospel and to care for people. Success should not be solely measured by the size of Sunday’s offering.<\/p>\n

Next, churches and other social organizations are usually not led by an autocratic leader who can make decisions unilaterally. A legislative leadership style is usually needed.<\/p>\n

And finally, churches, charities, etc. utilize a large number of volunteers to accomplish their mission. One of the greatest challenges to an organization in the social sector has to do with motivating unpaid workers.<\/p>\n

With these differences pointed out by Collins himself, I would like to comment on some of the valuable insights that Good to Great can give church leaders.<\/p>\n

Level 5 Leadership: Leaders who are humble, but driven to do what’s best for the company.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The greatest insight for me in regards to “Level 5 Leadership” came at the end of the audiobook. Here, Collins reflected on some of the insights that he has gained in the years since the book was first published. He talked about his encounters with many people who felt discouraged because they knew that they were not “level 5 leaders.” Collins wisely stated that even level 3 or 4 leaders can make level 5 decisions from time to time. The goal is not to say “I give up, I am not a level 5 leader.” The goal is to make as many level 5 decisions as possible. I personally found this very freeing. I may not be a great leader, but I can make a great decision from time to time. I can strive to be “more level 5” next year than I was this year.<\/p>\n

First Who, Then What: Get the right people on the bus, then figure out where to go. Finding the right people and trying them out in different positions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What struck me here was the fact that we should look at hiring people, not positions. As I reflect on some of my past hiring decisions, I can see that I have made some mistakes in this area. There were times that I passed over a really good person because he\/she did not fit the job description that I had written. Along the same lines, there have been times that I have been too passive with volunteers, letting mediocre ones continue to serve for fear of rocking the boat\u2026after all, a class with a mediocre Sunday School teacher is better than a class with NO Sunday School teacher, right?<\/p>\n

The Stockdale paradox\u2014Confront the brutal truth of the situation, yet at the same time, never give up hope.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Churches, by their very nature, operate on faith. If there is any organization on the planet that is filled with optimism, it should be the church. In addition, church leaders are good at giving bad news a positive spin\u2026 “Yes, the church bus broke down and we can’t afford to fix it. Maybe God is telling us that we need to do our annual mission trip here in our own community this year.” As church leaders, we are so good at looking for the bright side, that we may not confront problems that need fixing.<\/p>\n

The Hedgehog Concept.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is our church passionate about? Trying to get a Cowboy Church to open up a Christian coffee house for poetry reading may not be the best idea. Yet, sponsoring a Christian rodeo camp for kids in the community might be a winner for such a church. What could your church be best at? Look at the other churches in your town. Who do they attract? What are their priorities? What are they best at?<\/p>\n

Now look at your church. What makes you different? What type of person comes to your church and immediately feels at home?<\/p>\n

A Culture of Discipline.<\/strong><\/p>\n

William Carey famously said, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” Great church leaders need to both “expect” and “attempt.” Disciplined work often precedes significant results.<\/p>\n

The Flywheel: The additive effect of many small initiatives; they act on each other like compound interest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How often do church leaders read a book or go to a conference that causes them to scrap everything and make all new plans?\u00a0 This almost always means a cessation of momentum. Churches need to enact change that increases momentum. The flywheel concept goes hand in hand with the hedgehog principle. Churches need to find out what they are good at, then build upon their strengths.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, Good to Great<\/strong> is not only a book about business, it is a book about success. People who want to lead successful organizations would be wise to read it.<\/p>\n

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I was first introduced to Jim Collins and his book Good to Great years ago at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. Our church, Southcliff, hosted the WCGLS several years via live webcast. Collins’s talk was memorable. The concept that “good was the enemy of great” certainly stuck with me. Having said that, it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":13836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13831"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13939,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13831\/revisions\/13939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}