Perspective Three – Discernment

“Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits
to see whether they are from God…” 1 John 4:1

We need to discern which of these ideas and insights are the best – not from our perspective, but from God’s. This calls for the Spirit of Discernment.

Spiritual Discernment has four factors that interact with each other.

· The Holy Spirit, who will lead us into all truth. Discernment requires the leader to constantly be alert to the nudges and whispers of the Spirit.

· The Scriptures. God’s Will will never contradict God’s Word. The Scriptures may not tell us how to specifically prioritize between childrens’ ministries, but it does emphasise the importance of children as being especially regarded by God.

· Prayer. Linked to the previous two factors is the freedom and privilege we have to take our issues to God in prayer – and then prayerfully listen for His reply.

· Wise counsel. The OT Wisdom literature resonates with the need for leaders to have and to use wise counsellors. Faith-based enterprise Boards and Councils should not limit their considerations to merely the ‘requirements’ (often legal and financial) but should be a sounding board for ideas and direction.

The key question here is:
• What is the best and highest goal, and the surest way to achieve it?

Perspective Four – Define

Now it’s time to start writing in earnest!

Strategy is not best held as a multi-page document, but as a conceptual framework that can be effectively shared across the enterprise. However, in practice a document is generally needed to support and act as the aide de memoire for a reframed strategy. I call this document a ‘Prospectus’ to reinforce that it – the document – is not the strategy, but a tool for developing and communicating the strategy and for mobilizing and motivating involvements in the strategy. It seeks to answer the following questions:
• What do we intend to achieve that gives focus to our work?
• What will shape the way in which we undertake this intent?
• How do we see ourselves achieving this?

The Purpose Statement

Your Purpose is what you are “striving to be”, your reason for being, your very raison d’etre. There is a big difference between having a mission statement and being truly purposeful. To be truly purposeful means that key decisions can be referred back to the purpose - your reason for existence. This gives some clue as to why being truly purposeful is not easy. It gets to the core of power and authority. It says in essence that those in positions of authority are not the source of authority. Rather the source of legitimate power in the enterprise is its guiding ideas.

As christian leaders our purpose must be to both do the will of God and allow the will of God to be done in our individual lives and our corporate lives. And that ‘will’ is not normally generic – it is specific to the individual, the body, the location, the times.

Foundational tenets

Foundational Tenets define the character of the organization. They are core beliefs which describe the ideology of an entity. They answer the question “Why do we do what we do the way that we do?” Foundational tenets shape and drive a ministry. They propel the enterprise forward towards achieving its purpose. (Note: some people variously use ‘core principles’, ‘core values’, and ‘core philosophy’ for what I term ‘foundational tenets’.)

Unless you are initiating a brand new venture, foundational tenets are not ‘created’ or ‘imposed’ – rather they emanate from the very soul of the enterprise. Foundational tenets rarely change – programs and projects may come and go, but tenets are for the long-haul.

Great Holy Audacious Challenge

“Do something that will change the community
because you are there”

Jim Collins in his book Good to Great uses the expression BHAG or ‘Big Hairy Audacious Goal’ as his term for the enterprise focus. In a God-focused enterprise, however, I would suggest that size is not a primary issue – rather it is the attainment of something that is wonderful and has impact for the Kingdom. Thus I would begin with the word ‘Great’ instead of ‘Big’. (In his book Collins himself actually suggests that ‘Great’ would be a better word to use than ‘Big’.) (Collins 2001)

I also find that there are major issues about the use of ‘goals’ (see Ordonez 2009, etc), and that people will commit themselves to challenges rather than goals.

So I suggest we should have a GHAC – Great Holy Audacious Challenge
Great = wonderful, exciting, impactful
Holy = For and of God
Audacious = Bold, adventurous, even impudent
Challenge = a barrier to be broken, a border to be crossed, a new land to be explored.

Strategic Parameters

One of the key needs of strategies in today’s world is flexibility. Plans require us to have detailed knowledge of the whole route to be travelled. That’s OK if the exact same route has been travelled before and the possibilities of terrain change is remote. However if there is a sudden change our plans are upset. Maps and plans only make sense for managing the knowable. Using parameters instead of detailed plans allows maximum flexibility to action as the needs and circumstances demand.

Strategic parameters are a few “straight-forward hard and fast rules that define direction without confining it” (Eisenhart and Sull, 2001). They are
- ground rules to accomplish the challenge
- expectations and the framework that guide putting the challenge into practice
- self-imposed boundaries that clarify and sharpen the focus of the challenge.

REFERENCES

Collins, Jim (2001) Good to Great, Collins Business
Eisenhart & Sull (2001) Strategy as Simple Rules, HBR Jan 2001
Ordonez, Schweitzer, Galinsky & Bazerman (2009) Goals Gone Wild, Harvard Business School Paper 09-083
Packer,J.I. (1973) Knowing God, Hodder & Staughton