If you look inside those binders, you will typically discover several things. In an appendix in the back will be data – lots of it. It will include internal data on attendance and finances and programs and anything else that is measured. It will include external data on demographic trends. The binder may include notes from interviews with various constituents. And, of course, it will include plans. The plans may be extensive in their detail, sweeping in the number of initiatives that are recommended, and far-reaching in the number of years that are covered.

The problem is that a binder doesn’t produce results, and this kind of binder can actually hinder progress. This stereotypical report is a compilation of ideas, as if more pages will lead to more good things happening. I don’t share that perspective, and my guess is that you don’t either. I would much rather create a simple plan with measurable impact than count the pages in a weighty tome.

How do you do that? You start with clarity around your unique strengths and what God is calling you to be. You are realistic about your resource constraints, not limiting God but recognizing that some good ideas need to be done later (not now) and some need to be done by some other church or ministry (not yours). This means that you must be willing to say “no,” and even upset some people, so that you can run hard after a few great opportunities. It’s not easy, but when you quit counting pages and focus on impact, great things can happen.

It strikes me that rapidly growing churches (and other ministries) must deal with their own unique version of the Peter Principle. When God is moving powerfully and the number of people grows dramatically, the early-stage staff members don’t get promoted. Rather, the scope of their responsibilities tends to grow rapidly as the number of people and things that they manage expands. A gifted worship leader who led one service may end up overseeing multiple bands and vocalists and a creative team. A person who started as the up-front person for children’s worship must recruit and train and direct a team of volunteers and manage programming that runs 7 days a week.

The gifts needed for the early-stage roles are vastly different than those needed in the later, larger stages. And yet, churches are ill-prepared to make these shifts. They don’t invest enough in training, lack good evaluation processes, and are often reluctant to bring in a leader with the needed skills to replace or supervise these long-tenured staff members. As a result, the ministry falls victim to this particular strain of the Peter Principle. If you are in a growing church, what are you doing to prevent the Peter Principle from derailing what God is doing in your midst?

One final note, I didn’t talk about senior pastors in the above illustrations, but I could have. This shift in essential leadership skills is just as notable for first chairs as for any other role. If that’s you, are you investing in your own development as a leader? Your church needs you to!

At the risk of sounding un-American, I wonder if we push too far in this direction. I certainly see a level of intensity that makes me cringe when I watch kids’ sports. When parents get into literal fights over the outcome of a 10-year old baseball game, something is wrong. And I’m equally uncomfortable with the enormous lengths that people go to so that they can win the “college admission competition” (including hiring specialists to help fill out applications or downright cheating to get into the “best” school).

Someone may reply, “Competition is a way to motivate people to do their best and to select those who most deserve advancement.” I agree, and this has served me well in life. My competitive drive pushes me to do my best. I love an objective standard that tells me whether or not I won.

So what’s the problem? For those who succeed often, every victory can push us further away from God. The very thing we are running after can hurt us as we begin to believe that we truly are superior to others and deserving of praise. We forget that “every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). That’s a dangerous place for any Christian to stand.

In addition, the competitive drive may spill over into other areas of our lives and we may end up defining every situation as a contest. If you tend to see colleagues as rivals and can’t celebrate their successes, or if it’s impossible to play a friendly family board game, perhaps it’s time to recalibrate your attitude and your inner drive.

This blog is for me as much as anyone. I want to compete for “a crown that will last forever” (1 Cor. 9:25). I don’t expect to lose my competitive drive, but I hope to have a different outlook on this question in the future.

When Bill Hybels’ Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs came out, I debated whether to add it to my “must read” stack. On one hand, I’ve been enriched by everything I’ve consumed from Willow Creek. On the other hand, with 76 short chapters of pithy sayings, Axiom is not the type of book that I typically enjoy.

So once I started reading, I was pleasantly surprised by how much Hybels spoke to me in many of the chapters. In fact, I liked it so much that I bought copies for all of our pastoral and program staff, and made it the focus of a staff development day. We each read the book, and then came prepared to discuss which axioms we considered to be most applicable for our personal leadership development and which would most benefit our staff team collectively. It was a rich time of discussion, and I see it offering ongoing benefits.

Hybels accurately points out that axioms, when they are owned by a group, can become a powerful way to communicate and reinforce important values. I’m working on the axiom of “create your own finish lines” and “real-time coaching.” As a staff, we’re trying to adopt the axioms “excellence honors God and inspires people” and “vision: paint the picture passionately.”

I’ve also found it helpful to think about other important axioms for our church, both those that we currently practice and ones that we need to put in place. Currently I’m thinking about an axiom that might be expressed in the phrase “email doesn’t solve problems.” It might not be quite as profound as some of Hybels’ sayings, but it would sure make a difference in how we handle some “situations.” Pick up a copy of Axiom and as you read, make notes about the leadership concepts that will help you and your team go to the next level.

Numbers are funny things. They are an important tool for helping to define reality and evaluate effectiveness. But far too often, especially in ministry settings, numbers acquire “good” and “bad” labels. When this happens, many ministry leaders shut down. These leaders are being asked to do something that does not come naturally to them – to think analytically. They may think that they are being held solely responsible for the numbers and feel threatened if the results are “bad.” They may see numbers as a simplistic way of looking at a very complex issue. So rather than asking what can be learned from the numbers, these leaders reject the use of quantitative measures.

Bill Hybels is known for saying “facts are your friends.” In his book, Axioms, Hybels describes his initial discouragement when he was presented with the results of Willow Creek’s Reveal study. This data came from a congregation-wide survey that explored the spiritual habits and maturity of the church’s members. Even though he didn’t like what he saw, Hybels explains that the church took a hard look at this data and made positive adjustments in its ministries as a result.

This is a great picture of the power of numbers. They help us define reality so that we can make appropriate adjustments. Without a blood glucose meter, my child would just be guessing at the amount of insulin to inject needed to keep blood sugar in range and to have good health. And without some sort of meaningful data, you’re just guessing how to lead your ministry.

For more information on this topic, see my article on “Measuring What Matters” in the current issue of Leadership. The online version can be found at http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2012/spring/measuringmatters.html.

As I read this chapter, I couldn’t help but wonder if it applies to many church plants and other fast-growing churches and ministries. I don’t know how many times I’ve been in conversations or heard about a church that grew rapidly, but then ran into problems because it didn’t have a good process for discipleship or lacked the leadership to support its needs. The end result of this explosive growth is often burn-out for leaders (sometimes exhaustion, sometimes much worse), shallow believers whose faith isn’t growing, or a huge back door through which people are exiting.

I realize that there are two big concerns with applying the concept of the “20 Mile March” in a spiritual organization. The first is that Collins writes from a secular perspective, and we know that the Holy Spirit moves in unpredictable ways. We may think of the explosive and “undisciplined” growth of the Church in Acts as the perfect counterexample to Collins. Second, apart from the theological issues, it’s hard to imagine that we’d want to do anything to slow growth when things are going well.

It’s this second concern that I want to challenge. If you knew that rapid growth was going to cause problems further down the road, would you be willing to take your foot off the accelerator, just a little? You might do that by raising the bar for membership and thereby pruning away some who are not committed to the mission of the church. Or you might cancel the catchy, attractional sermon series that was planned, and instead focus on deeper teaching for the existing flock.

Don’t get me wrong – I think every church should grow, and I never want to limit the work of the Holy Spirit in our midst. But I wonder if we’d be better stewards in the long run by taking the more disciplined approach of the 20 Mile March.

As in his other books, Collins’ analysis is based on pairs of companies in the same industry, with one company in the pair having experienced great success and the other having had the same potential to excel but producing much worse results. Collins is great at coining unique, memorable phrases that describe his findings, and this book is no exception with terms like “leading above the death line,” “productive paranoia,” and “return on luck.” Another very interesting term and concept is the “20 mile march,” which I’ll unpack in my next blog. Collins also loves to defy conventional wisdom. In Great by Choice, Collins concludes that innovation is not one of the characteristics that set the great companies apart from their less successful counterparts.

One theme that runs throughout the book is the importance of discipline and consistency. I believe this is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for ministry leaders. In struggling churches, they bounce from one program or strategy to another, in search of a silver bullet that will fix all their problems. Even in growing ministries, many leaders seem to get bored quickly and want to try something new, often causing convulsions and confusion in the organization.

If you’ve read and enjoyed any of Collins’ other books (and even if you’ve not), I recommend that you get a copy of Great by Choice. Of course, it’s your choice, but I believe it can help you and your organization thrive in an unpredictable world.

There are some striking similarities between this cycle on the church calendar and what happens when many organizations develop a vision. The leadership team invests incredible time and energy into discerning where God is leading their church or ministry. They craft a beautiful vision statement and celebrate its completion. And then … the letdown.

Despite the parallels, there are also some important differences between post-Easter and post-vision. The slump after Easter is expected, so most congregations plan accordingly. They give themselves a chance to catch their collective breaths, and then they launch into the next emphasis, whether that’s a new sermon series, a busy summer of children’s and youth programming, or some other initiative.

But post-vision, many ministries look more like the Hebrew people after leaving Egypt. They’re not resting and reloading – they’re wandering. Discerning a clear and compelling vision isn’t easy, but I find that most ministries aren’t suffering from a lack of vision. They’re suffering from a lack of follow-through. Perhaps it’s because the vision wasn’t clear enough or didn’t produce enough ownership. More likely it’s because they didn’t take the next step of developing concrete plans that would turn the vision into results.

Don’t let your church or ministry get stuck in the post-vision doldrums. Just like Easter, catch your breath, but then be prepared to move forward. Otherwise, all that work will be for naught.

It seems only appropriate to conclude this series with the word “succession.” Whether you want to think about it or not, your tenure as senior pastor or executive director (or the tenure of your organization’s leader) will come to an end some day. The problem is that many first chair leaders and leadership teams choose not to think about it or don’t know how to think about it.

In business, succession planning is an accepted practice. The board knows that they must put someone into the first chair when the CEO retires. They also know that they must be prepared for the unexpected – a sudden resignation or a health issue that incapacitates the leader. They have the advantage of developing their bench, internal candidates who could potentially step into the top role.

Many churches (and other ministries) are not large enough to have someone on staff who could step into the first chair role but that shouldn’t keep them from having the right conversations. The pastor (or executive director) should be willing to talk openly about his or her time frame to retirement. The board should periodically discuss how the organization will operate if its leader departs suddenly. And whenever possible, they should all come together to plan for an orderly transition.

I’ve written this blog in my typical, matter-of-fact, unemotional style. And yet, as I’ve seen in a number of situations, this issue is rarely straightforward or unemotional. Whether you think of a congregation’s attachment to a pastor or a leader’s reluctance to turn over the reins to the ministry he or she helped to build, the transition is packed with feelings that defy logic. We should acknowledge this reality, but it’s no excuse for avoiding the conversation. The root word of succession is “success.” That’s what we all want, but if we treat “succession” as a bad word and refuse to discuss it, we’ll never reach that goal.

As a supervisor, how do you practice Ephesians 4:15 and 4:29? (“Speaking the truth in love” and “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.”) When it comes to managing staff, I’m afraid that most ministry leaders focus exclusively on “speaking love” and “building others up” with words of encouragement. Don’t get me wrong – encouragement is extremely important. But if this is the only feedback being given, then it’s not very likely that the staff member’s performance will improve. That is why evaluation is so important.

The problem is that evaluation involves some level of confrontation, and that makes it a bad word in many ministry settings. In the church, we emphasize compassion and mercy as we should. But we mistakenly think this means that there will always be peace. We equate conflict with sin. Of course, it’s hard to support that belief if you read the gospels or the epistles.

The challenge of doing evaluation also highlights the mistakes assumption that negative feedback means someone is a “bad” person. Since “good” people receive positive evaluations, then any suggestions for improvement get blown out of proportion. Shouldn’t it be possible to discuss an area of concern without it being seen as a deep character flaw? (This is also the reason that programs are rarely evaluated.)

The issue is compounded because most ministry leaders have little training in how to conduct an evaluation, and they often have inadequate tools for assessing performance. When this happens, the evaluation process rarely accomplishes the desired outcome. A person may be crushed by a negative message or simply clueless because the intended message was delivered in a confusing way.

For all these reasons, ministry leaders often try to avoid the dirty word of evaluation. But there is one compelling reason to press into it. God deserves our best, individually and collectively. If we turn our head rather than addressing poor performance, our ministries will never realize their full potential. I’d rather have a hard conversation with someone today than face my Master at the end of my life and try to explain why I didn’t.