Searching Questions

Dear Pastors

Some people end up leading organisations including churches that are not well suited for that role. When that happens it is a tough gig. Leadership by definition is ‘interdisciplinary’, meaning that you need to draw on a broad range of knowledge and skills and what’s more you need to be good at most of them. More often than not those tasks are learnt on the job not in the classroom.

There are in fact quite a few ‘non negotiables’ for successful leaders. One of those is the asking of searching questions no matter how hard the answer may be to hear. And these leaders do this all of the time. It’s in the air they breathe.

This is not an easy thing for many Pastors. Questions around organisational effectiveness, performance measures and mission results are not on the agenda’s of most church Boards. It rarely is talked about in a systematic and disciplined way. At a more fundamental level many pastors regard such conversations as irrelevant and un-spiritual. The attitude is that business can analyse and talk all they want about the organisation but most if not all of that talk is inappropriate around here.

But for those who are willing to go there, it will reap good rewards. So here are another bunch of questions¹. Have fun!

1. What are the major trends you are noticing that impact you and the organization you are part of or close to?
2. If you were to helicopter over the organization and look at it from a detached viewpoint, what would you observe about it in terms of effectiveness?
3. Are there any blockages in or around the organization that prevent it from moving forward?
4. How much operational autonomy do the units (e.g. children’s, youth, music etc) of the organization have and to what extent do they make key decisions themselves?
5. Are your organization’s business and management processes geared to tight control or do they allow initiatives to evolve entrepreneurially?
6. Would you characterize your organization’s decision processes as mainly rational or intuitive?
7. How do you measure organizational performance? Or do you measure?
8. How far into the future is your organization thinking and planning?
9. As part of your planning process, does your leadership team consider alternative scenarios? If so, how do they do this?
10. How is new knowledge generated and applied in your organization? Is it driven top-down, bottom-up, or in some other way?

Blessings

Alan

¹ Here is an earlier and different list I published.

Alan Vink is currently the Executive Director for LeadershipWorx. Prior to this role he has been the Executive Director of Willow Creek Association NZ (WillowNZ), a Baptist pastor (23 years), Bible College teacher, and church consultant.