Musings: Notes From My Daybook

I wrote the following for a group of leaders in the congregation I serve regarding the work of planning and goal-setting today.  They are beginning a launch of setting some "Ends Policies" and I have summarized some material from  John Carver's Boards That Make A Difference.  Carver is a noted consultant to non-profit organizations and it is Carver's work that was used by the the consultant the Predisan board recently used .  Here are some things that he notes about boards and their work to support the vision of the organization they serve.

1.  Leadership begins from outside, not inside, the organization.  Too often organizations suffer from myopia.  The board's best gift is to think beyond the box.

2.  Carver says, "that the organization exists makes a difference in the this larger world, and the difference it makes can be characterized in two ways:  a) The world is richer, happier, less in pain because of the care, knowledge, cure, or support produced.  b) The world is poorer, more depleted, more in pain because of the talent, capital, and space consumed.  These two impacts on the world, corresponding to benefit and cost, should be the chief interest, even obsession, of the governing board: What good shall we do, for which people or needs, and at what cost?"

3. Carver encourages boards to focus on ends--not goals or objectives.  By ends he is speaking about larger outcome or result.  "The usual vocabulary of organization contains goal or objective.  But, alas, both goal and objective can be applied to either means or ends.  Legitimately and commonly, objectives are established in the drive to attain a desired amount of activity or a desired outcome.  Therefore, it is misleading to equate goals or objectives with the concept of ends."

4.  Often a confusion exists between "means" and "ends."  It is easy for boards (or staff for that matter) to become so engrossed with everyday things and minutia that the larger question of what real difference the organization is making in the world becomes lost.

5.  "Creating Ends policies with a long-range perspective is the greatest board contribution to long-range planning."  Ends policies help set the reason for planning.  And planning is vitally important, because "planning is done to increase the probability of getting somewhere from here."  Setting out the big picture outcomes is the significant work of the board; "however, except for planning the improvement of governance itself, boards should not do the actual long-range planning."  This is the work of the staff and others in the organization.  "To deliberate responsibly, a board must interact greatly with staff and outside parties.  This interaction does not relate to the staff's present concerns and job undertakings.  Staff-board interaction here is designed to ensure inclusion of staff insights, passions, and environmental scanning in board deliberation."  Carver points out the importance of the board sharing and envisioning the "ends" to staff, calling the staff toward long-term ends.

6.  Vision, not planning is the singular work of the board.  That vision is "reduced to a few, succinct Ends policies."

7.  Carver notes that boards often get bogged down with how ends are evaluated.  That evaluation is necessary is assumed.  But the real trouble usually lies not in how, but in what to evaluate.  Regarding evaluation Carver suggests:
    a.  Don't be concerned about evaluation.  Focus on the ends.  Carson--For the church, that means asking why do we exist as a church and in what way can we partner with God's work in the world?
    b.  Avoid evaluating the wrong things.  It does little good to take pride in doing well things that really matter little--in light of our larger mission (ends).
    c.  "only when the board has created Ends policies should it stop to consider evaluation, because only when the board knows what it wants the organization to accomplish can it intelligently discuss evaluation.  Evaluation without these targets is ludicrous; fretting over evaluation prior to these targets is dysfunctional.  The issue of evaluation is merely this:  What is the most convincing evidence we can find (and choose to afford) that will show us we are getting what we sought?"

8.  "What matters in the long run is the effect an organization has upon its world."

9.  Obviously, these are observations from someone working in non-profit organizations.  We are a congregation, called into relationship through Jesus Christ.  And yet, I think that these observations resonate consistently with our identity and our larger purpose.  We have, as a church, been given a mission to live out the gospel.  If the gospel is being lived out fully among us, we will be replicating or reproducing new Christians.  With that in mind, what are the Outcomes or Ends or Vision statements that need to be placed in front of elders, staff, and congregation to direct our activity and work?