Unlocking Growth: Harnessing the Four Disciplines of Execution in Your Church

Back when I was leading worship for our student's ministry, one of my favorite pastors would say to our students, “Readers are leaders, and note-takers are history makers.” I don’t know about you, but I love non-fiction. I’m always looking for a way to optimize and improve, to grow in my understanding. My wife reminds me that listening to audiobooks (my preferred way to read books) isn’t reading, but semantics aside, there is something so needed about learning from and applying ideas found in great books.

As we work with churches, we have found that many desire to see change but are already feeling overwhelmed by the day-to-day. This is one of the biggest challenges for church leaders. We get it. Ministry can pull you in all sorts of directions. Like Texas weather, you can have all four seasons in one day. So, what can we do to achieve the goals and dreams the Lord has placed on our hearts for our church, for our teams, and for our families? One of my favorite recently read books had this memorable quote:

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” —James Clear, Atomic Habits

We need to build systems. Today, we are going to discuss a powerful strategy that can dramatically shift how we achieve our church's most critical goals. Inspired by the transformative insights of "The Four Disciplines of Execution"by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling, this newsletter offers a framework to help you not just set goals but actually see them come to life in your ministry.

1. Focus on the Wildly Important

The essence of this discipline is simplicity. Amid the management of daily operations, it's crucial to distinguish between merely being busy and being effective. Identify one or two wildly important goals (WIGs) that will make all the difference. Ask yourself, what is the one goal that, if achieved, would have the most significant impact on my church? Is it increasing membership, enhancing community engagement, or perhaps expanding your outreach programs? By narrowing your focus, you create a clear and compelling target for your team. This goal is not team-specific; it’s for the whole church. This is a top-down approach. To achieve your goal, you need to have a unified vision and all teams contributing their support.

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.” – Steve Jobs

The goal-setting frameworks look like this: establish a starting line, a finish line, and a deadline. If your goal is to reach new families, your goal might be: "Increase new families from 5 per month to 15 per month by July 1st."

Eventually, you can look to expand to individual or team specific goals, but first, start by seeing the benefits of getting your whole staff and volunteer team onboard. Once your goal is set, share it with anyone involved in its achievement and break it down into smaller, actionable steps.

2. Act on Lead Measures

While lag measures (metrics of past outcomes - think attendance, forms submissions) track the success of your WIGs, lead measures (metrics of action that can be influenced - things we can do in the present to drive future outcomes) tell you how likely you are to reach your goals. Lead measures are predictive and influenceable. For instance, if your goal is to enhance engagement, a lead measure might be the number of personal follow-ups your team makes weekly. Unlike attendance numbers, which you can't influence directly, you can increase your number of follow-ups and directly impact engagement. Attendance numbers are fixed. Once your event is done, the numbers will be set. Focusing on what happened will not help drive the outcome. Rather, focusing your efforts on what you can control in the present, you have the potential to drive engagement. If you generate enough momentum on the front end, you won't have any issue hitting the attendance goals you are looking to achieve.

3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard

People play differently when they are keeping score. However, the score can't be an unintelligible collection of numbers. The scoreboard must be simple, visible to all, and show immediately if you are winning or losing. This can be as straightforward as a chart in your office tracking weekly follow-ups against weekly targets. When your team can see progress, their motivation to succeed increases. Scoreboards that are focused on the right things help motivate your team to greater success. Not only do they provide you with an understanding of how you are doing at the moment, but like many teams, at halftime, you can look to adjust your strategy if something is not working.

Practically, it could look like this. You have a team of three staff members and volunteers who are focused on connecting with people after they first attend on the weekend. You track how many calls and how many people showed up the following week. You can see that one of your team members has made all their calls. As a result of their efforts, you end up seeing families returning 55% of the time.

On the other hand, you have another team member who’s balancing too much. This week, they were unable to make all their calls. Not only did this show up in the total number of calls made, but it was also reflected in the percentage of returning families. Data like this allows you, as a leader, to make strategic changes to help improve the team’s results.

4. Create a Cadence of Accountability

Regular and frequent team meetings ensure that the lead measures are being pushed forward. In these meetings, each team member answers a simple question: "What are the one or two most important things I can do in the next week to impact the lead measures?" This practice of commitment and accountability clearly distinguishes what is important from what is urgent. When people speak about what they are looking to accomplish this week, a social contract is formed. People remain committed to the goals that they speak out loud and write down. Use this same technique to help keep your teams motivated to complete their tasks related to the WIG.

As a Note: Implementing the Disciplines

I know I talked about whole team goals, because that’s where you want to get to in the long run. However, most can’t start there, and we find teams need small wins to get and keep them motivated. That’s why we encourage you to start small. Choose a single department or ministry area to apply these principles and observe the changes. Once your team sees the results, the excitement and learning will spread to other teams.

Your Role as a Leader

As a church leader, your role is to keep the goal clear, the measures accurate, and the scoreboard updated. Celebrate wins, analyze failures, and constantly encourage your team to keep improving. Your belief in their ability to achieve is as crucial as any strategy. Help people stay motivated. Become a resource to help people get unstuck and see the vision that you are pursuing. As a leader, you become the CRO (Chief Reminding Officer), reminding people of their purpose and the impact that their work has on the church and the people you serve.

As we harness these disciplines, we not only achieve our goals but also empower our church community to rise to new heights. Let's bring these practices into our daily ministry and watch how they transform our collective effort into extraordinary results.

Michael Visser

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