Running with the End in Mind – the Importance of Vision and Goals

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Ted W Harris

finish-line

I have taken up running as my main method for getting this slightly more than middle aged body in shape. I have never really been a runner but the only real expense you have is a good pair of running shoes. I envisioned running 3 miles, 3 or 4 days a week. While the real metric would be the annual trip to the doctor, my method of measuring my progress was if my times began to get lower. If I was covering  the same distance faster. And I was seeing success. I had shaved almost three minutes off of my total time in the span of about 4 months. That’s one minute off of every mile. I was leaving my old self in the dust. For 4 months I ran the same route through the neighborhood every time. I knew where the 1 mile, 2 mile and finish line were and what time I needed to arrive at each spot.

This morning I decided to mix it up. The old route was getting boring. There was more of the neighborhood to see. So I set out with no real course in mind. I would just turn down a street when I felt the urge. I would travel down roads I haven’t been down before. When I completed my run I was shocked. My overall time and each mile time was almost as bad as when I started running 4 months before. I must have taken a hillier route. Wait, I am in central Indiana, there are no hills. What was the difference? Have I taken a giant step backwards in my vision to become physically fit?

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NO! I realized the difference was I wasn’t running with the end in mind. I didn’t have those check points along the way to make sure I was keeping pace. I didn’t know where the one mile marker was so I didn’t know I was behind schedule. I didn’t realize I needed to push myself a little harder to get to the 2 mile mark in time. I had the vision, to become a mean, lean running machine, but this time I lacked the intermediate goals that would enable me to realize my mission of lowering my times. I lacked those check points. I was just running, aimlessly. I felt like I was running on the same pace I always run, but how would I know until I got back home.

Many leaders have the same problem. We have a clear vision. We know what we want the organization, the company, the church to become but we lack the clear goals of how we are going to get there. We have never set the benckmarks along the way to know if we are on pace. Are we keeping pace with the vision? Where should we be in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years? A wise friend told me once, “Time keeps on marching and in 3 years you will be somewhere. Where do you want to be when you get there?”

Without clear mile markers, benchmark goals, we may get to the end and not be where we want. Without those mile markers I didn’t know if I needed to speed up or not? In the past, there were times when I found myself sprinting near the end of a run just in order to get under my last run’s time. I could do this because I knew where the finish line was. Take away the mile markers and I ran with no real purpose.

Many times we look back on our life and think, “I thought I would be farther along than this.” Where will you be in 3 years? What do you want your organization, company, or church to look like? How are you going to get there, what are your intermediate goals? Where do you need to be in 1 year and 2 years in order to not just let time pass you by at the 3 year mark? Vision is important but without goals many times it is just an aimless trip through unfamiliar territory?

Now get out there and run with the end in mind!

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The Art of Failing

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Ted W Harris

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As leaders, we are looked to for answers. We are expected to navigate the unknown. Many times we are the role model. The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1, NIV). I get it, it comes with being a leader. But what happens when the leader doesn’t know the answer? What happens when the pastor loses his way? What about the followers when the leader makes a bad moral judgment. Leaders are human.

These thoughts came to my mind this week when I heard of another pastor resigning his post due to moral failure. It happens. The pressures of leading today are many. Culture is constantly changing in our high tech, information driven world. It is hard to keep up even for the most tech savvy leader. And I am not in anyway excusing the sin. What I am wondering is how does it happen? Where did the problem start and how did it go unnoticed? Was it at all avoidable? I want to give some safeguards that every leader needs to have in their life – no matter the size of the organization or how many people are following your example.

1. Humility – Many leaders fail because they believe they can’t. Whether it was a quick rise to the top or the wrong people surrounding them, many forget where their success actually comes from and that while we plant and water, only God can cause the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6) Humility is having a correct view of who we are. Paul, arguably the greatest missionary in the history of the church, understood he was the chief of sinners and could only boast in the Lord. A humble spirit allows us to keep success in the right perspective.

2. Transparency –  When leaders fall, they many times acknowledge that they didn’t have the right people around them. People who who ask good questions, the hard questions. In order to avoid the pitfalls of leadership, a leader will have others around them with which they can be totally honest. This type of transparency evolves over time as this group of people builds trust. We have to have a place to share struggles, weaknesses, thoughts that aren’t ready for the Board room or pulpit.

3. Learner – As soon as a person stops learning they stop leading. With the constant change of culture, leaders must constantly be adding to their knowledge and applying the things they are learning. While it is important to be mentoring the rising stars coming behind you, a leader must have a mentor of their own. Someone to help guide them through maze that is leadership of people. Leaders are readers is a phrase that has always stuck with me

4. Time away – Every engine runs out of gas. The trick is to know when to fill up before you reach empty. Since our bodies and minds don’t come with a fuel gauge, we have to schedule in regular time away from the work world. We must constantly cultivate the relationships at home that are ultimately the most important. Pastors with moral failure almost always admit that somewhere along the way they and their spouse began to grow apart. Regularly date your spouse and periodically head to the beach or mountains, your success depends on it.

All leaders have to live up to the expectations placed on their lives, and live down the stereotypes society has of the position. No matter the size of the organization or church, no matter the popularity or fame that comes with the position. We are all human and share a fallen genetic makeup that makes us susceptible to failure – be it wrong decisions professionally or morally. At some point we will fail, or at least not fully succeed. Humility, transparency, learning, and recharging are all ways to help us fail with the least amount of impact to the church, company, or followers that looking to us for the answers.

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Lebron, MVPs, and Leadership

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Ted W Harris

NBA Finals

This morning I woke to discover the news that the Golden State Warriors were NBA Champions. I admit I was pulling for Curry and the Warriors. There was a lot of talk as to whether Lebron should be the Finals MVP even if the Cavs lost. Now, taking nothing away from Lebron, his stats were amazing and he will go down as one of the greatest of all time. And there is little arguement about who is the Cavaliers MVP. But all of the talk made me think, What does it take to be the MVP, the Most Valuable Player, in a series? It is tough to make a case for the MVP coming from the losing team. But what makes a person an MVP?

MVP, to this sideline analyst, is all about leadership. Are you able to lead your team through a struggle, a battle, 4 post season playoff series, and come out victorious? Are you able to make your team better? As a leader, the emphasis is on your team performing well. It is making all of your teammates better players by the way you perform your job as leader.  Many leaders forget that what makes them great, or at least appear great, the thing that adds most to their success, is the other players on the court, on the field, in the office around them. While we must constantly be developing our own skills, we must diligently work at developing those around us. When we make ourselves better and we make each individual around us better, we make the team better.

Humility is the key to making those around you better. If you are the star, everybody knows you are the star, you don’t need to tell people you are the star. I am always a little put back, when I hear the post game interviews and there is the constant talk of “I”, “Me” and little about those around you. If you are leading your church or organization, and you are experiencing success humility allows us to share the credit, share the success.  Our highest praise should go to those on the team.

And what is the key to humility – understanding our true identity and worth. John the Baptist understood this better than anyone. Many mistook John to be the Messiah, the one Israel had been waiting for centuries to come and save them, their savior, their hero, their MVP. Humility allowed John to maintain a right perspective on success. John said, even with all of his success, he was not even worthy to tie the straps of Jesus’ sandals. John knew that personal victory was tied to the person of  Christ. John understood that his personal success came in the understanding the Jesus must increase and he must decrease (John 3:30). The Apostle Paul understood it when he told the Philippians, “I can do all things through Christ we give me strength.” (Philippians 4:13)

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches…apart from me you can do nothing.”

As leaders we must always be aware of our own true importance to the church or organization. Your success is only partially wrapped up in YOUR abilities, and even that must be attributed to Jesus. If we are leading with a correct attitude, we will be developing MVP’s around us. We will be sharing the success. We will understand that any accomplishment we may gain, any success we have, comes only through our dependence on Christ. He must increase and I must decrease.

Now think about who on your team is the MVP. Who do you need to thank today for the job they are doing?

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Strategy: The Road Map to Success

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Ted W Harris

Strategy Mapping

One of the best parts of vacation for me comes weeks before the actual trip. We would sit down and plan out where we were going. I can remember deciding on a destination and then my Dad pulling out the Rand McNally Atlas and starting to map out how we were going to get there. He would identify all of the highways we needed to take. Next we would look for interesting stops along the way. We would have to calculate drive time, pit stops and overnight stays. All in all it was a fun time of getting a vision for the trip before we ever packed one suit case. We knew where we were going, we anticipated some of the interesting stops along the way. We built excitement for the trip. The journey was as important as the destination.

As leaders, we must never forget that we are leading people on a journey, not just heading toward a destination. While vision is crucial to any organization, churches included, we may never experience the vision if we haven’t carefully planned out the journey. Strategy is simply planning the journey. It is sitting down and determining the route that we need to take, the stops along the way, where we may need to stop for a while and when we need to just push through. Strategy is a process. A learning process by which we understand who we are, where we are going and how we are going to get there.

Without strategy, we can never really be sure how close to the goal we are, are we heading in the right direction. Knowing who we are as a church or organization is crucial to fulfilling the vision. My family could ride 7-8 hours in a car, maybe your family needs to stop more often. Knowing who you are helps plan the steps necessary to accomplish the plan and makes the journey more enjoyable for everyone in the car.

Without a vision, a clear idea of where God is leading us, it is impossible to prepare for the journey. For the church, God establishes the vision. Then the Holy Spirit begins revealing the journey. Without the road map, we open ourselves up to confusion and chaos. Why are we taking this route, why are we stopping here, why north instead of south? Knowing where you are going makes it easier to answer the questions of those traveling with you. If you are behind the wheel, you better know where you are heading.

Identifying the destination and the starting point allows us to begin developing the steps that will get our church to realize the vision God is calling it to. This is all part of strategy. We then need to take every area of our church and organization (Sunday Morning, Small Groups, youth, worship, children’s, finances, etc) and ask ourselves, How does this area help us experience the vision? What are the key areas that that will help us achieve the vision and mission? Are there first order, incremental changes that need to occur in this area to help move the whole body closer to the goal? or is the change more drastic in an area and require second order, vision casting, restructuring.? Many times both types of change are necessary?

The leadership at the church I currently serve has been working through this process for a few years. At the beginning, they wrestled with those major changes of vision and restructuring of purpose. They really struggled with that big question: Who are we? What is God wanting? and If God had his way what would it look like. In the process some people left, decided this journey was not for them. And that’s OK.  People need to know what journey they are signing up for, no surprises along the way. Now, knowing the starting line and the destination,  we are better prepared to make the incremental changes along the way. Strategy never stops, it is a constant evaluation and course correction.  Vision, Key Areas, Goals and Objectives, Implementation, Evaluation, Adjustments.

Where are you at? Where are you headed? Time to pull out the old Rand McNally and begin to chart your course.

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Leading for a Change

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Ted W Harris

Baby bird collage

Everything changes. The weather changes. Summer becomes Fall which changes to Winter which is renewed by Spring. Every living thing is designed to change. Change is inevitable and unavoidable. Heck, even dead things change over a period of time. Change is not what is important but how we handle change is significant. Most of us, if we are honest do not look forward to change. Minor changes are OK but don’t ask for anything major.

And change can come at us fast and unexpected. Look at those little birds in the picture. The timeline from first to last picture is one week. Soon we will have an empty nest in our bush. I was reminded on my morning run, that this past year, my family has undergone a lot of change. New house in a new city in a new state, new school, new church, new friends. Some of the change has been easy, some of the change is hard and still changing.

But the constant in all of life’s change – the only thing that doesn’t change is God. Hebrews 13:8, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. God moves ahead of the change. He desires to lead us into the change, through the change, out the other side and on to the next change. We can handle the changes of life. God has designed us for change and promised to never leave us or forsake us (also in Hebrews 13 verse 5).

As leaders we have the responsibility of leading in change. People are watching our response to the changes in life and looking for assurance, security and safety. The church I am currently leading, has undergone some major changes in the last few years, prior to my coming and since my arrival. And more changes are no doubt coming because everything changes. But placing our faith in the one that never changes, will enable us to navigate the changes. Change really is just God moving us to the next thing he has for us. Better than the last. Even if the journey takes us through a valley. That too shall change, everything changes.

Enjoy the journey!

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