Why a leader’s job isn’t finished once a vision is shared
11. Apr, 2010 
3 Comments
“Are we there yet?” How many times have we been asked that on a car journey by children? And it’s easy to ask or feel when you’re in a church trying to see a vision become a reality: are we there yet and will we ever get there? I’ve been at PBC long enough now to know that though sharing a vision and getting people momentarily excited is relatively easy, leading an organisation into lasting change is hard. I’ve learned personally that we can have resolutions and personal goals (a vision), but we sometimes fail to see them become a reality. Why is this? There are a multitude of reasons, but recently I heard Andy Stanley share another perspective that has really helped me.
In his usual fashion, Andy states that ”Direction, not intention, determines destination” in his book “Principle of the Path“. His analogy is of a journey: your intention (or vision) might be to get to London, but if your direction is south on the A21 towards Brighton, your destination has been decided. You’ll get to Brighton, not London. The person with the “purest” of intentions, can end up in the wrong destination if they are headed in the wrong direction. Likewise, a church leader can share a vision (intention), but the destination is ultimately decided by the direction or path the church is taking.
The only way to change our destination is to change “paths”. Andy recommends that leaders need to enable churches to realise the consequence of a vision and the need for change and a change of paths.To stay relevant every church has to change, but unless people are helped to know how, after hearing a vision each person will go back to work and do what they did yesterday, which will lead to the same results and destination as before and not the fulfilment of the vision. It’s a recipe for massive frustration if we have a dream of a different future but are actually behaving in ways that will prevent that destination being reached. So the vision of a church might be to impact every child in the village, but do nothing about meeting in the little huts it currently meets in. Or a church might have a vision for being relevant, but rarely uses normal everyday language on the platform. Or a church might have a vision for a multi-cultural community, but only gives a certain type of person time on the platform or opportunities for leadership.
There are signs and warnings to look out for:
- When the culture of the organisation is in conflict with the vision of the organisation, the vision is always trumped.
- If the leaders do not embody the agreed values (behaviours) of the organisation, a culture and path is determined that trumps the shared vision.
- An individual ministry’s model can compete with the stated vision. In a church, everybody can get behind the intention/vision, but the model within the church of how decisions are made, processes and who reports to who, what teams are operating etc are often left the same (because people fear and resist change). This means that model trumps vision and determines destination.
So what can we do? We need to examine where we are…Determine where we want to be and through the power of God, put yourself on the path that leads to that destination.
Andy recommends that leaders need to: 1) Paint a compelling picture (share the vision of what could be and what should be) 2)Examine the models already existing within the organisation and discern what is working, what needs adjusting and what needs to stop 3) Invest financially and prayerfully in that vision 4)Examine the daily behaviours within the organisation that works against the agreed vision.
This is why vision is hard to see become a reality. This is why so many churches in the UK fail to grow. Because vision is shared but necessary changes are not made. Because these steps involve challenging conversations and difficult decisions. But it is only through taking this stuff into account that a church will be helped towards reaching its intention/vision. May we at PBC passionately seek God’s vision for our church, have the courage to examine our models and behaviours and be willing to change anything that might be working against us achieving the vision.
Andy is spot on here. I would add that the Vision must be really shared by everyone, especially the leaders. When the Vision is only the passion of one leader,the church rarely gets there. Vision is the destination; strategy is the path to that end goal. As circumstances change, sometimes the path (strategy) has to change, but the destination is still intact.
Vision must be expressed in quantifiable terms. It must be measurable,otherwise we will never know if we have achieved it. A Vision ‘to see the poor and needy restored’ might sound good, but how will we know if we have done it.
Thanks for that helpful addition David!