Today, I want to show you a strategy audit. Strategy is a core competency of our leadership pipeline. For senior leadership, a learning objective under strategy is to evaluate existing programs and processes. When thinking about your church’s leadership pipeline, you should regularly evaluate your strategy to ensure you are focusing on things that are equipping your people in leadership development.
In my friend Daniel Im’s book, No Silver Bullets, he discusses how strategic trade offs help you to lead and execute strategy to support your church’s vision. Auditing your strategy helps you evaluate what you should stop doing, refine, or start doing as a leader or ministry. Let’s take a look.
First, what should you stop doing? What isn’t working? What isn’t effective? What isn’t contributing to your church’s leadership pipeline? What is out of alignment with your church’s vision and values? There may be things that were effective in the past that are no longer working. These are the things you should stop doing.
Next, what should you refine? What is working but could use improvement? What changes would make it more effective and fruitful? How can you refine the process or program to best support your leadership pipeline?
Finally, what should you start doing? What changes are needed? How can you better support your leadership pipeline? How can you be more effective? What small changes could you start doing today?
Remember your calling as a church leader is to fulfill Ephesians 4 and equip the saints in the work of ministry. Whatever you stop, refine or start doing should be geared toward that end.
If you want a goal, for every three things you stop, try to refine two things, and start one thing. You should not spend a lot of time starting new things until you’ve already evaluated what’s not working or what could be refined.
Now that you understand the importance of strategic trade-offs in your leadership pipeline, what are you going to do about it?