Two things are true of leadership. Leadership requires decisions and not everyone will agree with the decisions.

That’s why decisions require discernment. Not all decisions have the same importance. However, the more the responsibility, the more may be rding on a decision we make.

LET’S TALK

One blogger I regularly read is Dave Kraft. He is know for his leadership training and coaching. Recently he posted an article entitled “THREE KINDS OF CRITICAL DECISIONS LEADERS NEED TO MAKE.”

Kraft shares that the most important decisions leaders make fall into three major categories: Direction, Personnel, and Financial. It’s out of these three all the other lower level decisions come.

DIRECTIONAL DECISIONS:

A good leader sets the direction for the group, organization or church. What exactly will we do as we build on our Purpose (why we exist), our Values (what we believe), and our Vision (where we are headed)? I call these decisions strategic initiatives. The leader leads the charge as to what initiatives will be set in motion in order to build on the purpose, values and vision.

The initiatives have also been referred to as BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals) and WIGs (wildly important goals). There are a lot of things that can be done, but everything is not equally essential or will provide the most leverage.  In many cases we’re talking about 3-5 strategic initiatives in a six  month, one year, or 5-year time frame.  It’s not just a matter of doing things, but doing the most important things in any given period of time…things which will have the most impact in moving the ball down the field. You can’t do everything but you can do some things. And what those “some things” are is critically important to future success.

PERSONNEL DECISIONS:

In order to accomplish these strategic initiatives the right team of people need to be in place. One of the most important decisions a leader makes is who he/she invites into the core team to help accomplish the purpose, values, and vision via the strategic initiatives.

Success in any endeavor will be the result of, as Jim Collins says, “Having the right people on the bus and in the right seats.” Nothing can scuttle the team efforts faster than either having the wrong people or having the people in the wrong seats on the team bus–people operating outside of their passion, experience, gifting and capacity.

FINANCIAL DECISIONS:

Once the decisions have been made as to where the group, organization, or church is headed (strategic initiatives), and the team is in place to help you get there, you need the finances to fund everything. I have heard it said that upwards of 80% (maybe even higher) of new businesses and new church plants fail.

One of the reasons (but certainly not the only reason) this is the case is because they are under-capitalized. They are overly optimistic about how fast things will proceed and don’t have the cash flow to continue beyond a few short years.

Suffice it to say that things take longer than we thought and cost more than we anticipated. How many projects have you seen started in various cities around the country that take years longer than was originally stated and cost millions more than was originally anticipated? The leader and the team need to be thinking of creative ways to motivate and inspire people to support the endeavor at hand. I believe that giving follows vision. If the vision is big enough and inspiring enough, people will come out of the woodwork to give to it.

Robert Schuller, founder of the the Crystal Cathedral, said “It’s never a money problem, it’s a vision problem.” My experience has born this out. The money is out there, but the vision is too weak (or doesn’t exist at all) which would bring in the necessary funding.

Originally posted by Dave Kraft

BEFORE YOU GO

Next week is General Conference. All three of these levels of decisions will be made at some point.  Please pray for God’s wisdom and direction. Here is a link to our Gen Con daily agenda: https://files.constantcontact.com/94095a16401/801a599d-9fe7-4a6d-8edf-0e3681db8fc8.pdf?rdr=true