Chapter 2
MINISTRY GOAL SETTING
MAKING GOALS WORK FOR
YOU
Some people dread goal-setting because goals make them feel conspicuous. ("Everyone will know what I’m supposed to be doing and whether or not I succeed in doing it!") Others have a negative reaction to goal-setting because of past experiences with an insensitive boss who autocratically imposed goals on them or used goals as a whip to drive performance. Still others sneer at goals because they have seen their organization set goals every year and then quickly forget about them.
The challenge of goal-setting is not merely to formulate goals; it is to make goals, and the whole goal-setting process, work for the organization and its members. Goals should be "friendly."
When managed effectively, goal-setting process, work for the organization. This is because goals give people a sense of united purpose, channeling their energy in productive directions. Goals serve as performance standards, providing ministry team members with a rudder to guide daily job activities. Goals also let people know which ends and means will be endorsed and sanctioned by the organization.
In the absence of strategic goals, ministries must pay the price of slackened motivation, wasted energy and inferior productivity. To say the least, goals are one of the most important items in any manager’s tool kit.
SITUATION REVIEW 2.1
Goals: Friend or Foe?
Have each member of your ministry team, including yourself, respond to the following statements. Where they strongly agree with the statement, they should put down a 2; mildly agree = 1; disagree = 0.
1. Goals make me uncomfortable because they put me under unwelcome pressure to perform.
2. I am well aware of the overall goals of my ministry.
3. I am well aware of the goals for my specific job within the ministry.
4. My job goals provide me with a great deal of direction for my daily work. They keep me on track.
5. My supervisor seems to be more concerned with goal-setting than with goal achievement.
6. I am held accountable for achieving my goals.
7. I feel my job activities are strongly endorsed and supported by my organization.
8. Goals help me be more productive.
Each team member should total the score for statements 2-4 and 6-8, which represent effective management practices. Then total the score for statements 1 and 5, which are ineffective management practices. Take the difference between the two totals. For team members scoring under 6 or 7, it would probably be worthwhile to discuss the benefits of being more goal-directed. Action Plan 2.1 will help in this effort.
ACTION PLAN 2.1
Putting Goals to Work
1. Have members of your ministry team list individually what they feel are the three most important goals of the ministry.
2. Gather together the goal lists from your ministry team and answer the following questions:
A. To what extent do team members seem to agree on the goals of the overall ministry?
B. How much do the other goal statements agree with your own list?
C. What can you and ministry members do to bring about greater goal consensus?
3. Have team members list goals for their own individual jobs. List your own job-specific goals in the following space.
4. To what extent do you feel the job-related goals of individual team members support and promote overall ministry goals? In what ways could the two sets of goals be better integrated?
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OPERATIONAL GOALS
Intentions are not goals. Many ministry managers confuse having a sense of purpose for goal-setting. Merely wanting something to be accomplished will not bring it about. An operational goal is a specific course of action that results in a measurable outcome. A goal is not operational unless it clearly specifies both ends and means.
Well-formulated ministry goals energize team members for action by giving them and exciting destination to travel toward and a road map to follow. Operational goals point where the ministry is heading and tell us when we have arrived at the final destination. Such goals show us how to start, how to measure progress, and when we have succeeded.
"Operationalizing goals is a five-step process:
1. Describing what the end state will look like and who will benefit when it is reached.
2. Defining major completion steps that will culminate in goal attainment.
3. Setting completion deadlines for each step.
4. Selling team members on both the ends and means of the goal.
5. Implementing the goal in a proactive manner.
SITUATION REVIEW 2.2
Assessing Goals
1. State the major goals of your ministry.
2. Review each major ministry goal using the following questions:
A. Take some time to reflect on how this particular goal was set.
B. Why is this goal necessary? Does it concern a genuine need of the ministry or only a “want”?
C. What will happen if this goal is not achieved?
D. Is there any evidence that people in your ministry are excited and enthusiastic about this goal?
ACTION PLAN 2.2
Setting Operational Goals
Review each of the ministry goals you listed in number 1 of Situation Review 2.2 using the questions below.
1. How will your ministry team know when you have successfully achieved this goal?
2. Who will benefit when this goal is achieved? How will they benefit?
3. What major subgoals must be reached before the final goal can be attained?
4. When must each subgoal be achieved to keep the project on target toward completion?
5. What hurdles and “brushfires” might you encounter in implementing this goal?
6. What actions can you take beforehand to prevent or minimize anticipated obstacles?
7. How can team members encourage and support one another while the goal is being implemented?
MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES
"Management by objectives" (MBO) is a familiar concept to most managers, even if they’ve never used it. MBO is a formal, written process designed to involve subordinates in goal-setting and hold them accountable for their performance. A number of books and articles, including some from a Christian perspective, explain the process.
Ministry managers would be wise to use MBO with discretion however, since it is easily abused. This stems from MBO’s fundamental emphasis on performance. Under a typical MBO system, people are valued more for what they do than for who they are. Obviously, professional performance is vitally important to all organizations, but should it be the driving force of Christian ministries?
Christians are called to value people for who they are (spiritually), not merely for what they produce (economically). This is not always easy to do in our materialistic Western culture, yet it is essential that managers view team members as more than mere factors of production.
"Management by mission" (MBM) is an alternative to management by objectives. MBM focuses on the unique niches occupied by members of the ministry team. People are valued because of their special place in the ministry "family," not merely because they achieve goals and meet deadlines. belonging is emphasized along with producing, although producing is a natural byproduct of belonging.
SITUATION REVIEW 2.3
Role Assessment
Have each member of your ministry team respond to the following questions, and then discuss the responses as a group.
1. To what extent does your ministry team have a sense of “family”?
2. Do you feel you occupy a unique niche on your ministry team? If so, what is your niche?
3. What unique roles do other team members fill?
4. In what respects are you valued by your team?
5. How would members of your team probably respond if your own personal productivity were to decline significantly? How would it affect their work habits?
ACTION PLAN 2.3
Management
By
Team members should respond to the following statements individually and then meet one-on-one with the ministry manager to develop personalized ministry goals.
1. Ideally I would like to have the following role or niche on my ministry team.
2. These are the primary contributions I can make to my ministry team.
3. These are the areas where I most need support and assistance from the other members of my ministry team:
4. Here are ways we could better work together as a team.
5. I could increase my contributions to the team if the following things occurred.
6. I want to improve my personal performance in the following measurable ways.
7. I feel the ministry would benefit if the following changes were made by others.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you
will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks
receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
(Matthew 7:7-8)
Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. (Matthew 9:37)