Body Life Values:  Accomplishing

Individual Value:  I am getting tasks done. 

Shared Value:  We are in team aligned concert.

Team Skills:  Prioritization / Planning / Execution / Impacting others

Biblical References:  building the tabernacle, feeding of the 5,000, caring for the poor (Acts)

Body Life Result:  Spiritual fruit

In community we work together with the Spirit, contributing to the ongoing formation and implementation of strategies, ensuring mutual accountability for Kingdom results.

The 5 Teams that Fail in Accomplishing

There once was a Christian consultant who traveled the world to work with teams as they journeyed from I to We.  On his pilgrimage of learning pitfalls and priorities, he quickly discovered that many of the challenges he encountered were reflected in the five distinct team types that often requested his assistance.  Though the presenting problem shared with our consultant was one of lack of team unity, leadership transitions, missing volunteers, or burnout, often the deep dive uncovered the absence of Kingdom Accomplishing.  Kingdom Accomplishing is about focused, intentional, prioritized, and measured progress toward Kingdom outcomes through the people God has provided.  Teams that fall short in this area of Accomplishing together tend to match one of the following five types.

Navel Gazers

The description:  This team is wholly committed to one another.  They are reflective in their work, and they love peace and deep reflection with like-minded believers.

The positive:  They care deeply about each other.

The problem:  Their inward focus can result in a culture of ‘rightness’, lack of inclusion, and lack of expanding the Body of Christ.

In terms of accomplishing, they lack the outward awareness and action to see the needs of those around them — in such a way that it compels them to action.  This team overvalues relationships to the point of exclusion of those currently a part of their team.  They fail to embrace the Great Commission from Matthew 28.

Best tip to move them forward:  Facilitate a series of conversations which focus on: 1. community needs assessment 2. personal passion assessment, and 3. their GRIP-Birkman Body Building Roles.  The goal is to create a strategic plan based on the needs around us overlapping with the passion and Gifting God has brough to the group.

For more information on a specific tool, be on the lookout for a tool I to We will be releasing in the coming months about discerning shared direction together.

Jack of all Teams

The description: This team is responsive and active.  They embrace new opportunities and follow the needs of the community whole heartedly.

The positive:  They love to take action to find and fill the needs.

The problem:  They lack the ability to collectively say no which leads to lack of review, discernment, and planning to meaningfully execute.

In terms of accomplishing, they fail in planning and prioritizing to narrow the scope of their work.  Without the clarity of goals, defined tactics, and shared priorities, this team will feel effective.  Their effectiveness, however, may lack the depth to sustain the results or short-term progress.  The discernment process can be “try it, and if it fails, we know the Lord wasn’t in it.”

Best tip to move them forward: Strategic planning to narrow to 2 or3 prioritizes for the year.  The leader must be willing to stop certain programs.  Additionally, the team must realign the success metrics of the organization to connect with only the priorities defined through the strategy.  We measure what matters.  This strategic plan must be reviewed at least quarterly.

For more information on a specific tool, look up Strategic Planning.

Should’s and Ought’s

The description: This team (usually volunteer driven) feels an obligation to do everything that would impact the ultimate success of the team or organization.

The positive:  They understand the need and feel a deep commitment to the necessary steps.

The problem:  The strategic plan can often become the guide rather than the relationships.

In terms of accomplishing, their ability to execute and effectively implement becomes the barrier.  So, they will often over commit themselves or feel they have failed and let everyone down. Things get dropped, and they are unable to maintain positive momentum because of unrealistic expectations.  Often the root of the problem is overvaluing the strategy, and neglecting the capacity or passion of their team.

Best tip to move them forward:  Spend time exploring personal passion and Gifting.  Understand the team members, and allow their focus to drive the strategy.  This will be very challenging initially, but spend time reviewing the actual amount of time and people it would take to implement their plans, and allow them to come to their own conclusion about feasibility and likelihood of success.

For more information on a specific tool, again be looking for the tool I to We will be releasing in the coming months about discerning shared direction together.

Busy C’s and D’s

The description:  A close cousin to the above mentioned “Jack’s”, this team is always busy fulfilling what feels like obligations which cannot be relinquished.  This can lead to average, or sub-average (C &D’s) in their results.

The positive:  Hard-working and committed to action.

The problem:  They are spread incredibly thin, creating burnout, ineffective programs, and often action at the cost of meaningful, transformative relationships.

In terms of accomplishing, they lack the connection to prioritized goals, and they lack the discernment to understand when something is taking them away from the important to live in the space of the urgent… or worse yet, away from the important to do the things that are routine and provide a sense of accomplishment to complete.

Best tip to move them forward:  Lead them to list cascading priorities for 30-60 days which have defined actions associated with them.  This can create shared momentum forward, rather than isolated actions.  Janitors and CEO’s alike have the ability to see how their work directly contributes to the shared goal of the organization.  Also, spend time creating clarity around the specific, unique contribution each person makes, minimizing overlap and redundancies.

For more information on a specific tool, look up Calendar Cleanse, which is often one component of Leader Standard Work or Daily Management System.   The RACI tool can also be very helpful for role clarity.

Success Storyers

The description:  This team is pleased to see God moving in unique stories shared throughout the ministry.  They thrive on and build their team’s strategy from  case studies.

The positive:  They are keenly aware of their progress and the stories that emerge from the experiences people have.  They are usually strong at telling stories or are led by a strong storyteller.

The problem:  They often lack the due diligence in their work to analyze on the front end and to review on the back end.  Often counting is perceived as making the church too business-y and not Spirit led.

In terms of accomplishing, their measurement is often the stories they repeat most frequently.  They lack the ability to do two primary things:  1. Review data and 2. Measure outcomes.  Qualitative measures abound, but are rarely publicly scrutinized, leading to the embrace of one-off ideas that lack the necessary scalability to be widely adopted with success.

Best tip to move them forward:  Select one priority and dig into how it could be measured for success.  Use this as the foundation for baseline data gathering and for monthly review of progress.  The key is to keep it very simple initially as to not overwhelm anyone, but simply use the information to support and enhance the stories.  The skill of creating meaningful measures associated with the activities is essential.  This provides clarity around program adjustments, program expansion, or even program cancelation.  It also creates unity in the activity of creating shared expectations.

For more information, look up scorecards and church measurement.  Leader Standard Work has this as a component as well.

Accomplishing Success:  The 7 Must Do’s

Misunderstanding comes when we equate living in unity as producing Spiritual Fruit.  They are not the same.  Spiritual Fruit should be targeted and celebrated.  In order to target it, we must direct our efforts intentionally toward it and we must know when it has, or has not happened.  This is the process of planning and measuring.  It provides a unified approach so that we can shared deeply in the joy of experiencing spiritual fruit.  Accomplishing is us responding to the call to build the Body of Christ.

Therefore, there are 7 Must Do’s of Accomplishing:

1. Set the shared strategic plan with the Spiritual Fruit as the outcome. How are our actions connected to Spiritual Fruit?
2. Prioritize and sequence. Knowing that we can’t do everything, how have we set our trajectory for this season?  Have we narrowed our focus to the things connected closest to the people on our team and the people we are serving?
3. Define the directly associated measurements for success… and measure. What are we counting, and are we certain it is connected to our Spiritual Fruit and our associated priorities?
4. Define a cadence of consistent review and accountability. When will we review our progress and what will we ask each other?  What objective measure will we use in our review?
5. Create cascading connections for every team member. How have we created connection to our Spiritual Fruit from all of our activities? How is their time connected to the most relevant work?
6. Prioritize the work– and do it.  How are we investing our resources in the work now?
7. Evaluate, analyze, and adjust. How did we do?  What did we learn?  How can we improve?

Without the foundation of I to We relationships (see the previous 6 articles), we find ourselves burned out DOING things for God, lacking the unity of BEING with Christ and one-another.  However, without the accomplishing, we lack the structure to meaningfully walk together.  We stumble, crawl, sprint, with our hands out in front of us, rather than leveraging the skills, tools, and tactics we can use to build the Kingdom.

At the core this is always about the Kingdom.  If our priorities get out of line, all the accomplishing in the world will not help us move forward.  Kingdom is the purpose.  We employ accomplishing tactics toward that end and no other.  Not growth for the sake of growth.  Not personal significance.  God will not share His glory—this is simply how we can ensure consistent progress and direction together.

In moving from I to We, the journey surrounding Accomplishing is about understanding how my action isn’t enough… Our concert of work together isn’t enough… Only our living sacrifice of effort together focused on Kingdom outcomes with result in Spiritual Fruit.

And, that’s the only goal:  Spiritual Fruit.

Evaluative Statement for consideration:

• Each team member contributes toward the team’s desired results/outcomes.
• The team has mutually defined outcomes/results and strategies to attain and evaluate them.
• The Body of Christ is growing as a result of our work.

Hear more about Accomplishing on the GB Coaches Cafe YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0gMKPl783o&t=1s
or listen to the podcast on your favorite provider: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1885604/share