Why New Leaders Fail, Part 1
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Correctly Diagnosing Your Church Scenario and Leading Accordingly is Critical For Successful Pastoral Transition
Have you ever been a part of an organization that transitioned to new leadership? Sometimes the transition goes very well. Often, it does not. Sometimes it just turns out that the leader and the organization are simply not a good match. No matter how well a hiring committee or a board of directors vets the new leader, sometimes they get it wrong.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding="28px|0px|3px|0px" _builder_version="3.0.47" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" _i="2" _address="0.2"][et_pb_column type="2_3" _builder_version="3.0.47" parallax="off" parallax_method="on"][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.0.77"]Sometimes, however, and I’m convinced this is the majority of cases, the new leader does not adequately prepare himself or herself for the new position. Last year I entered a new organization in a leadership role. I was appointed as pastor of a church. The single most important thing I did from a practical standpoint was read Michael D. Watkins book The First 90 Days.What follows in this two-part post is a very brief sketch of his STARS model for analyzing the organizational situation and an even briefer outline of how I used it.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_3" _builder_version="3.0.47" parallax="off" parallax_method="on"][et_pb_code _builder_version="3.0.77"]<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=drwadearnold-20&marketplace=amazon®ion=US&placement=1422188612&asins=1422188612&linkId=1ec8587b2d58c37ee168fd495ce27070&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff"><!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] --> </iframe>[/et_pb_code][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding="0px|0px|27px|0px" _builder_version="3.0.47" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" _i="3" _address="0.3"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.0.47" parallax="off" parallax_method="on"][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.0.77"]
STARS
STARS is an acronym that must be taken in the context of Watkins’ ten fundamental principles for transitioning into a new organization. Watkins third principle is Match Your Strategy to the Situation. He argues that in order to maximize our impact over the long-term, we must properly diagnose the condition of the organization into which they are being assimilated.In order to properly diagnose an organization, Watkins offers the STARS model. According to the model, organizations fall into one of five categories (though there are no pure categories): start-up, turnaround, accelerated growth, realignment, and sustaining success. Watkins writes from a business perspective, so I will translate for my context: the church.
Start-up
A start-up is a new church plant. Church planters have to be some of the bravest people I know. I confess, I have no comprehension of how to practically get a church off the ground. That is most definitely not where my gifts and graces lie. The challenge of starting a new church is recruiting people and setting a vision. The opportunity in a new church start is that the leader is able to establish a vision and align every process according to his or her own vision.
Turnaround
In a turnaround situation, the church is in serious trouble. In the Florida Conference, we track five vital statistics. If you are looking at that report graph and all the indicators are down and to the left, the more likely you are to be in a turnaround situation. The steeper the line, the more urgent your turnaround situation. Frequently, a church may be in crisis, even if no one outside the leadership team, even within the existing leadership team, is aware of it. The challenge of a turnaround situation is to quickly increase the morale of the congregants. This can be challenging, especially if budget items, especially staff member line items, have to be cut ino order to secure short term viability. The opportunity in a turnaround is that once everyone recognizes that major changes must be made in order to secure institutional survival, people are frequently willing to make the changes necessary change the trajectory of the organization or they will self-select out allowing you to make changes necessary to survive and thrive into the future. Unfortunately, too many of our churches fall into this category and pastors are unwilling or unable to provide the kind of leadership necessary to breath life back into these churches.
Accelerated Growth
In an accelerated growth situation, a church is growing by leaps and bounds. Pastoral changes in this scenario are so infrequent that I will move on to the next scenario.
Realignment
In a realignment situation, the church has been doing well, but is facing some problems. The issues faced by the church at this point are not life threatening, but they can become so if they are not addressed successfully. While there are pockets of effectiveness in the church, there are also significant pockets of dysfunction. The challenge in this scenario is convincing existing staff and congregants that change is necessary. Change in staff beyond the pastor, if possible, may be necessary to help the congregation focused on a renewed vision and mission. The good news is that the church has strengths upon which to draw that can inspire areas of the church that are not functioning as well.
Sustaining Success
A successful church is one that is loving God and loving people by making disciples. Almost all areas of the church are high functioning and committed to excellence and effectiveness. One of the primary reason for a pastoral change in this scenario is retirement of the previous pastor. The challenge in this scenario is frequently living in the long shadow of the previous pastor. The challenge is maintaining a highly motivated leadership team (paid and unpaid).
A Critical Difference
My sense is that many churches fall into the Turnaround and Realignment. There are a few Start-ups and Sustaining Success scenarios. Accelerated Growth churches seem to be as rare as unicorns. What most pastors will face is the critical difference between Turnaround and Realignment scenarios. Correctly diagnosing these two scenarios is critical because the type of leadership required in each is very different. If a leader in a Turnaround scenario tries to lead as if in a Realignment situation, then then the number of ineffective and inefficient ministries of the church will likely continue to increase. If a leader in a Realignment scenario tries to lead as if he or she were in a Turnaround situation, other members of the leadership team may feel like they are being ridden roughshod. In my next post, I’ll describe the key differences between Turnaround and Realignment scenarios and the differences in leadership approach in each situation.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding="5px|0px|27px|0px" _builder_version="3.0.47" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" _i="4" _address="0.4"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.0.47" parallax="off" parallax_method="on"][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.0.77"]
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