Educational Servant Leadership
Dr. Steven Nelson, a Geneva College graduate with a Bachelor in Education, then received a Masters and Educational Specialist degree from Tennessee Technology University. Finally, he completed his research and defense on Student Support Service (SSS) implementation and fidelity in over 50 universities nationwide. Dr. Nelson now a part time consultant whose mission is to develop and implement meaningful and research base curriculum and instruction into place.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Kouzes & Posner/Interview of Mayor Max Bacon: The Leadership Challenge
This book and the workbook, which I previously completed for a teacher in-service a few years back, was very enlightening as it helped me realize that leadership is not about personality. Leadership is about behavior; an observable set of skills and abilities. As a very reflective people watcher, I first set out to discover what great leaders actually can do through their actions. In this paper, I am going to examine the Mayor of Smyrna, Georgia in order to observe a leader of a community in the midst of change. By examining his actions as a local leader through interviewing him, I will compare his leadership to the five core practices common to all: they Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and last but certainly not least, they Encourage the Heart. As I start his research I looked at what the expectations of a mayor are and the guidelines that might be available to those looking to take a leadership role such as this one. Transformational leaders, as described by Deluga and College, (2000) seek to empower others and to share in the decision making process. During and after Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin attempted to work with the New Orleans Police Department and the Fire Department to develop plans for such important activities as evacuating the city, to create shelters that would provide for the safety and security of residents who are unable to evacuate, and to provide for ongoing police and fire services in the event of major power losses (Ripley, 2005).
Additionally,
Nagin also contacted Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, President George W.
Bush and a host of elected officials serving in the state capital in Baton
Rouge and those serving in Washington, D.C. to ask for assistance and to
coordinate efforts. He interacted regularly with neighboring local officials
and service agencies. As Gordon Russell (2005) notes, Nagin felt that he had a
plan and that the city was ready and able to respond in the event that
Hurricane Katrina would make a direct hit on the region. One might anticipate
that a transformational. The city of Smyrna has not gone through the emotional,
physical, and economic hardship that New Orleans has but it will be interesting
to draw some parallels in the ways in which these two mayors mobilize
others. Such leaders create
relationships with their subordinates that are mutually stimulating and
characterized by four factors: 1) charisma; 2) inspiration; 3) individual
consideration; and 4) intellectual stimulation (Deluga & College, 2000). My primary leadership goal is
to become a transformational leader working in an organization in which the
central work unit consists of work teams that encourage participatory and
empowered work relationships. According to Pierce and Newstrom (2000),
transformational leaders are those who perceive their role as moving and
changing organizations not by offering tokens of inducement, but rather through
the inspiration of others. A transformational leader is an individual who
understands the intrinsic value of inspiring and motivating others and a leader
who has an advanced understanding of the relationship of leadership style to
employee-influencing behavior (Deluga & College, 2000).
Unlike a typical transactional leader, a
transformational leader incorporates and amplifies an employee's higher level
needs that surpass immediate self-interests. By appealing to these elevated
needs, a transformational leader motivates employees to perform beyond initial
performance goals and objectives (Deluga & College, 2000).
It is my goal is to become a transformational
leader; I believe that I would be most effective in an organization that bases
its structure on the team concept. Leadership in a team setting is leadership
that recognizes the importance of individual contributions to work outcomes. It
is leadership in which the leader seeks to empower and enhance the performance
of subordinates and others within the community. Interestingly enough, being
new to the Smyrna, Georgia area I was unaware of its long negatively documented
history and media attention. To introduce Mayor Bacon: he was born October 10,
1948 at Marietta Hospital (now Promina Kennestone) in Marietta, Georgia to
Arthur T. Bacon and Dorothy Moseley Bacon. He attended Smyrna Elementary School
and graduated from Campbell High School in 1966. He attended DekalbZ College
and Chattahoochee Technical College and served in the Georgia Air National Guard
from 1966 to 1970. He has two children Ashley, and Ty and three grandchildren
Abby, Harrison and Trip. Bacon has two sisters, Linda Kenney of Smyrna, Jenny
Ruth Williams of Knoxville, TN and one brother, David Bacon of Kennesaw. Mayor
Bacon is a life-long resident of Smyrna and has been a “good old boy” of Smyrna
his whole life.
“When
you die and go to heaven, you’re liable to end up back in Smyrna.” To be sure,
Max Bacon calls ’em like he sees ’em. A walking, talking marketing sound byte
for the city he has presided over as mayor for the past 26 years, you wouldn’t
expect anything less than the bare-bones truth, as he calls it, about the city
he was born and raised in, and governed for nearly half of his life. The
interview started with some questions about an article from July of 1988, National
Geographic published a story about Atlanta and referred to Smyrna as the
redneck town on the outskirts. This prompted a grand scheme of eminent
domain takeovers and arsons of private property, which were then turned over to
corporate developers in order to develop Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon's grand vision
of abject corruption and graft. Starting with the National Geographic redneck
story, and ending with the most pretentious display of abject corruption, Smyrna
and its fat crook of a mayor have plumbed the depths of dysfunctional government.
A wholly undesirable, mismanaged city of 50,000 people saddled with the costs
of a grandiose government complex that dwarfs those of cities having 20 times
the population - including that of the county it resides in.
After devoting six years to Smyrna’s City Council, Arthur Max Bacon, 62, succeeded his father as mayor when Arthur T. Bacon died in 1985. His father had three months left in his last term when he died, then his son stepped in and never looked back. Some say he is the FDR of Smyrna and he could have as many terms in office as he wants. When he talked with me about his city population 50,000-plus and growing, his face beamed and there was a gleam in his eyes. He brags about the city’s resiliency amid a sluggish economy and growth of city business. He also boasts about its vibrant and electric downtown district, low taxes, superior infrastructure, etc.
After devoting six years to Smyrna’s City Council, Arthur Max Bacon, 62, succeeded his father as mayor when Arthur T. Bacon died in 1985. His father had three months left in his last term when he died, then his son stepped in and never looked back. Some say he is the FDR of Smyrna and he could have as many terms in office as he wants. When he talked with me about his city population 50,000-plus and growing, his face beamed and there was a gleam in his eyes. He brags about the city’s resiliency amid a sluggish economy and growth of city business. He also boasts about its vibrant and electric downtown district, low taxes, superior infrastructure, etc.
Since
development seemed to be his main focus, I researched his vision. Kouzes & Posner would say, “Inspire a Shared Vision” as leaders
passionately believe that they can make a difference. They envision the future,
creating an ideal and unique image of what the organization can become. Through
their magnetism and quiet persuasion, leaders enlist others in their dreams.
They breathe life into their visions and get people to see exciting
possibilities for the future by: 1. Clarify
values by finding your voice and affirming shared ideals. 2. Set the example by
aligning actions with shared values. Inspire a Shared Vision 3. Envision the
future by imagining exciting and ennobling possibilities. 4. Enlist others in a
common vision by appealing to shared aspirations. I asked him how he has
inspired others through his expectations for Smyrna? “I have been mayor
of this great city of Smyrna for more than 26 years. I have always tried
my hardest to make the city on the forefront of growth and new development
while keeping taxes at a minimum for our citizens. While transforming
Smyrna, I have worked for “smart growth.” I have not allowed
overdevelopment. I have put Smyrna on the map as a great place to live.”
I assumed after reading about him he
would point to his redevelopment plan, which has been going strong for many
years. The first phase of the redevelopment of Smyrna’s downtown district was
completed in August 1991. The Municipal Services building was completed and
occupied in September 1996; the Public Safety/Jail facility was completed and
occupied in September 1997. Also completed is the new Fire Station headquarters
on Atlanta Road, a replica of the old Smyrna train depot, which is the new home
of the Smyrna Museum, and the restored Aunt Fanny’s Cabin, which serves as the
City’s welcome center. The new Market Village, the final phase of the 15-year
master plan, opened with great success in October of 2002. Plans are currently
in various stages of proposal or approval and/or design for the intersection of
Atlanta Road and Spring/Concord for the shopping center known as Jonquil Plaza
and a proposed public/private partnership project at Belmont Hills shopping
center at the intersection of Atlanta Road and Windy Hill Road is currently in
concept phase. As of 2006, after a two-year process, approximately 70% of
apartments properties identified as suitable for redevelopment in Smyrna are
have/and will be complete.
Continuing our discussion about the
growth of Smyrna I had to redirect him and asked again how he gained
collaboration by others? “As a long time member of the City Council I have a
lot of coffee talk and together have focused on Smyrna being pro-business and
service oriented - committed to business as well as the business of community
and its residents. Smyrna has long been an integral part of the growth and
development of Cobb County and is recognized as one of the most desirable
places to live in the entire Metropolitan Atlanta area, the place to be…the
place to call home. This was my desire from the beginning and continues to
be my dream that is being realized every day. I promised, as mayor, to continue
this dream and maintain the smart management of Smyrna. This is all in
effort to continue to have Smyrna be the best place to call home in the
metro-Atlanta area.’’ I could definitely feel the positive energy he was emanating
as he discussed the continued growth of Smyrna.
Again I wondered how I might ask in what ways
does Mayor Bacon model the way in which he wants to see others in the city act.
Mayor Bacon is involved in a number of civic organizations,
including the Cobb Chamber of Commerce Smyrna Division where he served as
President from 1993-94, Chairman of the Downtown Smyrna Development Authority,
the Smyrna Business Association, Cobb County Chamber of Commerce Board of
Directors, past member of the Atlanta Regional Commission, Cobb-Marietta
Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority, Cobb Water Authority, member of Smyrna
American Legion Post 160, Campbell High School Advisory Council and former
member of Argyle Elementary School Advisory Council. He is also a member of the
Georgia Municipal Association, is a past president of the Cobb Municipal
Association and was the recipient of the 1993 Georgia Municipal Association
Community Leadership Award. The Marietta Daily Journal selected him as the Cobb
County 1997 Citizen of the Year in January 1998. Through his leadership, the
Urban Land Institute has recognized Smyrna nationally for its downtown
revitalization and in 1997 received the National Award for Excellence of a
Public Project. Mayor Bacon received the 1999 Martin Luther King, Jr. award by
Campbell High School. He also received the 2001 Citizen of the year award from
the Smyrna Area Council of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce. In 2004, Mayor
Bacon received the Liberty Bell award from the Cobb County Bar Association for
community service that has strengthened freedom. The Smyrna Rotary Club awarded
Mayor Bacon with the title of Smyrna's Outstanding Citizen in December 2006.
After researching his involvement it was more important to me to understand how
he modeled what his expectation for others within his “organization” or inner
circle. I got the impression that he uses the associations and memberships as a
sounding board for the growth he is looking to move forward.
From Kouzes & Posner the “Challenge the Process” element seems to be absent from Mayor Bacon he has lived here his own life and has been in the mayor’s office for half his life. He recently retired after 40 years of service with the U.S. Postal Service, serving as Postmaster of the Smyrna Post Office at the time of retirement. My impression is that people that are in disapproval of the mayor’s actions want a mayor that is more transparent and able to use voting from the community members to gain a better perspective of the popular opinion of the people of Smyrna. The idea by Kouzes & Posner was to search for opportunities by seizing the initiative and by looking outward for innovative ways to improve. When I pointed out to Mayor Bacon that in his recent campaign he continues to forge the vision of growth in the slow economic times and asked him how hard it must have been he laughed. Then said he was had developed a new, 96,000-square-foot Kroger on South Cobb Drive would spark new life in that area. He said an announcement of a development proposal for Jonquil Village was expected this next summer. In addition, residential development is starting to pick up, he said.
The mayor also said he is proud that the city has not laid off or furloughed any employees; raised taxes lost its AA+ bond rating since last year. Mayor Bacon said he wants to move the city forward with steady growth in the face of uncertain economic times. “I think we will continue to grow at a slower pace,” he said. “I don’t think we will never see the market be where it was at one time. It just kept going up and up and up. I think we need to have controlled growth, and it needs to be planned like we have had in the past. I think you’ve got to have a good, positive attitude and not be so negative and angry like both of my opponents appear to be at that time.”
From Kouzes & Posner the “Challenge the Process” element seems to be absent from Mayor Bacon he has lived here his own life and has been in the mayor’s office for half his life. He recently retired after 40 years of service with the U.S. Postal Service, serving as Postmaster of the Smyrna Post Office at the time of retirement. My impression is that people that are in disapproval of the mayor’s actions want a mayor that is more transparent and able to use voting from the community members to gain a better perspective of the popular opinion of the people of Smyrna. The idea by Kouzes & Posner was to search for opportunities by seizing the initiative and by looking outward for innovative ways to improve. When I pointed out to Mayor Bacon that in his recent campaign he continues to forge the vision of growth in the slow economic times and asked him how hard it must have been he laughed. Then said he was had developed a new, 96,000-square-foot Kroger on South Cobb Drive would spark new life in that area. He said an announcement of a development proposal for Jonquil Village was expected this next summer. In addition, residential development is starting to pick up, he said.
The mayor also said he is proud that the city has not laid off or furloughed any employees; raised taxes lost its AA+ bond rating since last year. Mayor Bacon said he wants to move the city forward with steady growth in the face of uncertain economic times. “I think we will continue to grow at a slower pace,” he said. “I don’t think we will never see the market be where it was at one time. It just kept going up and up and up. I think we need to have controlled growth, and it needs to be planned like we have had in the past. I think you’ve got to have a good, positive attitude and not be so negative and angry like both of my opponents appear to be at that time.”
He felt that their negative
campaigns and scare tactics didn’t work, people want to be in a place of
growth. Again I had to follow up with the question does he as a leader feel it
is important to experiment
and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from experience?
He was adamant about this point being made because the question was direct and
he commented that experimenting with a cities growth is something Smyrna cannot
afford.
Reference:
Barone, M. (2005). Blame aplenty. U.S. News &
World Report, Process. Boston: Irwin/McGraw Hill, pp. 302-305. Beignets back,
Nagin wants residents back, too.
Conger, J. A. & Kanungo, R. N. (1994). Charismatic
Leadership in Organizations: Perceived Behavioral Attributes and Their
Measurement. Journal of Organizational Behavior , Vol. 15(5), pp. 439-452.
Connor, D. (2006) Managing
at the Speed of Change, How Resilient managers Succeed and Prosper where Others Fail, Random House
Publishing, New York New York.
Deluga, R. & College, B. (2000). Relationship of
Transformational and Transactional Leadership with Employee Influencing
Strategies. In J. Pierce & J. Newstrom, (Eds.), Leaders and the
leadership process readings, self-assessments & applications. Boston:
Irwin McGraw-Hill.
Kotter, J. (1995) Leading
Change, 8-Step Change Model, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts.
Secretan, L. (2000). http://www.secretan.com/aboutus_lance_secretan.php
.
Bible Characters with the Lords Guidance in Strategic Planning
In order to begin examining the biblical characters that so
many have tried to emulate they reader must start with Allison and Kaye’s strategic
planning process. Their process has seven
phases: Phase 1: Get Ready, Phase 2: Articulate the mission, vision and values,
Phase 3: Assess your situation, Phase 4: Agree on priorities, Phase 5: Write
the strategic plan, Phase 6: Implement the strategic plan and Phase 7: Evaluate
and monitor the strategic plan. "Get Ready" consists of determining
if the timing is right to engage the planning process and theorize what that
process might look like (Allison & Kaye, 2005). The organization must then
identify the issues that the planning process should address (p. 16).
Allison and Kaye begin their book by pointing out that it
is important to recognize that they cannot on focus on every little problem or
concern. The primary direction of the strategy that will be underlined here is
the fact that many tasks seem insurmountable but it is best to pick a focus and
build off that. The organization must also decide on a planning process to use
and identify the information that must be collected. The idea is to make small
measurable goals and objectives, then see them all the way through.
After “Getting Ready” an organization
must clearly articulate its mission, values and vision in n stage two. This is
particularly important in the biblical sense because they are driven by their
mission and values and should strive to use these values to operate in ways
that best support those Christian values. Clearly defining the Israelite’s
mission, values and vision allowed the people to know what they were doing, why
it is being done and what it hoped to achieve (Allison & Kaye, 2005, p.
12). It is then important to “Assess Your Situation”, which is stage three of
Allison and Kaye’s strategic planning process. This stage is all about
gathering data. The data gathered in this stage will allow the planners to
better determine the organizations future priorities. Stage four of the
strategic planning process is to agree on the organizations priorities. Ideas
for priorities can emerge from individual inspiration, group discussion or
formal decision making techniques but ultimately it is up to the organizations
leadership to determine the organizations top priorities (Allison & Kaye,
2005, p. 18). Once the organization has determined its priorities, it is time
to move on to stage five, writing the strategic plan. This stage consists of
creating a clear and coherent document that will act as a guide lead the
organization to accomplish its goals. The end result of this stage will be a
"concise description of where the organization is going, how it should get
there, and why it needs to go that way", in short, a strategic plan! The
strategic plan created in stage five should be used as a guide by the
organization; therefore the next stage is a detailed annual operating plan,
which is essentially a plan to implement the strategic plan. An operating plan
should "define the short- term, concrete objectives leading to the
achievement of strategic goals and objectives” (Allison & Kaye, 2005, p.
19). The last stage of Allison and Kaye’s strategic planning process is stage
seven, evaluating and monitoring the strategic plan. In reality, the strategic
planning process is never truly over because it is a cycle, however, it is
important for organizations to review and monitor the plan and their progress,
and make any necessary changes. This goes back to the emphasis that the authors
put on being open to change. The planning process is constant and ongoing and
changes must be made. To account for any changes within the environment,
therefore, it is important to assess the "ongoing validity of the
decisions made during the strategic planning process" and make any
necessary changes"(Allison & Kaye, 2005, p. 20).
There
are many biblical stories of strategic planning that can be examined using the strategies
in Allison and Kaye's process. The
organization in the bible is the organization of God’s people. God created this organization by involving
all the members from stakeholders to volunteers, and even the community. In
God’s organization, like all others, there should be a consensus about what end
results are expected (goals and objectives) and the way to go about
accomplishing those objectives (internal vision, programs, etc). There are a
number of leaders in scripture who thought and acted strategically. Identifying
the strategic players from the bible narrowed down the field but it was still
difficult to identify what strategies these biblical leaders used when
comparing them to the Allison and Kaye’s process.
Biblical Strategic Planning is the intentional design for accomplishing
the people's mission and goals. It
is a decision-making process that involves clarifying and bringing focus
to the people’s mission and vision for the future. The leaders’ strategies in
the bible used analyses of the present situation in light of the mission and
vision. The leader seems to set organizational goals to accomplish the mission
and realize the vision for all of those involved. Scripture indicates that
planning is consistent with God’s character. The biblical leader would be guided by verses
as such, (2 Kings 19:25) “Have you not
heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought
it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone.”
“Listen
to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise. Many are the
plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs
19:20).
As this
research indicates the bible is filled with evidence of planning. The most evident
being creation itself. As scripture indicates that God’s servants planned such
as Joseph: Advising preparation for the coming famine, Moses: Sending the spies
into Canaan, Joshua: Developing a military strategy, Nehemiah: Rebuilding
Jerusalem, David: Establishing his kingdom, Solomon: Building the temple and
his palace, Jesus: Forming, preparing and sending out his ministry team, Paul:
Reaching the Gentiles with the Gospel, Scripture encourages and teaches
planning
Moses is the first of the strategic
planning leaders from the scriptures. Moses obviously struggled as a leader and
what style would work with his personality. Soon after his encounter with God
and the burning bush he led the nation of Israel out of Egypt. God gave Moses
His Strategic Plan for deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage. He
began, The Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh; for
with a strong hand he shall let them go, and with a strong hand he shall drive
them out of his land” (Exodus 6:1).
The Lord told Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to
Pharaoh." By this the Lord committed Himself as the authority over
the plan to deliver Israel from Egypt. He will not only authorize the
plan but He will also implement it. The phrase translated on a website
the researcher viewed it means, "under compulsion," which literally
means, "with a strong hand." The hand
of God is a sign of cursing. This was the crux of the implementation
plan. Under compulsion from the various pledges, Pharaoh would eventually drive
Israel out of the land. The Egyptians would literally pay them to leave.
All
plans should begin with the recognition of authority. Ultimately, there
are only two sources of authority for all plans in this life: A leader
must identify if it comes from God, or Satan. Only God can provide true
authority filled with guidance from others and the development of growth right
in front of your face. The other is full of self interest, very easy but
something inside should alert the leader to its end. God will support the
plans He authorizes, and He will oppose the plans under the power of Satan.
As proven in Moses’ story all people are either under the authority of God and
as a strategic planner he provides with an open heart or the power of Satan's
Cosmic System. When a business or institution operates under the
authority of God under the Laws of Establishment, God will bless.
However, projects under the power of Satan will be doomed to the trash heaps of
history like weeds and thorns that have to be plowed under. Egypt is the
greatest example of the latter. When Egypt operated under God's authority
and under the leadership of Joseph, it prospered even during famine.
However, when Egypt became anti-Semitic, it was destroyed by Moses and Gods
power.
God defined the purpose for His Strategic Plan
of deliverance of Israel from Egypt. He recalled the “Abrahamic Covenant”,
which promised Abraham a Savior, a great nation, and the land of Canaan.
This was a good reason why God had to free Israel from bondage in Egypt.
He promised Abraham they would be freed after 400 years of bondage.
Further, He pointed out that Abraham knew Him as only as God Almighty, but now
He would be known as the Lord. Before Moses no one had ever spoken face
to face with the Lord. This may have changed his appearance which may
have give Moses even more creditability with the people after coming back to
engage his “brother” the Pharaoh about releasing his people.
God defined the scope of His
Strategic Plan. God sent Moses to tell the people of Israel that He would
free them from slavery in Egypt and give them the Promised Land. The
scope of the Plan covered deliverance from the nation of Egypt and giving the
Promised Land. He promised to deliver them with the "outstretched
arm," a sign of more strength than the hand.
‘Then I will take you for My
people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. (Exodus 6:7). This is one of the reasons Moses had to be
rejected and left alone as a leader without a congregation. There must be
no doubt that Israel was delivered by the grace of God. He is objective and impartial. What the Righteousness
of God demands, the Justice of God judges through the Love of God - always by
the Grace of God. Moses had to realize because of his personality God
places support in him to carry out the plan. Just as with Aaron a much stronger
speaker and well graced with poise. This helped Moses to develop a
communication plan with the people. Moses spoke to the people of Israel,
but they did not listen to Moses because of their lack of endurance and cruel
bondage. (Exodus 6:9) Those who
reject the “Grace Policy” of God will be punished, but always in the Love of
God. When Moses went back and told the people what God had said, they
would not listen, i.e. they refused to believe Bible Doctrine, the Word of the
Lord. Two reasons are given, which both amount to the same thing:
They could not take their punishment. The second phase of the Allison
& Keyes plan, (2005) is the mission of Moses given by God to get the
Pharaoh to let the people go. Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “Go, tell
Pharaoh King of Egypt to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.” 12 But
Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not
listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled in
speech?” When the Lord told Moses to go tell Pharaoh to let the nation of
Israel go, Moses said the assignment was too difficult because he was "unskilled
in speech." The phrase, "unskilled in speech," is the
translation of "uncircumcised in speech." Moses was not
confident in his ability to convince the Pharaoh to let the people go; so the
Lord carefully explained the Strategic Plan to Moses and Aaron. Then the Lord
spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a mandate directed toward the sons
of Israel and to Pharaoh King of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the
land of Egypt. (Exodus 6:13) Moses
and Aaron were given leadership positions to accomplish the Strategic Plan of
God. Then the Lord said to Moses, “See,
I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. “You shall speak all that I command you, and
your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out
of his land.”
Moses was appointed leader of the
nation of Israel. Since he complained about his inability to speak, God
appointed his brother, Aaron, as the prophet to do the talking. The irony
is that Aaron was a wimp, but it didn't matter because Grace was the
policy. God could accomplish the task with Aaron doing the talking.
The organization was the beginning of a Theocracy with God as the highest
authority, Moses the national leader, and Aaron, the prophet-spokesman.
God's preferred form of government was to appoint the leaders Himself.
A
plan must have an implementation methodology. God's method was: “But I
will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the
land of Egypt. (Exodus 7:3)
First, God was going to harden Pharaoh's heart, which appears to be
counterproductive. Hardening Pharaoh's heart means that Pharaoh will be
given scar tissue of the soul, which will make him oppose the will of God for
the deliverance of Israel. Pharaoh did not harden his heart. Just
as the potter can make of the lump of clay whatever he wishes, so God can make
people with the characteristics to play the required roles on the implementation.
God does this without compromising man's volition. Pharaoh had been building
up scar tissue for years. Pharaoh's resistance gave God the opportunity
to demonstrate His great power and make a news story so great that it was used
for evangelizing the entire world.
One
amazing characteristic of Moses is that he was very adept to assessing the situation
and letting God guide his movements to His end. For example the situation at
the Red Sea in which he was guided to and then he gave up control to pray for
some plan to get away from the chariots and soldiers of Egypt. This of course
gave the people an example of what God could do and thus have all of the people
connect for the four phase by agree on priorities such as finding a new place
to live. Interestingly enough when Moses went to get the written strategic plan
of life “the ten commandments” the people of found somewhere else to place
their trust and commitment. Of course Moses implements the strategic plan and the
people resented it for a long time and because of this the people wandered for
many years before finally making it to the Promise Land. By evaluating and
monitoring the strategic plan Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro the leader of his
clan, came to see him after hearing the incredible things God had been doing.
Jethro observed that Moses was overwhelmed with the burdens of leadership and
shared with him a God-given plan—a strategy—for dealing with the issue. Jethro through
Gods plan taught Moses how to set up a strategic plan by delegating the work so
that the load would be spread among many. As a result, the manpower resources
were used more effectively and the ministry was accomplished. Moses was also
thinking strategically when he sent spies to the land of Canaan.
Joshua
is really a part of the same strategic planning that is being examined. He was the
protégé of Moses, also demonstrated strategic leadership as he did. In Joshua God gave Joshua a
little lesson on strategic thinking. As Joshua was to lead the Israelites into
the Promised Land, they were facing the first enemy in the land. It just so
happened to be the strong city of Jericho. God gave Joshua a strategy. Developing
Godly leaders by remaining sensitive or open
to the Lord’s authority and methods this happened with prayer and reflection. The key to understanding these battles and victories is wholly based upon God’s presence with Joshua. God is persistently training His people. The process does not end once they start winning battles, as we find out in the later chapters, nor does it end when we conclude the major wars. God is always developing His people and in this section it is very evident that the mission of the people was to battle their way into the Promise Land. The Israelites dare not stand still. There remains a life of battle ahead of them. The idea at the time was to step over the Jordan and be used by God. The strategy of God is this section is beyond the peoples understanding and because of that the vision is God’s but the mission is to have deliverance into the Promise Land. God is always more ready to accomplish His plan than we are to participate in it (Joshua 11:20). God has a whole set of plans to quickly and effectively complete His plans. God fights differently than man. Training to win requires that His people simply do things God’s ways. As a leader Joshua and his people need to trust Him. If they rely on their methods, they will surely fail. They failed at the battle of Ai not only because of a soldiers greed, but because Joshua did not pray and seek God’s will. The first verse of these chapters significantly point to the enemy who attempted to thwart the Israelites from their main mission. God already has His plans on how to eliminate these enemies. These main campaigns lasted seven long years.
to the Lord’s authority and methods this happened with prayer and reflection. The key to understanding these battles and victories is wholly based upon God’s presence with Joshua. God is persistently training His people. The process does not end once they start winning battles, as we find out in the later chapters, nor does it end when we conclude the major wars. God is always developing His people and in this section it is very evident that the mission of the people was to battle their way into the Promise Land. The Israelites dare not stand still. There remains a life of battle ahead of them. The idea at the time was to step over the Jordan and be used by God. The strategy of God is this section is beyond the peoples understanding and because of that the vision is God’s but the mission is to have deliverance into the Promise Land. God is always more ready to accomplish His plan than we are to participate in it (Joshua 11:20). God has a whole set of plans to quickly and effectively complete His plans. God fights differently than man. Training to win requires that His people simply do things God’s ways. As a leader Joshua and his people need to trust Him. If they rely on their methods, they will surely fail. They failed at the battle of Ai not only because of a soldiers greed, but because Joshua did not pray and seek God’s will. The first verse of these chapters significantly point to the enemy who attempted to thwart the Israelites from their main mission. God already has His plans on how to eliminate these enemies. These main campaigns lasted seven long years.
The
Lord records three major campaigns. The enemy would use any trick to get
their way. The Gibeonites deceived Joshua and the Israelites. Other kingdoms
ganged up on them. Although the battles almost always seemed a sure defeat for
Israel, God led the Israelites to victory each time through their faithful
leader of Joshua. God's people only needed to learn how to do things God's way
with His vision, no matter how threatening the enemy seemed to be. Don’t be
afraid; just be prepared!
Only
by grasping the full scope of what God is doing and making themselves
accountable to the tasks that concern them. Joshua was very good before and
during the battle to assess the situation. Joshua uses this to focus the people
on the real war, which is how one lives afterwards. The most dangerous
times are after decisive victories. And it is precisely here that the
Israelites failed. The Lord was sure to have them divide up the land. The
point of this was to prepare each tribe to live under the Lord’s leadership. Up
to this point, they relied on Joshua’s faith to win. Now they had to rely on
their own faith. If they trusted Him and obeyed His Word, they would do well.
If not, they would bring trouble upon themselves.
Just
as in the various phases of the agreement on priorities as defined by Allison
& Keyes, 2005) once they received their inheritance, they were responsible
to clear off the many enemies still hanging around. God set things up so that
each group of his followers could carry on and clear out all the enemies. But
foolishly they were not equally responsible. Again, the chief battle is not on
the battlefield but in our hearts. It is how we live after the victories.
The
third biblical character using the strategic planning is King Solomon; God has
perfect strategic foresight. In
Proverbs, Solomon, the wisest man, said “To man belongs the plans of the heart,
but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue. All a man's ways seem innocent
to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord” (Proverbs 16:1-2). By aligning
himself with God (higher power) he is able to listen to His wisdom and His
heart is open of guidance: "Now Solomon the son of David
established himself securely over his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with
him and exalted him greatly" (2 Chronicles 1:1). The first phase
of Solomon’s strategic plan was to building a kingdom that connects to God and
the source of enlightenment for all of the people. As seekers of a vision,
Solomon knew so much of what the people seek is selfish; instead he mobilized
the people to have things to be proud of with a mission and guidance as to why.
The message was clear and effective. In the Bible it is communicated that
Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings before a bronze altar in front of
the leaders of thousands and hundreds of people. This was customary at
the time; Solomon made grand gestures to God. It was this night that God
appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask what I shall give
you." God offers this question to each of His people at some
point when these people learn to glorify Him instead of themselves it is
possible for egos stabilize as steward leaders develop strategic planning.
In other words, when a leader connects with God’s ever reaching power and
trades their ego-based selfishness for a position of integrity they are doing right
in God's eyes. Then the leader can enjoy the opportunity to ask for the means
to further our aspirations the most. To build a “kingdom,” the strategist
must have this power. It has been said;
“Be careful what you ask for” has important meaning when a strategist considers
the faith that they may receive what they ask for.
God
recognized Solomon's humility: a weak flower bends in the wind, while the
mighty tree falls from the storm. Leaders today would learn from
Solomon's request. Solomon did not approach God from a position of ego;
he approached God from a position of humility, honor, and service. How
might a strategist serve the people best? This is the first question a
leader must ask. In return for Solomon's eager desire to please God with
his simple request to gain wisdom and knowledge, that he might lead God's
people, Solomon receives wisdom and knowledge—as well as riches, wealth, honor,
and victory over enemies. The lesson in this is that God delivers more
than we ask for when we approach God from a position of humility, awe, respect,
and service. Yes, it is impossible to evaluate Solomon's approach to
building an empire without first recognizing Solomon's relationship to God. The
vision of Solomon was to Building the temple and his palace for the
glory of God and develop pride for this people of God. He uses his vision to
promote the focus on your
primary mission. Solomon next
decided to build a temple for the name of the Lord, and a royal palace for
himself. This temple construction was a major undertaking at the time, being
the most aggressive and largest in size and design; it was a great undertaking
for the time. Solomon then built a
temple for the Lord, and a royal palace for the people and for himself.
Again, he kept his focus on how he might please God with his actions. In
our kingdoms of today, do businesses build first for God or try to separate God
from work? Solomon, in his wisdom, chose to honor God. Solomon recognized
(2 Chronicles 2:6), "who is able to build a house for Him (God), for the
heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain him?" This temple was small
but impressive the full account of dimensions and materials Solomon gathered
for the temple, were very prescience in 2 Chronicles 3 and I Kings 6 and
7. Solomon’s temple, his primary
mission, made other buildings look rather pale in comparison, especially
considering the walls were lined with gold. This undertaking was considered
quite industrious. Solomon’s task force
required about twenty years to complete the mission.
Just
like the other leaders gathering the
internal resources and form external connections in this case he uses the
design and creates a trade (goldsmith). Solomon’s mission of
building a temple was monumental. Israel
did not have enough stone, gold, wood, or workers to begin work. So Solomon gathered resources, formed trade,
and bartered resources he could spare for the resources he needed to complete
the mission. Solomon gathered his
resources and amassed an army of chariots and stationed them in cities. Solomon
amassed his horses and chariots from other countries, such as Egypt and others,
then sold many to other countries and built his own fleet of chariots by
profiting from the trade. In order to build the temple, Solomon needed wood and
stone. He approached a neighboring country, to barter wood and skilled workers
for barley, wheat, wine, and oil. He also needed workers, wood, gold,
quarrymen, ironworkers, and supervisors. Solomon checked the census and he had
150,000+ laborers at his disposal. Today, this would be equivalent to employing
all of the employees at Goldman Sachs, Cisco, Intel, and Starbucks combined for
a period of twenty years.
Consolidate leadership within the kingdom
this goes to organizing the strategy know who to look to for guidance and
security. Solomon lived during a period of strife, war, and
backstabbing. Just as now. Solomon quickly did away with two of his
biggest opponents, who had laid claim to the throne prior to David passing the
mantle of leadership to Solomon. One of
Solomon’s moves against an enemy of his father, David, was to give his enemy
just enough rope to hang himself. Solomon told Shimei, an enemy of King
David and threat to the throne, to build a house and not to depart from a
general territory near Jerusalem for any reason, or he would face certain
death. Shimei agreed to this arrangement. Three years later, he
violated his agreement. Keeping agreements is important to building a
kingdom, whether in a leadership or subjugated position, and Solomon's rule
dictated prompt execution for Shimei. This act consolidated
Solomon's leadership and gave Solomon absolute authority over his people.
Leaders can form alliances, which might resolve some of challenges in the
process of change and build support during the development of a strategy and
the various phases. Solomon made strategic alliances with friendly kings and
queens to increase resources, trade routes, and power. Strategic
alliances also increase cooperation and eliminate competition.
Companies focusing
on competition are, living by the sword. And, it's not a new expression
that those who "live by the sword, die by the sword." Instead
of living by the sword, Solomon built alliances. Amazingly enough Solomon built
some by having a marriage alliance with Pharaoh of Egypt, when he took
Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David. This act gained
resources from Egypt, opened a trade route through Africa, and kept war with Egypt
away from the kingdom. Kingdoms are like companies; they grow more during
peace than they do during war. The Cedars of Lebanon were well reputed at
that time, and Solomon needed them to build his temple and palace.
Solomon understood the power in alliances. Alone, we have limited skills and
resources to succeed in our objectives. However, partnered with others
who have skills, resources, and teamwork, we can achieve far more of our goals
in much less time. So Solomon made deals with the Lebanese King, trading
oil, wine, barley, and wheat for woodsmen, metal workers, and various
craftsmen, along with Lebanese timber (1 Kings 4:5).
It is
critical to have strong, open, powerful trading routes in any company, in this
case the kingdom, and Solomon was well aware of the resources surrounding his
kingdom. Opening flow of trade to obtain resources, skills, and
information from other kingdoms is critical to leading a successful kingdom.
The same applies in business today. If a company cannot trade, they fail.
This is also true with countries, as demonstrated by the recent fall of the
economy in Argentina. Cuba remains in a state of early 1960's economic
staleness as a result of the American embargo against Castro. Trade among
kingdoms is vital to the kingdom's success. And Sheba's trade route
opened all of Africa to Solomon.
Safeguard your valuable assets seemed to be
the next phase of the strategic planning process. Solomon then
completed his building projects and furnished the temple. Solomon needed
a place to put the Ark of the Covenant with God, which was a vessel Israel used
in battle representing the power of God with their army, as well as the
official vessel containing the tablets representing the covenant between Israel
covenant and God, The Ten Commandments. The lesson there is to keep your
most valuable resources safe. In today's organizations, the data center is
often the key to their success. Modern organizations protect their data
through sophisticated “data centers” that feature extensive air conditioning,
fire prevention and control, raised floor, and earthquake-proof facilities to
protect their valuable computers, storage, and data wise companies know how much money is lost from even on hour of
downtime. Solomon was no different at his time. He protected his
most valuable assets placing them in the middle of the city and having various
protections in place. He also offered a prayer of dedication to
God. This as steward leaders dedicating the strategy to God only supports
the process. If the company is on a mission for adding value in the world
and providing "highest good" would be appropriate. Solomon made
quite a big deal about the sacrifices to God and God responded in appreciation
and also requested Solomon keep statutes and commandments and not set other
gods ahead of God.
As the building occurred Solomon still
continued to energize and focus the people with guidance. People came to
Solomon with their concerns and he was well reputed for judging fairly with
them to administer justice. In I Kings 3:16-28 is detailed a story of how
Solomon ruled a dispute between two women who claimed the same son. It is
important to build an organization in this case a kingdom through integrity, (leading)
ruling in fairness, honesty, and being true to those commitments.
Solomon's reputation preceded him as wise and fair with his constituency. He
also celebrated the successes of his
(organization) nation. Solomon
held a celebration and dedication in honor of the completion of building the temple.
At the ceremony, Solomon offered peace offerings to the Lord, and among those
offerings sacrificed over 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. It is written in I Kings 9:65 that the feast
lasted fourteen days. It keeps spirits
high to celebrate our successes, and this feast was no exception.
Avoid extravagance and reviewing the
vision and making the necessary changes to the plan. Solomon,
unfortunately, fell victim to extravagance, he was no different from many kings
of his day, who frequently erected buildings and monuments as symbols of
power. In the United States, are the Statue of Liberty, Empire State
Building, or the Sears Tower as examples. In Paris, there is the Eiffel
Tower. In Egypt, the great pyramids, with Pharaoh’s face carved over the
eroded lion's head. This is a risk leaders run: letting ego get the
best of them by spending extravagantly on buildings and other powerful images
(advertisements on television, for example). Creating something physically great, such as a building,
especially a gold-lined building, costs quite a bit of money. And that holds
true today as much as in Solomon's day. William Randolph Hearst spent
millions building a castle in an era where millions were worth billions in
comparison to the dollar's present value. This occurred just this century,
so the concept remains true. The cost to rebuild the World Trade Center is
estimated in the billions. Keeping
agreements and promises to those people within the organization and outside
within the community is a must. This might seem irrelevant, as so many
"leaders" today break their agreements almost as soon as they are
made. Yet, keeping agreements is the key to building
goodwill. Solomon received gifts in exchange for his wisdom (information).
While Solomon kept his agreements (and most specifically, his agreement with
God), his wealth became greater than
all the kings of the earth. Coincidentally, this is also where
Solomon failed.
In
Ecclesiastes, the “teacher” (Solomon) takes the reader through the search for
meaning in life from hedonism, materialism, intellectualism, and ultimately
finding a lack of fulfillment from all of these “meaningless” pursuits.
When Solomon looks back upon his personal journey, he acknowledges that his
excess consumed him and in the end was "meaningless." Yet, it
is here that he recognizes the vanity of so many of his efforts, and comments:
"I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do
good in one's lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good
in all his labor--it is the gift of God. I know that everything God does
will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take
from it, for God has so worked that men should fear him."
(Ecclesiastes 3:12-14). Solomon advises that there is a time for
everything, yet the true meaning for man is to find value and to rejoice in his
work.
In the end, Solomon reflected upon his
worldly success and came to a conclusion First, align leadership with God. By being one with the Lord gives
the steward leader the higher power to do great things. As Solomon focus others
on the primary mission the kingdom or organization stays strong and well
organized. The organizations or kingdoms without vision lack success we can
see. Gather internal resources and form
open trade. Sharing is a key to success. Consolidate leadership and
eliminate sources of strife. Success breeds during peace. Form strategic
alliances to gain resources, skills, and open trade routes. Safeguard your
valuable assets. Keep the most valuable assets of the kingdom in the most
cherished of places. Rule wisely. Practice integrity in all
dealings. Offer wisdom for wealth or vice-versa. Celebrate
Success. Keep morale high by recognizing
achievement of goals. Avoid extravagance. Spend what we need to achieve
objectives, but avoid lavish parties. Keep your agreements. Broken
agreements lead to the demise of the kingdom.
This study of King Solomon's
approach to building the palace and temple of the day also involved learning
how to be a planner and a leader. There are so many valuable lessons
contained in the life of Solomon. He taught leaders how to build a
peaceful empire, in honor of God. In a time where nations threaten war
and challenge each other over oil and religious issues, there is high relevance
to Solomon's skillful wisdom of building a peaceful kingdom. Why not use
his formula and build a strong organization that thrives through peaceful
alliances to better the world.
David is the fourth character to examine who has the
mind of a strategic thinker who has a significant part to play in the
survival of the “Abrahamic Promise”. Not only revealing to others how to overcome a giant competitor knowing
ones limits by observing the story of David and Goliath as a source of
reference. All one needs is to keep an open mind and be willing to apply the
principles and guidance discussed earlier by God. One thing that comes from the
first thing seen by David is to know
the enemy and know themselves. When a person allows fear into their
heart, they will not win. This is just another way in which the devil has a
leader fall victim to his ways. If a leader is ignorant of both the enemy and themselves,
they are ensured of defeat in every battle. David was able to spot a niche; a niche nobody wanted to venture
into. All Israelite soldiers were waiting for a confrontation with the
Philistine army but nobody wanted to face Goliath. David was able to spot the
niche that nobody wanted: to fight Goliath. So Instead of focusing on the army of the enemies, he focused on Goliath.
Goliath was his path to victory. All a strategist needs to do is take advantage of their ego, serve these
small niches with the little budget they might have and see the
organization skyrocket. To
overcome competitors, as David did, find this niche and serve it. Leave massive
change to time; you can achieve more
result using targeted marketing as a strategy as David did. Before
confronting Goliath, David had faith
that Goliath could be defeated. As human beings, leaders are bound to
have some atom of doubt or fear. David may have experienced a little fear but
the difference was that; his faith was
stronger than his fear. Faith is simply the ability to act despite tremendous
doubt. Fear is faith that it won’t work.
Scripture says, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but
as wise, making the most of every opportunity” (Ephesians 5:15–16). As a
strategic planner there is a time to pray and the plan, let God do the
directing.
As
an entrepreneur, one must never see their
competitors as infallible. They must see a possibility in their mission
to outperform their competitors. Just as the Adidas slogan says: "Impossible is nothing." If they execute their strategic plan and implement their
competitive strategy with this mindset, success will be theirs. One
thing that can be shown in all of these characters is the fact that faith attracts supernatural assistance.
Developing a mission and having faith
is not self-belief. While faith says it can be done, self -belief says 'I can
do it.' While faith says there is possibility, Self -belief says 'I am the
possibility.' Faith without self -belief is vain. As leaders observe
from the story that the Israelites had faith that Goliath would someday be
defeated, but none had self-belief. The soldiers said in their hearts "one day, Goliath will be defeated"
but they avoided the words "I can
kill Goliath." David not only had faith that Goliath can be
defeated; he also had the self -belief that he was the one to do it. One important key to success is
self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation, as pointed
out by Allison & Kaye in their program. Many entrepreneurs lack self
belief; many entrepreneurs are very good at spotting opportunities disguised as
problems and they know a solution can be found but they don't see themselves as
being the one to provide the required solution. Many entrepreneurs don't
believe in their God given abilities. Some
can't picture their organization competing favorably with big companies.
Entrepreneurs must have faith that their competitors can be defeated and they
must believe their business can do it. The first step is to access strengths
and weaknesses. It is important to remember that the strategic plan is only as strong as its weakest link..
Though Goliath was fully armed and heavily armored, he was defeated because his opponent (David) spotted and exploited his
weakness. As a strategist they can outperform their competitors if they
can spot their weakness and exploit it.
Though David
had the faith, self-belief and a good track record, he would never have
confronted Goliath if he had not been able to convince and sell himself his
vision to King Saul. This same scene is also applicable to the business world
from ongoing validity of the decisions made during
the strategic planning process and makes any necessary changes (Allison &
Kaye, 2005, p. 20). Many entrepreneurs with strong business plans
succeed to a curtain point, but they seem not to be making headway because they lack the ability to convince investors
to invest in their idea. With the Christian leadership strategic plan
that was put in place by these bible characters others can see that these
leaders developed visions, clearly articulated that mission to others, then
write the mission was important even at that time because Moses, Abraham and
Solomon all wrote their visions and mission down to articulate their plan. Many
like David have a strong competitive advantage and proven track record but if
the strategists cannot sell themselves, they will remain where they are.
Leverage is
one of the most powerful words in the world of business and other organizations.
Leverage is simply the ability to do
more with less. Leverage is simply asking; how can this business be positioned to compete favorably with less?
David acknowledged that Goliath was
taller and heavily built than he was, so he asked the question; "how can I defeat Goliath without engaging him
in a hand to hand combat? That answer came in the form of leverage. That leverage was a "sling."
A simple truth is this; leverage is
everywhere. Leverage can be in the form of financial leverage, brand leverage, personality leverage and intellectual
leverage. In fact, there are many ways to surpass the competition using
leverage as a tool. Goliath was armed with a shield, spear and a sword but
David had only a sling and a stone. Now what's the difference? The weapons of both David and Goliath had the
potential to kill but the difference emerged in their speed. Though David's
weapon was cheaper, lighter and smaller, it had the ability to reach its target
faster than that of Goliath. The sling
and stone had the power of speed.
The speed at which a strategist makes life
changing decisions for an organization is critical. This determines how far and
fast the organization or team will get to the goal.
Implementing
the strategic plan David had may have been a good plan but the problem
is that they think their plan is the
best plan. When presented with a new and better plan, these
entrepreneurs will close their mind saying their plan is the best. David had never used a sword or armor before;
all he could use was the sling. Though David was not used to wearing armor, he
was willing to try it when King Saul suggested it to him. David ended up not
using Saul's sword and armor but the point remains, he understood the power of flexibility and sticking with his plan.
Flexibility as a competitive strategy
can be a key to overcoming giant competitors. As a strategist they must
always be open to new ideas and willing to expand their perspective.
Jesus, the final biblical figure, operated during His
ministry according to God-inspired vision, which is step one checked from
Allison & Kaye, 2005, Strategic Planning. In reality, the most memorable
and highest vision or missions given to the people of this world. In many cases
during His travels and ministry it is very clear only after examination the
intension of His actions and words that Jesus recognized the hunger of the
crowd and immediately developed a God-sized vision of what could be…of what
should be…and of what would be. He had one goal in mind while on this
Earth: to change lives. The feeding of the people was not His goal and it
was not His goal to increase the number of people He wished to reach with this
miracle. Rather, the goal was global and far reaching, as he wanted to
change their lives and change the lives of the disciples who helped Him.
His “vision” for that ministry was far greater than just getting a little
food into several thousand hungry stomachs or doing miracles. It was to give
the greatest power and vision to others, for them to not worry about what they do not have. Do not be
paralyzed by a sense of lack of something like food or money. Do not use the
unknown as an excuse for not caring or not getting involved in people’s lives.
Rather it would be better to focus on what as a person of God, they might have
to give. Give what they can have- of time, energy, resources, love, etc. and
give it in faith. What did Jesus do with five loaves and two fish offered in
faith?
Remember the
disciples from every walk of life. What did Jesus do with these twelve
quarrelsome, insignificant people? He articulated the mission of faith
and being saved through Him, Jesus used not only the people around Him such as
His disciples, but complete strangers. An example of this was the five thousand
souls that came to see Him that day, he clearly fed their bodies but He also
fed their souls with the vision of the Holy Spirit and His love. This is phase
two of strategic planning by Allison & Kaye.
He used this vision to bring others to the cause, which was
very simple and finite. There
are three participles, which tell how Jesus intends the to get His vision out
to the people to carry on the task of making it become affective: He was an
example not only with words but by example physically “go [going] for His
people,” “baptizing,” and “teaching” this means to discuss the mission with
others and reiterate the fact that all within the organization are of the same
mind if not then what are the differences. Each of these highlights a different aspect of
making disciples and the mission itself. Each clarifies a picture of a disciple
maker “God” and the people’s personal relationship with Him. Each connects the
disciple maker to the master and the family or in the case of this study and
organization.
He introduced
His Strategic Management Plan by gathering the Strategic Team all of the
disciples from various walks of life. Jesus called His disciples to the
mountain for presenting His final counter- cultural message. From their many of
the disciples began to use phase five of the
Allison & Kaye, strategy by writing down Jesus’ strategic plan. Matthew’s first century
readers would have understood the message and mission of Jesus and thus the
birth of the church, since the readers were already living in the fruit of the
time together.
Allison
& Kaye then point out that a plan can be successful in launching, as Jesus
left the disciple to deal with the mission and the creation of the church was the implementation of Jesus strategic plan. The obligations within the new
church family they would also have understood that a disciple adopted the
“lifestyle, teachings, and values” of the master of the family. It is out of
this setting Jesus makes His claim for absolute authority. Jesus Delivers His
Strategic Management Plan only after He had been a physical human and shown His
people the way to be as people of God. By coming back from the dead and having
died for sinners, he then had the authority to implement the plan of faith. He
gives them the strategic plan. The interesting thing was in the interpretation
and the various ways in which they carried out that plan. There was no doubt
after He appeared to them after Thomas’s disbelief that Jesus was not back from
the grave and he wanted to see proof.
After appearing again they all knew that he had done all of this to save
everyone from their sins. They all knew and were willing to spread the
strategic plan of Jesus, which was getting the word out to the masses (Allison & Kaye, 2005).
The book of Acts,
which was written by Luke, is a written strategic plan, by implication and of
course personal interpretations. This is what Jesus continued to do and teach
through his followers (even today). How could Luke’s followers do what Jesus
did? The same way Jesus did it himself, by being empowered by the Holy Spirit
and led and directed by the Father, trusting in His goodness. Each part of any
organization has to ask what they want to be part of, what is going on and be
an active member; just as Jesus is continuing to do in the world today. Then as
Jesus and the other biblical characters have presented they must apply his
secret, continue to be filled with his Spirit and press on in faith.
Strategic
planning does not have to be mysterious, complicated, or time-consuming. In
fact, it should be quick, simple, and easily executed. Additionally, strategic
planning is not just something to cross off
a list of “to-dos”—creating a culture of strategic thinking and
strategic planning does not become an annual retreat but, instead, a part of
daily decision making.
A good strategic plan achieves the following from (Porter,
1998):
- Reflects the values of the organization.
- Clearly defines what is most important for achieving success.
- Assists everyone in daily decision-making.
- Gets everyone on the same page focused and pulling in the same direction.
- Creates a culture of strategic thinking and a part of daily decision making.
Reviewing the various biblical characters made it obvious
that there are several similarities between this group of strategic planners and
those of today.
Not all of the seven phases were used by
any one of the examples used here. But the incredible thing is the fact that in
order to be successful strategic planners the vision or mission must have the
blessing of God, which every one of these characters used. The fact is that
this blessing can take longer than people of this day and age are willing to
wait for, is often a problem in business. To wait for the pieces to be seen
clearly, and to then react to the according to God plan takes patience. Prayer
and guidance are so important in the strategic process and are lost to those
looking at these decisions as only a “business” decision”. Look at Peter and
John after they had been locked up and imprisoned for spreading the vision and
mission of Jesus. The first thing Peter and John did after being released from
prison was to go to their friends and report what the rulers had said to them.
Peter and John are not trying to be lone ranger heroes; they were part of a
community of friends who are actively and intentionally following Jesus
together. This gives them a sense of community and whatever happens they are in
it together. Any such organization, in this case, the beginning of the church,
can make a strategic plan. A church’s values can dominate the kind of
strategic direction it considers or rejects. When values and beliefs are deeply
ingrained and widely shared by pastors, board and staff, they become a way of
life within the church and they mold church strategy.
Instead of immediately trying to figure
out what to do, all of these biblical characters tried to figure out a strategy
or response of some sort, they turn to God in prayer. Moses very rarely knew
what to do and was forever consulting God for advice and guidance. Not only as
he went head to head with Pharaoh the king of the most powerful country of the
day. Moses even needed guidance in how to articulate the words of God; finally
He gave him Aaron, later the written mission (The Ten Commandants). With all of
this practice going to God face to face Moses taught the Israelites how to pray
as a united body and by doing that he gained strength for his people with
clarity and a common mission. So how powerful is prayer in strategic planning?
While Moses’ was in the wilderness with the Israelites Moses did what he does
best and communicates with God in (Exodus
32:9-14). Incredible Moses’ prayers and pleadings with God to preserve His own
name/character, and not destroy Israel work. God alters the plan and brings
them to the promise land. David was no different in Psalm 139; He struggles with God's intense knowledge of
all of David’s “dirty little secrets.” God knew that he marveled at God's
intricate formation of him in his mother's womb, and then prays a prayer of
surrender to God's searching, knowing, probing, and refining him. He became a
tool or instrument of God in the process.
Solomon prays for wisdom which is granted
and the strategic plan of the building of the temple being even before Solomon
knew what was going on Toward the end of Davis’s live in (1 Chronicles
29:9-20). A short psalm of praise to God and David's prayer for his son Solomon
to build the temple was created.
Perhaps the greatest theologian America
has ever produced is Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) Edwards wrote a little book
with the title, A Humble Attempt To
Promote Explicit Agreement And Visible Union Of All God’s People In
Extraordinary Prayer For the Revival of Religion And The Advancement Of God’s
Kingdom. Edwards states, “explicit
agreement and visible union of all God’s people” was critical for effective
prayer. Luke seems to be saying the same thing in Acts. For the early
believers, their shared vision and understanding of who Jesus was drew them
together across their differences. We need to emphasize this shared vision of
Jesus and we need to deepen our commitment to unity… And then we need to pray-
often, a lot, perseveringly, in faith.”
Finally, we look to Jesus and the
various steps He took to become the strategic planner he was. Although as pointed
out earlier, Jesus used various steps within Allison and Kaye’s strategic planning
process. It is even more clear that the component that brings these biblical
characters together and made their plans successful was the fact that they did
not relay on human characteristics and or a checklist of steps to make the
process work. Jesus' was about to
submit Himself to carry the weight of the sins of the whole world and his final
acts were in prayer both with His disciples showing them how to pray in His
name, asking for the cup (crucifixion) to be passed, and then prays for
the Father's will to be done most of all on the cross (Luke 22:39-46).
A strategic plan is a living,
dynamic entity. It drives the organization and must be integrated into every
fiber of it, so that all of the staff is helping to move the organization in
the same direction. All the best missions and strategies in the world are a
waste of time if they are not implemented. Moses was not a man of action; it
took a lot of poking and prodding to get him to get moving on a plan.
To be truly successful, the plan
cannot gather dust on the bookshelf or as mentioned in Leadership Challenge, by Kouzes & Posner (2007), the “ripeness”
of the issue. As the strategic planning leader it is important to take on these
issues when presented with them and bring them to God in prayer for guidance
and clarity as every one of the biblical examples did, as shown here.
Strategic planning is about
keeping the plan active so that it does not gather that proverbial dust. Knowing
what the end result looks like and where the milestones should be for a review
or evaluative look back on the process and the ever-popular celebration of how
far the organization has come. By planning near-term actions and evaluations of
the progress each quarter the organization does not “spin its wheels.” Through this it becomes possible to identify
when it may be time for a change in direction or procedural change. The course
correction can make or break the organization just as it did for David. David
didn’t evaluate the situation with his people and monitor their behaviors and
put them back on track until there was war within the country itself, only then
did he develop the next action plan. When the organization uses God’s guidance
and has a clear plan and acts according to the plan, the strategic planner is
going to go from where they are to where they want to go, therefore, ensuring
success in a Godly manner.
In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul says, “Do
not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which
transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus.”
References
Allison, M.,
& Kaye, J. (1997). Strategic planning for non-profit organizations. New York: John Wiley.
Edwards, J. (1746), A Humble Attempt
To Promote Explicit Agreement And Visible Union Of All God’s People In Extraordinary Prayer For the Revival of Religion And
The Advancement Of God’s Kingdom:
The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Ages Software Publishing, Frankford, German.
Kouzes, J. & Posner, B.,
(2007), Leadership Challenge, Gildan
Media Corp, New York. New York.
Marshall, M., (Fall, 2002) Looking at leaders from scripture, Church
Administration, International
Bible Society.
Michel, D., (2005) Insight into Strategic Foresight – A
Biblical Perspective, Leadership Advance Outsourcing – Issue IV, Winter
2005.
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