I've been reading Church Unique by Will Mancini. I've found it to be one of those books that substantially stretches my thinking. Here's an excerpt from Church Unique that I heavily highlighted:Church leaders know what organizational silos look like. What defines success for staff members? The answer is, “Butts in seats in my ministry area!” Many churches use nickels and noses as the only measure for success. This primary measure of worship service attendance gets translated down into the ministry departments. The result is a golf team mentality where team success is measured by adding up individual scores at the end of the day. Quiet competition simmers underneath the calm surface of most staff meetings with individual ministries trying to “out-drive” the others.
When a strategic planning process is introduced into an environment where real teamwork is already challenged, the plan itself becomes a silo builder that reinforces the concrete walls between ministry areas. This is the second fallacy of strategic planning: the “Fallacy of Accountability.” As multiple goals are developed for each separate ministry area, the expectation is that staff and volunteers will experience better coordination, with clearer responsibilities. The false assumption behind this practice is that more goals will help people work better together. Exactly the opposite is true. More goals typically create a more fragmented approach as each leader focuses solely on their responsibilities and outcomes. In an effort to provide positive steps of accountability within ministry areas, the church misses out on synergy between all ministry areas.
