To be effective every organization must discern its mission. The "mission" of an organization is an expression of its purpose. For example, Wal-Mart's mission is to provide value to its customers, Disney's mission is to make people happy, and Merck's mission is to address unmet medical needs.
To effectively fulfill its mission, an organization must develop a team of people whose collective individual efforts work in harmony. There are two key ingredients that facilitate this harmony.
First, each member's individual mission must be aligned with the organization’s mission. This means that organizations must hire the right people, namely, people with a passion for the organization's mission, enough character to perform the mission, and the skills to accomplish the mission.
And second, the organization must provide a culture or context that commissions the members of the organization to fulfill their individual missions as they fulfill the organization's mission. To do this, a culture of discipleship must exist in the organization. Discipleship is a process that encourages and enables individuals to do what God created them to do. Many organizations lack such cultures. Why?
There are only two ways to build an organization: as a monument to the senior leader or by making disciples. Organizations that build monuments glorify the senior leaders. However, organizations that make disciples glorify God.
Not surprisingly, building monuments is easier than making disciples. When buildings, programs, budgets, and so forth, measure an organization's success, the organization is building monuments. Building monuments appeals to the ego as it is easier for others to see. For example, there is an annual award in my community for the fastest growing company. In my experience, fast growth is frequently associated with out-of-control growth, which generally leads to failure. So why are we rewarding fast growth? Because it is monument building.
On the other hand, when the maturity and excellence of its workers measures an organization's success, the organization is making disciples. Workers in these organizations are given the opportunity to realize their full potential, which leads to organizational excellence and lasting success.
Senior leaders who build monuments abuse people and, at best, their organizations deliver only mediocre value propositions. But senior leaders who value discipleship bless people and their organizations deliver excellent value propositions.
As people created by God, we are charged to glorify God as Jesus did throughout His life (John 17:4); therefore, self-glorification as expressed by building monuments is disobedience—missing the mark. Even when we cover our monument building in a religious wrapper as Saul did (1 Samuel 15), God is not fooled. Note in the text above that obedience is better than religious activities. This means that God does not overlook our self-glorifying monument building simply because we attend church, support missionary efforts, tithe, and/or give to the poor. God is singular in His mission to glorify Himself and does not support our self-glorification (see Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel).
Here is your business tip: Obedience is about discerning and doing the will of God. This should be the focus of every organization (James 4:13—17). And every organization should build disciples who are personally discerning and doing the will of God in their individual lives. These disciples will then enable the organization to fulfill its mission. This is how great organizations are built and God is glorified.
|
