by Shawn Lovejoy: Meetings are used for many things. One missed opportunity I see in many meetings is failing to communicate, clarify or rally around vision. In my book Be Mean About The Vision: Preserving and Protecting What Matters, I reveal the most crucial vision questions; and I’m giving them to you here. Use these in your next meeting (or as the entire meeting) to re-infuse your team with a sense of purpose and direction!

Why are we here?

Vision is not WHAT we do, it’s WHY we do it. Use meeting time to remind your team of the WHY. Why do we exist? Why were we created? What is our mission? Use stories of success and wins to illustrate the reason everyone is putting so much effort into your organization’s endeavors.

Where are we going now?

Leadership begins by defining reality. Take time in meetings to own where you are and what will happen if you maintain the same course of direction. Answer questions like: If the current direction remained constant, where would we end up? Where is the organization currently headed? When everything is headed in the right direction, use this time to encourage and refuel the efforts of your team. In the moments when a course correction needs to be made, this is the chance to adjust and set a new path of execution.

Where do we want to go?

After you determine where you are and where you’re headed, there is space to adjust your aim. Asking questions like: “What is the desired destination? What is the win? What is our goal? How will we know if we have been successful?” all help define where you’re wanting to go next. As the leader, this provides you the opportunity to cast fresh vision or add life to what may have grown stale.

How do we take everyone there? 

Now that we know where we are and where we need to go, how will we get everyone aligned around it? During this time, logistics and planning matter. How and when will we communicate it? How will we make the leaders stakeholders of it? How will we get everyone else onboard? What meetings need to begin to happen, when, and with whom?

 Don’t overcomplicate this. Don’t procrastinate. Begin asking these questions in your meetings today with your team and watch the temperature begin to change rapidly! Don’t wander around in the wilderness. Where there is no vision, people cast off restraint and go their own way. Where there is vision, there is life, health, and growth! And meetings are a great way to lead through vision.

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Source: How Meetings Can Clarify Vision

The post How Meetings Can Clarify Vision appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by unSeminary: Thanks for joining us for this episode of the unSeminary podcast. This week we’re talking with Rick Raiford, the executive pastor at Daystar Church in North Carolina.

Daystar started as a small country church in Greensboro, North Carolina and over the past twenty years has grown to become one of the fastest growing churches in the country. They have two campuses and a very contemporary and casual environment.

After twenty years, a lot of churches have peaked and may start to plateau or decline unless they reinvent themselves. Today Rick is talking with us about how Daystar has accelerated to continue reaching people by bringing clarity to the vision and systems in the church.

Let them know how to connect. // One of the things Daystar has learned is that at the end of the day a large number of people would love to connect to the church. But they will only do it if they know who you are, it’s clear how to connect, and what they can expect. Bring clarity in your organization. // Daystar began to evaluate where they had an opportunity to bring clarity, both within the organization, and externally with the visitors to the church. With the staff it’s important to be clear with everyone about expectations in their roles and what it looks like for them to win in their area of expertise. For the visitors, clarity is important in helping them understand the church and how it will partner with them to grow their faith and connect them with the community. Visitors come away with one clear next step and Daystar does whatever it can to help visitors take it.Welcome and evaluate. // A way to move forward is to know whether or not people are engaging in the church. Daystar uses a simple process called Growth Track to welcome visitors and connect them within church. Tracking the numbers of first time guests who enter Growth Track and the percentage of people who take their next step helps the staff to understand where the system is failing and if an area needs corrective action.Clarify for staff and volunteers. // Daystar set time aside to dialog with staff and volunteers about their roles, asking them questions such as what they enjoyed most about their jobs, what they enjoyed least, what they envision their roles and responsibilities to look like over the next few years, and what their perception is of what they should accomplish and how do they know they are doing well hitting their goals. The leadership team discovered it was harder for people to answer these questions than they had expected. The answers that staff gave highlighted just how much clarity is needed, even for people who have worked deep in the organization for several years. Clarify your vision. // Much of the confusion in certain areas really boiled down to Daystar needing to clarify their vision for their people. How can you say in a more clear, impactful, succinct fashion what’s most critical to your organization? How does it influence everything in the church, from the language used in communications to the leadership descriptions for different roles?

You can learn more about Daystar Church at their website daystargso.com.

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Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: INJOY Stewardship Solutions

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Find out how much your church could raise in a capital campaign led by INJOY Stewardship Solutions.

Source: Help Gaining Clarity in a 20 Year Old Church with Rick Raiford

The post Help Gaining Clarity in a 20 Year Old Church with Rick Raiford appeared first on Passion for Planting.