Monday, February 21, 2011

Vision Leadership: When Is It Too Big?

I have been working with Indian churches, agencies, colleges and seminaries for nearly 19 years. People in the states often ask me about this or that ministry on the sub-continent. I am guessing they want to know if the leader is ethical, honest and if the ministry is effective. This evaluation is specific for the Indian context, though it can certainly apply to other ministries in the other countries as well.

CAN THERE BE TOO MUCH VISION?

I asked this question recently to a board member of a significant ministry in Asia. He seemed to be genuinely surprised with the questions and answered with an emphatic “No.” The president of the organization is a gifted visionary leader and the ministry is extensive. While I celebrate visionary leadership, often, in my opinion, the vision is greater than it is able to sustain. Strength over used becomes a weakness. Vision without a means to make the vision a reality becomes a burden.

I speak from experience as I once worked for a visionary. This person is extremely gifted and his vision was insightful and even cutting edge. His foresight, however, was never able to translate into viable and efficient mission organization. I see this repeated numerous times in India. A vision of grandeur that is common here includes starting churches, training schools, colleges, orphanages (is there any India organization who doesn’t have an orphanage?), hospital, clinics and social programs to serve the poor. Any one of these things is good within themselves. The vision becomes a liability, however, as it is unsustainable. Great vision that is untenable are primarily for two reasons.

Peter Doesn’t Have Enough for Paul

The first reason for vision failure is the matter of finances. Unless the organization has a powerful fund raising system it will struggle to keep the many programs afloat. Sadly, a lot of vision ministries rob Peter to pay Paul, i.e. to keep the clinic functioning, money for the orphanage is short-changed. To pay for the school, the evangelists, who are on a stipend, don’t get paid. Several of the multifaceted operations I have seen are poorly run, with staff not being paid an adequate wage, buildings are in disrepair and even the food for students is poor. If the vision isn’t properly funded then it shouldn’t be in existence, at least, that’s my opinion.

The cynical part of me (which often dominates my thought processes) thinks that the vision for multiple programs is a scheme to draw funds from different streams. One hook catches one fish, many hooks will catch a mess, or so the theory goes. While potential donors may not be keen on supporting evangelists, they are all about “brick and mortar,” and willing to pay big bucks to donate to something they can see and touch and perhaps have a plague honoring their donation. In some cases Peter is the building project (church, or school), but Paul (the radio ministry) will survive, thanks to Peter’s windfall.

Only Chameleons Can See In Two Directions

The second problem I see of too great a vision is a divided focus. If you have too many hooks in the water (staying with my fishing metaphor), there is a tendency to look at the line that has a “nibble” while ignoring other lines in the water.

Some years back I was asked to teach in a particular college. After completing my assignment I told the principal I probably would not return to teach. Why? Because the president of the organization did not see the seminary as a priority. He certainly believes in higher education, but the many other ministries consumed his time. The result was the school was not well organized, the students were in a state of confusion and the staff grumbled about the lack of resources and bickered among themselves on who was in charge. And, since no decision of any consequence could be made without the presidents permission and he was engaged in other things, the whole campus had a feel there was no real importance in what they were doing; they were was just a part of the vision ministry and staff and students were there merely to do their job. A divided focus is a precursor of apathy.

On the positive side, I have been with organizations that had only one thrust -- church planting, training or education. Because these groups do one thing well, which is a vision within itself, the programs are effective and efficient. These ministries have their financial challenges, to be sure, but it does not have the feel that they are on the brink of disaster that I see in the programs that are trying to do everything under one grandiose vision.

The story is told of Cam Townsend, who was the founder of Wycliffe and whose vision was to do one thing well. Because of Townsend’s vision, SIL has translated the Scriptures into hundreds of languages. Personally, I am drawn to one vision done well than I am of a multifaceted vision that is done poorly.

In God’s sovereignty He can make even a sow’s ear into a silk purse, though He is unlikely to do so. It is true in multifaceted missions that orphans have come to Christ, churches have been planted and people do earn degrees in their colleges. However, I am concerned that the church in India, and indeed in many parts of the Christian world, that their divided focus in ministry makes it less likely that they will reach their nation with the message of Jesus Christ and His salvation. The vision that is a mile wide and an inch deep is not a strategic hope for a lost world.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

O my goodness! You would never believe that this is EXACTLY what I needed to read today.

I work under a visionary and am about to loose my mind. I wonder why I balk at some of his great ideas. I wonder how I can have such little faith.

Visionaries typically are not detail oriented and work those to death that are! Ministry then suffers and we wonder why.

But I couldn't imagine following the lead of someone who doesn't have a vision.

Thanks for your writing!
Lorna

Bill said...

Mission" and "values" have got to be among the most abstract, overused, misunderstood words in business and ministry. Too often, this establishing the Vision exercise ends with a set of generic platitudes that do nothing but leave employees directionless or cynical. However, with no direction (vision/mission) people have little to work towards or believe in..Bush "41" said the reason he lost after serving one term as President was because "I could never get the vision thing". There are many so called leaders who claim to be visionaries, but are mostly dreamers with out a clear direction HOW we plant to achieve the mission.. A direction with st

A good mission statement and a good set of values are so real they smack you in the face with their concreteness. The mission announces exactly where you are going, and the values describe the behaviors that will get you there.

An effective mission statement basically answers one question: How do we intend to win?

It does not answer: What did we used to be good at in the good old days? Nor does it answer: How can we describe our business so that no particular unit or division or senior executive gets upset?

Instead, the question “How do we intend to win in this business/ministry?” is defining. It requires companies to make choices about people, investments, and other resources, and prevents them from falling into the common mission trap of asserting they will be all things to all people at all times. The question forces organizations to delineate their strengths and weaknesses and assess.

I wish I had dollar for every employee, staff member I've met who are totally frustrated with the lack of direction coupled with a strategy.Often it's not the vison that's to big, it's the managers "ego" that gets in the way of communicating clearly.

P. K. D. Lee said...

I am not sure if I would agree that the vision is too big. I would say that the strategy is absent. In the two illustrations given, the first has no strategy, only a vision and hence there is a struggle. In the second there appears to be no vision but rather deal with all issues in from of view, and so no strategy and no focus.

I think we need to define a vision before we can come to any understanding of the problem. To me a vision is something which arises out of a situation which needs to be addressed. A pain felt by the people which I am keen to relieve them of. This leads to focus but not neccesarily a strategy.

However many people have a vision which has nothing to do with a situation but their own grandiose iseas of themselves, and this leads to a vision which is too big.

I worked for a visionary with a clear strategy and enjoyed 20 years of developing the same. Then the vision lost focus and became grandiose, growing becuase you must grow rather than meeting a need and the ministry is in the process of perishing.

Michael said...

Thank you Richard - this is thought provoking.

A fundamental issue - is the 'vision' from the LORD or just a great idea from the mind of the person.