Governance — Good, Better and Best

Good governance gets better results with best practices. Proven standards beginning with a clear statement of strategic focus and ending with a candid assessment of performance constitute best practices in organizational governance. Christ-centered organizations are no exception. Here is our guiding principle: Governing boards that follow best practices may not be Christ-centered, but Christ-centered boards will follow best practices.

Good reason backs up this principle. First, best practices increase the effectiveness of our ministries. Second, astute major donors will ask about best practices before they give to us. Third, Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are a “letter from Christ…known and read by everybody,” (II Cor. 3:2). A Christ-centered organization is also a letter from Christ that is read far and wide. To have best practices written into the text is an honor to the Author and a witness to the reader.

Anticipatory Governance

Wayne Gretzky, ”The Great One” in the world of hockey, is not known as an authority on governance, but he spoke volumes for us when he said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” Strategic governance is always anticipatory. Effective boards of Christ-centered organizations will foresee emerging issues and trends in both its internal and external environment in order to get ahead of potential problems and propose viable options. Ineffective boards, however, are known for acting only after things become urgent.

CEO’s are the Wayne Gretzkys of an effective board. In their reporting as well as their planning they will strike an anticipatory note to limit the surprises and grasp the opportunities. With deft and strategic moves, then, the board and the CEO can skate together to where the puck is going, not where it has been.

Follow the Money!

When my wife asks my opinion on current events, such as international revolution or domestic protest, my stock answer is “Follow the money.” If you start with that assumption about the motivation for leadership, whether in business, politics, education, international affairs or even religion, you will be right 90 percent of the time. The other ten percent can be subsumed under the corollary “Follow the ego.”

Leadership decisions are always made with mixed motives. CEOs of Christ-centered organizations are not exempt. Even when we make decisions to do what is good for our organizations and what is right for the people involved, we will probably have a bit of “Follow the money” and “Follow the ego” in mind. In fact, most of us develop a predictable character of decision-making based upon our motives. We are fooling no one if we claim to have the mind of God, but are known for our underlying motive of money or ego. Isn’t this why the Paul said that he had to die daily? Even his fiery, all-consuming passion to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles could be subverted by self-interest. We, too, need the discipline of death for the start of our day. Our motive for decision-making may never be wholly pure, but it can be so Christ-centered and Spirit-filled that no one will say of us, “Follow the money” or “Follow the ego.”

Countering the Culture of Complacency

Diverse threads of my reading are coming together in a warning for boards of Christ-centered organizations. One thread is the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Metaxas in which we see the tragic results of complacency in the Christian church during the rise of the Hitler. Another thread is the Association of Governing Boards magazine for boards of colleges and universities with a feature article warning trustees about breathing a sigh of relief and relaxing after weathering the recent financial crisis. Still another is an analysis of such cataclysmic events as the Egyptian revolt, the BP oil spill, and the loss of the Columbia space shuttle. In each case, a culture of complacency contributed to the failure to see the coming crisis.

Boards of Christ-centered organizations have had it good for a long time. We have counted on economic prosperity, evangelical clout, political favor, and traditional values to support and strengthen our ministries. But, to assume that they will go on forever is the trap door into a culture of complacency. Perhaps, we need an old-fashioned dose of “WOT’S UP” in one of our board meetings asking, not just about our internal Strengths and Weaknesses, but also about the external Threats and Opportunities of which we must be aware. The exercise is sure to shake up our assumptions and counter the ever-lurking culture of complacency.

Is Your Business Plan Biblical?

To be in vogue, Christ-centered organizations must have a credible business plan. This is a far cry from the times when our ministries flew by faith and the seat of our pants. What have we gained? As a guy who prizes rational planning and outcomes, the business plan makes sense. It is rational, strategic, and productive. But what have we lost? When I hear about core values, organizational brands, consumer tastes, market share, competitive advantage, and measurable success, I cannot help but asking, “Are we still in line with Biblical values and the Spirit of Christ?” Bear with me while I ask these follow-up questions.

• Are core values the same as Biblical convictions?
• Is organizational branding reflective of the image of Christ?
• Are consumer tastes equal to our need to confess our sins?
• Is market share consistent with the Great Commission?
• Is competitive advantage synonymous with total sacrifice?
• Does measurable success include the reward for faithfulness?

Words can change us. That is why Paul’s job description for a “workman approved of God” included the responsibility for “rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15). Boards of Christ-centered organizations have the same responsibility. To be approved of God, we may have to make some corrections.

Thank You, President Mubarak!

The Egyptian dictator deserves credit for one thing: He gives us a forceful reminder that CEOs can overstay their welcome. Even in Christ-centered organizations, the words are often heard, “It’s time for him to go” or “She should leave while she’s still loved.” Why do successful CEOs persist on overstaying their welcome? Mubarack gives us the answer. After 30 years in office, his identity is in his position and his timing is in his ego. A sad state, to be sure, but no different than CEOs of Christ-centered organizations whose identity has shrunken to the limits of a position and whose timing is self-serving. Under these conditions, there is no life after leaving.

CEOs of Christ-centered organizations need to be stewards of their own identity. While giving themselves fully to their calling as Christian leaders, they should cultivate personal interests and create professional options beyond the limits of their executive position. They should also be self-monitors of the time and tide of their ministries. Isaiah warns against leaders who create gods in their own image to justify their success and take God’s timing into their own hands to assure their legacy. We dare not succumb to that temptation. To go out on the high tide of God’s timing with freedom to explore options is not retirement from ministry, it is redeployment in ministry at its very best.

*See The Leader’s Legacy and Retirement Is Not for Sissies by David McKenna

Swimming Naked in an Ebb Tide

Billy Graham continues to have Spirit-guided wisdom far beyond his 91 years. When asked what cautions he had for evangelicals today, he warned us about being “victims of our own success.”

Billy is so right. Evangelicals handle poverty better than prosperity. When our faith-based ministries are struggling in the margins, we depend on God, make sacrifices, focus our energies, exercise creativity, and multiply the effectiveness of our ministry. In prosperity, however, we tend to let the good times roll.

Think about the long-term, strategic plans of Christ-centered organizations today. More often than not, they are based on the assumption that the growth of the future will equal or exceed the growth of the past.

Robert Putnam, however, echoes Billy Graham’s caution in his book American Grace. According to demographic studies, the halcyon days of evangelical power, growth, and influence are waning. Leaking out of the bottom of the statistics is a younger generation of evangelicals coming to adulthood who reject politicized faith, tolerate theological diversity, and put individual spirituality over institutional loyalty. If so, boards and executive leaders of Christ-centered organizations had better give our plans a reality check and rethink our strategy according to the disciplines of sound management. Otherwise, as crusty old Warren Buffett put it, “When the tide goes out, you discover who’s swimming naked.” We dare not let good times mask bad management.