Exploit Opportunities First, Solve problems second

900 words - 3 minutes or less

I promised in a previous issue to share a story about Doris Drucker, Peter’s wife of over 65 years.

I first met Doris when she entered the house from a tennis match. She was around 88 at the time. Peter told me, “She is a mountain goat of a climber too. She still climbs Mount Baldy.” She tried to correct that impression, but she was fit and enjoyed her mountain walks.

One evening, four of us, me , Bob Buford, Peter, and Doris, were talking. Actually, Peter was talking, and we were all listening.

“Speak UP!” Doris kept saying, as Peter tended to drop into a lower range soft voice.

“She is always telling me that. In fact, she invented a device to help me. She is quite the inventor. She got a patent and everything. Go and get it, Doris.”

She went out of the room and, after some bustling around somewhere else in the house, came back with a metal box attached with light diodes on the front. She went on to demonstrate a simple audio device she had designed that she claimed went into the back of the speaker’s room.

“You see, when the lights are in the red, the speaker is not speaking loud enough; when it is in the green, everyone can hear them. We can bring it tomorrow for the group meeting you are hosting.”

That became a great excuse for some of the pastors to meet Doris the next day as she set up the machine in the back. Of course, we always had microphones and amplification for Peter when he spoke, but Doris was proud to show her device and talk to the pastors. Peter was proud to give praise to his wife.

At the end of the session, I said to Doris, “he did a great job speaking up today.”

“It was the device,” she claimed.

I told Peter how well he had done and how his voice really carried in the room. I said: “Doris’ device really works.”

“It may work, but with my eyesight, I can never see it in the back of the room. But don’t spoil it for Doris,” said Peter.

(note:?there is a nice archived Inc. magazine article here on the device)

On to the Drucker lessons…

Drucker Quote 1: “This defines entrepreneur and entrepreneurship - the entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.”

Admittedly, not all church leaders are called to be entrepreneurs. But Peter’s view was that those that go seeking what is changing and can design effective responses will be winners.

The pandemic season has taught several lessons. Some quickly adapted to Covid season 1 to create a new ministry mindset and model. But they have yet to move on from that approach to this new day.

I will write more in a later issue on this topic, but those seeking to leverage the underlying changes in our society should find ways to exploit the opportunities there.

These opportunities will look very different from pre-pandemic times, making them hard to get our heads around though.

Look around – what are the changes, and how can we exploit them? If we view these as problems, then we get one answer. If we can find an opportunity though, we may get rewarded.

Drucker quote 2: “People in any organization are always attached to the obsolete - the things that should have worked but did not, the things that once were productive and no longer are.”

See the above lines on the first quote. This has been the most challenging part of the re-engagement by church leaders post-pandemic, especially the last phrase – “that were once productive and no longer are.”

The wisdom needed now is a clear evaluation of approaches that should be changed or discarded because they no longer fit the current climate. The challenge is that many of these have trained volunteers and commitment from core leaders because “it worked in the past.”

Drucker Quote 3: “The function of management is to make the church more church-like, not to make the church more businesslike.”

This was one of Bob Buford’s favorites when friends in business would say: “If the church were run like a business, it would be a better church.” He would respond by giving this quote back to them.

In fact, as Peter spent most of his last 20 years working in the social sector, he had to remind leaders that the most important mission is “changed lives” and that churches and nonprofits should seek to find ways to fulfill that mission, not become more like a business. He was all for good organization, mind you. But the thrust was to keep the values and heart of the mission at the center.

Drucker Quote 4: “Strategy is a commodity; execution is an art.”

Since his passing in 2005, the world has caught up to Peter.

A church needs to decide on its particular strategy and tactics to help it best accomplish its God-called mission for its local context.

But every day and every week, execution is where a church will make a difference.

The consistent follow-up, follow-through, and daily discipline wins in the end. These elements can be hard to define at times. Ideas such as the lead measures that translate into weekly checklists help but are often resisted by church leaders. But they make all the difference.

What regular items need doing every week to make our mission a success? What is on your list?

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Dave Travis?has advised large church pastors, boards, and staff for over 30 years.?Almost 25 years were with Leadership Network, where he led the large church area and then retired as CEO in 2018.?

Since then, he has worked with dozens of churches and their leaders, helping guide them to solve wicked, sticky challenges through his role as Director of Strategic Counsel to Pastors and Church Boards at Generis.?

He has created multiple processes in that role, including the Pastor Smart Succession Process, Storycrafting for Church Strategy, and Building Better Boards. His latest is the Pastor Legacy Life Plan, a coaching process to help mid-career pastors for their future legacy seasons.?

He has mangled the English language to embarrass his English teacher mother and assemble 11 books, booklets, and e-books. Dozens sold, half dozens read.