Do You Know How You Measure Success?
TEASER
Here's a question. Over the next 6-12 months, how will you and your church measure success? Asked another way, how will you know if what you're trying to do is working?
Maybe we need to back up for a minute before asking that and chat about how you measured it before the pandemic? Do you even know? If not, that's ok, but now is the time to have the conversation because you really should know how that's happening, and here's one of the big reasons why.
Whether you talk about it openly or not, everyone on your staff team, elders team or on the membership roll takes stalk of what's happening at the church and decides for themselves whether or not things are working.
If you've ever heard anyone talk about an event or ministry that used to run well in the past but doesn't now, that person is saying, "back when we did this, we were more successful."
Everyone in your church measures success somehow- and that's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. When someone measures success, it means they're looking to see if what they're doing is working.
The problem comes when all those people are measuring success in different ways – or using other metrics. When that happens, you run into a problem with expectations and opinions about what should happen next.
So in this episode, we're going to spend some time talking about how your church can measure things consistently - and we're starting right now.
MEASURING SUCCESS
Alright. So this topic can be a little tricky because some people will jump up and say, or feel like saying, "isn't talking about measuring success something businesses do? Should we be doing that as a church?" And I understand why some people feel that way, so give me one minute to clarify.
When I talk about measuring success, I'm talking about finding a way to tell if something you're doing is working. For example, if you need some extra light, but when you go to turn on your flashlight, there is no light, then you would say, "that flashlight isn't working."
But if you put new batteries in there and then turn it on and the light comes out, you'd say, "it's working."
So, you're measuring success based on whether the flashlight is producing light or now.
Taking it one step further - maybe you pull out a working flashlight, but it's not bright enough to see what you need to see. Now you no longer measure success based on whether it turns on but by how bright it is.
Here's why knowing how to measure success is essential.
If an onlooker sees you turn on a flashlight, they might think, "that flashlight works." But if it's not serving the purpose, you need it for, and then you would be thinking, "this flashlight isn't working."
And when two people measure success differently, it is hard to know when something is working and when it's not.
And this happens in the church all the time. I'm not going to get into too many examples, but suffice to say, there are a lot of areas where some people would say, "this is great," and others would say, "this needs an overhaul."
When this comes to a head when in a meeting, people debate whether or not something is working before establishing what "working" looks like. I think the deeper into this episode we get, the more you'll see what I mean.
Whether people talk about it openly or not, there are many ways that churches measure whether or not what they're doing is working. Here is a not-so-complete list in no particular order.
New Baptisms
New member/classes
Conversations / confessions
Sunday morning / Mid-week attendance
Offerings / Income
Youtube/Facebook views
The number of people that say they like your Sunday morning sermons
The state of your finances
The type of building you have and how it looks and feels
How many people do you have active in small groups
On their own, non of the ways of measuring success is wrong as long as they are clearly defined and have a purpose.
For example, if one of your goals of growing your student ministry numerically, measuring attendance is an excellent way to do it - but you should likely know what "growing" means. Some would see going from 10 students to 20 as a success, and some would see it as a goal not yet reached. No matter the ministry, one thing's for sure. If you don't have a clear sense of what you're measuring, you'll have no idea whether what you're doing is working or not.
There are a lot of reasons defining success is important, but here are our top three:
Measuring success gets everyone pulling in the same direction
Measuring success helps engage and attract both new and old church members
Measuring success always puts the mission over the methods
And here's something you might not have considered but is likely true for the majority of churches right now.
THE WAY YOU MEASURE SUCCESS PRE-COVID WILL LIKELY BE DIFFERENT FROM HOW YOU MEASURE IT POST-COVID, SO YOU SHOULD HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT THAT.
The easy example here is attendance. With so much talk that only 60% - 70% of people will come back in person, the way you measure Sunday morning's participation will likely change, at least in the short term.
Long term, knowing how to measure success will be key for your church, not only to make sure that you know how things are going now but also how to plan for the future. So here at Church Helper, we've come up with five questions you can ask your team to start this conversation off well.
Five Conversation Starters About Success
1 What are our Goals?
Do you know what you can't have before you have goals? A way to measure whether those goals are working.
If you haven't set clear goals, but a bunch of people saying either "things are great" or "things need work," then those statements aren't based on anything – and that's pretty dangerous for your future. If you don't have any goals, then it's time to set some. If you don't know how to go about doing that or where to start, then make sure you message us, and we'll help get you going.
2. Who is going to measure our success?
This question is fundamental. When it comes to deciding what's working, knowing who is measuring that is important. Maybe it's one person, or perhaps it's fifteen people – but no matter who it is, your team should know.
Many sports teams, especially in the playoffs, will block out the media and outside noise because they don't want it to influence how they measure their successes. There could be 100 reporters yelling about what they should do, but they know that it's the team that determines how things are going - and it helps keep them on track. You need to make sure your team has a similar plan in place, so when one or two disgruntled people come to give you the what for, you don't feel the need to change everything. We all know that feeling.
3. How often will we review our progress?
This is important because when you don’t decide it ahead of time, it’s easy to wait too long or cut something short - because people get itchy. Take a minute and define when you’re going to review, and then let it play out - even if it’s a little uncomfortable.
4. How are we communicating our successes, and to whom?
People love to hear about how things are going well or where things need to improve, and you should be excited to tell them! But before you do, make sure everyone knows how that's going to happen. If some people on your team are saying things are great, and others are saying things are broken, you're going to have a confused congregation - and you're going to manufacture division in your church.
5. How are you celebrating when things go well?
Do you know what we all love? A celebration.
When things are going well, make sure everyone knows it. The more people see things move forward, the more they want to be part of the action. Find ways, both big and small, to celebrate with your team!
