Fortune Magazine just published a list of the world’s most admired companies. The ranking on the list was established by a few more than 4,000 executives, directors, and securities analysts. I do business with number 1 (Apple: all my computers since 1984) and number 50 (Samsung: LCD HDTV) and many of the in-between ones (Google, GE, Microsoft (grudgingly), WalMart, Costco, Honda, Starbucks, Intel, Sony, Best Buy, AT&T). Why do these companies have such a strong reputation among business leaders? (A related question is why they have such a good reputation with the consumers.)
Most important, according to the survey, is a strong, stable strategy. “Companies that change strategies must usually change organizational structures as well… It forces employees to focus inward rather than outward and becomes a giant sink of time and energy.”
The data show that the structure of an organization is far less important than its strategy. The most admired companies don’t share a common operating model. What they do share is a focus on identifying and developing talent.
As I was reflecting on this article, I wondered how the principles these admired companies followed applied to my church, if at all. After first being tempted to consider them apples and oranges, I realized that both an excellent company and an excellent church require excellent leadership that lays out a clear and compelling strategy. A mushy strategy, or bouncing from one strategy to another, keeps a church from being effective.
Furthermore, like successful companies, a church, must concentrate on identifying and developing talent. This is exactly what Ephesians 4:12-13 means, “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
How is your church doing?
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