4 Minute Read…
If you’re successful, be afraid. Be very, very afraid.
It’s incredible, really. The one thing we want to be (successful) is the one thing that can create our downfall.
You see it all the time. You may have lived through this a few times. The stories are all relatively similar. The pathway goes like this: hard work produces great success. That success gives way to entitlement and then arrogance. Finally, arrogance causes leaders and organizations to relax. The world around is still changing, but the organization is not. After all, look at how much money we have. Look at how many people are attending. Look at our online engagement.
I’m a church leader, but I spent a decade in the marketplace before transitioning into ministry. The dangers of success are present in both spaces in equal measure. For now, let’s look at church success. Or at least how churches tend to define success.
The most obvious church success measurement is attendance. In my 15 years of church leadership, it would be impossible to count the number of times other church leaders have asked me, “Whacha runn’n?” I guess the slang for “How many people are attending (or watching in today’s world)?” feels less icky.
But attendance is but one success metric. I bet you’ve got a dashboard full of measurements:
- Attendance
- Small group participation
- Sunday School engagement
- Volunteer participation and retention
- Generosity
- Baptisms
- Salvations
- Membership
- Online viewership
- Online engagement
That list is incomplete but makes the point. There are multitudes of metrics that allow us to evaluate our success. More, they enable us to call ourselves “successful.” And this is where we get into trouble.
Having success keeps us hungry. Being successful can birth apathy.
Luckily, you can see the onset of successful danger.
Here are a few organizational red flags:
1. A good news focus
Organizations in danger of failing from success tend to overemphasize the good news while excusing away the bad. I bet you’ve seen this before. “I know we’ve only baptized five people this year, but…” You can fill that blank in however you want. There’s always a “good reason” for the bad news. And there’s always some good news on which to focus, instead. Excusing negative metric trends is a red flag.
2. Mounds of red tape
Decision-making, idea evaluation, and empirical “proof” are increasingly complicated and time-consuming in a successful (and now bureaucratic) organization. Every idea requires multitudes of meetings and discussions. Everyone in leadership (and non-leadership) feels entitled to weigh in, and the leadership requires official requests to try anything. The red tape makes trying something new nearly not worth it. After all, we’re successful, and we don’t want that to change.
3. Unnecessary risk aversion
If you’d like to try something different and the “organization” resists, pay attention. Honestly, there are times risks are too risky (hence the name). There are times a potential risk has not been thoroughly evaluated. That’s fair. However, most ideas and experiments that the organization considers risky might highlight fear, not facts. I promise you the organization began by taking a risk, but everybody and everything becomes more risk-averse with age and success.
4. Doubling-down on what and how, not why
“Why we do it” marks the beginning, but success tends to interject “what we do” and “how we do it.” When the “what” and “how” overwhelm the original “why,” red flags should fly. Success causes leaders to double-down on what generated the success. Unfortunately, in an ever-changing world, maintaining the what and how keeps the organization tied to the past.
5. Maintaining order at almost any cost
And there is a cost. Success requires order, and order brings management, forming the organization. In the beginning, there was no “organization.” You had some sense of order, but that was to ensure bills were paid and more comprehensive policies were followed. Your growth required order which created the organization. You know what organizations do, right? They maintain order. Maintenance alone isn’t a red flag, but a dedication to maintaining current methods, strategies, and structures are.
6. Steward-what?
In the beginning, every dollar mattered. I remember at our church asking to see the weekly giving as soon as possible on Sunday. As we grew and became more successful, I stopped asking. Monthly P&Ls replaced weekly (or at times daily) financial checkups. Fiscal success can produce financial entitlement and arrogance. Money gets easier to spend. Pricetags become less concerning. Costs are never relative, but financial success makes expenses easier to ignore.
I hope you are massively successful. Success is good, but left unchecked, the very thing we desire can become the very thing destroys.
Resisting the pitfalls of success requires change. Change is challenging. That’s why I created Transformation Solutions.
How can I help?
Getting better, not just bigger, is why I created Transformation Solutions. At Transformation Solutions, we help churches discern what needs to change and coach pastors through the challenge of change. If you are ready to get better, I’d love to support you and your church through the process of evaluation and execution.
Go right now to mytransformationsolutions.com and sign up for a free, 30-minute conversation to decide if working together works for you.
