Week 34 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) David Beroth is our guest writer today.
Week 34: Accommodating Various Constituencies in a Mission
THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Leaders need to manage simultaneously for the present and the future. In order to accomplish this, great leaders listen, evaluate, and respond to their constituent’s needs and ideas within the framework of the organization’s core mission.
DAVID BEROTH'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 34, pages 271-277:
• “Executives of all institutions must reconcile the interests of each of their constituents as they manage the short-term and long-term interests of the organization.”
• “Management has to live in both present and future. It must keep the enterprise performing in the present—or else there will be no enterprise capable of performing in the future. And it has to make the enterprise capable of performance, growth and change in the future.”
• What key lesson did Peter Drucker learn about nonprofits? “I soon learned that they start out by defining the fundamental change that the nonprofit institution wants to make in society and in human beings; then they project that goal onto the concerns of each of the institution's constituencies.”
DAVID BEROTH'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
Peter Drucker expressed both the challenge and the opportunity for this type of leadership. It can be summarized in four key steps:
1. Educate. Tell constituents of your organization that you want to hear their ideas and that you’ll evaluate those ideas in light of the core mission, both for short-term and long-term strategies.
2. Integrate. Gather and assimilate the ideas. Seek key themes, patterns or opportunities to best accomplish your mission.
3. Concentrate. Once you have obtained those insights, determine your organization’s priorities and then start focusing your time, energy, and resources to accomplish those goals.
4. Communicate. You have listened to your constituents. Now tell them what you have heard from them, how you have connected the dots, in what ways the Lord is directing, and what the vision and strategies will be for your organization.
We have sought to pursue these steps at Seed Company (an affiliate of Wycliffe Bible Translators) in the realm of Bible translation. Over the past several years we have observed what God is doing in the missiological and philanthropic world. We have listened carefully to our many partners. We have integrated these ideas and pursued a complementary focus in our ministry (known in the business world as a “2nd Line of Business” or “Jumping the S-Curve”).
The Lord has directed us to broaden the impact of Bible translation with partnering organizations through concentrating on what has come to be called the “Common Framework.” We already see this fulfilling what it was designed to do: accelerate ministry impact, expand local ownership, enhance financial stewardship, and augment significant relationships. With these outcomes, we have had many opportunities to communicate with others and to rejoice with them over what God has done.
THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DAVID BEROTH:
David Beroth is the CFO at Seed Company, Arlington, Texas. Prior to 2011, he was a shareholder in a public accounting firm that had a niche in nonprofit accounting, auditing and taxation. David is a certified public accountant with a Bachelor of Science in business administration and a major in accounting.
TO-DO TODAY:
• Take time today to think through the long-term aspects of your organization’s mission and direction. Ask yourself if you have adequately evaluated the four steps above. If not, set aside time to prayerfully consider how to address these matters to lead your team or organization well.
NEXT MONDAY:
On August 31, 2015, Joanne Pearson will reminisce about her social work days in Chicago and provide the color commentary on Week 35’s topic, “The Salvation Army,” the third of five weeks on “Lessons From the Social Sector on the Power of Purpose.”
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