Who are my stakeholders?!
We had an organizational-training-Consultant-Guru type person come and do some stuff with us on Friday which I really enjoyed. She isn't a Christian as far as I'm aware, but loads of the stuff that she delivered had a real Kingdom ethos about it. One of the things we looked at was "what makes an organization extraordinary?" Research showed that most organizations that are extraordinary exhibit the following characteristics:
• Exciting Shared Goals
• Strong Awareness of stakeholders needs
• Strong Leadership
• Empowerment culture
• Stretching plans & measures
• Accountability
• Efficient management processes
• Effective Communications
• Celebrations
• Learning & unlearning
• Extraordinary People
After looking at the list, Pete mentioned that in the context of planting churches a healthy church definitely needs "strong awareness of stakeholders needs". The problem is that we usually get confused about who the stakeholders are!
The churches stakeholders are not the church members, but rather they are the people who the church is trying to reach out to. Now I feel even more committed to always keep my efforts outward focused.
