By asking questions like:

1. What’s your mission statement?
2. What excites/concerns you about the mission?
3. How does your work help achieve the mission?
4. What helps you achieve the mission? What gets in your way?
5. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being high), how focused are you on your mission statement?
6. What can you do to increase your focus?
7. What will you do?

Lack of energy. I don’t like it. You don’t like it. And lately, you’ve noticed that you and your team have less energy for carrying out your team’s ministry. You take some time to pray and reflect, and you conclude that both you and your team have gotten involved in good activities that aren’t central to moving your ministry forward.
 
You, for example, serve on the board of a church ministry. You enjoy helping. You like talking with other board members. As a result of your participation, you have less energy for your primary ministry—this concerns you.
 
You should be concerned. Why? Because God called you to carry out your primary ministry. And because as a leader, your job is to focus your team’s energy on its primary ministry.
 
You want to lead more effectively, so you take more time to pray and reflect. You decide that you’ll focus more on your ministry’s God-given mission statement and that you’ll focus your team more on its mission. Sounds good.
 
What can you do? To achieve your first goal of being more focused, you can do what leaders I know do: They talk about their mission statement daily. They explain how their activities contribute to achieving their mission. And they use the mission to guide their decisions about what to invest energy in.
 
What can you do to achieve your second goal of helping your team focus more on its mission? You can ask your team what excites them about your team’s mission statement. You can have your team prioritize current activities in terms of achieving the team’s mission. And when a team member is considering whether or not to take on a task, you can ask, “How effectively will this ___ (meeting, project, task, proposed change) help us accomplish our team’s mission?”
 
Bottom line: Focus on the mission.
  

Learn more about getting focused:

• Watch videos
• Take a self-assessment
• Read “To learn more about achieving your mission, explore these 4 questions”

You want to serve God more effectively. So do I. God has done great things for me, and out of gratitude, I want serve even more effectively.
 
One thing that helps me increase my effectiveness is focusing. Focusing on God, on what He’s calling me to do, on what’s going on, and on action steps I need to take so I can serve effectively.
 
Questions help me focus. Questions like:

1. What’s your organization’s God-given mission?
2. What’s it take to achieve your organization’s God-given mission?
3. How can you measure mission achievement?
4. How can you identify key performance indicators?
5. How can you use key performance indicators to achieve your mission?

To get started, how about discussing the above questions at a team meeting?
 
Get focused. Reflect on some questions. Today.

You're in a meeting. You're listening to an intriguing proposal on staff training. But something is bothering you—the presenter has not connected the proposal to your organization's mission.

Question: What can you do?

Answer: You can ask questions, for example:

• How does your proposal support our mission?
• How will you help others understand how your proposal supports our mission?
• What revisions can you make to your proposal so is explicitly supports the achievement of our mission?

Encourage others to connect their proposals to the mission. Ask questions. Today.

Want to achieve your mission? If so, focus even more on your mission. Why? Because the more you focus on your mission, the more you will get it done.
 
3 questions:

1. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being high), how focused are you on your mission?
2. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being high), how focused on your mission do you want to be?
3. What will you do?

Focus on achieving your mission. Today.

Tomorrow, you’re presenting a proposal to the Leadership Team. The proposal is about how to orient new staff better. You feel good about the proposal.
 
But something is bothering you.
 
Then you realize what is bothering you. When developing your proposal, you didn’t think about your organization’s mission. You didn’t ask yourself, “In terms of the mission, what do new staff need to understand, be able to do, and value?”
 
As you consider this question, other questions come to mind:

• How can we help new staff understand the mission?
• How can we help new staff understand where we are in terms of achieving our mission?
• How can we help staff understand how they contribute to the mission?
• How can I help the Leadership Team see how this proposal supports the mission?

Good news! The presentation isn’t until tomorrow. So, you have time to revise it. You have time to make clear how the proposal supports the mission.
 
Consider 4 questions:

1. What proposal are you working on?
2. What do you hope to accomplish through your proposal?
3. How does your proposal support the mission?
4. How will you help others understand how your proposal supports the mission?

Connect your proposals to your mission. Today.

Your team is on a mission. First team to make the puzzle wins. Your team has found the edge pieces and has connected them to make a rectangle. And now your team is at a loss.
 
There’s a gaping hole inside the rectangle.
 
Unfortunately, this puzzle did not come with a picture. You wish it had. Everyone on your team wishes it had. Why? Because knowing what the picture looks like would help your team work more effectively and efficiently to finish the puzzle.
 
Point: In an organization, the mission statement is like the puzzle border. Daily activities are like the pieces that fill in the gaping hole. Knowing how the daily activities are connected to the mission and to each other can help you work more effectively and efficiently.
 
Consider 3 questions:

1. What do you do each day?
2. If you didn’t do your job, what would happen?
3. So, how does your job contribute to achieving the mission?

Find out how your daily activities contribute to the mission. Today.

Leaders who are focused on their mission do 5 things. To what extent do you do these 5 things?

Want to focus on your mission? If so, talk about it. Why? Because talking helps you focus. The more you talk about your mission, the more you’ll focus on it.
 
Want to find out how focused you are on your mission? If so, find out how often you talk about it. If you regularly talk about your mission each day, you’re focused on it. If you don’t talk about your mission each day, you’re not fully focused on it.
 
Consider 5 questions:

1. What do you talk about with others?
2. What priorities do your daily conversations reflect?
3. How does talking impact what you focus on?
4. If you talked more about your mission, what might happen?
5. What will you do?

Talk about your mission. Today.

You want to learn more about achieving your God-given mission. You want deepen your understanding of:

1. Your mission
2. What it takes to achieve your mission
3. How you’re doing on achieving your mission
4. How you can close the gap between the words of your mission and the reality of your situation

Question: How can you learn more about achieving your mission?

Answer: By exploring the following 4 questions. Read More...

To close the gap between the words of your mission statement and the reality of your current situation, do 4 things: focus on your mission, empower others, work smart, and pursue excellence.

Imagine asking 3 Christian leaders what their God-given organizational mission is. Imagine you got the following 3 responses:

1. To look busy.
2. To be busy.
3. To be productive.

How would you feel? I'd be stunned. And I'd feel discouraged and sad. Read More...

You developed a mission statement. You feel good about it. It reflects how God has been leading you.
 
Question: Now what? Read More...

You and I want to achieve our God-given missions. To do so, we know we need to focus on our missions.
 
Question: How can training increase focus on the mission? Read More...

Make sure you ask God for help, define mission achievement, measure mission achievement, and take action.

Want to achieve your God-given mission? Then focus on 3 things:

1. Your mission statement.
2. The results you need to achieve your mission.
3. The measures that tell you if you’ve achieved the desired results.

Read More...

I like telling stories. I also like celebrations. You know, parties. Food, fun, fellowship. And the good news is that storytelling and celebration can help you and me increase our focus on the mission
 
Question: How can stories and celebration increase focus on the mission? Read More...

You and I both know that focusing on the mission is vital and challenging. It’s vital because if we don't focus on the mission, we get off track. It’s challenging because mission statements are broad and because we face distractions.
 
Here’s some good news—a scorecard can help! Read More...

Like you, I have a mission. Here’s mine: Empowering Christian leaders and organizations to close the rhetoric/reality gap. And like you, I want to increase my focus on my mission.
 
Question: How can measurement increase focus on the mission? Read More...

To pursue God’s calling, you want to increasingly focus on your mission. Good.
 
Question: To increasingly focus on your mission, what do you need to keep doing, start doing, and stop doing? Read More...

You have a mission statement, and you want focus on it. Good.
 
Question: How can you increase your focus on your mission? Read More...

How focused are you on your God-given mission? To find out, take the following self-assessment. Read More...

You’re working for a Christian organization. You believe in the organization’s mission. And you want to help the organization achieve its mission. Read More...

Michael: How important is the mission God has given your organization?

Bob: It’s really important. God gave it to us, asked us to carry it out, and used it to impact the lives of others. Read More...

A mission statement is your answer to…

• Who are we?
  
• What do we do?
  
• Whom do we serve?

Read More...

Christian teachers, your mission is to equip students to impact the world for Christ. To achieve your mission, you need to increase your students’ understanding and use of a biblical perspective of course content. Read More...

15F, 16F, 17F, and 18F—my family and I are all in window seats on UA7590, traveling from Grand Rapids to Chicago. Read More...

Your goal? To meet or exceed the following organizational standard: The leader focuses organizational energy on achieving the mission. To reach your goal, start by imagining. Read More...

Let me answer your question by comparing coaching and leading. You’re coaching a sports team. Here are 7 tips that can help you coach effectively.
Read More...

Your goal: To be a good steward of what God has given you by pursuing excellence. Your plan: To demonstrate commitment to your God-given mission. Your question: How? Read More...

Achieving your God-given mission takes work. Hard work. A lot of hard work. You know that working to achieve your mission means you’ll be busy. Busy you can deal with—but feeling hurried is something you can’t deal with. Read More...

Increasing your mission quotient (MQ) can help you achieve your God-given mission. To increase your MQ, answer the following 15 questions. Better yet, get a team together to answer the questions. Read More...

God has given your school a mission. You are committed to it, you want to achieve it, and you believe that achieving it will impact the world for Christ. But it’s Tuesday morning. Read More...

In crisis, we rally, we focus, and we collaborate at a high level towards a common goal. And while we don’t live in constant crisis and wouldn’t want to, we do want to collaborate at a high level towards a common goal—on a regular basis. Read More...

Christian schools work hard to achieve their missions. Four key questions to consider regarding mission achievement are... Read More...

What would happen if your school defined its God-given mission in terms of measurable student learning by developing student objectives (also known as expected student outcomes)? Read More...