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.



To what extent do staff in your organization do these 4 things? To find out, take the following self-assessment (download). Rate each item in terms of how well it describes what your staff do. Use the following scale: 

4: Definitely • 3: Usually • 2: Sort of • 1: Rarely


Focus on mission
___ We comfortably recite the mission verbatim in casual conversation.
___ We know what it takes to achieve our mission.
___ We can readily explain how each of our daily activities contributes to achieving the mission.
___ We know the current level of mission achievement.
___ We focus on closing the gap between current and targeted levels of mission achievement.
___ We focus on our God-given mission (instead of other good things).

Empower others
___ We listen (instead of talking).
___ We inquire (instead of giving advice).
___ We lead by asking questions.
___ We focus others on taking SMART actions (instead of letting others take undefined actions).
___ We encourage (instead of criticizing).
___ We empower others to solve their own problems (instead of solving their problems).

Work smart
___ We focus on doing right things, before focusing on doing things right.
___ We document our goals.
___ We reflect on our goals.
___ We determine the action steps we need to take to achieve our goals.
___ We schedule time for our big goals first, then schedule time for small goals (like email).
___ We track progress on our goals.
___ We focus on working smarter (not harder).

Pursue excellence
___ We are aware of best practices that help us carry our mission, strategic plan, and specific job assignments.
___ We have documented our best practices.
___ Our professional development program reflect best practice.
___ Our improvement system reflects best practice.
___ Our meetings reflect best practice.
___ We use best practice to care for staff.
___ We use best practice.
___ We pursue excellence.


Now, ask yourself 5 questions about the data:

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
2. What satisfies/concerns me about the data?
3. In terms of providing professional development, how would I prioritize the 4 areas?
4. What might happen if the professional development needs in the top area were met?
5. What will I do?

Pursue excellence. Improve your organization’s professional development. Today.


*Need professional development resources? Close the Gap Now offers live training (coach and productivity) and free tutorials/tools:

1. How focused are you on your God-given mission?
2. Explore getting coaching
3. How can you empower others more effectively?
4. Empower others to strategically pursue God’s calling
5. Lead by asking questions
6. Develop a coaching culture
7. How can you manage yourself more effectively?
8. Energize, focus, and unleash your staff
9. Enhance your organization’s improvement system
10. How can you enhance your organization’s professional development program?
11. What makes a good meeting good?

Your client wants to clarify and strategically pursue God’s calling. That’s great!

Question: How can you empower your client to do this?

Answer: By asking 10 questions:

1. How has God blessed you to pursue His calling?”
2. What problems and opportunities are you passionate about & blessed by God to address?
3. What’s your mission?
4. What’s it take to carry out your God-given mission?
5. What’s already been accomplished?
6. What helps/hinders you in achieving your goals?
7. What are your options for achieving your goals?
8. What will you do to achieve your goals?
9. What will you do this week?
10. How can you continue to make progress?

Your client will need multiple sessions to reflect on these 10 questions, and your client might benefit from using tools. This set of tools includes a self-assessment and addresses questions 1-7.

Leaders empower others. A key way leaders empower others is by asking questions.



To get an idea of how you can more effectively lead by asking questions, complete the following self-assessment (download). Rate each item, using the following scale:

4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sort of • 1: Rarely


Lead from your heart
___ I trust that the Holy Spirit is working in the heart of every believer.
___ I believe others can define and achieve their goals.
___ I target motivation, not information.
___ I empower others to take responsibility.
___ I believe that reflection is powerful.
___ I want to help staff be better problem solvers (not to solve their problems).
 
Inquiry skills
___ I ask open-ended questions.
___ I don’t ask “why” questions.
___ I don’t give advice.
___ I easily think of good questions to ask.

Lead by asking questions
___ I ask questions to help others.
 
___ I ask questions to help others reflect.
___ I ask questions to help others get clear.
___ I ask questions to help others prioritize.
___ I ask questions to help others get organized.
 
___ I ask questions to help others focus.
___ I ask questions to help others target their strengths.
___ I ask questions to help others pay attention to their goals.
___ I ask questions to help others reduce their frustrations.
 
___ I lead by asking questions.


Now, ask yourself 5 questions about the data:

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
2. What’s encouraging/discouraging about the data?
3. What helps me lead by asking questions?
4. What hinders me from leading by asking questions?
5. What will I do?

Empower others. Lead by asking questions. Today.

You want to pursue God’s calling. You’ve heard about coaching, and you want to explore getting coaching. Good. Start your exploration by watching this 1-minute video.



Does coaching help people pursue God’s calling? Yes.

• As a result of getting coaching, I’ve clarified my ministry, better balanced home and work, and more effectively led change.
• Those I coach consistently testify that coaching helps them achieve their goals.
• And research indicates that coaching, for example, increases training impact by 300%.

To further explore coaching, focus on 4 questions:

1. What is coaching?
2. In coaching, who does what?
3. What could you work on with a coach?
4. Are you ready for coaching? (Download, print, and complete this self-assessment.)

Review: You’ve explored getting coaching by thinking about what coaching is, what the client and coach are responsible for, what you can work on with a coach, and how ready you are to be coached.

Question: What are you going to do?