Andy Stanley is a name that is fairly well known in Christian leadership circles. He is senior pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA. He has authored a number of books, is a sought-after speaker, and leads thousands of others through his church and ministry organizations. With all of this, he attributes much of his leadership success to the clarity he gets from a simple 3×5 index card on which he wrote three questions many years ago.
Continuous Learning
One topic that I talk about a lot in my posts is the idea of continuous learning. I am a strong believer in the need for leaders to always be learning in whatever ways are available. What I want to review today came from a session at the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast several years ago.
Clarity Card
It was during this event that I heard Andy describe the 3×5 index card that he has kept with him all of these years. He talked about how he had written three simple questions on this card back at the beginning of his efforts in starting North Point Community Church. Since then, he has referred back to this card many times over the years. Every time he moves or changes offices, this card goes with him.
He talked about how this card has continuously given him clarity when he needed it as he has faced increased complexity due to the growth of his ministry. As he talked about this card and the three questions, I knew I had to share them here.
Work To Be Done
I will go ahead and tell you that I can already see holes in my leadership and in our organization as a result of these three questions. If I am successful in implementing these questions for the purpose of clarity in my leadership, it will take me years. At the same time, they are so simple that I can start immediately!
Enough introduction…let’s get started! I hope you find these questions to be as useful as I have.
Question #1
What are we doing?
As simple as this question is, when applied to your organization, it can be powerful in bringing clarity amid complexity. So often, we get so busy dealing with the alligators, we forget that we came to drain the swamp.
Apple Computers
Andy gave a great example of this question being applied in a business setting. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the company was not doing well. Supposedly, there were 30+ different versions of the Macintosh computer at the time! There certainly was no clarity in what they were doing.
Steve responded by stating, “We are going to build easy-to-use computers.” Anything they were currently working on that did not match that purpose was to be scrapped! As a result, clarity returned to the company and you know the rest of the story.
Clarity Is Critical
When there is clarity around what you are doing as an organization (of any size), there is power and speed. Without clarity, confusion exists and can cripple a team. No one knows exactly what they should be doing OR they have extreme focus and are doing exactly the WRONG things, but doing them very well!
Obviously, a company mission statement is a great start here, but there is more we can do to allow this question to bring clarity. Communicating the answer to this question across the organization brings clarity to everyone, not just the leadership.
We Need The Reminder
Unfortunately, none of this happens if you forget to ask the question. And as we all know too well, it is easy to forget. Distractions add up. This is exactly why Andy took this card with him every time he moved. He knew he needed the reminder to ask the questions on a regular basis. Otherwise, confusion would prevent him from seeing the impact he desired.
In my next post, we will look at the next two questions on Andy’s index card. I think you will find these two questions to be just as effective in bringing clarity to your ministry and business.
Can you answer this first question with confidence?
Would others in your organization give the same answer?
What does your next step need to be?
What Is Your Business Doing?
If you are interested in following my process to create your own mission, vision, and core values, then check out my new ebook – Why Does Your Business Exist?
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