What Do You Need to Abandon?
"This program has meant so much for so long to all these people!"
"How can you even think of getting rid of the program that helped all of us start following Jesus?"
"Old Mrs. Jones would roll over in her grave if she knew that the class named after her was being cancelled!"
Who hasn't had this "discussion" (read argument)?
The prerequisite to successful pursuit of the new and highly promising
Peter Drucker wrote that “planned, purposeful abandonment of the old and of the unrewarding is a prerequisite to successful pursuit of the new and highly promising. Above all, abandonment is the key to innovation—both because it frees the necessary resources and because it stimulates the search for the new that will replace the old (Managing for Results, p. 143).”
Planned, purposeful abandonment of the old and of the unrewarding is a prerequisite to successful pursuit of the new and highly promising. Above all, abandonment is the key to innovation—both because it frees the necessary resources… Click To Tweet
Of course, Peter Drucker wasn't writing about a church. He was writing about business, right? Actually, Drucker often focused his attention on non-profits and personally mentored both Rick Warren and Bill Hybels.
Corporations, both for-profit and non-profits, struggle with the difficult task of putting an end to programs that were successful in the past; with things that were once the bread-winner and now are mostly a resource drain.
Still, the truth is most businesses, most non-profits struggle to do what they know they should do...and a few make hard but necessary decisions and then reap the benefit.
INTEL actually provides one of the most dramatic examples of a company that abandoned a successful product in order to make resources available for the product that would carry them into the future. Beginning to see the handwriting on the wall of the memory chip business, Andy Grove and Gordon Moore knew they must move to microprocessors. Finally, they reasoned, “If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do? Why shouldn’t we walk out, come back in and do it ourselves?” Andy Grove, Former CEO, INTEL
If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do?. —Andy Grove Click To Tweet
The question today is, "What do you need to abandon?"
Assignment:
1. Begin by taking an inventory of the studies, programs, classes, and experiences that make up your become (discipleship) and belong (fellowship) menu.
2. Conduct a 4 Helpful Lists exercise assessing what's RIGHT, WRONG, MISSING AND CONFUSED about the studies, programs, classes and experiences in your inventory. See also, The 4 Helpfuls List by Tom Paterson.
3. Spend time talking as a team about the wrong, missing, confused items on your list.
4. Identify the items that should be abandoned.
5. Begin working toward their abandonment.
See also, Andy Stanley: Random Thoughts on Leadership.
Image by freaktography
