Who Designs Your Next Steps? Starry-Eyed Dreamers or Steely-Eyed Pragmatists?

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Who designs your next steps? Starry-eyed dreamers or steely-eyed pragmatists?

It makes a difference, you know.

Starry-eyed dreamers often design steps that Carl Lewis* wouldn't attempt. Steely-eyed pragmatists can sometimes design steps that are dismissed by dreamers as lacking challenge.

While next steps should be easy, obvious, and strategic...reasonable and doable are clearly in the eye of the beholder.

If the people you are hoping will take the step are decidedly NOT taking the step, or a much smaller number are taking the step while the majority are not...then the design must not be reasonable in their eyes; doable in their eyes.

While next steps should be easy, obvious, and strategic...reasonable and doable are clearly in the eye of the beholder. Click To Tweet

If you want to design and offer next steps for everyone and first steps for their friends...you must keep the needs, interests, and maturity of the step taker in mind. The real test is not what seems reasonable or doable to the designer.

Not sure whether your next steps are designed correctly? Results are the true test. "Your ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results you are currently experiencing (Andy Stanley)." Not getting the results you hoped for? The design of your next steps determines everything.

If you're not getting the results you've been hoping for, you might want to consider taking my newest mini-course: How to Design NEXT Steps and FIRST Steps.

If you're struggling to design effective next steps and first steps, you might want to consider my newest mini-course. How to Design NEXT Steps and FIRST Steps will give you the insights and tools you need to build a next level system.

Further Reading:

*Lewis' world record long jump at 8.79 meters (28.83 feet) has stood since the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Posted in Small Group Strategy, Strategic Thinking