Once upon a time there was a captain of a huge freight ship who had been away from home for three months. He was very much looking forward to being reunited with his wife, whom he loved very much. And so he eagerly set course for the harbor where they had to dock, knowing that she would be there waiting for him. But because he was tired and wanted to look his best for his wife, he asked his first officer to take responsibility for the ship while he was taking a nap.
The first officer agreed, but unbeknown to the captain, he had other plans. He’s secretly arranged for the ship to dock in another port because that was much closer to his girlfriend whom he wanted to meet up with. So while the captain was asleep, the first officer changed course to his harbor of choice.
When the captain woke up an hour before they were supposed to arrive at the port, he discovered the change of course. He was furious and dismissed the first officer immediately. However, the damage had already been done. Because a freight ship is so big and heavy, it can change course only slowly. Despite the captain’s best efforts, they arrived in the original harbor four hours behind schedule. His wife had already given up hope that the ship would come in and had gone home. The captain was very sad and angry when he discovered that. He didn’t blame his wife, she couldn’t have known what had happened, but he did blame his first officer. It wasn’t only till very late that night that the captain could finally hug his wife again.
Hours and hours wasted because of a change of course that should have never happened! If only he hadn’t taken a nap, if only he’d discovered the change of course sooner. He could have spend so many extra hours with his wife and prevent her from standing on the dock in van for four hours. It was a valuable lesson for the captain…
I heard this story at a management training years ago when I was a manager in a hospital and it stuck with me (which once again shows the power of stories by the way!). The key takeaway from the story is this: if the captain had discovered the change of course sooner, the resulting time waste would have been much less. This drawing shows that (click for larger):
Do you know how your youth ministry is doing? Do you notice whether someone in your team (intentionally or not) is taking your youth ministry off course? Because the sooner you find out, the less damaging the effects will be.
How can you know what’s going on in your youth ministry, you may ask. By setting up a ‘reporting system’ that gives you formal and informal feedback on how you’re doing with regards to your mission, vision and strategic plan:
- Check in with your leaders regularly and ask specific questions to see how they’re doing and if they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing;
- Visit your small group leaders, observe them leading a group when possible (or have a coach do this) to see if they are leading as you had envisioned;
- Create a culture in which people report mistakes and issues themselves, because they don’t bad consequences in any way;
- Keep tabs on numbers like small group attendance, youth service attendance, number of new youth attending, number of baptisms and other statistics that will tell you something about how your youth ministry is doing;
- Check your financial status regularly to see if you’re still on budget, if all receipts are there, if everyone who has made costs has actually claimed their expenses;
- Ask your students for feedback on specific activities, for instance after a youth service, a retreat, etc;
- Keep in contact with the parents and make sure you are informed of any concerns from their part.
The goal is not to judge people, to be a control freak, to point fingers or to kick anyone’s butt for making a mistake, but to identify small issues before they become big problems. Because the sooner you know about a change of course, no matter how small, the sooner you can make changes to make sure you actually reach your destination.
Do you have any system to determine if your youth ministry is going off course?
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