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Making the visioneering process work for you is vitally important to your life and ministry.  It would be foolish, or at best naive, for any of us to believe or even infer that what works for others will work for you as well. The Vision process, or Visioneering, is included in that statement. There is no cookie-cutter formula that works and produces for everyone. However, there is a common development route, or process, that can be modified to suit your environment, and it will work for everyone if allowed to. There are questions to ponder and ask at the inception of the Visioneering process.

Why is this important? It is important because every leader, church, or organization is not ready to undertake a successful Visioneering process. Before you waste your time and that of others you need to validate that this is the right thing for you to do.

To do this you will have to determine some things. Every church or business has its own unique and distinguishing traits and characteristics, including but not limited to:

· The number people and talents it has available

· The unity it either has or doesn’t have

· The spiritual maturity and understanding level of the people

· The level of commitment to excellence and continuous improvement

· The work ethic

· The corporate attitude

· Financial and resource strengths and/or weaknesses

· Demographics

What are yours? Write them down clearly and concisely. Do the necessary research. Thoroughness and honesty are absolutely essential.

Next, of course there are many other ingredients that must be considered as well, including but not limited to:

· The connection between the leader and the people

· The level of trust and confidence in leadership

· The size and commitment to and understanding of teamwork

· The organizational structure

· Area demographics (white or blue collar/wealthy or welfare/educated or non-educated/innovative or non-innovative/adaptability to change or resistance to any change, multicultural blend and ethnicity traits/ and etc.)

· The culture of the area and of the church

Once again, write these down clearly and concisely as well. Do the necessary research. Thoroughness and honesty are absolutely essential.

Next, it is very important to accurately ascertain the current state of affairs. You must find answers to the following questions and others like them:

· Where you are as an organization at this point in time?

· What type of cooperation exists?

· How effectively do you communicate as a leader?

· How open you are to the involvement of others?

· Are you a controller or a liberator?

· Are you willing and able to truly empower and trust others?

· Are you (and the people) willing to change the way you do things and the organizational structure as necessary to accomplish the things that must be done to progress toward a vision?

· Are people willing to change titles, roles, and positions if necessary? Will they be selfless or jealous as changes occur?

Once again, write these down clearly and concisely as well. Do the necessary research. Thoroughness and honesty are absolutely essential.

And then there are the big all-important questions that must be answered even before you proceed further:

· Do I believe this is God’s time for us to launch forward toward new horizons?

· Am I committed to the long-term?

· Am I convinced that I must do this in order for the church or organization to reach a higher potential?

· Am I willing to face adversity knowing that people resist being changed?

· Is what we are doing working?

· What is not working?

· Can we reach our potential without changing?

Once again, write these down clearly and concisely as well. Do the necessary research. Thoroughness and honesty are absolutely essential.

Next, this initial phase of visioneering needs to include:

· An accurate inventory and assessment of the way things are

Once again, write these down clearly and concisely as well. Do the necessary research. Thoroughness and honesty are absolutely essential.

Now ask yourself the following question: Do I have the commitment and resolve to drive this forward, even though I do not yet have a clear picture of exactly where this will lead us?

If the answer to the last question is no then simply stop right here. If the answer is yes then please continue.

As a mentor, I would suggest to any leader that is interested in directing your church or organization toward a new and worthwhile vision that you:

Here are a few tips (Steps) to accomplish the aforementioned things:

1. Set aside a time and place for quiet reflection for yourself (alone)

     a. Walk though each aforementioned point and write down every thought

     b. Organize them and delete redundancy

2. Set aside a time to do the same with your inner-circle of leaders

     a. Keep your personal notes confidential at this time

     b. Allow them to walk through Step 1 completely as you remain mostly silent. The more you talk the less they will contribute.

     c. After they have finished compare your personal notes with their notes

     d. Together with them combine the two as much as possible into one document. This is a great time for discussion and critical       evaluation to occur.

By: Fred Childs