New Rallying Cry at PCC!

Several weeks ago (August 8 - 11) the entire PCC staff spent an exhausting 4 days and 3 nights on retreat. PCC's staff retreats provide a concentrated time for team building, renewal, and strategic planning. As people highly invested in our church, our staff believes it's important that you be kept "in the loop" and "up to speed" on the future direction and current decision-making at PCC.

This year's staff retreat proved extremely productive in two very important ways. First, our staff engaged in several extremely healthy and helpful conversations that raised our sense of team, commitment, and unity. As a consequence of these focused efforts our staff left the retreat with renewed spirits and commitments. A part of those commitments included a new way of dialoguing as a team. Our staff covenanted together to clarify expectations and establish guidelines for more effective team engagement and decision-making. You can find the contents of that covenant attached to this e-mail.

Second, our team wrestled with a concept known as a "thematic goal". Coined by business, management, and organizational consultant, Patrick Lencioni (see his book Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars), a thematic goal is simply the "rallying cry" of an organizational (particularly its leadership) for a specified period of time. More carefully, Lencioni defines a thematic goal as "a single, qualitative focus that is shared by the entire leadership team - and ultimately, by the entire organization - that applies for only a specified time period" (Lencioni, p 178). It is the overriding theme of the organization that basically answers the question, "If our organization needs to accomplish one thing in the next X number of months, then what must it accomplish?" The thematic goal is the one thing that the organization must accomplish. It is shared by everyone, regardless of expertise, interest, or job description. It is time-bound (Lencioni recommends anywhere from 3 to 12 months).

The thematic goal, in turn, is clarified by "defining objectives". Lencioni defines defining objectivesas "the components or building blocks that serve to clarify exactly what is meant by the thematic goal". Lencioni recommends 4 to 6 defining objectives for a thematic goal.

The PCC Staff is pleased to share with you our thematic goal and its corresponding defining objectives:

Thematic Goal:

Prepare PCC for an average worship attendance of 1500 people in January 2011.

Defining Objective 1: Address interim financial questions

Staff Members Leading Here: Chauncey Starkey, John Starkey

Defining Objective 2: Prepare building by addressing critical building issues

Staff Members Leading Here: Dennis Green, Sammy Frame, Lori Wheeler

Defining Objective 3: Re-evaluate services, scheduling, and programming

Staff Members Leading Here: John Starkey, Angie Frame, Beth Brawley

Defining Objective 4: Prepare for leadership development and 'mid-level managers'

Staff Members Leading Here: Beth Brawley, Anna Holland, Susan Hughes, Chauncey Starkey

Defining Objective 5: Establish a clear connection pathway

Staff Members Leading here: Susan Hughes, Sammy Frame, Anna Holland

Now, as you might imagine, each defining objective suggests a long list of actions and tasks that must be performed to successfully accomplish our thematic goal. Our staff has brainstormed tirelessly and is currently working on prioritizing and strategically executing those tasks and actions to most effectively reach our goal.

If you have questions or want to help, please contact a member of the staff. You can find more information about the PCC staff by clicking here.

This goal is not about reaching 1500 in attendance. I think God is already doing that. This goal is about being ready for what He is doing...And that is VERY exciting!

(to see more about what happened on the PCC Staff Retreat, click here.)