ASI 2010: Inspired to Finish Strong

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

ASI 2010 Seminar: Nonprofits

Ken Turpen

Leadership in the New Millennium: Getting to the Bottom of Leadership When You’re at the Top

Fundraising Basics for Ministries: Understanding boards, direct mail, and how to raise funds for just about anything!

Steven Grabiner

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Harold Lance

How to Get Your ASI Project Funded: Or At Least Increase Your Chances

Okay, well this seminar for nonprofits is about decisions, decision-making, both in your personal life but more focused on decision-making in your organizations.

My name is Stephen Grabner and I'm currently vice president with an organization called OCI, Outpost Centers International.

We have around 75 ministries around the world that we work with.

I sit on a lot of boards, I do a lot of helping with leaders, consulting with leaders.

For 10 years I was a missionary in Africa, a place called Riverside Farm, and for 11 years before that I was a pastor in southern New England.

And leadership's been a special study of mine for the past number of years.

Because as Ellen White makes a comment in the testimonies, you know, the level of a church only gets really as far as the spirituality of the leadership in that church.

And I think we can look at different organizations and see how leadership decisions, board decisions, individual leadership decisions, have either contributed toward this success or the failures of those organizations.

So that's what we're going to talk about this morning is decision making, the process of decision making.

You should have a handout with you as well.

And I may be good in leadership, but I'm really technologically challenged.

So what we're going to talk about, I found this on the internet.

I thought it was a great illustration for the complexity of decision making.

We're not really going to talk about that chart and fill your mind with all that.

I really want to kind of hone things down.

And just as we begin, I want to ask you a question.

Have you been involved in an organization, either a ministry or a church, a non-profit, something like that, in which you can look back and think bad decisions have been made?

So just do me a favor and just jot that down on the top of your paper.

I'm going to come back to that hopefully later as we go through this.

And think of a specific incident where you were with an organization and some decisions went the wrong direction.

And the reason I want you to do that is because as we go through this process together, I'm hoping that you'll be able to reflect on that situation and be able to pull some of the things we talk about and say, you know, I think that contributed to our poor decision.

Because our whole purpose this morning is not just to find out about bad decisions.

It's really to learn how to make better decisions, just to make good decisions.

I think they're on your handout, I believe they are.

First is, sorry that's a little light, to identify key decision making saboteurs.

Things that will derail the decision making process.

And most of us, when we go through a decision process, and if we're to talk about, you know, what went wrong, It's easy to say, well hindsight is always 20-20.

Boy, look back, you know, I really wouldn't have done that.

But too often we use that as a kind of a cloak for not learning from our mistakes.

And it's like, okay, well, hindsight's 20-20.

But maybe we were tripped up by some sabotage, some certain things that happen in the decision making process.

And then secondly, I hope that we can identify some ways to improve our decision making.

So again, identifying areas that will trip us up and then looking forward to ways that can improve.

Now on your handout there's a couple of Bible verses I wanted to share with you.

And it's interesting to me that in Proverbs in 2 places we get almost the exact same quote, and certainly the key emphasis, where now counsel is, what happens?

People fall, people perish, hang on, translation.

But in the multitude of counselors, there is safety.

Without counsel, purposes are disappointed.

But in the multitude of counselors, they are established.

That there's a value, that there's a power in teams.

Now, you're probably familiar, maybe you're not, you're probably familiar with the TV show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Well, I've never seen it, I've only heard about it.

But as far as I understand, question and answer.

And when you're being asked the question, 1 of the things you can do to get a right answer is what?

What are the different ways, if you have any idea?

And the audience is right an astounding 95% of the time.

Here you get this group of people and if you were to ask them as a group, the audience is right about 95% of the time.

At the GC, those of you who were there, there was a ministry that talked about God as the elephant in the church.

I forgot the name of it exactly, but they had a jar of peanuts, about that high.

And the whole thing was they wanted people to guess how many peanuts were in there, and then they were giving a prize.

Most times, the aggregate, the average of all the answers, all the guesses, will be the closest.

So I had this idea, I was going to stand there and I was going to ask a hundred people how many peanuts they thought were in that jar.

And statistically the average would have been closest to the right answer.

And that is that there are certain dynamics that come to play that shortcut the power the teams can bring to things.

And that's why if we think of our boards, we think of our organizations, you know, here we're together, we have this different things, but there are certain processes that impact the potential of teams, of groups, of boards, of different clusters of people.

So the scripture reference is, hey, in a multitude of counselors there's safety, great.

But how do I get that group of counselors to really fulfill their potential?

What is it that negatively impacts that group of counselors?

A couple of other quotations here, just look at them briefly as well, from Second Selected Messages 198.

In making important decisions, we should study every side of the question.

We are ever to remember that we are given a place in the work of God to act as responsible agencies.

I love that phrase, study How many sides of the question?

And we'll see how difficult that really is for us as we go through this time together.

To really hear 1 another, to have good, enthusiastic discussion.

Let me do a little test with you if I can, a little word association.

So if I say, for example, red, what's the first word that comes to your mind?

Back to Menu

Series

ASI 2010 Seminar: Nonprofits

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

Leadership in the New Millennium: Getting to the Bottom of Leadership When You’re at the Top

1h 13m

Fundraising Basics for Ministries: Understanding boards, direct mail, and how to raise funds for just about anything!

1h 31m

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

1h 13m

How to Get Your ASI Project Funded: Or At Least Increase Your Chances

1h 17m

Sound Doctrine