Chapter 5

Three . . . two . . . one . . . blast off! The project has been well defined, a plan has been created, and measurable elements have been identified. We are ready for action! Right? Well, almost. It is true that the ministry is now at the execution stage and we are ready to put the plan into motion, but there are a few principles and tools that I believe will help guide us to efficient action during the critical execution phase of the ministry.

Ministry leaders are often eager to get to the action portion of a ministry, and it is easy to believe that where there is a lot of noise and motion, great things are being accomplished. From our own experience we know that this is often not true. Horses running wildly down the road sure have a lot of energy and draw a crowd, but in reality this is just a stampede. By contrast, horses organized and pulling together in the same direction is called a team, and because they are moving in a coordinated fashion they can accomplish a great deal. The challenge in creating unified, controlled action is that it takes discipline and planning. In this chapter on executing a ministry plan, we want to discuss how to avoid creating stampedes and focus on how to build toward a controlled team-oriented execution.

Warning! This chapter builds on itself. While each concept discussed and presented may seem intuitive and straightforward, these concepts combined together prepare a ministry for effective execution.

Building Objects of Execution: Creating Subtasks

Through the define statement, a ministry establishes the goals that it seeks to accomplish. What a define statement does NOT do is explain how these goals are going to be reached. Goals are reached through the execution of a task or series of tasks, and in this chapter we want to look at the way that we create and organize these tasks.

I believe that the first place to begin in creating efficient execution is to examine the ministry's main goals and assign actions or tasks that need to be completed in order to reach these goals.

Efficient Execution: The process of identifying and organizing the actions that are required for a ministry or project to reach its intended goals.

Tasks or Subtasks: The individual actions that when fit together in the correct order allow us to reach our ministry or project goals.

Subsequently, these tasks can be broken down into smaller and smaller tasks, each working toward reaching the goals of the ministry. These smaller tasks are called subtasks. Subtasks are just smaller pieces that make up the larger task(s) of a ministry. By dividing a ministry into its smaller and smaller subtasks, each task becomes a more manageable element that can be more easily accomplished. By completing each of these subtasks, the entire ministry moves toward completion.

Projects as simple as tying a shoe or as complicated as launching a space shuttle can be broken down into smaller and smaller subtasks until the entire project is represented by a number of simple assignments...