Target Practice

Think about the goals you have in life. How are you doing? How often do you hit a "bull's eye"?

For that matter, how important is it to hit the bull's eye, and how often? Who sets the standards for how close you should be, and how often is good enough?

Here's one reason I'm asking: Some of us are executives. Others work with executives. Still others evaluate executives, support executives, or hope to be an executive. For all of us, the idea of evaluating and improving executive performance is relevant!

That is especially true in the organizations served or represented by Fellowship of Barnabas Partners. Should we use the same metrics and tools for ministry executive evaluation and development that we do for other nonprofit executives or even for corporate executives? What difference (if any) does it make that we are followers of Christ?

So in your professional, executive role, are you hitting your target?

Here's another reason I'm asking: Most of us work closely with nonprofits. What about them? Without profit as a metric, what is the organization's bull's eye? Do you find yourself doing your best, then painting a bull's eye ring around the spot where you landed, defining "success" by whatever happens? 

Nonprofit success is not as straightforward as examining a balance sheet. More up-front work is necessary to clarify mission, plan strategically, and stay the course. As Christians, we ultimately define success as glorifying God, but how do we steward our time, people, finances, and other resources toward that goal?

Here's where Fellowship of Barnabas Partners comes in, because these are precisely the kinds of questions we grapple with at our Quarterly Breakfasts. As an executive who's constantly trying to improve my own aim, I certainly benefit from the wisdom that you all bring.

Join us! Check out our website at www.barnabas.partners, and together we'll practice achieving our personal and ministry goals.