by Sam Brock

One of the goals of the Manager in Ministry is to provide a platform to share ideas, compare notes, and grow in our management and ministry. Some articles have tried and true ideas, while others are only half-baked. I like to read half-baked articles, because they give me the opportunity to do the rest of the work. They require me to think and mull an idea over. This article is half-baked (I’m warning you), but I encourage you to do the rest of the work.

Anonymity Destroys Accountability
Have you noticed that announcements alone do not have the power to change behavior? Have you instituted a new policy just to see it cast aside two weeks later? Have you noticed what happens to things that are not noticed?

When a person becomes anonymous, he tends to do whatever he feels like doing. A person can become anonymous by acting alone or by being with so many people that you can’t tell him apart from the crowd. To have accountability, a person must be noticed. Accountability at its core is holding a person liable for his actions, which may result in reward or punishment.

To have an accountability partner is great but is only a part of the process. What is the reward? What is the punishment? Eternal accountability is a topic of 1 Corinthians 3:11- 18 and is worth some of your time. (Notice the half-baked, you-do-some-work sentence.)

A Ministry Dashboard
In order to get rid of anonymity in our ministry, I was looking for a way to notice things—to notice without harping, to notice not only the bad but also the good, to have accountability on a regular basis instead of just when there is a problem.

The idea: develop a ministry dashboard. The dashboard on your car does not measure whether you achieved your purpose (getting from point A to point B); it tells you how your car is operating in the process of accomplishing its purpose. The dashboard may warn you of things that are critical but not apparent. Likewise, a ministry dashboard does not tell you whether or not you are accomplishing your mission; it tells you how the ministry is operating. It may warn you of problems; but, most importantly, it gives all those involved in the ministry a way to avoid anonymity and be accountable.

What Does It Look Like?
We plan to publish monthly the updated dashboard and make it a part of a staff meeting, taking a little bit of time to explain what the numbers mean, what are good numbers, and what are bad numbers. The numbers are in various charts, gauges, or warning lights. A few items that we include in our dashboard are ministry growth to date, ministry improvement margin (equivalent of income-expenses), sick days, five expense budgets most over, five income budgets most over, energy budget, staff per camper, retention, web hits, volunteer work hours, days without a hospital run, etc. Every ministry will have a different dashboard. Happy baking!