Do You Need a Dashboard?
Dr. Bill Hoyt
Regional Consultant
bill@hoythome.net
January 2012
Dashboards Are a Good Thing
The dashboard of most cars is a basic, functional necessity. In some cars, the dashboard is an art form, an expression of artistic creativity, but at its core, it’s still a basic, functional necessity. Knowing your speed, mileage, fuel level, engine temperature and oil pressure are, at various times necessary bits of information. Let me give an example.
You can drive a car without a speedometer but it’s not a wise thing to do. While in college, I discovered a low cost way to get home for vacations. I contacted what was known in those days as a “drive-away” company. Drive-away companies would contract with people who were moving to a new location and had one more car than they had available drivers and agree to deliver the extra car to their new home. Sometimes a company bought a fleet of company cars at a dealer near their headquarters and needed the cars distributed to their employees around the country. For these and numerous other reasons people would hire a drive-away company to find a driver to drive the car where they wanted it to go. I would sign up with a Chicago drive-away company to deliver a car for them near my home on the East Coast. The company would provide gas and toll money and I had a cheap way home.
One Christmas they sent me by bus to a car dealer in Findlay, Ohio to pick up a new, dark blue Chevrolet Impala to deliver to another dealer in Warwick, Rhode Island. The bus ride took longer than they told me it would, and in spite of my lateness, the dealer wasn’t ready with the car when I got there. Now more than six hours later than I had planned, I left the dealership only to discover the speedometer and odometer on this brand new car were not working. I drove back to the dealership to so they could fix them but discovered they had intentionally disconnected them so the car would arrive showing only 12 miles on the odometer and the new owner would never know the car had been driven from Ohio. I drove away more than a little outraged and angry. I was outraged that they would involve me in something so blatantly illegal and angry because I was now greatly delayed in getting home for Christmas.
I decided that if I drove really fast I could accomplish three things simultaneously. I could gain back some of the time I had lost and I could vent my outrage and my anger. Sounded like a perfect plan. Soon after leaving Findlay for the second time, an Ohio Highway Patrolman pulled up behind me with lights flashing. When he approached my open window, he asked, “Son do you have any idea how fast you were going?” “No,” I said sheepishly. He responded, “I clocked you at 105.” I said, “Well officer, I knew I was driving fast, but I certainly had no idea I was driving that fast.” I quickly explained to him that the speedometer did not work and told him why. That was the day I learned the hard way, you can drive a car without a speedometer but it’s not a wise thing to do.
Dashboards Are No Longer Just for Cars
Now in the digital age, dashboards are not just for cars. Google “dashboard” under the images tab and you will not find a car dashboard until page nine of the results! These days, “dashboard” is commonly used to describe a visual depiction of key indicators for an endless array of purposes. There are dashboards for sales, inventory, production, stock performances, wine collections, accounts receivable, budgets, clinical trials, best practices, maintenance schedules, webpage activity, web security, newspaper content… well, you get the picture. I could go on!
Dashboards are created to summarize sometimes large amounts of data into a strategic snapshot of the most important data. They report key performance indicators. A dashboard is an extraordinary tool, one that provides a single, easy-to-understand view of critical business and operational data. But going far beyond data, a dashboard helps managers focus on the things that matter, giving them the information they need to effectively monitor their company’s performance – and take action.
Church Leaders Should Use Dashboards Too
Maybe dashboards are something the church can legitimately borrow from the business world. If they help business managers and leaders be more effective in leading their companies to greater productivity, maybe they can help pastors, staff and boards be more effective in leading their churches to greater Kingdom effectiveness. So what might church dashboards look like? What are the key performance indicators for churches?
In recent years, I have had the privilege of helping many churches establish their dashboards. Like car dashboards, they can vary. Some automotive dashboards have tachometers, others do not. Some indicate the gearshift position while others do not. Some, not all, have parking brake “on” indicators. But there are some dashboard features that are so important; they are common to nearly all models. Which key ministry performance indicators should be on your church’s dashboard?
Conversions
I would suggest, that first and foremost all church dashboards should report conversions. There is no more accurate measure of your church’s effectiveness in fulfilling the Great Commission than conversions.
Outreach
When appropriately tracked, outreach is the most accurate measure of your church’s effectiveness in fulfilling the Great Command. I typically define “outreach” as “meeting unchurched, unbelieving people at the natural intersections of their lives and doing something that is meaningful to them at that time and in that place.” Outreach often takes the shape of “cup of cold water” ministries – meeting people’s needs. Reaching out to others is, in and of itself, a vital part of what it means to be a Christian and a church. But in addition to that, effective outreach is the foundation upon which effective evangelism is built.
Attendance
God does not intend for every church to be a mega-church. Being “big” is not the issue. But in God’s creation, healthy things grow. Healthy Christians are growing in their love of Jesus, knowledge of and obedience to the Word, and their serving the Lord in some form of ministry or mission. When a church is populated with a growing Christians, when it has a passion for lost people and is committed to reaching out to unchurched and unbelieving people, that church will grow! Measuring your church’s growth in numbers is not only a key performance indicator; it is a key health indicator.
Small Group Participation
Small groups are key to spiritual formation. They are the most effective way of delivering care and accountability as a church grows. Small groups, when done right, are the Velcro that helps “close the back door.” The higher the percentage of your people either in small groups and/or a mentoring or coaching relationship, the healthier your church.
Ministry Involvement
The Christian life is NOT a spectator sport. To be a Christ-follower is to serve. I believe that the most accurate measure of spiritual maturity is not how much Bible a person knows, but what are they doing to serve Jesus. A key performance indicator that needs to be on every church’s dashboard is the number of their people who are involved in some form of ministry (on-campus, primarily for those who are already there or who will come to the church) or mission (off-campus, primarily for those who cannot or will not come to your church).
Leader Development
A steady stream of new leaders is essential to the long-term health of a church and therefore should be included on a church’s dashboard. Since “Job 1” for a leader is to reproduce and create new leaders, church leaders should be especially interested in how well they are succeeding at identifying, enlisting, training and deploying new ministry workers and leaders – ministry workers because they are the primary source of new leaders.
Financial Stewardship
Many churches that I have worked with have chosen to track two things in relation to financial stewardship. First they track contribution income. Are your people giving more this year than last? If “yes,” thank God and praise them. If not, find out why and make any appropriate changes.
The second way in which many churches track financial stewardship relates to tithing. Are there more people in your church who are tithing this year compared to last? The importance of measuring tithing is not about income. Tithing and the giving of offerings beyond the tithe are indicators of spiritual health and maturity. Mature Christians know the joy of giving generously and are disciplined in their giving to their church.
In Conclusion
If you would like help in establishing a dashboard for your church, feel free to contact me and I will do my best to help you. Also, you could read, or re-read Effectiveness by the Numbers. (Abingdon Press, available on Amazon)