Measuring Kingdom Impact
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Outcomes magazine, Fall 2020.)
SUMMARY: The board of directors of any nonprofit organization has a unique role in ensuring good stewardship of money and other organizational resources. But there is a big difference between micro-stewardship and macro-stewardship. Is your board up to speed?
Organizational Lifecycle Lessons
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Outcomes magazine, Winter 2019.)
SUMMARY: We need to distinguish between the outcomes of our ministry and the container or shell. The organization is the shell. The outcomes are temporal and eternal. Is your nonprofit’s shell durable?
Five Types of Strategy
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Outcomes magazine, Fall 2017.)
SUMMARY: Larger ministries may have several divisions that are at different places on the organizational lifecycle. It’s important to figure out where your organization is at and what type of strategy you need.
Business is Booming
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in InSite magazine, February/March 2014.)
SUMMARY: A massive generational shift is about to hit us. Approximately 93 million baby boomers are expected to retire over the next two decades. Here is why camps and ministries should care.
Following Well: You Can’t Lead Effectively Without It
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Outcomes magazine, Fall 2013.)
SUMMARY: Leadership remains a white-hot topic, but you don’t see much written about followership. Following well is key to learning how to lead well. Here are four reasons why you should care.
Avoiding the Downside of Excellence
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Excelerate magazine, issue 4, 2012.)
SUMMARY: If you are on the receiving end of a service, excellence is always preferable to mediocrity. Yet there is a dangerous downside to focusing on excellence that is usually invisible to those working inside an organization.
Got Strategy? Improving Your Planning Process
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Insite magazine, November/December 2011.)
SUMMARY: The problem with many traditional long-range strategic plans is that they do not contain any real strategy. The written documents tend to follow a predictable pattern of mission, vision, values, objectives, and strategic goals but do not provide a coherent direction for moving forward. Effective strategy is about developing a coordinated response to what is changing outside of an organization.
Strategic Plans that Learn: An innovative alternative to traditional strategic planning
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Outcomes magazine, Summer 2010.)
SUMMARY: Traditional strategic plans often fail to produce the intended results. In business schools, strategic planning has been replaced with the broader concept of strategic management. Rather than doing long-range strategic planning every three years or so, it is far better to conduct periodic strategic reviews. The article describes six questions to use to guide strategic review meetings.
The Great Board Debate: How should ministry boards govern?
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Christian Management Report, December 2003.)
SUMMARY: This article describes the pros and cons of policy based governance and the requirements that must be in place before making a transition. It examines the tendency of boards to swing from micro-managing to rubber-stamping and what to do about it.
The Team Building Trap: Three critical elements in building strong teams
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Christian Management Report, October 2001.)
SUMMARY: What is the trap? It’s putting your staff through team-building sessions that don’t produce any lasting results. Teams are not built by off-site retreats, but by men and women committed to each other and to accomplishing a lofty goal. The article explores the dynamics of forming and leading high-performing teams.
Authentic Leadership: Balancing doing and being
By James C. Galvin and Peter O’Donnell (Article featured in The Systems Thinker, April 2005.)
SUMMARY: Leadership includes both a doing side and a being side. Yet it’s easy to neglect one or the other as we design leadership development experiences. This article delves more deeply to describe seven layers of leadership development.
Level 5 Accountability: Developing a trusted relationship
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Christian Management Report, February 2003.)
SUMMARY: What is the deal with accountability? Those who need it aren’t being held accountable by anyone. Those who offer it don’t have any takers. Those who are seeking it can’t seem to find it.
Management Fads: How to tell the next breakthrough
innovation from a pet rock
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Christian Management Report, January/February 2007.)
SUMMARY: Remember MBWA? We’ve seen plenty of management fads in the past few decades. This article highlights 25 of them. Beneath the hype, each is usually based on something that works and offers enduring management wisdom.
Planning in Times of Uncertainty: An overview of the scenario planning process
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Christian Management Report, April 2002.)
SUMMARY: This article explains the five main steps of the scenario planning process. Scenario planning involves exploring several ways the future may unfold and devising a strategy that will keep you moving forward no matter what happens. It is useful during times of disruptive change when long-range planning seems impossible.
The Two Sides of Strategic Planning: How the Holy Spirit inspires our vision and our planning
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Christian Management Report, March/April 2001.)
SUMMARY: Strategic planning has two sides and a middle—the visionary thinking side and the detailed planning side—linked together by current reality. Both sides are important and necessary. Like planning a family vacation, you have to decide on a great destination everyone will enjoy, but you also have to make lists and pack the car.
Hiring a Consultant?: How to get what you need without getting burned
By James C. Galvin (Article featured in Christian Management Report, September/October 2000.)
SUMMARY: This article examines various levels of consultants from “local heroes” to “major league professionals.” It offers practical advice on how to find the expertise you need. One can eliminate most of the risk with a few simple safeguards. Essentially, take time to find the right fit with the right person and get it in writing.