Today at the Closing the Gap conference, David Watson shared on, among other things, the importance of metrics. His comments were in relation to church planting movements but they were also relevant to swarms, so I am going to share some of these thoughts here.
Occasionally I run into the idea that measurement is not godly. I strongly resist this idea. Instead, I view statistics as “signs from God.” I do not think we should derive our personal value from them, but I do think that they serve an important role in helping to measure the progress of a strategy.
What milestones are
First, milestones are reminders. They tell you where you’ve been. Consider how in Joshua 4 the children of Israel were directed to set up memorial stones which pointed to the story of the Lord’s goodness.
Second, milestones provide accountability. They focus us on the goal and enable us to measure whether we are going the right way and whether you are going fast enough to reach the goal in a timely fashion.
Third, milestones can be intermediate goals. They give you the “next point” to aim for, and enable you to make mid-course corrections if you have drifted slightly off course.
Fourth, milestones can be reassurances. When navigating the chaos and uncertainty of life that mess up our nicely-laid plans, metrics and measurements can provide encouragement that we are going the right way. (Provided, of course, that we are.)
What milestones to measure
Start by identifying the metrics that are important to success as you have defined it in your plausible promise. As Watson noted today, if your goal is disciples multiplying disciples, don’t measure the number of pieces of literature you are handing out—at least don’t make that the first thing you measure.
Consider that what you measure conveys what’s important to others; and, conversely, what isn’t measured isn’t important. So look at your metrics in the light of what you are trying to achieve.
In addition, if you have multiple metrics, then consider that what is measured first is often considered to be more important than what is considered last. The order of the metrics conveys the priority of the tasks being measured—even if only subconsciously.
Be careful, however, in setting goals and measurements. What gets measured tends to be what you achieve. For example, if you set a goal of a thousand churches, you will likely achieve that goal—but you might have seen ten thousand churches planted. If you’re not careful, the goal and the measurement can end up being an artificial barrier. This is one reason why it’s important to measure speed and direction frequently.
What happens when you don’t meet the milestone
I believe that guilt comes from people and ultimately the enemy, but conviction comes from the Holy Spirit. There is a difference between the two. If you don’t meet the milestone then it’s time to sit down and consider the reasons for the failure.
Perhaps you were simply “close but not quite there.” If that’s the case—for example, let’s say you hit a 1-year goal 2 weeks late. I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over that.
On the other hand, if you are off the mark by an order of magnitude—for example, instead of hitting the goal in a month it took you a year; or, instead of a year it looks like it will take a decade—then a significant revamp of methods may be in order. This kind of “miss” indicates to me that the goal is right, but the method is probably wrong.
Finally, you may be in a situation where you realize you’re not going to hit your goal, ever, doing what you’re doing. In this case one needs to consider the famous Albert Einstein quote: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.” If you can’t reach your professed goal, I think you have two options: completely change the goal, or completely change what you are doing.
In conclusion…
For some things in life, we don’t need milestones—or, perhaps, just “binary” on/off milestones. Either we are following Christ or not. Either we are faithful to our spouse or not. Either we are obeying the commands of Christ or not. But in other cases—raising children, making disciples, implementing strategies—metrics are important. Without them we have no idea if what we are doing day in and day out is leading to the impact that we claim we desire.
We have lots of measures in real life: budgets, the amount of air in our car, how much food we have left in our house, how much time we spend on work versus time with our families. The things we measure on a regular basis – even unconciously—tells us a lot about what’s important to us. It’s time to measure what you’re doing about your calling.
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