“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”
-Stephen Covey
Happy New Year! At MCFA, we are referring to 2021 as “2020wonderful”.
2020 handed us lemons – Wildfires, Kobe Bryant, Covid-19, social unrest, work at home while parenting or homeschooling (Supermoms & Dads!) – but despite all of that, at MCFA, we made lemonade. And we plan to do it again.
The year is off and running, and so are we. This week, we were focused on getting everyone’s KPIs dialed in. It really makes you dig into what role we play in our business and our clients’ projects. In project management, we talk a lot about the KPIs of schedule, quality, and budget. In business, we use words like ROI, opportunity cost, highest and best use, etc. At the end of the day, we are really asking ourselves how effective we are being with our time, money, and team members (employees, subcontractors, business partners, etc.) As they say, efficiency is doing things right, effectiveness is doing the right things.
As I thought more and more about effectiveness, I couldn’t help but think of Stewardship and the Parable of the Talents. Whether you are a religious person or not, I think we can all respect and learn from the Parable of the Talents: “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.”
Hits me like a ton of bricks every time. Am I doing right to maximize how I use my time, talent, and treasure?
We talk a lot about our clients being stewards of their agencies and missions. And there is no better definition of stewardship to me than maximizing our Time, Talent and, Treasure. How am I stewarding all that I am responsible for? How are we stewarding the tax dollars that are entrusted to our public agencies? As political parties and media continue to argue agendas, no amount of public policy can lead, motivate, inspire, or teach people to solve problems – leaders all over are charged with stewardship of what they can control, at their level. Sure, there are budget cuts or policy changes, but those just change the environment. The best leaders are stewarding the resources they have, their budgets, the teams they lead to ensure the taxpayer dollars and the missions those dollars fund are the very best they can be. They don’t focus on excusitis, and all the reasons they “can’t do better;” they focus on doing the best they can with what they have.
So, the new year is here…are you focused on effectiveness or excuses?
Are you stewarding your organization?
Are you doing the right things?
If you aren’t sure, we are happy to talk.