During my tenure as the Help Desk manager for a world-leading golf manufacturer, I wanted to know that my team made a difference in accomplishing the company’s mission to build demonstrably superior and pleasingly different golf equipment. To that end, I reviewed the best practices of other top-tier support teams and help desks. Based on my research, I developed a series of metrics to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the team. I quickly realized the truth to the saying, “What gets measured gets done.” For example, when I started measuring the ability to resolve the call without escalating it to a next-level tech, the unintended outcome became increased call time and the number of calls in the queue increased. To combat that, I began measuring call times, and then the level of customer satisfaction decreased because they were trying to rush the call. To remedy that problem, I then developed a method of random surveys to the customers to evaluate their satisfaction. All the metrics mattered, but my early attempts to push them toward excellence fell short because they were more focused on metrics than the mission. A mistake I didn’t want to make when I transitioned into ministry.
What Are Metrics
All organizations exist to accomplish their mission; this is especially true for churches. But how do they know if they are hitting the mark? How are they measuring their progress toward the church’s mission and vision? That’s where metrics come in, starting with capturing essential data. For example, keeping track of Sunday attendance is something every church should do; that’s gathering critical data. But the data alone isn’t enough. If your church had 500 people last Sunday – so what? What does that mean? Is 500 an increase or decrease, or is it stagnant – compared to what? A metric is a way to measure data relative to what you are counting. In the example of Sunday attendance, it’s far more beneficial to know how Sunday’s attendance total for the month of December compares to December’s attendance last year. Even that bit of information is not enough; most churches want to know why. There could be a multitude of reasons for the increase or decrease, but at least now, the church has a place to begin the evaluation.
Measuring Your Church
As we kick off the new year, there are fundamental areas that every church needs to measure and analyze. By the way, don’t get hung up wondering if it’s too carnal to measure the progress of the church; it’s not. For example, in the book of Acts, Dr. Luke tells us that about 3,000 people became followers of Jesus (Acts 2:41). Someone counted them, and it mattered.
In the section below, there are links to posts that will expand on specific metrics and will follow a basic structure to help answer these three questions:
- What is the measurement
- What is the frequency of the measurement
- What is the Comparison
Key Metric Areas
Since going into full-time ministry in 2006, I’ve learned a lot by meeting with others who do what I do, reading a lot of information, and from practical experience. The list below may not cover an area that you or your church finds essential to measure – and that’s okay. Keep checking back; your area may get added at a later date.
As your church pursues its mission (what it does) through its vision (what people see), use these metrics to help measure your progress and guide you to discover areas to improve to make a more significant Kingdon impact.
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