Skip to main content

Gino Wickman's "Get a Grip" and "Traction" -- Strategic Planning at MinistryCPA

By

Each November, MinistryCPA professionals set a course for their next year by revisiting the firm’s long-term and annual strategies. Concepts introduced by Gino Wickman in his companion books Traction and Get a Grip contribute significantly to the design of MinistryCPA’s system for vision and growth.

Wickman’s primary tool for his Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) is his Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO). His model seeks to depict an organization’s answers to eight questions in one or two pages (discussed and illustrated within pages in Traction).


  1. What are your Core Values? (pp 35-45)
  2. What is your Core Focus? (pp 46-52)
  3. What is your 10-Year Target? (pp 52-54)
  4. What is your Marketing Strategy? (pp 55-65)
  5. What is your Three-Year Picture? (pp 66-68)
  6. What is your One-Year Plan? (pp 68-69)
  7. What are your Quarterly Rocks? (p 70)
  8. What are your Issues? (pp 70-71)

You will want to read Wickman’s books for yourself, but the MinistryCPA team has a few observations to share.

·       The concepts introduced in Traction are fully illustrated in the follow-up book, Get a Grip. But a client who first introduced MinistryCPA to Wickman’s ideas suggested we read them in reverse order, an effective recommendation.

·       Core Values aren’t something a team can make up. Instead, they are identified as pre-existing and then appreciated and consistently followed. MinistryCPA professionals instinctively knew, but needed to identify, that its people already practiced uncompromising integrity, possessed “wired to serve” DNA, and sought to live as hungry, (people) smart and humble servants (as taught by the Bible prophet Micah (chapter 6, verse 8)).

·       A team’s Core Focus is also identified, rather than manufactured. A firm’s reason for being and niche serve as anchors for holding a team in place when the winds and waves of fads and misaligned ventures might put it in peril.

·       The point of Wickman’s 10-Year Target is not necessarily locked in on 3,650 days—he’s seen a range from 5- to 20-years work well. The point is to agree on a “larger-than-life goal that everyone is working toward.”

·       The Marketing Strategy section led the MinistryCPA to develop actionable objectives—describe your ideal customer in terms of demographics, geographics and psychographics; identify your “uniques”; articulate your product/service delivery process; and determine whether you can incorporate a guarantee.

·       Wickman’s Three-Year Picture, One-Year Plan, Quarterly Rocks, and Issues guidance lead his followers to implement their BHAGs (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals) in actional steps and accountability.

MinistryCPA has incorporated aspects in Wickman’s EOS into its annual “Playbook” with gratifying success. If we’ve piqued your interest, we suggest that your team read and understand Wickman’s vocabulary, then complete his “Organizational Checkup” in Traction on pages 10 and 11. We did and found that we had a cohesive team that has a variety of perspectives but is on the same page when it comes to Vision.




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rental of a Church Parsonage to a Non-Minister

By
Question: A church owns a parsonage, but the pastor does not use it as he owns his own home. The church rents the parsonage to a tenant other than a minister or employee of the church. Will the church be responsible for paying income tax on these monies as Unrelated Business Income (filing a Form 990-T) even if the money is used to carry on the business of the church? Answer: Whether the money is used for church purposes is irrelevant.  IRS Publication 598  states: "If an exempt organization regularly carries on a trade or business not substantially related to its exempt purpose, except that it provides funds to carry out that purpose, the organization is subject to tax on its income from that unrelated trade or business." Fortunately, in the case of rental income from real property, such income is "excluded in computing unrelated business taxable income" (Publication 598). Caution: see content below regarding debt-financed property.  However, a second concern not a...
Post a Comment
Read more

How can my ministry expenses be covered by the church?

By
     How can my ministry expenses be covered?                            Many ministers use their personal autos for ministry purposes. Their employers can reimburse these costs using a standard mileage rate published by the IRS. The per mile rate represents employees’ entire reimbursable cost other than highway tolls and parking tabs. If not covered by use of the ministries’ credit card, other costs can be reimbursed as well—business and travel meals, lodging, office supplies, and professional library purchases among them. Some ministries reimburse travel costs using per-diems published by the IRS. If employee business expenses are not reimbursed, the personal tax deduction benefit to the individual minister is severely limited. Non-taxable reimbursements after documentation is provided to the employer follows IRS rules for accountable plans. Non-taxable cash advances before expenses are in...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is the best retirement account for a Minister?

By
       What are my options for retirement savings?                  Regardless of options, start now! You probably have learned about traditional and Roth IRAs. We have often found them well short of the benefits we will share here regarding Internal Revenue Code section 403(b) plans. These plans must be established by your employer (although you might need to be the initiator). They are funded in two ways—withholding from your paycheck at your option (called “elective deferrals”) and as initiated by the employer (matching or non-elective contributions). These contributions not only save income tax, but they also reduce the income you must report as subject to the 15.3% SECA tax. Further, at retirement with the cooperation of your church or Christian ministry the distributions to you can be tax-free to the extent of your qualified housing expenses. Many ministries also adopt what are often called “FICA alternative” be...
Post a Comment
Read more