Where does your institution actually stand?

Fifteen questions across technology, mission, and organizational effectiveness. About five minutes.

You will see your results as soon as you finish. No email required for that part.

Nothing here is a trick question and there is no passing score. Most institutions land in the same two places, for reasons that have very little to do with the people working in them.

1 of 3

Technology

The systems that hold what you know about the people you serve.

If you needed to see everything you know about one household - giving, sacramental records, registration, volunteering, event attendance - how many systems would you have to open?
When a new family registers, what happens automatically?
Can you identify everyone who gave last year but not this year, without exporting to a spreadsheet?
Do your parish systems and your diocesan or foundation systems share information?
How many people at your organization can build a report without asking someone else to do it?

2 of 3

Mission

Whether the work matches what you say you are for.

If you asked five staff members what your organization is for, how similar would the answers be?
When did you last stop doing something - an event, a ministry, or an effort that had lived on past when it should have?
Can you name the three things you are trying to accomplish this year?
Do your ministries and programs have stated outcomes, or stated activities?
How do you decide what to say yes to?

3 of 3

Organizational Effectiveness

How decisions get made, and whether they hold.

When a decision needs to be made, is it clear who makes it?
How long does a decision take when it involves more than one department?
If a key staff member left tomorrow, what would stop?
When something new is rolled out, what is the process?
Do you have the people you need, or the people you have?

Where you stand

Technology

Mission

Organizational Effectiveness

Most institutions land at stage one or two on at least one pillar.

That is not a judgment. It is what happens when software gets bought one problem at a time across twenty years, while the people doing the work are busy doing the work. Almost nobody is handed the whole picture, and almost nobody has time to go looking for it.

The pattern worth noticing is not your lowest score. It is the gap between your highest and your lowest - because the weak pillar is usually what is holding the strong one back.

Want this in writing?

I will send you a two-page summary of your results - the same stages you see here, plus what usually unblocks the next one and five questions worth taking to your next leadership meeting.

It is written to be forwarded. Most people who take this are not the only person who needs to see it.

One email, sent once.

Where should I send it?

The summary is one email. If you do not check the box above, that is the only one you will get - there is no sequence attached to this.

On its way

Check your inbox in the next few minutes. If it does not arrive, look in your spam folder and then email me directly at michael@adaltaleadership.com and I will send it again myself.

If anything in your results is worth talking about, I keep time open for exactly that conversation. No charge for the first one.

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