This fifth task of the leader is just as important as the
other four. The leader must plan, organize, guide, and staff,
but without controls being established and adhered to, the whole
project may not be effective. People don’t do what we
expect, but what we inspect.
Definition
Controlling is seeing that
everything is carried out according to the plans, or
insuring that the results conform to the plan. Planning and
control are very closely related. Some have even called
these the Siamese twins of management. Control also involves
comparing what is with what ought to be. It involves seeing
that the performance is meeting the established standards.
Control requires the building-in of accountability.
Controls are sometimes called feedback, evaluation,
measurement, or follow-through. Examples of controls would
include deadlines, written reports, and budgets. Controls
can be few or many, but every worker and every project
should have some type of built-in control. Evaluation is the
process of getting answers to the question of how we are
doing. It measures the degree of success or failure in the
achievement of ministry objectives. Evaluation includes
gathering of objective data and interpretation of that data
to develop conclusions that will ultimately result in
change.
Control in the Bible
The Bible
has a number of examples of controls being used.
1. Scripture itself is referred to as a control for the
man of God (2 Timothy 3:16–17). “All Scripture is
God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of
God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2.
Moses exercised control over the building of the tabernacle
(Exodus 39:43). “Moses inspected the work and saw that they
had done it just as the LORD had commanded. So Moses blessed
them.”
3. Paul exercised control over churches he started
by checking up on their progress (Acts 15:36). “Some time
later Paul said to Barnabas, 'Let us go back and visit the
brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the
Lord and see how they are doing.'"
4. A Christian should
examine himself before participating in the Lord’s Supper (1
Corinthians 11:28). “A man ought to examine himself before
he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.”
Control a problem
Christian leaders seem to have more trouble with the task
of controlling than with any of the other tasks of
leadership. In most Christian organizations, there is no
such thing as quality control. It seems that Christian
leaders assume that since lay volunteers are doing the work,
that not many demands should be made. “Some work, or even
inferior work, is better than none” seems to be the
rationalization. Most Christian leaders dare not to have a
high expectation level of performance. It almost seems that
it is thought to be un-Christian to hold a person
accountable.
Types of controls
Two
basic types of control or feedback can be used:
1.
Continuous feedback – on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
This type is very important to track the progress on the
plans. Often times this will be used with control by
exception. Here one looks for shortfalls, variances in
performance, and failure to carry out plans. This feedback
should direct the attention of the leader to critical areas
that need attention before the undesirable results have
piled up and the matter becomes crucial. A monthly budget
report that shows the variance is the most widely used
example of this type of control technique. Regular reports
of program organizations like Sunday School, AWANA, and
others also serve in this capacity. Some pastors even
require a monthly report from each staff person that would
serve this function. Some mission boards require
missionaries to submit a monthly report that falls into this
category.
2. Periodic feedback
This usually takes the
form of performance appraisals or evaluations. Special
reports can also fit into this category. These do not come
on a regular basis, or at least not on a frequently
occurring regular basis.
Control tools
1. Businesses commonly
use five control tools:
a. Management by exception – used
where only significant deviations
between the planned
and actual performance are considered.
b. Break-even
analysis – used to look at profit and loss. It considers
fixed and variable costs and decides the very minimum
required to perform an operation.
c. Ratio analysis –
used where financial ratios are examined and compared with
industry averages or competition. The ratios used most often
are:
1) Liquidity ratio
2) Leverage ratio
3)
Activity ratio
4) Profitability ratio
(A church can
also use: baptism ratio, per member gift ratio, etc.)
d.
Trend analysis
e. The budget – also a control tool
2.
The number of things to be controlled should be limited. Too
many controls are usually worse than no controls. If there
are too many, there is a tendency to ignore them all. Also,
beware of controlling the trivial, but establish controls on
major matters. Controls may usurp time that should be spent
in other areas of the organization. Controls can be a
problem also if they are too detailed.
3. The proper use
of control involves three stages:
a. Establishing a
performance standard
b. Measuring the performance by the
standard
c. Correcting the performance to conform to the
standard.
