385 Words | (1) Reverse Engineer from Your Mission Backwards, (2) Become a Different Kind of Community Organizer, and (3) Innovate Faster with Minimally Viable Products.

Reverse Engineer from Your Mission Backwards

Innovation: Drill down from mission to innovate products and services.

Desired Outcome: Products and services fully supporting your organization’s greater mission.

Have you ever worked backwards from your mission to see if your organization is on-track? Simply read your mission out loud with a number of stakeholders and make sure that everyone understands the true North meaning and intention of the organization. Now, start exploring. What are your three main objectives? If achieved, do they accomplish the mission? Now, what strategies are supporting your objectives? If achieved, will they satisfy your objectives? Now, drill down to see if your products and services are on-mission, meeting objectives and strategy.

Become a Community Organizer But Not the Way You’re Thinking

Innovation: Organize all services and calendar of the people you serve in one place.

Desired Outcome: Serve people better by helping to organize their services and calendar.

When you scan the service horizon of the people you serve, do you see an efficient marketplace? In other words, are the products and services offered from all providers cataloged in one place? If not, consider creating a community service guide and calendar from the beneficiary’s perspective. You could invite other organizations into the process or do it yourself and get caught helping the people you serve and others in the community.

Start with a Minimally Viable Product (MVP) and Innovate Faster 

Innovation: Use the MVP concept to serve people better.

Desired Outcome: Speed innovation to serve better and faster.

The concept of a minimally viable product or service is not new to the technology business but it may be new to your church, ministry and Christian business. In this case, the title describes the desired outcome. Identify a single problem that needs improving or solving. Once identified, start brainstorming simple solutions that can solve the problem. Think lean. Build a simple prototype and test it where it will be ultimately deployed. Once you have a working MVP, start adding products and services requested by the end user.

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