On Saturday evening, I had the pleasure of accompanying my wife to a concert of two international stars. The variety of music that they sang, and the professionalism of their singing, dancing and whole performance was second to none. However, it was spoiled to a certain extent by the sound system/engineers as, despite being in an arena that is regularly used for such concerts, there was an echo via the speakers as they spoke and, at times, the sound reverberated around the building in a way that made me wince. A perfect night’s entertainment somewhat spoiled by the system through which it was projected.
I have read with interest recently the stories of two local football teams. One is debt-free and only spends within its means, the other has just announced additional losses and owes over £80M. Both have been chasing the dream of Premiership football. One reached there a couple of years ago, doing so steadily by closely watching their spending, the other has thrown bucketloads of money at it trying hard, but always falling at the last hurdle as their debts increased – though they look as though they may finally do it this year.
These are just two examples where the ideas about excellence in performance have differed in two groups. One has a particular idea of what shows excellence, and the other has a different idea – or just doesn’t look for those areas where excellence is lacking.
In our churches and charities, we have to show excellence and professionalism in the way in which we run our organisations. We were usually formed around a cause, faith or belief, and the people that founded us had a passion for that. Whilst we do not want to lose any of that passion for our cause, mission etc, we are now living in a different age. There are lots of regulations that we either have to comply with, or that we should comply with to improve our credibility.
If we don’t have expertise in these areas, then we have two choices – to either employ someone to cover those tasks, or to contract those services in – the latter avoiding the need to then having to comply with employment legislation as well! I firmly believe that we should be showing excellence in how we run our finances, our reporting with the Charity Commission, safeguarding – both children and vulnerable adults, health and safety, and many other areas. If you want to talk to me about any of these areas to see how I can help, please let me know.
There is a church near to where I live that has built such a reputation for the excellence in their organisation that they have received sizeable grants from both their local authority and the Welsh Assembly to provide additional services. When I attended there on Sunday morning they told of a meeting last week with the Chief Executive of the Council who shared a similar heart for the area as they do and wants to work together. They had also spoken to the boss of their local voluntary council who was so impressed with their work that she told them they had a pot of money that had to be used in a short space of time and wondered how they could support the church in their work – and they will be meeting very soon.
Those driven by the passion for the cause may not see it (or have the time to see it), but it is worth running our organisations in an excellent way. It shows others that we are serious, that we want to do things right – and may also lead to increased offers of funding where a high level of excellence is seen. If you want to discuss this further, please do get in touch.