Principle-Centered Planning - by Dr. John C. Maxwell

Below is an e-mail that was sent to me by JJ Gomez, Healing Waters/Aguas de Unidad National Director in the Dominican Republic. I think it has a lot of value in both planning for an organization and planning personally in our live, so I decided to share it on my blog.

I have been asked to serve as the part-time interim Youth Director at my church, Wellshire Presbyterian In this role, I am running the youth programs until we can get a new Associate Pastor hired. This new responsibility, along with my full-time job at Healing Waters International, means I really need to stay on top of planning, in both of my jobs and in my life as Jessica and I prepare for our new baby. This message really resonated with me, I hope that it helps you too.

Enjoy!

Principle-Centered Planning
By Dr. John C. Maxwell

If you've ever gone whitewater rafting, then you know the importance of planning. Whenever the raft approaches rapids, the guide has to plan the best route to navigate safely through them. If the guide fails to plan, then the raft can easily smash into a rock or capsize.

Four Types of Planning
Passive planning happens when leadership allows the raft to travel downstream at the mercy of the current rather than steering, rowing, and turning. This kind of non-planning eventually leaves you unprepared to face whitewater rapids. Worse yet, in the absence of a plan, the current may take the raft over the edge of a dreaded waterfall.

Panic planning happens only after the raft is in trouble. At this point, all of the organization's resources are scrambled in a reactionary pattern in an attempt to solve the problem. With panic planning, you may or may not come out alive and well, but you are guaranteed some bumps and bruises.

Scientific planning is viable, but can be laborious, mechanical, and often ends up abandoned in the process. Imagine if a raft guide constantly tried to measure the depth of the water, the distance between rocks, the wind speed, and the water current. Although the information might be helpful, oftentimes the water would be moving too swiftly to take the measurements. In a like manner, leaders often have to respond to change in an instant. There's no time to collect scientific data on all of the variables before deciding which course of action is best.

Principle-centered planning is the key to effectiveness. It is the artistic or leadership approach. Principle-centered planning recognizes that life in general (and people in particular) can't be graphed on a chart, but sees that planning still remains essential.

Reasons Why People Don't Plan
You don't have to be in leadership very long to learn that planning pays off. Even so, many people don't plan. Here are four reasons why people neglect planning.

1) They don't possess planning skills or knowledge.
Some people don't have an innate ability to project themselves into the future. They've never been taught to prioritize their day or to prepare for tomorrow.

2) They're caught in the tyranny of the urgent, and they believe that they don't have time.
Some people allow themselves to be pulled into the vortex of minutiae. As a consequence, they end up buried under a sea of details, and they can't pull their heads above water long enough to plan.

3) They don't like the perceived hassle of planning.
Instead of planning one event at a time, they become overwhelmed by the mountain of things to plan.

4) Many people don't plan because the outcome varies greatly.
"After all," they say, "When I do make a plan, it normally doesn't end up happening, so why bother?"

Why Planning Is Essential
We all have desires and dreams, yet we'll never accomplish our dreams in life just by wanting them bad enough. Planning bridges the gap between our desires and dreams by calling us to action. As noted by William Danforth, ""No plan is worth the paper it is printed on unless it starts you doing something." A concrete plan supplies us with tangible steps to take in the direction of our dreams.

Qualities of Principle-Centered Planning
• Principle-centered planning allows us to be flexible without losing focus.
• Principle-centered planning allows us to be creative without losing concentration.
• Planning is the structure. Principle-centered planning is the flesh.
• Planning is the roadmap. Principle-centered planning is the movement.
• Planning is the idea. Principle-centered planning is the action.
• Planning is the paper. Principle-centered planning is the power.

Summary

It's been said, "By failing to plan, you plan to fail." I wholeheartedly agree. People who ignore planning handicap themselves and stifle their effectiveness.
The good news about planning is that it's a relatively simple discipline. Anyone can do it. No PHD is required to make a solid plan - only a window of uninterrupted time for focused thought.

Sad News (although nothing totally tragic)

This just in from CNN.com. . .

Brace yourself: Beer prices are going up

Brewers say rising commodity costs and lower volumes are forcing them to raise its price tags.

By Ben Rooney and Catherine Clifford, CNNMoney.com staff writers
Last Updated: August 26, 2009: 8:07 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Beer drinkers beware: The cost of a cold one is going up.

Brewers across the globe are hiking prices to compensate for lower volumes and higher commodity costs in the recession.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer and maker of Budweiser, announced plans to raise prices Tuesday.

"We plan on taking price increases on a majority of volume and in a majority of markets this fall," Anheuser-Busch InBev said in a statement. "The increase helps cover some input costs."

The U.S.-Belgian brewer said prices will go up "across different price tiers" including its high and low-end brands.

The price hikes are part of a broader industry trend.

Heineken, best known for its Heineken and Amstel brands, said Tuesday that its global price increases have helped it turn profits despite sagging volumes.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI) was formed in November 2008 when InBev, which brews Beck's and Stella Artois, bought St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion.

The looming price hike comes as sales volumes in the brewing industry have declined. Anheuser-Busch InBev said earlier this month that total beer volumes were down 1.5% in the second quarter versus the same period last year.

Heineken, based in Amsterdam, said Tuesday that price increases helped the company offset the pull back in consumption. Heineken makes and brews 170 international beers and ciders, but is best known for its brands Heineken and Amstel.

"The economic and trading conditions remain difficult, and there will be continued pressure on volumes in the second half of 2009," CEO Jean-Fran�ois van Boxmeer said in a statement.

First Published: August 25, 2009: 5:41 PM ET

Guest Blogger: Sermon on "Appalling Acts of Radical Compassion"

My friend Paul Sundberg, who is a Lutheran Pastor, gave a sermon last Sunday that is worthy of reposting and publication. It is about choices, and the compassion with which we should be approaching choices in our lives and in the world. Enjoy!

As for Me (Sermon by Paul Sundberg preached on 8/24/09)

Appalling Acts of Radical Compassion

Joshua 24.1-2a, 14-18, Psalm 34.15-22 Ephesians 6.10-20 John 6.56-69

Choices are a part of life: some are really easy:
Tostitos and salsa or Ruffles and dip?
Chocolate or Vanilla?
Mariners or Yankees?
Ford or Toyota?
Boxers or briefs?
More or less?

But some choices are anything but simple. Some appeal to our need to be right; some bring joy to some and grief to others. And that means that they are the kind of choices that demand that we be genuine in our faith: genuine in the way Paul means it when he writes to the divided congregation in Corinth. He does not demand that they get it right, he calls them to be genuine – which he then goes on to describe as love.

I don’t like talking about choice from the pulpit. The worship band folks from our 9:00am service will tell you that whenever I see the word choice in the lyrics of the songs they sing, I write new lyrics. I’m no fan of choice theology, (it too easily leads to the idea that salvation and righteousness are up to me) yet I have come to grudgingly accept, as I have read the Bible over the last 37 years (as student, teacher, pastor and repentant believer), that just as light is both a wave and a particle – it depends on what you’re looking for – so faith is pure gift and choice.

Besides, with today’s reading I can’t avoid it. “Choose,” Joshua says to the assembled leaders and elders as he and Aaron’s son are about to die and a change of generations is about to take place. “Choose between the lesser gods of convenience and comfort or God who wrestles with us, leads us into physical and spiritual wildernesses, journeys and battles, who calls us into constant repentance and forgiveness, radical generosity and compassion, and hospitality to angels and saints, strangers and sinners.

He’s just echoing his mentor Moses, who said it more simply, “See I have set before you today death or life. Choose Life.

Jesus says it more personally, his teachings and actions are hard to take, and many of his disciples have left. He turn to the twelve and ask, “Do you also want to leave? Will you walk away from me or walk with me?”

But the choice isn’t easy, even when the gift of faith has been given. Jesus comes with appalling acts of radical compassion and love:
-Jesus calls hicks and dreamers to be his disciples
-Turns water to wine for an already inebriated wedding party
-Chases out of the temple those whose presence has been blessed by priests and Levites, but whose greed creates a barrier to those who just want to worship
-Tells a leader of the people he has to start over with a new life and new perspective
-Calls himself the son of God
-Forgives sin
-Heals on the Sabbath
-Calls himself the giver of eternal life
-Claims authority above and beyond Scripture
-Feeds thousands
-Offers himself, his body and blood, for the people

And that’s just the first six chapters of John. He will yet:
-Save the life of the woman caught in adultery and send her away without condemnation
-Shatter the myth of a connection between sin and physical defects and differences
-Heal the blind
-Raise Lazarus
-Let his feet be touched and anointed by a woman who is not related to him
-Wash the feet of his disciples
-Give his peace
-Choose weakness over power and submit to the authorities
-Die on the cross

You who say you love me…what will you choose…do you also want to leave?

It wasn’t and isn’t an easy choice. Our instinct is to return to the things that help us avoid wrestling with issues, that help us put life (ours and everyone else’s) in order, and make life convenient, profitable, and comfortable. The things that make it easy to not look beyond ourselves, not look at the consequences of our choices, not have to honor our interdependence, or confess our own sin first, or give ourselves away. We’d prefer the lesser gods of moral rectitude, self-righteousness, self-service and cultural accommodation.

If our choices are so self-focused, so turned in on ourselves, so demanding of a single mind, how will we turn to the family at the church seeking shelter? How will we continue to dig wells in communities that thirst regardless of the language they speak, the traditions they honor, the religion they follow? How will we speak the gospel of Jesus Christ to a nation that is wracked with anxiety, struggling to recover, and reeling from the divisive language of politicians and pundits and the fearful? How will we be Christ’s Church?

You who say you love me…what will you choose…do you also want to leave? Or, will you realize that these things I do, I do for you, freely in spite of your sin, because of your sin. The wine…it’s for you. Worship…it’s for you. New life…it’s for you. Forgiveness, hope, healing, me…my flesh and blood…my dying…it’s for you. I will let nothing stand in the way of my love for you. I am the Son of God who wrestles with you as you wrestle with life and what it brings. You who say you love me, do you also want to leave, or will you join me in appalling acts of radical compassion?

As for me and my house the only answer can be, “We will serve the Lord. After all, Lord, to whom shall we go? You, you Jesus, have the words of eternal life.”

Saturday on the Healing Waters International Transformation Trip to Tuxtla - Chiapas, Mexico

Saturday was another busy and fulfilling day for the Transformation Trip in Chiapas. We got up early and headed out to visit another Healing Waters system as well as meet a family that gets their water at the system. We headed up the hillside just outside of Tuxtla. The city of Tuxtla is in a valley and many of the poorest and marginalized communities are up on the hillsides surrounding the city. Below is a photo of a typical house in the community of "El Refugio" where Healing Waters has built a water purification system and a Nazerene church runs the system and distributes safe drinking water to their community.



We walked about three or four blocks from the system to the house of Maria Daisy. She is a squatter and has built her laminated tin shack on federal government property. She has been there for a few years and the government has not bothered her so she has made upgrades including a cement floor and even a pirated electrical connection to have electricity. She does not have running water and gets her drinking water from the Healing Waters system.

Maria Daisy hosted our group at her "house" and told us what a blessing the water system has been for her and her family. Her kids are no longer getting sick all the time and are growing more. Her husband has been missing less work due to illness and is able to work more to support his family. It is an amazing story.

Sitting outside Maria Daisy's house

Two of Maria Daisy's children

A view in the squatters community overlooking the city of Tuxtla

An outhouse in the background and the cooking fire in the foreground

Maria Daisy felt so honored that we would come visit her that she cooked us a meal of traditional chicken mole and rice and made us fruit juice from the safe drinking water she got at the Healing Waters system.

Enjoying a meal in Maria Daisy's house

The group and Maria Daisy with her family outside her home

After we visited her house we headed to Chiapa de Corzo which is a colonial town on the banks of the river that flows into the Sumidero Canyon. The town itself is charming and colonial, but we went straight to the river where we bought tickets on a boat to go up the Sumidero Canyon. This is a natural canyon that has walls that go up over one kilometer. It is a beautiful place and not to be missed if you are traveling in Southern Mexico.

The boats lined up ready to take people up the canyon. This is really a tourist attraction for locals and Mexicans as much as American tourists. We were the only "foreigners" on our boat cruise. We sang songs and had everyone laughing with our gringo antics.

Shane looking serious (or sea sick?)

The canyon and canyon walls

Jon looking up at the canyon walls.

There are crocodiles in the river, so you don't want to fall in.

I loved the creative use of a recycled old boat and tires to make this dock. This boat was probably taken out of service a few years ago, but still floats well enough to use as a dock.

Greg and Jenni enjoying the fast boat ride and the breeze!

Once we got back on land, we drove for about an hour to San Cristobal de las Casa. This is a charming colonial town in the mountains above Tuxtla. It is at a much higher elevation than the valley of Tuxtla, so it was cooler, a welcome break from the hot, humid weather. The town is really quaint and beautiful, many people think it is one of the nicest places in Mexico, take a look at the photos and you can decide.

Cobblestone streets and beatifully painted houses

Chiles in the market

Me standing with Elizabeth, the daughter of one of the Healing Waters/Aguas de Unidad Mexico employees. A little bit of a heigh difference (she is standing on a bench.)

A local indigenous woman selling her hand embroidered blouses

Me standing in front of a cheese shop called "El Guero." That is another word for foreigner/light skinned/gringo.

The cathedral in San Cristobal

Beautiful cross with a cloudy backdrop

A night shot of a church in San Cristobal.

This was our last night together as a group for the transformation trip. At about 7:00pm as it was getting dark, we lost one of our group members on the streets of San Cristobal (I won't tell you who.) After a few hours of searching we were reunited. We decided since it was our last night and because we found our lost member, it was time for a group hug.

Our "last meal" was Mexican hot chocolate and churros. It was delicious! We piled back into the van, exhausted but content. We had early flights out the next morning.

All in all the Healing Waters International Transformation Trip was amazing. I would love to have the opportunity to travel with any of the trip participants again, and hope that I do.

Thanks for following along and maybe you will be able to join us next time.

LET THE CLEAN WATERS FLOW!

Friday on the Healing Waters International Transformation Trip in Tuxtla - Chiapas, Mexico

I have been back from Mexico for a week and a half and am just getting around to updating the blog.

The rest of the Transformation Trip to Mexico was phenomenal. To read about Wednesday and Thursday, read my previous post.

On Friday morning we woke up and loaded into the van to head back to Coita, the community about 30 minutes from Tuxtla where Healing Waters built a water system. We were headed to an "Albergue para Alcolicos y Drogadictos." (A rehab center for alcoholics and drug addicts.) This center gets free water from the Healing Waters system in Coita and is also supported by the church there.

First we stopped and picked up some lumber to use to define the edges of the garden. I had the privilege of driving the truck that was full of lumber, fun stuff!

Greg, Field Operations Manager and Lumber Truck Driver

The group at the lumber yard

When we arrived at the rehab center, we were given a tour of the facility and then got to work building a garden for the center.

Look out Home and Garden Magazine, here we come!

Working hard and playing in the dirt Jon and Ryan "supervising" the work

Jenni and Althea, look at those green thumbs!

The finished product

A "man hug" with machetes, the traditional way to celebrate the completion of a garden in Chiapas, or just two goofy gringos.

After we completed the garden we had lunch at a local restaurant where we sampled such delicacies as chile rellenos (DELICIOUS!) and cow tongue (don't ask.)

After lunch we headed to a state park/nature reserve. We had to hike down 900 steps and then wade across a river to get to a waterfall. It was beautiful and very refreshing

Crossing the river

Showering in the waterfall

AWESOME!

Inigo, the son of one of Healing Waters/Aguas de Unidad empoyees in Mexico, enjoying the waterfall

Me, enjoying the waterfall

Jon, Shane and Hrothgar enjoying the waterfall

Jenni REALLY enjoying the waterfall.

Unfortunately we had to hike back out the same 900 steps. It was tiring so Ryan decided to take a nap after the long hike back out.

Our van ride back was fun as we all decided to sing song with each other including Simon and Garfunkel, some old camp favorites, and others.

All in all, Friday was an amazing day. We ate dinner at a great Italian place and everyone was exhausted and happy.

Chiapas Mexico, Safe Drinking Water and Transformation!

Greetings from Chiapas, CAPITAL OF THE WORLD! (This is the phrase that one of the Healing Waters Internatial/Aguas de Unidad employees uses whenever he writes an e-mail to me.) The people of Chiapas are very proud of their state. Chiapas is the southernmost state in Mexico, bordering Guatemala.

Healing Waters/Aguas de Unidad has an office here and 17 water purification systems serving an average of 35,000 people per day with safe drinking water. By the end of the year we hope to have installed at least four new systems, bringing our total to 21.

Chiapas is a beautiful state too, amazing landscapes and vistas. I arrived here late Sunday night (check out my last blog post to hear about my 18 hour journey from Guatemala.) On Monday morning I headed into the office and started work. We began with a staff meeting which includes an update on what all the staff are doing for the week, a short bible study and prayer time. After that, I jumped right into work with Sebastian, the employee here who manages the relationships with the church partners and their water systems. Sebastian and I spent most of the day working through the process we use to select new communities and church partners for water systems. We have a detailed initial study process we go through before installing a water system in any given community to ensure that the community has the right profile to host a successful water system.

Some of the criteria that we look at are:
Objective Project Prospecting Criteria
-Poverty Level (to ensure we are staying true to our mission and serving in poor communities)
-Presence of Waterborne Disease
-Population Density (we need good population density for our water projects to be self-sustaining)
-Water Quality
-Water Quantity/Availability
-Competitive Environment
-Distance from Closest ADU project
-Other competitors
-Does the prospective partner own its property? (we make a substantial investment in infrastructure when we build a project and wouldn't want to have a landlord come in and take that investment.)

Subjective Project Prospecting Criteria:
-How does the church serve its community? (We want to make sure the church is already involved in outreach in its community and has a vision for serving not just its members but the community at large)
-Partnerships w/ other orgs (churches that are already working with other orgs and have a track record of success make good partners for us)
-What is the mission/vision of the church?
-Church Leadership
-# of years church has been in the community
-# of members of church

We look at all of these criteria through an intensive intial study process that includes interviews of the church leadership, a survey of at least 100 people in the community, interviewing a doctor in a local health clinic, taking water samples, and other ways to measure these criteria. Sebastian has been doing a great job with this process and so he and I were working together to document his process so that our other countries can use it to do a better job of selecting their church partners.

We spent most of the day Monday and Tuesday working through this including visits to a couple of communities we were prospecting, a conference call between all three country staffs to talk about the process. It was a very fulfilling time with Sebastian and the rest of the Mexico staff.

On Wednesday, the group started arriving for the United States for the Healing Waters Transformation Trip. These are trips that we run so people who are interested in Healing Waters and in mission trips can come to the country for a few days to learn more about us and the work we are doing here and engage in some authentic community service experiences. The group all arrived safely by Wednesday night and we enjoyed a delicious meal of tacos!

The group is a smaller one (4 people) but they all have incredible hearts for service and adventurous spirits. I know already that this is going to be an amazing "transformational" trip for all of us!

On Thursday we all got up early and headed to Coita, a town that is about 45 minutes outside of Tuxtla where we are staying. We started the day by visiting the Healing Waters system installed in Coita. We learned about the purification process for the water and were treated to fresh made limeade and sandwiches. Althea, (the communications coordinator and accountant for the Aguas de Unidad office here in Mexico) has arranged all of these activities for us and she is doing an amazing job helping to host the trip!

We loaded back into the van and drove about five minutes from the system to an orphanage. This orphanage receives free water donated from the Healing Waters system. We toured the facility and learned about all the different projects they are doing there. It is really an amazing place that takes kids from very young (3 years old) through 18. They have nice facilities and also a number of job skills training projects including a sewing area, a large agricultural project that included cultivation of corn, beans, peanuts as well as pigs and chickens. After we finished our tour we started working, painting one of the boys dorm facilities. We spent about three hours scraping, spackling, sanding and painting. Then we broke for lunch and enjoyed a delicious lunch with the kids.

After lunch half of our crew headed back to finish the painting project while the other half played games and did some activities with the kids in the orphanage including coloring, playing cards and making puppets to put together a puppet show.

It was an incredibly fulfilling day, exhausting but fulfilling. We piled back in to the van and headed back to Tuxtla to get cleaned up and go spend a night on the town. After getting cleaned up and relaxing a bit at our hotel, Althea picked us up with her family and we headed to "Marimba Park." Tuxtla (the capital city of the Chiapas state) is famous because there is a Marimba band that plays in a beautiful rotunda in this park every night, all year. Families come out to listen and dance in the park every night. It is a very festive environment and our group really go into it. They danced, and danced, and danced. Even I danced! Although it wasn't intentional. You see I was standing up on this raised area in the park watching the dancers and I saw a family trying to climb up onto the raised area. I went over to give them a hand up. After helping up the grandma and the middle-aged dad, I reached out my hand to help his middle-aged wife. She grabbed my hand, stepped up on the platform, wrapped her hand around my waist and started dancing with me. Her husband immediately pulled out his camera and started snapping photos, thoroughly enjoying watching his wife embarrass the goofy, klutzy gringo. Unfortunately a number of members of the group were nearby when this happened too, and they all began snapping photos as well. I am going to do everything I can to keep those photos from getting out, but we will see.

After that we went to dinner at an amazing restaurant that had traditional dishes from the Chiapas region. After dinner we had to stop for ice cream, clearly.

We finally made it back to our hotel at 11pm last night, exhausted and elated. It was an amazing day.

I am going to try to keep blogging, but others in the group are blogging too, so you can check out their perspectives and photos:
Shane Hoefer:
http://shanesthoughts.wordpress.com/

Jenni Salisbury:
http://travelerforgood.blogspot.com/

Take care, thanks for reading and LET THE CLEAN WATERS FLOW!