The STaRS organization types.

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In The First 90 Days, Michael Watkins writes about the “STaRS” model of organizational evolution. He notes there are four situations you may find yourself walking into when starting a new job: a Start-Up, Turnaround, Realignment, or Sustaining Success.

This is your job in each one:

• START-UP - Assembling the capabilities {people, funding, technology} to get a new business, product, or project off the ground
• SUSTAINING SUCCESS - Shouldering responsibility for preserving the vitality of a successful organization and and taking it to the next level
• REALIGNMENT - Revitalize a unit, product, process, or project that is drifting into trouble
• TURNAROUND - Taking on a unit or group that is recognized to be in trouble to get it back on track

This is how the evolution works:

1. A START-UP that succeeds enters a growth cycle which leads to a SUSTAINING SUCCESS.
2. If a SUSTAINING SUCCESS fails it becomes a REALIGNMENT. If it enters a recovery cycle it can return to a SUSTAINING SUCCESS.
3. If a REALIGNMENT fails it enters a crisis cycle and becomes a TURNAROUND. If it succeeds it can return to a SUSTAINING SUCCESS.
4. If a TURNAROUND fails it dies as a SHUTDOWN.

Here’s the question for church leaders: What type of church are you serving in?

• START-UP
• SUSTAINING SUCCESS
• REALIGNMENT
• TURNAROUND

What cycle are you presently in?

• growth
• recovery
• crisis

Assess each team, project, and program in your ministry and ask the same two questions for each one.

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Tags: evaluation, organization types