“My future is immediate.  I will grasp it in both hands and carry it with running feet.  When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will choose to act!  (Andy Andrews)

In his book on “Making Ideas Happen” Scott Belsky talks about the need to have an organizational bias toward action.  I think he is right, and has tapped into a truth revealed in scripture from long ago.   This organizational bias toward action basically means that within every effective organization (your life, family, business, or church) there is a bias towards doing something versus doing nothing.  Think for a moment about all the way we do things without doing anything.  For instance we go to church, hear a sermon, take notes, and then do nothing with the information!  We do the same in board meetings sometimes.  We call a meeting, toss the problem around, and then table the issue for another day. Teams often get stuck trying to get a great idea, while sitting on good ideas.  Then time passes and no idea was acted on.   In each case we have done nothing, while satisfying the notion that “we are doing something .”  This organizational bias towards “doing nothing” is killing many organizations.

It seems to me that God has built into the creation a “bias toward doing.”  For some reason we often assume the position of “waiting on God.”  And what’s more we assume that this is a highly spiritual posture.  The fact is that waiting on God really means trusting in God.  It has nothing to do with watching God do everything we need done.  Now I understand that there are seasons for waiting for Gods direction, timing, provision, or supply.  But its an altogether different and misguided notion that expects God to do the “doing.”  God didn’t build the Ark, the Tabernacle, or rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.  In every case he used human agents to “do” his will.  Once we have received a divine directive, the next step is ours to take.  So it might just be that instead of waiting on God, God is actually waiting on you.

Psalm 1 famously states that the righteous man will prosper in whatever he “does.”  It struck me some time ago, that this is a key to the entire equation.  God promises to bless not what we hope to do, plan to do, intend to do, or would like to do.  Rather God will bless what we do! Doing demands action.  “He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap.”  (Eccl 11:4)  “Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.”  (Eccl 11:6)

Every goal needs an action plan.  Whether its grocery shopping or building a new ministry.  Nothing gets done until there is a plan to get it done.  This is the “bias towards actions” time to shine.  No matter the size each project can be broken down into baby steps which when done will result in progress.  So you should never leave a goal without an action plan be mapped out for the accomplishing of the goal.

Furthermore every action step needs a owner.  Every action step in the plan needs an someone to carry it out.  Unless you assign an owner to the “action step” it will get left undone.  The best plan will not move until people move, and that is as simple as it gets.

I want to encourage you as a leader to cultivate a bias towards action in your organization.  Make up your mind to act rather than sit.  Even the smallest steps toward a goal will get you closer to accomplishing it.

By Pastor Isaac De Los Santos