Step Five: Help the Organization to Develop Skill and Experience in Making Breakthroughs

And he made devices in Jerusalem,
invented by skillful men,
to be on the towers and the corners,
to shoot arrows and large stones.
So his fame spread far and wide,
for he was marvelously helped
till he became strong.
2 Chronicles 26:15 (NKJV)

Jesus knew that He would be walking on the Earth with
His disciples for just a few years before He would die on
the cross, be resurrected, and return to heaven. While
on Earth, His purposes were to teach His disciples about
the kingdom of God and His commands, and how to
follow His example and commands. In the Bible, the
books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the first part
of Acts can be read, in part, as an organizational leader’s
training manual for creating lasting improvements in
performance for God. We should particularly
remember that Jesus arranged for the Holy Spirit to
descend upon believers to continually guide them after
He was no longer present in the flesh. Fortunately, we
still have that wonderful Guide today.

Jesus didn’t direct His followers to seek miracles in all
areas of life. Neither should organizations seek to make
breakthroughs in all aspects of what they do:
Breakthrough focus should be reserved for what is most
important to accomplish in serving stakeholders in ways
that glorify God. The leadership team will be more
engaged in breakthroughs if it has a clear understanding
of what breakthroughs are needed. The organizational
leader’s goals can be a help here by identifying the most
important accomplishment areas, even if the initial goals
are much more modest than the full potential to achieve.

A great way to begin helping the leadership team become
more effective is to direct and encourage each one on the
team to develop a 2,000 percent solution in an important
area by working with other members of the organization.
The organizational leader should make the assignments
and set the necessary review and due dates so that
developing the breakthroughs becomes a timely, high-
priority activity. If everyone on the organizational team
is working on breakthroughs at the same time, there can
be a friendly sense of camaraderie as they share their
experiences and lessons with one another.

Based on his or her experience with creating 2,000
percent solutions, the organizational leader can also
make resources available to ease the tasks. Here are
some possible resources to provide:

• Customized versions of The 2,000 Percent Solution,
The Portable 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000
Percent Solution Workbook, The 2,000 Percent
Squared Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise,
The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, Adventures of
an Optimist, and 2,000 Percent Living that are filled
with examples drawn from the organization’s and
similar organizations’ experiences.
• Translated, customized versions of The 2,000 Percent
Solution, The Portable 2,000 Percent Solution, The
2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The 2,000 Percent
Squared Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise,
The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, Adventures of an
Optimist, and 2,000 Percent Living filled with examples
drawn from the organization’s and similar organizations’
experiences.
• Customized training programs filled with
organizational and similar organizations’ experiences.
• Experienced 2,000 percent solution tutors to monitor
and advise the leadership team and those who work
with them on developing and implementing 2,000
percent solutions.
• Fully developed histories of each of the organization’s
successful efforts to create 2,000 percent solutions.
• Access to experts whose knowledge of future best
practices and ideal best practices will ease the work
involved in steps three (Identify the Future Best
Practice) and five (Identify the Ideal Best Practice) of
the 2,000 percent solution process.
• Software designed to make it easier to do the work of
identifying and eliminating stalls and performing the
eight-step 2,000 percent solution process.

In any case, faster and better 2,000 percent solution
progress will occur if the organizational leader personally
provides some of the most important and difficult
instruction involved in learning the process. No one will
want to miss those sessions. The organizational leader
can also help improve interest in and knowledge of the
process by regularly reviewing and carefully
commenting on the progress to date.

Once a member of the leadership team succeeds in
leading a breakthrough development, the organizational
leader should arrange for recognition for all those who
contributed to the effort and publicize the success
internally and externally. Such recognition is very
important in helping the leadership team to become
more fully committed to making breakthroughs.
Recognition will also help inspire those who work for the
organizational leader to want to learn and to develop
their skills in making breakthroughs.

All those who create a breakthrough should then be asked
to study whether there are other ways and places that the
organization and its stakeholders can benefit directly from
what has just been accomplished. Next, the breakthrough
team should be asked to recommend related
breakthroughs that should be developed and who should
be involved in those tasks.

After an organizational leadership team member has been
involved in at least three breakthroughs, the leader should
be asked to begin teaching more people in her or his group
how to make breakthroughs.

Copyright 2010 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved.