The End Game Question Every Leader Should Ask

Most leaders begin with the wrong question. They ask: What should we do? What program should we start? How many people can we reach? How much money can we raise? How large can we grow? Those aren't bad questions. But they aren't the first question. The first question is: What must ultimately be true because I led well?

I call this the End Game Question. Leadership without an end game easily becomes activity without direction. You can have meetings, events, programs, staff, budgets, followers, buildings, and impressive numbers and still fail to accomplish the thing you were actually called to do. That's because activity and accomplishment are not the same thing.

Start With the Harvest

A farmer doesn't plant simply because planting feels productive. He plants because he expects a harvest. That distinction matters. In the Garden Model, we think about the harvest before we determine what needs to be planted. The same principle applies to leadership. Before you build the strategy, define the outcome.

If you're leading a school, what kind of student should emerge from that school? If you're leading a church, what should be different about the people and neighborhood because your church exists? If you're leading a nonprofit, what condition are you actually trying to change? If you're leading a company, what value should exist because your organization operates? If you're developing leaders, what should those leaders eventually be capable of doing without you?

Your End Game Cannot Be Dependency

That last question is particularly important. One of the greatest leadership mistakes is confusing people's dependence upon us with our effectiveness. If everything collapses when you leave, you may have built an impressive organization. But you haven't necessarily built leaders.

Leadership should increase capacity. The people around you should become stronger. They should understand the mission. They should know how to make decisions. They should know how to lead others. Eventually, they should be capable of carrying the work farther than you could carry it yourself. That's why replication is part of the Garden Model. Healthy things reproduce.

Reverse Engineer the Outcome

Once you know the end game, leadership becomes clearer. Ask yourself: What must ultimately be true? Then: What must happen for that to become true? Then: Who must be involved? What relationships must exist? What resources are required? What barriers must be removed? What must we cultivate? How will we know when we've produced the desired harvest?

Now you're building strategy backward from the outcome instead of forward from activity. That is the difference between a leader who is busy and a leader who is fruitful.

Leadership Is Stewardship

For me, leadership is also a spiritual responsibility. Influence is something God allows us to steward. That means the question isn't simply, "How successful can I become?" The question becomes: What am I supposed to produce with what God has placed in my hands?

People. Relationships. Experience. Resources. Influence. Opportunities. Those things have purpose. Leadership becomes powerful when we stop treating influence as something to possess and begin treating it as something to steward.

Ask the Question Again

• Select the field.
• Remove the barriers.
• Cultivate what matters.
• Harvest the outcome.
• Replicate what works.

So before your next strategic plan, initiative, campaign, ministry, organization, or program, ask: What must ultimately be true because I led well? Write the answer down. Make it measurable where possible. Then work backward. That's End Game Leadership. Don't simply ask what you're going to do next. Decide what must ultimately become true.