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Life Cycles of an Organization: Starting, Maintaining, Finishing

By September 21, 2011October 22nd, 2019Leadership, Organizational Leadership

Every organization has a life cycle. In fact, over the life of an organization, there will be many separate life cycles. I have written about organizational life cycles before.

Within those life cycles the successful organization develops a team skilled at separate functions.

The three functions are:

Starting – Starting involves dreaming, vision-casting, recruitment of people to follow a new idea or initiative. These are the people who embrace change and are always ready for something new. (I typically fit in this group BTW.)

Maintaining – Maintaining involves setting up and managing systems in an effort to continue the progress already begun by others. These people sometimes resist change, but value things which are organized, structured, and understandable. (Starters, don’t complain. We need these people. 🙂 )

Finishing – Finishing is different from starting or maintaining, because it’s not beginning new, nor is it staying the same, but it involves taking an established idea and carrying it to the next destination. It could be to improve things, or to close them gracefully. These are people who have the ability and desire to make existing things better and to finish things well.

Here’s why this matters in an organization:

In my observation, people tend to lean towards one of the three, but may be comfortable in two of them. It is rare to find someone gifted in all three.

I love being a starter. Since I was in high school, I’ve wanted to start clubs or initiatives, alter the direction of something, or stir up some intentional change. I can live in the finishing role for a time if it involves development or innovation, but I always drift back to starting something new. I burn out quickly in the maintaining position. It’s one reason I’m consistently tossing out new ideas to our team. (It’s also how I frustrate them most. 🙂 )

One goal of a team should be to balance out the strengths of the team members around each of these, so the team is always starting, maintaining, and finishing well, recognizing that each of these functions of a life cycle are equally important.

It requires all three.

Which are you wired for best?

(If you say all three, you might want to ask people around you to help you evaluate your answer.)

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Ron Edmondson

Author Ron Edmondson

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Join the discussion 15 Comments

  • ronedmondson says:

    There are lots. I'm not sure what to point you to honestly. A simple Google search is where I would probably start. Should find some helpful work Thanks!Ron Edmondson

    • Ganaa says:

      Hi,I’m an undergraduete and writing diploma thesis in OLC. I need to find any test or method, which define that which stage is the organization on.Example: How can I know that I’m a maintener or a finisher exactly. I can’t find from Google search. Please tell me some methods! Sorry for the bothering!

      Thanks

      Ganaa

      • ronedmondson says:

        I'm sorry. Leaving the country and can't answer right now. Wish I could help Thanks!Ron Edmondson

  • Bill Clarkson says:

    In between starter and maintainer is a critical skill that so often is missing – implementation – the ability to take a dream or vision and start it so that it can be sustainable. It is in the hand-off from the starter/implementer to the maintainer that so many ministries, programs, and incredible God ideas fail….

  • Eric Barron says:

    Your evaluation is so much simpler than the 7-step structure we use. In my heart I want to be a starter- I do have big ideas and big faith and opinions on everything! But people around me think I'm a better detail, flesh out the vision in a practical way kind of person. So, while I have yet to explore my gifts as a starter, I still dream big dreams as i follow a big God!

  • tijuanabecky
    Twitter:
    says:

    I'm not sure where I'm at either. I think I'm good at them all to a point and at the same time bad at them. Depends on the project and whether I enjoy it or not. If it's important and there is a vision or good reason for it to happen it gets started, maintained, and finished. If it's not real important or is a side project that doesn't have a ton of value or can be done whenever it may get started and sit for awhile. Hard to say.

    • ronedmondson says:

      It does take all. I suspect if you did one of them exclusively you'd figure out one you're not as keen about. That was true for me in maintaining.

  • susan says:

    I am not sure what I am….could be a starter because I have many ideasand dream of different things to try, but often I am unsure how to impliment them. I don't believe I am a maintainer because it seems ultra stagnit to me, although that is where I find myself most often. Not sure about the finisher, because I think that takes alot of knowlege and confidence to "know" when something needs to be finished. Ideas?

    • ronedmondson says:

      Finishers have a keen sense of when things need to change. They love helping that process. Starters world almost rather start over.Imagine a life cycle up and down. Would you rather be at the very beginning going up or at the bottom of a curve trying to decide how to go up the same hill again?

  • alszambrano says:

    I'm not sure if I'm a maintainer or a finisher – I don't think I understand the difference between the two.

    • ronedmondson says:

      Consider this and see if it helps. Maintainers are mostly heads down (not a negative term in this case) and finishers are mostly heads up.