Standard of Performance
The idea of a Standard of Performance for the Youth Guides turned out to be a brilliant one. Setting standards of performance and requiring members of the program to report on them each week allowed the leaders to have a gauge they could use for setting and achieving goals. It was a measurement of how well we were doing personally and as a program on the four or five activities most important for our success. In addition, we found that when we required a Weekly Report from each Youth Guide on the various items in the standard we had greater compliance and we reached our goals more consistently. If we did not require a Weekly Report, it wasn’t long until everyone was having more trouble getting the standards of the program done, and failure to reach our goals usually followed.
ZionsArmy.com – The Standard of Performance is the basis for everything we will do. How successful we are at keeping the standards governs how quickly we reach our goal. We thought about how we could have you report your standards and decided the only way to do it is to have you report to yourself, a friend, member of your family, or a leader. With the possibility of having 15,000 members involved, a reporting system involving the website would be impossible. In addition, you can decide which form you want to use, the one we provide at ZionsArmy.com, or your own. Click here for Weekly Report Form. One simple way of keeping track of your Study Time is to go to the back of your scriptures and find a blank page. Carefully mark off 11 rows down and 8 rows across. You will have room to write in the minutes you study each day with a total at the end of the line, and you’ll have a record you can use for 10 weeks.
    30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 210 |
| 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 210 |
| 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 210 |
| 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 210 |
| 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 210 |
| 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 210 |
| 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 210 |
| 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 210 |
| 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 210 |
| 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 210 |
| 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 210 |
You can add the fact that you prayed morning and night for a missionary experience by marking an “X” over the day. Write your SETADATE to the side in bold numbers, and every time you invite a NYM friend or acquaintance to a Church function color in the “0.”
The first item in the Standard of Performance was Gospel Study. We were required to study for a minimum of 30 minutes a day, which added up to 210 minutes a week. We encouraged the Guides to read in the Standard Works, especially the Book of Mormon on a daily basis. To make compliance as easy as possible so that each could meet the standard, we also included the Ensign, New Era, or Friend; books by General Authorities, any of the Missionary Library of books, the Missionary Guide, and they could listen to tapes of the talks of General Authorities. Music tapes or CDs were not counted as part of the standard. Later, when they received their endowment prior to leaving on their mission, I would count the time they spent doing a session in the temple as study time. They were familiar enough with the temple to know that there were copies of the Holy Bible and Book of Mormon, bound in white leather, in one of the drawers of a cabinet in the Celestial Room. I remember many times they would come into the Celestial Room, go immediately to the scriptures, and pour over the pages searching for added meaning to the temple experience.
Most of the Guides studied late at night after they got home from whatever they were doing. Many told me they fell asleep with their scriptures on their chests. Those who had the busiest schedules would listen to tapes to and from work or school, bring a Church magazine to read during breaks at work, etc. Often their study time would reap opportunities to invite nonmembers to come to the Gardens when those around them would ask questions about what they were reading or listening to.
Many found 30 minutes a day was not enough and doubled and trebled it as they studied for their missions. Since they were studying the scriptures so much it wasn’t long until they were using them in their daily lives, and testifying to how much they meant to them as they struggled through their teenage years. It was a thrilling sight to me to see them sitting together on the planters in the gardens with their scriptures open, talking about what they were reading with each other. Many of the Guides also participated in the Easter Pageant as members of the cast. During practices they would sit in large groups of 20-30 and read the scriptures in a type of “round robin.” That way they could all get their gospel study time at once!
ZionsArmy.com: We highly recommend that you adopt the practice of reading daily in the Book of Mormon, plus the other specials ways of studying the Gospel listed above. If we can get 15,000 of us doing this on a daily basis, our knowledge will dramatically increase and the Lord will bless us with many contacts.
The second item was usually attendance at meetings. Since the program was a completely volunteer effort, and since we were dealing with teenagers from 28 stakes and 100 wards, in order to sustain the shifts in the gardens we had to make sure the Guides could be depended upon to be there on their assigned night. We allowed them to review their schedule and pick any night of the week Tuesday through Saturday that was good for them. Once this was done, we required them to be there that night. If they could not, then they had to arrange for their own substitute and make sure that their District Leader was aware of what was happening. Therefore, the standard read something like this: “Attend your District Night and the Sunday Night Training Meeting, unless you have an important family or Church obligation. If you cannot attend, your District Leader must be notified.”
They had to be at the SNTM because it was the “pump” meeting for the week and the only meeting where everyone gathered. I suppose it might be compared to a mission conference, only since we were on such a rapid time frame, we needed them every week. A mission president could depend on having his missionaries around for two years, but we sometimes only had the Guides for a few months. Missionary work is hard work and there has to be a chance to let off steam, sing, testify, train, and talk about the work. We found that the SNTM was the most important meeting we had. It was at this meeting that we created the idea of unity and that each person in the program was an integral part of the whole. Of course, much of the training occurred in the District Meeting, which was the 30 minutes before each night in the Gardens. However, in both meetings, the training was peer initiated and peer run and centered on the Garden Tour, Missionary Guide skills, and techniques for inviting nonmembers to the Gardens. It was surprising how much preparation by the youth leaders went into this training and how well it was done.
ZionsArmy.com: Our Standard of Performance differs from the Youth Guide standards but it is highly important for you to attend all of the meetings you are expected to attend. It is in our meetings that we feel and share the Spirit and receive what we need to continue in the Work. Standard No. 2 of ZionsArmy.com is to have a SETADATE. SETADATE is covered on its own because there are some mighty promises that go with it.
Standard No. 3 is Pray morning and night for a missionary experience. This is not as easy as it seems. We know that when we pray for something, our prayer is answered, but it may not always be answered exactly as we had envisioned. When you begin praying for missionary experiences, they will come, undoubtedly when you least expect them so you must be ready and willing at all times to TALK to those the Lord puts in your path. Therefore, as you consider this standard make sure that you also study F.O.R.M. and that you have a valid SETADATE to work toward. As you finish praying each morning and evening, listen with your spiritual ears for inspiration to help fulfill your prayer.
Let’s read what the Youth Guides did about Invitations, Standard No. 4.
A third item was usually concerned with invitations to nonmembers to come to the Gardens for a tour. The standard was usually at least 5 invitations a week. We used what we called “Temple Mall Cards” that had a picture of the temple on one side and a map on the other. After establishing a rapport with the person by talking about his/her family, occupation, and what he did for recreation we would deliver the message about our participation in the Gardens and invite them to come for a tour, and give them a card with the date and time agreed upon written on it. We called this process F.O.R.M. and using it made it easy to talk to others. In order to make this activity more fun and to create a spirit of competition that would help them rise above their fear of talking to others, we created special awards that were presented in the Sunday Night Training Meeting. One was the Sword of Laban, given to the Zone that had the best statistics. The other was the Ammonite of the Week award which was given to the person who invited the greatest number of people to the Gardens.
ZionsArmy.com: Don’t make talking to people harder than it is. Just open your mouth and pray silently that the Lord will help you with what to say. Memorize the F.O.R.M. method and use it when you can. Make it fun by working with your friends or family. It is extremely important that you are aware of the things you can invite people to. In our area we have a Visitors’ Center, which is our failsafe. If there doesn’t seem to be anything else, we could always use it. Listen in Sacrament Meeting for announcements of things that are coming up. If you need to, write some things on a small card and keep it in your pocket or purse. Think about this ahead of time so that you will be prepared. Our Church is marvelously organized and there is always something going on that NYMs can come to.
The Church has provided 10,000 Pass Along cards for every stake in the U.S. and Canada. They are beautiful and can be used to start or end a conversation. One invites them to have a video, “The Lamb of God.” The other offers a free copy of the Book of Mormon. I had to get them from my Stake Mission President and now I have a supply for use whenever they are needed. If we use them all, I am sure the Church will provide more!
We tied the Standard of Performance to our goals and knew that if the program as a whole was reaching 90% of the standards, we could expect the Lord to work miracles for us in the Gardens and in our personal lives. Often our standards were much higher. The faith developed by adherence to this standard was rewarded in the ability to set HEROIC Goals and accomplish them month after month.
There is nothing that will infuse an organization with life greater than setting a Heroic Goal. The kind of goal that means we would have to make great sacrifices to reach. We found that youth of the Church cry out for opportunities to sacrifice in the cause of missionary work. An example of sacrifice is that instead of getting together and going to a movie or some other activity, they would get together and go someplace public to invite people to come to the Gardens for a tour. Another sacrifice might be less T.V. and more scripture study, with a personal goal of 300 minutes a week, instead of the regular 210. They picked and they did the sacrifice.
ZionsArmy.com: Now we come to Standard No. 5 – Use “Word of Mouse” to share ZionsArmy.com so others can join us in the effort! Achieving our HEROIC goal of referring 80,000 people to the missionaries is going to take a huge effort by a lot of members of the Church. On the other hand, anyone who gets involved with us and truly works hard will be so blessed in their own lives that they will end up cherishing the experience for a lifetime, just like the Alumni of the Youth Guides. I bump into them at the temple, or at the movies, grocery store, bank, I even sat next to one as we repented for receiving a traffic ticket! They greet me with open arms and the kind of love engendered by working in the trenches for the Lord. Make sure that you tell everyone you know about ZionsArmy.com. They should have the choice to join us or not according to where they are in their lives right now. Let’s all work to grow the Church!
When I came to the program we were receiving about 7 referrals a month whether we tried to or not. Soon our goal was 40 a month and we were achieving it on a regular basis. During Easter and Christmas we would set much higher goals and almost always achieved them. Alumni went all over the world knowing how to set and achieve goals, through their faith and reliance on the Lord. The crowning achievement was 600 referrals the last Christmas the program was in operation.
From time to time the standards changed, but as long as we made sure we had a Standard of Performance, and we reported that standard on a weekly basis, we were successful. If this has inspired you to examine your standards and set them at a higher level, then the Youth Guide Spirit lives on in the lives of members of the Church.
Bro. P.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.