The Tri-Value Model: A Biblical Framework for Measuring Business Success
An Integrated Measure for Success in Business
As a Christian business leader, your role transcends the bottom line. Every decision presents an opportunity to glorify God and steward His resources with excellence. When you fully embrace that your business, team, and resources belong to Him, your leadership takes on new meaning—bold, purposeful, and grounded in truth.
But how do you measure success from an eternal perspective?
At C12, we answer that question with the Tri-Value Model, a biblical framework that helps leaders measure what truly matters.
Living for Eternal Impact
More than a scoreboard, the Tri-Value Model evaluates impact across three essential dimensions: economic value add (EVA), team value add (TVA), and spiritual value add (SVA).
This framework equips Christian business leaders to lead with clarity, measure purpose-driven progress, and strive for eternal impact.
Economic Value Add: Is Your Business Generating Actual Financial Value?
Too often, leaders mistake top-line revenue growth for true success. But as many leaders have learned the hard way, sales do not always equal value. EVA challenges you to ask questions such as:
- Is your business increasing in value year over year because of how you manage your financial resources?
- Do you prioritize increasing true economic value rather than mere activity?
- Would selling the business and investing the proceeds in a mutual fund yield a better return than the business generates?
Financial health matters because it fuels every other area of impact—when you manage resources well, you reflect the heart of God, who cares deeply about stewardship.
Team Value Add: Are Your People Flourishing?
Leadership is not just about hitting goals—it is about growing people. TVA helps you measure how well you are doing that. It encourages you to consider:
- Are you increasing your employees’ skills and value?
- Do you provide them with a healthy and engaging workplace?
- Are you enabling them to use their talents in honest labor and equipping them to live out God’s will for their lives?
Great companies do not just deliver products—they develop people. When you prioritize TVA, you create workplaces where human flourishing takes root, leaving a legacy worth building.
Spiritual Value Add: Are You Living the Mission?
There are no part-time disciples in the Kingdom of God. Each follower of Jesus is called to be a full-time ambassador and disciple-maker.
The crucial question is not whether you are “called to ministry” but rather how effectively and faithfully you are fulfilling your ministry calling in the context in which you have been placed. SVA invites you to ask:
- How effective are your ministry efforts?
- Do you see increased fruit and eternal return on investment (eROI) with your ministry endeavors?
- Are lives being touched, faith being shared, and communities being served because of how you lead?
Whether through workplace Bible studies, care teams, or intentional generosity, your businesses can become launchpads for ministry. They can be places where the gospel is lived out, not just spoken. That is not just a bonus—it is your highest calling. SVA ensures you do not compartmentalize your faith from your leadership—it becomes integral to how you lead.
Input vs. Output: Understanding the 5-Point Alignment Matrix
At C12, we believe that what you measure reveals what you value. That is why we use two powerful frameworks to guide your business leadership: the 5-Point Alignment Matrix (5PAM) and the Tri-Value Model. These frameworks work together to help you operate with clarity, focus, and eternal purpose.
Understanding the 5PAM
Originally inspired by Kaplan and Norton’s balanced scorecard, the 5PAM provides a comprehensive framework to assess and drive health and performance across five core areas:
At the heart of the 5PAM are your mission, vision, and core values. These act as a hub, shaping the policies, priorities, and decisions that radiate throughout the organization. The model also encourages you to consider how each functional area contributes back to that core, ensuring that every part of the business is aligned with your greater purpose.
Tying the Two Together
While the 5PAM focuses on inputs—the things you manage daily—the Tri-Value Model measures outputs—the fruit your leadership is producing over time in the areas of economic, team, and spiritual value.
In simple terms:
- The 5PAM is the scorecard for alignment.
- The Tri-Value Model is the scorecard for impact.
Together, the 5PAM and the Tri-Value Model provide a powerful rhythm for Christian business leaders: monthly check-ins on alignment and annual evaluations of fruitfulness. This combination ensures you are not just running hard—you are running in the right direction, on the path God has laid out for your company.
To learn more about how these core C12 frameworks work together in real-world leadership, watch this video from C12 CEO Mike Sharrow.
Start Today: Your Tri-Value Focus
It is one thing to understand the Tri-Value Model—it is another to see it in action.
What happens when a leader intentionally integrates faith, strategy, and culture to drive both performance and purpose? Watch Leisle’s Chung’s story to see how one CEO is redefining success through Tri-Value leadership:
To begin taking steps toward integrating the Tri-Value Model in your leadership, download our free Tri-Value Model tool to assess the state of your business through the lens of what really matters to God.
Measuring What Matters Most
The Tri-Value Model is more than a tool; it is a perspective. It reminds you that God cares about what you build, how you build, and why you build.
Luke 19:17 captures the essence of the Tri-Value Model. God rewards faithfulness, diligence, and fruitfulness. Your role is to multiply what He has entrusted to you—financially, relationally, and spiritually.
Where do you need to focus this year? Is your business creating true economic value? Are your people growing and thriving? Is your spiritual impact expanding? Choose one area to prioritize. Set clear goals. Ask others to rally together to own the vision collectively. May you strive for excellence in all endeavors, knowing your labor has eternal significance.
C12 Business Forums provides an architected environment for Christian business leaders that integrates work, life, and leadership transformation. To learn more about C12’s approach to Christ-centered business leadership, find a C12 Business Forum near you.
June 26, 2025
