Brainstorming
Martin Luther King Jr Day is marked on the Third Monday January – close to his birthdate 15 Jan 1929
He famously said, “I have a dream…”
Not, “I have a plan… an idea… a project…
With the emotion of a dream he led others to action, changed beliefs, ideas, and plans… but it all began with a dream…
What are your dreams… your hopes… for the World, the Church, your nation, your community, your family, your self…
Brainstorming
It’s only impossible until it’s done”, words attributed to many including Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela.
On a Thursday morning in January 2022, 24 ministers, elders and others from within the ITsForMinistry Facebook group meet on Zoom for a Conversation triggered by some of Seth Godin’s thinking around Leadership always being qualified by ‘this might not work’.The Seth Godin’s Video which all had watched prior to the conversation was this one:
The recording of the conversation is available to those within the FB Group. If you are not already a member there you can request to join. (There are a few simple questions including commitment to the group rules which must be completed)
Following the conversation a number of the group have committed to reading Seth Godin’s The Practice and to meet regularly to discuss its content and to encourage one another in our practice in the context of ministry.
Details are in the FB group if you are interested in joining in.
FaceBook
A consolidated list of good sites to download free graphics…
General
Are you getting too many notifications on TEAMS… or too few… or just the right amount? Take control of what notifications you receive and how…
Brainstorming
Stephen Covey spoke of ‘First things First’, important things first. He borrowed Eisenhower’s Urgent/Important Matrix Michael Heppell and others speak of allocating time to the categories: ‘Me’, ‘Key’, ‘stuff’ – where ‘Key’ projects are the mission critical important ones… yet how often all the urgent stuff pushes out the important. ‘Me’ times – are, well it says it on the tin doesn’t it – times for YOU – and that’s important too.
Change
In our fast paced world when communication can be instant there can be the temptation to react swiftly with an email reply. Remember though the slightly older technology that facilitates full duplex synchronistic conversation – the telephone – and its modern counterparts the Voice call or video call. You can engage much better, reach a full solution rather than just the next step… and there’s less opportunity for misunderstanding.
See also: Before you click SEND, think TRACKS
Prioritising
“Thanks, I’ll try to remember to do that at the end of the month”
Mmm… why leave it to you memory…!
Capture ideas and ’things to do’ when they first crop up!
iOS users – try:
‘Hey Siri, remind me to…. tomorrow/ next Tuesday/at the end of the month’
More info on using Siri with Reminders
Put it in your diary, or notes
Or if you want to try something more robust explore Ayoa or Microsoft Tasks (within Office365)
Change
Eli Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints at its simplest says ‘No system is operating at maximum potential, if it were there would be infinite and perfect output, there will always be at least one limiting factor, or constraint, be it machinery, a person, policy, belief, behaviour or whatever. Any system is only as strong as its weakest link. To improve efficiency focus on overcoming the most significant constraint, work on that until it’s no longer the biggest bottleneck. Identify new biggest constraint, and repeat.’
Goldratt also said that many constraints are unwittingly set up when we change a part of the system but omit to undo the rules required to uphold the old process!
Wikipedia has a good overview of TOC
In the context of your Church experience what are the big bottlenecks? Can you think of times when old rules are carried into new processes?
Change
What will you start today..? Something you’ve been putting off… something you think you won’t do well..? Something you’ve been worrying about doing..? Whatever it is – just start it?
Brainstorming
You can only change 3 things: structures, policies and mindsets… but you have to change them all… and mindset will always be the hardest!
To effect those changes, you need to do three things… I call them steps 4, 5, 6 in honour and recognition of the change that has already happened! Change is all around and change is hard… particularly within the Church context, where despite a core belief that our God is a god of transformation, who journeys with us into unknown places, and who makes all things new, we have huge investment in tradition, heritage and ‘the way it’s aye been.’
Steps 1,2 and 3 – they’ve happened already – think of the changes that you have seen already in your experience of Church – its structures, practices and attitudes…
4: Create shared Vision, ideas purpose, image of the future, aim…
5: Engagement with People and non-human resources (funding, materials)
6: Do It! Action, Delivery…
Steve Radcliffe’s book Future Engage Deliver is an excellent and very readable book on the leadership of change based on the 3 phases he calls Future, Engage and Deliver. John Kotter’s classic change process has eight steps, variations on the theme all boil down to three areas with different levels of detail within. Every change model I have encountered is about envisioning a better future, collaborating with people to develop, understand, share the vision, and acting towards implementing it and embedding it into a new culture – a new ‘that’s how we do it here’. Kotter’s book ‘That’s not how we do it here’ in story form about how a family of meerkats adapt, is a good read!
The triangle diagram diagram above I put together early 2000s, while engaged in the Church of Scotland’s Area Team Ministry project – one of many pilots to promote collaborative ministry. The Church Without Walls report of 2001 had spoken of building the Church around the gifts of the people – and I remember thinking – but what if there is a mismatch between the gifts of the people and the envisioned future?
Which comes first the Vision, or the Gifts of the people, or the Actions? And the more I pondered… I realised that we need all three to work together and to be informed and supported by each other…
If we start with VISION we need to have the PEOPLE to bring it to life, and we need to know that ACTION is achievable. (See also SMARTER goals)
If we start with PEOPLE (gifts, talents and resources) then we must ensure that the people are on board with the shared VISION, and that the people are trained, motivated and supported towards ACTION.
If we start with ACTION then it has to be clear that it’s the right action, in line with agreed and shared VISION, and that the most suitable PEOPLE are taking forward the Action. I’m not a big fan of ‘Just Do It’ – it maybe works for Nike… but Action without Vision can be a fruitless expenditure of energy.
We need VISION, PEOPLE and ACTION – we need them all and we need to keep asking the questions, reviewing and reflecting as we journey into an even better future.