General – Page 2 – IT's For Ministry – IT, Leadership and Change in Ministry

Kipling Questions

June 3, 2020July 18, 2021
by dgbmcc

I keep six honest serving men,
they taught me all I knew.
Their names are What and Why and When
and How and Where and Who

from The Elephant’s Child, Rudyard Kipling

Six Questions to ask about anything and everything?

Kipling Questions: What, Where, When, Why, Who, How?

Use them to brainstorm on your own or with a group

What? is it, could happen, would happen if…
Why? Why, Why is, does it have to be…
When? is the right time, do we start…
How? can we do it, will it be achieved…
Where? should this happen, is best, are the target audience…
Who? is involved, are we involving, excluding…

Further reading:

https://www.lucidmeetings.com/glossary/six-serving-men

Change

Don’t Procrastinate – Schedule!

June 2, 2020July 18, 2021
by dgbmcc

Putting off until tomorrow is procrastination.

Putting off until a week on Thursday is strategic planning.

also check out: itsforministry.org/101-things-to-do

Feedback

Giving Great Feedback

June 2, 2020July 18, 2021
by dgbmcc

Ted Talk TED Talk: The secret to giving great Feedback

Change

Wassily Kandinsky’s best known painting is probably Color Study: Squares with concentric circles. Behind this superficially simple image ‘that any kid could paint’ lies years of experience, understanding and creativity.

Sometimes we have to allow our training and experience to find expression in simpler ways… engaging memorable ways.

Mark Twain is attributed with the thought, “my spontaneity has taken me years to prepare”

Often ministry appears to be in the simplest and ordinary things, shaped, influenced and informed by years of ongoing honing of our craft.

Change

IT’s for Ministry

June 1, 2020July 18, 2021
by dgbmcc

www.itsforministry.org began life back in 2001 when internet hosting was very much a geeky thing in its infancy! Over the years it had hosted various bits and pieces and been a place to share ideas about Technology, Leadership and Change in a ministry context. Recently in Lockdown it became a useful place to share ideas as I and colleagues navigated the learning curve of moving the Church more online.

Part of that learning curve caused me to experiment, try various settings… and Oh dear… I broke the site… and didn’t have a back up.

Important tech tip number 1! Back up your work regularly!

Happy to report that www.itsforministry.org is up and running again and is sharing links, hints and tips on IT, tech, leadership and change in a ministry context…

If you are in a different field you may find many of the ideas and tips transfer – as I have gleaned much from the world of business, industry and other areas of life…

Change

6 Thinking Hats

May 25, 2020July 18, 2021
by dgbmcc

Are you thinking well?

When thinking about anything, whether on our own or in a group, we tend to have a variety of different kinds of thoughts. There are gut feelings, positive ideas, and the cautious constraints, there are thoughts about the process of thinking, creative alternative solutions may pop up and there are the evidence based hard facts. All together in an often confused chaotic way.

Edward de Bono, who coined the phrase ‘lateral thinking’, also brought us the phrase ‘parallel thinking’ – the idea that we think best when we focus on one kind of thought at a time. So whether on our own or in a gathering with others, we can metaphorically put on each hat in turn – perhaps revisiting some along the way… and process all the positive benefits of an idea… and then all together consider the constraints and all the reasons that it will never work… and so on…

https://youtu.be/la19ZNyvfLA
https://youtu.be/rJWq5iQJsws
https://youtu.be/oHiwpz7r4wY – will take you to a helpful video.
Online library of Quality Service Improvement & Redesign tools – NHS – Improvement . PDF download.

If you google Six Thinking Hats you will get loads of info…

Change

Take control

May 25, 2020July 18, 2021
by dgbmcc

“I have so much to do today that I’m going to need to spend three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done.”
Martin Luther

Time management is a misnomer – time manages itself quite nicely – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week… Self management is what we need to be better at to take effective advantage of time.

Helpful article: If you’re too busy for these 5 things…

medium.com/@benjaminhardy/if-youre-too-busy-for-these-5-things-your-life-is-more-off-course-than-you-think-b54f102598b0

Change

Difference

May 22, 2020July 18, 2021
by dgbmcc

Welcome Difference, and you’ll make one!
Stephen Covey

Brainstorming

6 important things to do tomorrow

May 19, 2020July 18, 2021
by dgbmcc

What are the six most important things you are going to do tomorrow?

The Ivy Lee Method

100 years ago Ivy Lee was a productivity consultant- before that was really a thing! He shared some advice which many still use today. You too can apply the Ivy Lee method… Before you finish work or go to bed today, write down the 6 most important things that you will do tomorrow.

Tomorrow, do them! Don’t let anything else distract until you have ticked off those 6 things.

If at the end of the day there are tasks remaining undone – great you have the start of tomorrow’s list!

101 Things to Do..?

May 19, 2020July 18, 2021
by dgbmcc

Too many things to do?

There are three kinds of people:

Those who remember everything that needs to be done – and keep all the thoughts on their head.
Those who rely on other people to remind them when they overlook something important
Those who have a trusted system (outwith their head) and capture and sort their to-dos, and do and review their tasks!

Category: General

Kipling Questions

Don’t Procrastinate – Schedule!

Giving Great Feedback

Kandinsky Effect!

IT’s for Ministry

6 Thinking Hats

Take control

Difference

6 important things to do tomorrow

The Ivy Lee Method

101 Things to Do..?