Kem Meyer's Blog, page 19
January 30, 2012
How we addressed our growing connection and communication gaps as a church…
We launched the Table at Granger last fall. Since then, I'll regularly get emails and voicemails from other churches wondering why we made the choice, how we rolled it out and what's happened since the launch. Last week, I took some time and answered all the FAQs over on the Table blog. Hope it's helpful.
Part 1: Why did you feel Granger needed its own private social network? What made you pick the Table? How did you get leadership buy-in?
Part 2: What kind of response has the Table received at Granger? What's your favorite feature of the Table so far?
Part 3: What do you think are some things that helped your launch be so successful? What kind of roadblocks did you run into post-launch and how did you deal with them? You guys do a ton with Facebook. Is the conversation different on the Table? How so?
Part 4: Resources…links to our launch communication plan, teaching clip from launch weekend, welcome video, Table video and landing page.
January 27, 2012
If I asked you to describe your job with one visual, what would it be?
I had a special guest in the office on Monday. Emily, an eighth grader, shadowed my goings on for a full work day as part of a Career Day assignment for school. She was all in–going to meetings, listening to phone calls, observing emails, catching hallway conversations, going out to lunch with the gang, etc. She showed up more prepared than most adults and kept me on my toes–asking questions about the why behind the what, sharing unique perspectives and jumping in wherever she could add value. Several of my teammates thought she was in college. At the end of the day, she ran me through a full of questions. And, they weren't easy questions, either. I HAD TO THINK! [image error] But, her last question was the best of all. "If I asked you to describe your job with one visual, what would it be?" I was on the spot and only had a few seconds to reply. Here's what I came up with.
You're on the spot. You only have a few seconds to reply. What would be YOUR one visual be? Leave a comment here with a link to your image or post it on my wall. I'm eager to see…
January 24, 2012
Economics for humans…what we don't measure and why it's a problem.
I listened to an HBR Ideacast this AM that had an encouraging perspective from an unlikely source. An economist was advocating that there is more to life than a growing GDP. Here's a few notes I jotted down.
If I asked you what a good life consists of, your answer would be about more than money & stuff. It would be about a life rich in relationships (social capital), accomplishment (organizational capital), meaning, fulfillment and passion (emotional capital)—all of those things add up to a meaningful life.
Economics as we know it and live it doesn't really capture this conception of a good life. The idea of a good life as we practice it in economic terms is all about about GDP: the amount of industrial output an economy can conjure up. But, the money and stuff that GDP consists of doesn't necessarily add up to the definition of a good life. The field of economics needs to shift…we have an "outcomes" gap.
I ask you…what is the whole point of an economy? Why do we do all this stuff? Why do the gears of exchange spin? We need a more nuanced and sophisticated answer to that question.
We've made this shift before. For example, if you look at the field of psychology made a shift from what you might call negative psychology (mostly about curing dysfunction and erasing the negative) to positive psychology (really about optimal function). In a positive paradigm, healthy isn't defined as state that's merely free of dysfunction it's a state where you achieve higher and higher peaks of functionality. That's really the question we need to ask ourselves about today's economy. Surely the sum total of prosperity cannot mean billions of person hours spent mopping brows over slightly smellier of deodorants and new car models. We are capable of more than that.
Presumably the point of economy is to provide us with goods. That's the fundamental definition of prosperity. Go back to the writings of Aristotle…"goods" is more than stuff that lines the shelf. "Goods" include relationships, meaning, fulfillment, passion, ethics, etc. These are the things that prosperity are made of. The Greeks called it eudaimonia: a meaningful good life. Eudaimonia is more sophisticated than the conception of the good life we have today. For the Greeks, a good life was not full if it just consisted of the stuff of opulence. It also required the human stuff…the stuff of relationships.
The focal access our economy spins around more, bigger, faster, cheaper—the GDP. That's the number analysts endlessly obsess over. That's the reason our economy exists. And I don't think that's a sufficient tool for us to achieve eudaimonia prosperity.
Look at it this way. The GDP is like a rev counter. It tells us how fast the economy's pistons are moving, but it doesn't really tell us if our journey to prosperity is going anywhere. Case in point: GDP has grown in the U.S. over the past 20-30 years has grown but median incomes have not. We're pressing the accelerator, the engine is roaring, the rev counter is spinning but we don't have a speedometer. And, without a speedometer how can we tell if we're actually making forward motion? [Sound familiar? Activity or accomplishment...]
That's the challenge for us now. We need a new model that measures more than the GDP. It's important for us to understand a bigger picture when we measure prosperity. Business (busy-ness) is software for human exchange that might be on its last leg. Maybe it's time for us to take a paradigm shift beyond business…to betterness.
Sources:
Kindle book: Betterness: Economics for Humans, by Umair Haque
HBR Ideacast: Economics for Humans. Originally posted Thursday, December 22, 2011.
January 20, 2012
I got to be on the world's only user-antagonistic podcast…
January 5, 2012
Communications coaching group starts in March, 4 spots left…
[image error]
Our Fall 2011 Communications Coaching Network is meeting for the last time in December. It's been a great learning experience bringing these leaders together from churches in Mexico, Iowa, California, Virginia, Illinois, Tennessee, Florida, Kansas and Indiana. Next month, they'll join the alumni network–a ongoing channel for resources and support.
While one season comes to an end, a new one is beginning. The Spring 2012 Communications Coaching Network starts in March. There are only 12 10 4 spots left and the deadline for application is February 1.
Wondering if a coaching network is for you? This might help.
Bobby Gilles, coaching network alumni, shares his review here.
And, interviews me with some FAQs here.
December 20, 2011
Ever seen truth in a pie chart?
It's been a tough season recently–one of heartbreak, pressure, uncertainty, disappointment and a little criticism. Despite the circumstances, my foundation is sure and I'm filled with confidence, hope, vision, faith in God and gratitude for my church family. But, because of the circumstances I've also been looping the track of grief–angry, sad, depressed. So, yeah. It's both. I'm jumping back and forth between two extremes–joy and tears. I'm thankful for people in my life who keep reminding me it's ok to to that.
To be honest, I want to be stronger. I want to be super human. I want my faith to eliminate my human emotional and physical limitations. I want to be impervious to mood swings. I am not.
Me & my friends are holding on to this truth. You can hold on to it, too.
"We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don't know what to do, we never give up. In times of trouble, God is with us, and when we are knocked down, we get up again." (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
December 19, 2011
Free ebook from the AND Conference…
[image error]
On September 22-23, 2011, we hosted the AND Conference. During the two days, there were more than 70 breakouts covering a wide range of topics. Lucky for you (whether you were there or not) a posse of volunteer bloggers showed up to help document what was happening in every single session.
Thanks to another brilliant idea from our friend, Tim Schraeder, we've pulled all of their posts together for you here as a little Christmas gift. Our hope is that this booklet serves as a continuing resource—notes from every session in one handy-dandy place.
Thanks again to the AND Conference official blogging team for making this possible. They took vacation days from work, made road trips, found babysitters and more, just to burn up keyboards with lightning-fast content to make it available for everyone.
DOWNLOAD THE AND CONFERENCE EBOOK. (Woo hoo–free for you!)
Heads up: You will have to jump through a few hoops (complete some basic fields to create an account) so you can download the book. I know that's slightly annoying, it's just that the file is so BIG there was no way around it. I know you can handle it.
December 1, 2011
Besides clutter and noise, what pitfalls do churches fall into…
Aside from "clutter and noise," what are some of the major pitfalls many churches run into in their communications?
Ah, easy. The ministry silos. You've seen it: the missions department does its own thing. The student leaders do their own thing. The women's ministry does their own thing. And, the pattern repeats throughout the whole church. The result? Individual departments end up competing against each other with a carnival communication style trying to out-yell or out-explain.
If we each serve up a different experience, run off in our own individual directions—information gets lost or isolated. People and projects proliferate—as does confusion. This creates real liabilities for the church as a whole and puts a lid on overall impact.
A lot of churches acknowledge it's a problem, but find it too exhausting to tackle. It's simply easier to just ignore silos and let people do their own thing. The only way to resolve these types of issues is to connect multiple areas to operate as part of a larger family. Some examples:
One mission statement. If everyone is working toward the same goal, there will be less territorialism and more teamwork.
One budget. There are different categories for each ministry, but one church budget.
One database. A single version of reality—reports and contacts.
One URL. One church, multiple ministries. Not the other way around. A house has one front door—so should your web site.
(Excerpt from Ministry Matters Interview | 6 in series of 6)
November 30, 2011
Why less clutter, less noise makes sense (in my mind)…
Your blog and your book are called "Less Clutter. Less Noise." Why are these the key guidelines for good communication, in your mind?
Billy Graham said it best: "A generation ago, the question was 'what is truth?' Today, the question is 'what's the point?'" People are busy, skeptical, bombarded, and life is hard. They're looking for answers that make a real difference in their lives. The value we provide grows in direct proportion to how easily people can find and say yes to their next step.
Fortunately for me, my pastor Mark Beeson set the stage when he planted our church 25 years ago with Granger's mission statement: "Helping people take their next steps toward Christ . . . together." Since that time, he has led from the front with the wisdom of deliberate simplicity, communicating over and over that people experience life change one step at a time.
(Excerpt from Ministry Matters Interview | 5 in series of 6)
November 29, 2011
When to push the envelope & when to keep it more subtle…
I first became aware of your work back in 2007, just after Granger made headlines for the "Real Sex" series promotion, which included some suggestive billboards around town. Some people said you went too far with that. How do you know when to go big, to push the envelope, and when to keep things a little more subtle?
There's no simple answer for this question—and I get this question a lot. Speaking the language of our culture is always going to take us into places of uncomfortable tension because we have the burden of knowledge and desire for purity. And, like every topic under the sun, there will be liberal and conservative debates about it. But, I think it's worth the risk and you have to find where your own personal conviction lies. It's different for every church and maybe even different for each pastor on staff at the same church.
Last year, we did a series called "Sex for Sale" and we were fine with it. No moral conflict whatsoever. Ironically enough, the series won us hate mail and phone calls from people who called us evil and corrupt and reported us to the Attorney General and Better Business Bureau. (I kid you not.)
I don't fear the wrath of what other church people think about the risks we take. Instead, I fear the thought of people who will live an eternity without experiencing Christ. Sometimes, we have to lower the bar so someone can accept the invitation to a higher bar. (I stole that line from John Burke.)
(Excerpt from Ministry Matters Interview | 4 in series of 6)
Kem Meyer's Blog
- Kem Meyer's profile
- 3 followers
