The Devastation of Innovation

Did you have a Palm Pilot? I did, and I thought I was pretty cool carrying around a handheld device that kept my calendar and contacts. In 1997, the Palm Pilot innovation wreaked havoc on several industries. A few years later, the smartphone did the same to Palm Pilot. The rate of innovation is staggering, giving us all a choice: Innovate and keep up or allow the innovations of others to leave us behind. That’s the devastation of innovation.

In this post, I talk more about the devastating effects of innovation and provide some innovative opportunities for church leaders.

Thanks for giving it a read and passing it along.

How can I help?
Getting better through change and innovation is why I created Transformation Solutions. At Transformation Solutions, we help churches discern what needs to change and coach pastors through the challenge of change. If you are ready to get better, I’d love to support you and your church through the process of evaluation and execution.

Go right now to mytransformationsolutions.com and sign up for a free, 30-minute conversation to decide if working together works for you.

How To Try It Before You Launch It

One of the greatest drawbacks to change is the risk. I get it. I’m a bit risk-averse myself.

When possible, lowering risk makes new changes smarter and better.

Data is often the answer. When we can get real data, we can make more informed decisions.

How can we get this data? Surveys? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Surveys tell us only what people say they will do. We need to know what they will do.

In this new post, that’s what I’m discussing. I hope this helps you try something before you spend time, money, and energy starting something.

The 6 Dangers of Success

If you’re successful, be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

It’s incredible, really. The one thing we want to be (successful) is the one thing that can create our downfall.

You see it all the time. You may have lived through this a few times. The stories are all relatively similar. The pathway goes like this: hard work produces great success. That success gives way to entitlement and then arrogance. Finally, arrogance causes leaders and organizations to relax. The world around is still changing, but the organization is not. After all, look at how much money we have. Look at how many people are attending. Look at our online engagement.

I’m a church leader, but I spent a decade in the marketplace before transitioning into ministry. The dangers of success are present in both spaces in equal measure. For now, let’s look at church success. Or at least how churches tend to define success.

In this article, I present six red flags of success. I’d love for you to read about them and let me know if you’ve experienced them.

The Four States of Transition Management

Leaders often mistake change and transition. They are not the same. In this post, I discuss the difference between the two and provide insight into managing the emotional and psychological transitions experienced by the people involved in the change.

Getting Bigger by Getting Better

A long time ago I heard a story from the board room of Chick-fil-A’s corporate headquarters. Their competition was quickly growing, and their leadership wanted to maintain their market share and competitive advantage. You can read the entire post for the full story, but the conversation ended with then CEO Truett Cathy exclaiming, “If we get better, our customers will demand we get bigger!”

I realize you are not running the best chicken sandwich restaurant in the world, but Truett’s statement is true of whatever you are leading.

In this post, I explain why restarting your church might be the most dangerous thing you can do and what questions you need to answer to prepare to get better.

Last thing: Getting better will require change, and change isn’t to be taken lightly. This is exactly why I created Transformation Solutions. At Transformation Solutions, we help churches discern what needs to change and coach pastors through the challenge of change. If you are ready to get better, I’d love to support you and your church through the process of evaluation and execution.

Go right now to mytransformationsolutions.com and sign up for a free, 30-minute conversation to decide if working together works for you.

The One Insight That Makes Change Happen

Hey again.

I came across this quote from Jeff Igor’s book “Leading Major Change in Your Ministry” while doing my doctoral studies. It caused me to think… a lot.

“Foundational to helping people through major change is this seminal idea: change is different than transition. Change is the new circumstances introduced into organizational life, i.e., a new staffing plan going into effect on a specific date. Transition, on the other hand, is the emotional, psychological, and spiritual adjustments people go through when change is implemented.”

I’m still thinking about it. So much that I decided to write some more about change in light of this concept.

If you can, check it out and leave me a comment to help launch a conversation.

Thanks.

Three Reasons Churches Resist Change

We often hear that people resist change. I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate.

We’ll tackle that partial truth another time. For now, let’s focus on why pastors and churches are so resistant to change.

Some Background:

Every organization (church, business, non-profit, and all the others) struggles with change. Change moves people from a state of known to a place of unknown. Known is comfortable, and the unknown is far from it. Organizations exist because leaders need to bring order to the chaos of creative activities. Order allows for scale and predictability, all of which are essential. The bringing of order created the organization and simultaneously slowed the creative, leadership elements of change. This happens in every organization, but for churches, it seems worse.

Obviously, a complete lack of order isn’t the answer. Churches need order. The cyclical nature of what we do (is it already Sunday?) requires organizing our work, staff, and volunteers. This is a tension: Order produces resistance to change because change provokes disorder in the organization.

That’s a problem that desperately needs a solution. The church is the hope of the world. We’ve been given the saving message of the Gospel to share and spread across the globe. But the world is continuously in a state of change. Culture changes. Openness to truth changes. Consumerism has changed how people look at products, organizations, and churches. Expressive individualism has changed our response to authority (like God and his church). Moving from a Christian to post-Christian culture has dramatically affected the church. There are generational effects.

These current changes aren’t the only changes that we’ll face. These are just the recent changes. There’s more on the way, because change is the only constant in life (that’s from the ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus – 500 BC). If the world we serve is ever-changing, that leaves us with only one choice:

Only a church capable of changing can maintain influence in an ever-changing world.

Why do churches resist change?

The One Challenge Facing Every Church

I’ve decided to start something new. If you don’t mind, here’s some quick background and an announcement of sorts. First, some background. A decade ago, I stood in the North Point Community Church hallway, watching thousands of church leaders walking to the parking lot. Our DRIVE Conference had just concluded. Inspired, encouraged, and probably challenged, […]

3 Reasons You Should Learn From People Different Than You

Here’s a questions I’m working through:

Does the breadth of your learning impact the depth of your learning?

I know… I think in tweets. But to say it a little less 140 character’ish: How much more could we learn by expanding the context of our education? And I don’t mean studying more people in your current industry. Granted, it’s not natural to study other industries and organizational leaders unlike us, but I think finding breadth could be a hidden ingredient to accelerated growth.

This idea hit me recently while at a conference. It was a great conference full of wonderful leaders – who I’ver heard from too many times to count. I saw an advertisement for another conference. Guess who was speaking? Basically the same people. Don’t get me wrong. I love and respect these leaders. They’re my mentors – some directly. But I wonder – does a homogenous learning community stunt growth at some point?

As a pastor, I primarily learn from other churches, church leaders, and church models. As a younger leader, that was a great place to start. Seeing other perspectives and approaches to church helped solidify how I wanted to create and lead a local church. There was great clarity found in watching those who were already doing it. Yet, the more comfortable I got as a leader in my church, the more critical I became of leaders in the church. I accidentally replaced learning with critiquing.

Of course, that’s not a healthy dynamic, but it is a natural progression. When we visit other organizations within our industry, we are hyper-critical of what we understand (or think we understand).

Unplugging the Microwave of Success

Have you heard the soundtrack to the hit broadway musical “Hamilton?” If you’ve seen the actual musical, just keep that to yourself — intentionally causing envy is tantamount to envy, itself.

The music is quite spectacular. And historically insightful, too. My kids are way more knowledgeable about the Founding Fathers due to our time in the car together. It makes me question everything about my school upbringing! Hip hop trumps note-taking all day long.

Production aside, Alexander Hamilton was quite an amazing guy. He accomplished much, including establishing one of the first banks in America, the Bank of New York. Here’s what made me take a step back while jamming along to the soundtrack — it took Hamilton seven years to establish the bank’s charter. I know, the local community bank went up in a months time, and that seemed like forever in today’s world, but think about that for a moment. Seven years. That’s a long time to focus on something. Anything.