Kem Meyer on Less Clutter & Noise

How telling the truth can advance your cause & save the world…

There’s a few simple truths people have trouble with when it comes to selling their dreams(personal or corporate):

• Branding is bonding.
• You can’t bond without trust.
• You can’t build trust without telling the same story.
• It’s hard to tell the same story without telling the truth.

Conventional practices lead with the mechanics of marketing—the advertising, design or strategy deliverables. Those efforts are upside down. All of those practices should support the essence of your core—they don’t define the core. When people—or companies or causes—try to manufacture a brand from the outside in (versus the inside out) they aren’t successful (inside or out).

A friend of mine, Rick Bailey, gets this. He lives it. He teaches it. He advocates it. Rick smokes what he sells, and it has earned him (and those around him) success. He’s a charismatic creative leader, generous giver and has been a great friend and mentor to many over the years. His compass of character, servant leadership, people-driven creativity, high level intelligence and down-to-earth communication style explains the well-earned respect and following he has. And, now, he’s written a book about it.

I’ve got mine on pre-order. And, I’d recommend you pre-order one for yourself, too.

Behind the scenes trivia: A few years ago, Rick volunteered his time, talent and resources to lead a vision campaign at Granger that won us an ADDY award (minor) and changed thousands of lives for the better (major). Congratulations, Rick, on publishing this book! It’s just one more significant contribution you’re making to save the world.

More than 100 speakers, one-day, 6-minutes each, free…

I’m genuinely looking forward to The Nines Conference in less than two weeks.

Talk about the gift of inspiration, practical advice and encouragement—this year’s theme is GAME CHANGERS. Every speaker had the same task: take no more than 6 minutes to talk about the game changers in your life and ministry. In other words, what were the changes, mindsets or directions that made the biggest difference (personally or corporately)?  

Here’s a preview of a few of the game changers I already know about that will be shared at the event:

• Mark Beeson: Critics in your life? Don’t let anger be your downfall.
• Tim Stevens: How do you reach people who are indifferent to what you have?
• Me: The biggest communications challenge nobody talks about.
• Ben Arment: Divided classes in church: pastors and the business community.
• Eric Bramlett: Why does the church have such an aversion to risk?
• Wayne Cordeiro: Do you a hard time saying "no" because you love people? Stop it.
• Dave Ferguson: Which is the greater risk? Saying yes, or saying no?
• David Foster: If your marriage sucks, your ministry probably sucks, too.
• David Gibbons: How can you dive into the uncomfortable chaos?
• Gayle Haggard: You have to face your defining moments head on.
• Craig Groeschel: Less time leads to a better result.
• Alan Hirsch: See yourself as a missionary. Everything else will take its cue from that.
• Will Mancini: : You have to have people who are BRUTALLY honest with you.
• Dino Rizzo: Grow it small? No one wants to be Thumbelina Community Church.

If you don’t already have this on your calendar, might I suggest you TURN YOUR BRAIN BACK ON! In all seriousness, this is an incredible resource for you and your whole team. It’s not often (if ever) you have free access to some of the world’s best leaders and communicators. Have you seen the full line-up? Have you seen the BUZZ?

Reduce the static to engage with others…

I talk about it all the time. Sometimes the picture we draw (with words, actions or images) isn’t telling the story we think it is. You’ll never know how you’re coming across to others if you don’t draw on the wisdom of people with diverse perspectives. 

When I left my marketplace job in 2002 to join the staff team at Granger, I had a wealth of experience, tools and tricks at my disposal. But, even with all the right skills, education and knowledge, I couldn’t gain traction. My ministry and my communication effectiveness was in serious stall mode. Sure, I got some stand alone killer projects done. But, my ideas weren’t spreading and I had very little (to no) influence.

In Making Ideas Happen, Belsky lands on the culprit.

• Connecting with people across the spectrum requires us to stay connected to the needs and beliefs of those around us. This becomes more challenging when we get lost in our own creative pursuits.
• A community sourced from just one stop along the frequency spectrum can prove damaging. Without some degree of mass appeal, most ideas will falter.

Things turned around for me when I realized that, while my intentions were good, my M.O. needed an adjustment. I was overestimating WHAT I had to get done and underestimating HOW it was going to affect others. Essentially, I was my own communications roadblock.

Sometimes I’m the last person to know how I’m coming across to others. I’m trucking along TOTALLY CONFIDENT my efforts will produce an A grade, but I’m completely unaware that everyone around me is using a different grading scale. I can’t see that myself. Nobody can see it in themselves. I changed my M.O. and never looked back. 

I am exponentially more effective when I learn from people who see and think differently than me.

Are you sensational self-promoter or selfless maximizer?

I’ve been reading through Making Ideas Happen with my lead team the past few weeks. It’s generating some good dialogue and reinforcing practices we value. The book goes against conventional wisdom and advocates "self-promotion" to stimulate better teamwork. Before you get hung up on the phrase, consider the motives.

• Is it for personal gain or personal effectiveness?
• Is it about advancing your career or enhancing a team?
• Is it about getting your task done or accomplishing a group objective?

I agree that one of the best contributions you can make to a team is to take it upon yourself to offer your strengths, even if it’s not in your “official job description.” Your teammates need to know where they can rely on you the most, and sometimes they won’t know unless you speak up. (Buckingham writes about the same concept in Now Discover Your Strengths.) Belsky breaks down some practicals:

• You can’t rely on others-especially your managers and clients-to engage your strengths.
• Mine for opportunities.
• Little problems pop up all the time that are, in fact, opportunities to which you can add a unique value.
• Fight the desire to wait for instructions and learn to showcase your skills and expertise without an invitation.

It’s not helpful when a team member jockeys to advance their personal agenda or get exposure for public credit. But, when they promote themselves to strengthen the team? That’s a game-changer.

“Wouldn't it be great if we didn't care who got the credit as long as the job got done?”
Mark Beeson

Don’t let discouragement pile up. Guard your heart…

For the past few weeks, I’ve been feeling an extra dose of discouragement. There’s nothing dramatic going down, no crisis or cause for alarm. It was just a convergence of real life happening all around me—people I love with broken hearts, minds, bodies, relationships and lives. It started to pile up and, in my gloom, I inadvertently started to focus on the circumstances and felt very alone.

Then, one day last week, I saw something on my morning walk that flipped the switch back to a productive place. A lone flower, brightly blooming among dirt, gravel and weeds. I felt like it was God’s little metaphor…

“You GO girl! There IS hope—I am with you. Are you with Me?” 

You know, there are times in life when stress and discouragement pile up. Without intentional guardrails, burdens can creep in, take over your soul and define your reality with helplessness, fear and hopelessness.

I'm engaged in the world around me—on purpose. I don't want to lose touch. There is good to be found. Work to be done.

On the flip side, I don't want to be so absorbed I lose my compass.

I’m rearranging my schedule to prioritize these key areas first, and the rest will fall into place.

• Sleep and exercise. Meeting a friend at the gym at 5 AM every day this week will most certainly get me to bed on time at night. It’s a domino effect.
• Focus and flow. A few times a week, I’m going to turn off email for big chunks of time to still my mind and engage on important projects that yield the biggest returns.
• Read and discuss. I’m launching two new book groups, one at home and one at work to keep learning new things with the people I’m doing life with.
• Faith and fuel. I'm listening to extra message podcasts throughout the week and starting each day with a new devotional to keep my engine running undistorted.
• Marriage and family. Pre-scheduling date nights with Mark and family nights with kids.

The action items might look different depending on the season, but that’s the highlights for this reboot. What about you? What does it look like when you rearrange your schedule to flee a rut? Leave a comment ... share your story. At the end of the day, I'll randomly draw a name from all the comments (Congrats to Andy Waggoner! He won the book drawing.) and give away a free copy of Mark Buchanan's new book Spiritual Rhythm.

Slides, notes & audio about social media & communication…

I thought I’d share some slides, notes and audio from a few of the workshops I’ve had the privilege to lead over the past few months. Hope it’s helpful to you (whether or not you were able to join us at Exponential or ECHO). It just might be the booster shot you were looking for today.

Social Media & Ministry

• Slides (PDF)
• Audio (58:08)

Less Clutter. Less Noise.

• Slides (PDF)
• Audio (1:01:15)
• Notes from Sara Corman
• Notes from Neil Ayers

Church Panel with Charles Lee, Carlos Whittaker and yours truly

• Notes from Tim Schraeder (Behind the scenes… here’s how he does it.)
• Video snippet (4:06)

Is your church having trouble funding its vision? I have good news...

Two friends of mine are declaring today National Funded and Free Day. Why? Because they’re so tired of churches not being able to support their mission due to money woes.

There are two realities. 1) Spiritually healthy churches, with solid leadership and faithful people can, will and are changing the world. 2) They deal with the same financial challenges as for-profit organizations but they don’t have the same resources available to them. (Not to mention the stigma they fight anytime they talk about money with their stakeholders; aka congregants.)

How do they overcome the challenges to fund the vision and change the world for the better?

Casey Graham and Joe Sangl are focusing the entire day TODAY (National Funded and Free Day) to help answer that question. And, to enhance the national holiday they just made up, they wrote a book to go with it. It’s power-packed with simple, digestible wisdom--achievable best practices you can act on right now.

You know this book has to be simple good considering it’s all about managing and increasing operational income and I’m advocating it. I, mean, really. Is that the type of stuff I usually talk about?

Thought I’d let you know—there’s a 5 FOR $50 special going on for the next 48 hours.

Plus, I’ve got one book to give away for free. Leave a comment if you want it and I’ll draw a name randomly at the end of the day.

Congrats Tim Archer! You just won a free book!

Imperfect is the new perfect. Transparency builds trust.

When I read about Jet Blue poking fun at themselves over the flight attendant incident, I remembered a place in Making Ideas Happen where Scott Belsky references two stories about the topic of transparency.

• Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, has spoken extensively about how Twitter has helped his company build stronger relationships both externally (with customers) and internally (among employees). He explained in a post on his company blog: ’Because radical transparency was part of the culture of tweeting, I decided to give it a try and be as transparent as possible, both for myself personally and for Zappos. What I found was that people really appreciated the openness and honesty, and that led people to feel more of a personal connection with Zappos and me.’
  
• Andrew Zolli, leader of Pop!Tech, spoke about how transparency has made him more organized. ‘I give up privacy. I’ve learned that no problem I might find embarrassing is unusual. If you’re willing to let people access your life, they’ll find what they need. I’ve open-sourced my life. My calendar, email and contacts are all shared with the organization. I’m highly transparent. You can see what I’m doing as a partner.’

I wholeheartedly agree and advocate that, using a mature filter, transparency in social media can be a powerful source of accountability for individuals and organizations. Over the past couple of years, I’ve talked about the benefits over and over.

• It simplifies my life.
• I share my life.
• There’s good Samaritans out there.
• Our parking lot is getting bigger.
• Charm school (testimonials).

Then, this morning on my walk, it came to me that—sometimes—it just might even be a spiritual practice.

• Rather than struggling to disguise or deny your weakness, allow Me to bless you richly through it. (via Jesus Calling.) ‘Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.’ 2 Corinthians 12:9

2nd session added for Communications Strategy Coaching…

A couple of months ago, I opened registration for a small coaching network to help encourage, equip and collaborate with people who lead and leverage communications strategy. (Get caught up on the story before reading the rest of this post…)

I have been trusting God to bring the right people to this experience at the right time. And, he has already blown me away. The response was so great, I opened up a second network (& picked the dates to coincide with two other coaching networks being hosted at Granger).

• Group A:   Sep 16-17, Nov 17, Jan 27, Mar 3-4
• Group B:   Oct 11-12, Dec 1, Feb 3, Mar 10-11

The network is limited to 24 seats (12 seats each) and 17 18 20 21of them are already filled with:

• churches of all sizes, expressions and areas of the United States—from Washington to California, from New York to North Carolina, from Minnesota to Texas and lots in the middle including Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Montana. 
• smart leaders with a variety of practical experience in marketplace, ministry and not-for-profit backgrounds—from video and web to graphics and media relations, from communications and community care to social media, from worship production to administration, from radio and tv to project management, from business and marketing to computer programming and everything in between.

There are seven six four three seats open in Group B for a limited time (Group A is sold out). I just thought you’d want to know; it’s a very unique opportunity. And, it’s a big commitment for everyone involved (myself included). But, based on past experience (see page 4), the return is immeasurable. It’s an extraordinary learning experience that leaves all participants changed for the better (myself included).

It might be the right time for you or it might be something you want to forward to someone you know. All you need now are the details and the application.