Kem Meyer on Less Clutter & Noise

Three stages of a multi-site communications journey...

The question…

“How do we effectively communicate (vision, values and policies) within the multi-site model without adding layers of complexity?”

 

My answer…

When somebody figures out the answer to this question, let me know. Seriously! With multi-site strategy, the complexity factor increases greatly. It’s a constant process trying to figure out what’s non-negotiable for everyone and what’s unique to each campus. We’re early into our own first multi-site launch and each day it seems we discover a new “exception” to the rule. As nice as it would be to launch and hit the autopilot button, it is unrealistic. So, we take it as it comes and adapt as we learn along the way. Here’s three snapshots of the multi-site communication frameworks we’ve encountered through our multi-site journey.

Getting started (1)

The heart behind everything is to empower departments and campuses using “freedom within a framework”. The objective isn’t to boss everybody around with a list of rules, but to instead provide guidelines to work within.

• One web site, enews and bulletin template for the whole church. Although, each campus may have their own unique communication points on a blog or announcement reel, we use the same weekly communication vehicles for 20% of the content that affects 80% of the audience. While it’s not perfect, it eliminates the run-around to multiple sites and makes the basic information easy to find—regardless of the campus.
• Look for ways to produce it once and use it twice. Any place we can eliminate redundancies we try to do it to reduce time, costs and errors.
• Simplify the problem. Rather than react to everything as a complex execution, we consistently boil every project down to its core: “what do we want to happen as a result of this,” and work backwards from there.
• One team; multiple campuses. We all gather as one church, once a week for the all staff meeting.
• Adhere to the same Communication Values. Look for ways to bundle and simplify everything we do. Even though the next steps and ministry teams for each campus are very individualized and unique, we still look for ways to tie the next steps to the same major themes (e.g., the weekend series, volunteers, groups, etc.)

After the first year or so (2)

We’re trying to harness the power of a message and enhance the experience, not create a list of dos and don’ts. There’s a balance between centralizing efforts that maximize excellence and creating a bottleneck for the things that don’t matter. We’re constantly evaluating that contrast, tension and the multiple paradoxes.

• Scalability is the goal but scalability is not the same thing as duplication.
• The focus is mission not mirroring. .
• Community is a shared mission, expression is not.
• Value is communicated different ways to different people.
• Our church, and the community developed around it, is not contained in one box and shipped for use in multiple locations. We’re evolving our DNA to live multi-site as a ministry, not as an export.

Where we are now (3)

After working with a generalized framework for about two years, we’ve gained experience, clarity and advice – from - others. As a result, we recently finalized a working first draft of our Campus Constants to help usher us into the next season and future campus launches.

It’s a moving target, but this shared roadmap helps us all aim for the same bull's-eye.

Three most important skills for technology stewards…

This summer I answered a couple of questions for a Worship Leader magazine article.

Name two or three skills or areas of expertise most critical for a worship tech steward or team of stewards?

We serve people, not technology. So the first, second and third most important skill would be the ability to see the human touch at every decision intersection. Too many professionals involved with technology have mad tech intelligence but sad social intelligence. It’s less common to find someone who leads technology action plans through the human touch filter. The best steward of tech or tech teams doesn’t necessarily have all the answers, but knows the right questions (and the right people) to ask:

• How will this decision affect the people involved?
• Are we complicating the problem?
• Are we falling victim to geek and gadget lust or empowering people to release the best out of them?
• What at risk if we don’t do this?
• What will have to change if we do?
• Is it worth the return on investment?

When we ask the right people the right questions, we are able to not only see a picture of today's reality, but are also able to prepare for course changes and growth without breaking or starting from scratch. 

Wrapped up in all of this is the ability to communicate tech benefits (or liabilities) from different perspectives. That’s the key to translating ideas and objectives into functional specifications and designs. The result? People to say “thank you!” instead of “why do I have to do this?”

Who are the people (by skill, function, title) currently involved in stewarding technology (e.g. audio, video, web, social media, mobile) in your church so that they all work well together?" Is there one point person, or many leaders in different areas...(team over various areas vs. single head)?

We’re organized into three main tech areas between communications and creative arts—each one with a unique vocabulary, distinct personality traits and specialized skills. There’s a lot of overlap between the teams, but we’re all protecting the same mission, vision and values so it works well.

• The Tech Arts Team is responsible for supporting a multi-dimensional experience in the auditorium (or any physical facility platform) by strategically and creatively using all audio and visual systems.
• The Tech Ops Team is responsible for empowering people with transparent hardware, software and support and protecting people from technology infrastructure and security pitfalls.
• The Digital Media Team is responsible for using communication technologies (web, social and mobile) to resource people, enable community and encourage spiritual growth.

Even though there are three specific areas for tech responsibilities and deliverables, the culture here is all about shared ownership as one team. There is constant contact between key stakeholders who are intentional about collaboration and cross-training. Although it might be easier if everyone stayed in their own area, it just wouldn’t be as effective.

(Full article.)

Want better results from others? Change your M.O.

A few weeks ago I blogged about reducing the static to engage with others. I got a few comments and even more DMs and emails from people asking me how to “change an internal M.O.”

There is no “one-size-fits-all” or “five quick steps” to answer that question. A person’s M.O. is about emotional intelligence and spiritual health. The key to breaking out of our own ruts and changing our internal M.O. is self-awareness. But, our ruts are highly personal, aren’t they?

So, instead of just answering “get a therapist” (which isn’t a bad place to start), I thought I’d point to ten posts where I’ve talked about this before (trust me, there’s a ton more where these came from). Hope this helps.

10. Get feedback.  

9. Remember, everybody doesn't hate you. 

8. Learn from your mistakes.   

7. Quit trying to get it all done.

6. Get a preventative maintenance plan.

5. Create social social impact.

4. Know the difference between drawing, crossing & blurring the lines of communication.

3. Guard your heart.

2. Cultivate success. 

1. Get over yourself.

Challenging each other to ruin lazy communications…

Last week I spent two intense days with a group of creative leaders and practitioners representing ten different churches from New York to California. We came from indie art, gritty cowboy, low income urban, exclusive suburb, bluegrass, hip hop, big city and small town communities. We’re an eclectic expression of methodologies, experience, philosophies, practices and contexts who will be spending the next six months together trying to get better at getting through.

I thought I’d share a few quotes I was able to jot down …

• "We are sometimes called to be a part of people's lives for a chapter rather than the whole book." @stevenstarfas
• "Don't forget what it's like not to believe." @stevenstarfas
• “It’s time to sunset that system.” @heyshan
• “Integrate family ministries instead of creating programs. Programs can actually fracture families.” @heyshan
• “Communicators should be curators.” @jeremyscheller
• “When your audience is already highly scheduled, don’t add more to their calendar. Work harder at creating avenues for them to find small spaces to respond to God.” @dgaff
• “You can’t cultivate great communication as a professional until you realize, as a human being, you’re not so different than the people you’re serving.” Mindy Owens
• “Communication is an art form, prepping the canvas for good art takes time.” @eyesofaith

Biggest communications challenge nobody talks about…

Yesterday, the smart and generous people at The Leadership Network and Catalyst sponsored The NINES online conference. Over 100 speakers had six minutes to share their best 'game-changing' moments. Here’s mine.

The biggest communication challenge that nobody talks about…

• The clutter we create when we overestimate what we have to say and underestimate how it’s going to affect the other person.

How to overcome it…

• Change internal M.O.
• Focus less on what we have to say and more on who we are saying it to.
• Personalize a message instead of pushing an agenda.
• Prioritize people instead of performance or policy.

Question to ask yourself…

• How can I change my communication style to release the best in others?

If you’ve got six more minutes to spare… Tim Steven’s shares his game changer, too.

If I jumped in a time machine & went back to school…

Last week I was asked, “I’m hoping to pursue a career in advertising/marketing. What advice would you give to me as I pursue my education & career?” Here’s what I shared; it’s just my two cents.

Even though I studied public relations and journalism in college, very little of that formal education makes me more effective in my current role. If I had the chance to go back and do it all over again, I would concentrate in psychology and sociology. And, here’s why. Culture moves and the methods (and technologies) for design, marketing, advertising, etc., change rapidly and frequently. For all of that stuff… you keep up, learn on the job, read blogs, watch real life wins and misses on the go. It’s just in time, all the time. However, people are the same despite where culture moves. I believe, the more you learn about and understand the human condition—the more successful you’ll be in any communications role.