evan mcbroom THE OTHER SIDE of the boat

Archive Post: Serve People, Not Projects (August 2007)

I had five meetings today.  All important.  Four for work and one was "meet the teacher night" at my daughter's high school. (very important!)

In all of my work meetings - I found it exceptionally refreshing to find that I was working with and serving people and notprojects.  Its easy in our work as church communicators to get wrapped up in working on projects (with deadlines and deliverables) and to miss the rich relational stuff of working with people (with stories and dreams). 

One of my meetings was with a missions agency we hope to work with - and I asked them what they wanted out of a partner on this project.  After they finished telling me their answer they asked me a question - "What did we (as Fishhook) want out of the partnership."  I said, "transparency and relationship - that we can accomplish more if we're open and real."  (I'm sure it was not that succinct, but that was the gist.)  I realized throughout the day, as I reflected on my other meetings, that in every case I was working with people who I consider to be friends - real people who let down their guard and worked together closely and openly to do this work God has called us to.

How about you?  Are you focused on projects or people?  I vote for people!

Webcast Resources

Here are some resources that will be helpful for today's Webcast

Download FH comm capability wheel-1

Four Resource Sites:

Kem Meyer - Less Clutter Less Noise 

Church Marketing Sucks

Your Marketing Plan - United Methodist Communications

OUTSPOKEN - Conversations on Church Communications

If you have questions following the webcast, feel free to email me at the link on the left...under my picture.

Six Random Fishhook Facts from Yesterday's Team Retreat

1. JD made a campfire out of two pieces of firewood and an accordion of Post-it notes
2. The mailman delivered two packages during our meeting and said, "Did somebody order dinosaur bones?" Each package contained two Vuvuzela Horns tightly wrapped end-to-end and they were addressed to our Brazilian friend Anderson who sublets space from Fishhook and is a huge soccer fan.
3. Leah ordered a #6 Unwich from Jimmy Johns.
4. We discovered that Fishhook only spends 6% of our total budget on office space, utilities and office related expenses.
5. We used 60 Post-it notes in our "What do we do" exercise. (We're not that scattered - the 60 boiled down into 3 1/2 categories. (trying to figure out if the 1/2 becomes a whole or is absorbed into one of the other 3)
6. So far this year we have worked with 66 different churches (Evan guessed the number would be 47.)

Basics of Church Communication - Webcast preview

 Thursday, August 19 (Noon - 1pm CDT) I'll be leading a MinistryCOM webcast: Basics of Church Communication.  

The webcast is aimed at those who are "new to church communications and overwhelmed by the job."  To give a heads up, I'll be covering

• Basic Challenges (why is the job so challenging? hint=it has to do with people)
• Responsibilities (and my thoughts on the specific skills, gifts & talents needed)
• Resources (we'll look at some of the basic ones and I have a new assessment tool to help you map out plans for improvement for yourself and your team...if you have one)

Hope you'll join in. Hope it is a help.

Video scriptwriting advice

I don't wanna brag, but in college I was a Telecom major with an emphasis on Video Production. (I chose this because it did not require any accounting classes). Much of my career has included loads of video scriptwriting. A friend asked me for my advice as she was charged with writing her first video script. Here was my quickly composed email to her:

Here you go...as a writer, you need to write first with image and words together.  For each moment that someone is hearing or reading your copy, you need to think of the image they are seeing/sound they are hearing.  

You sort of have to have audio and video running in you head at the same time.  AND - you have to think what can be realistically produced in the time/budget we have.  For example,
if you're talking about the concept of "flight" do we see a bird? plane? feather? sky? if a plane is it moving? do we have a narrator...is the narrator seen, unseen?  So many questions.  Not unlike a print piece...but each answer impacts the produce-ability of the video.

I would say a tip I would offer is, start writing by closing your eyes and see the video in your mind.  Hear the video in your mind.  Feel the pace.  Then capture that.  Also, the same way you would allow white space in a print design, in video you control the pace of the viewers experience.  So, think timing.

Sorta lame advice...but that how I do it.  

Does this help at all?

Staff Changes - what to say when you can't say anything yet

Recently, we were asked by a church client to help them with some delicate communication planning.  They are working through a major staff reorganization.  For a number of reasons, at this point the staff knows the details of each of their own situations and they have a clear picture of the new staff structure, but all of the changes will not be public for a period of time.  Knowing the dynamics of any workplace (and especially a church), church leaders and staff are anticipating that they will get questions from people in the congregation.  The reality is, questions are coming and rumors are already afoot. As these questions come, Church leaders and staff are asking a big question of their own:

"If we can't talk openly for a while, what can we say about the staff changes when people ask?"

Everyone involved wants to maintain truthful communication, but leaders are stressing to the staff that there are important reasons why the full picture of changes should not be made known right away. 

Here is Fishhook's recommended outline/talking points for communication for every staff member and elder as they respond to questions from the congregation:

1. Acknowledge and Affirm

• As a member of the church staff/elder, I'm aware of some upcoming staff changes as our church leaders work to make us the best church we can be.
• I appreciate your interest/concern/question. And here's what I can share with you at this time.

2. Convey Trust

• First, let me say that I trust God is sovereign – and I trust He's in control.
• Second, I trust our church leaders – and I trust they are praying through the changes and they are seeking God's will for our church.
• Third, I trust that I can ask you to be patient until more information can be shared because these changes involve real people, real families and real work and ministry assignments.

3. Outline Next Steps

• You may hear accurate information and inaccurate information circulating in the weeks to come. Please be patient until you hear more information directly from our church leaders. Soon, more details about our vision and future plans will be shared with the entire congregation.
• Staff: you can share broad personal feelings: I'm excited, It's hard, I'm praying, etc.  
• Staff: If you sense someone needs/wants to know or discuss more, suggest they contact (specific church leaders by name).

While this language is geared to staff changes, the basic outline could be applied to many types of changes within a congregation.  The staff received this information well and knowing what to say gave them greater confidence.  

How would it work for you?  Does it feel authentic and complete enough for your world?

Power of a funny word

Sometimes you just gotta shake the word box a little to grab attention.  Here is a Facebook post of mine from earlier this week:

Me: Jumped back on #LoseIt bandwagon. 14lbs to drop before @IndyMonumental half marathon. LoseIt makes it simple, but never easy.

My friend Kathi Moore commented: What is that? I'd run the @IndyMonumental nikked if I could lose 14 lbs first! hahahahaha

"Nikked!"  Oh, I loved it.  It was so very unexpected and funny, and goofing up the spelling made it even better.  The word totally grabbed my attention.  It reminded me of the power of words and the exceptional power of funny words.  What are you writing today and that can you funny up to gain more attention.

PS: you can follow Kathi at http://twitter.com/mediakath

How my cat got skinny

Yes, I swore my blog and twitter feed would never stoop to conversation about my cat, but for this thought I make an exception.

This summer our cat has lost (I’m guessing) a 1/3 of her normal weight. Unless she’s suffering from an undiagnosed illness, here is what my wife and I can make of it and what I draw from it.  Our cat has spent nearly the entire summer outdoors.  Aside from sleeping indoors on most nights and coming in the house 27 times a day to spend a few seconds getting one bite of food before meowing to be let back out, she’d been outside. 

My takeaway points:

1. Be outside as much as you can. 
2. Run around a lot. 
3. Chase things for fun.  
4. Lay down when it’s really hot, but don't come inside.
5. Come in at night to get good rest. 
6. Snack through the day but don’t eat big meals. 
7. Run around some more.

See you outside.

Remarkable or predictable?

Is your work remarkable or predictable?  I don’t mean your role or position at your church.  I mean is the job you are doing, or the team you are leading…is it performing at a level that is remarkable, outstanding and extraordinary, or is it predictable, bland and stale?

I don’t journal everyday, but I tend to in times of stress.  Looking back in my journal I was reminded of a season when I felt like my work, and our team’s work had become predictable.  It’s been over a year since I worked through this, but I felt like, as a team, we were too steady, too routine and I was not sensing the same high level of group creativity we had been experiencing.   My journal features a doodle of a chrome counter bell.  The kind a waitress rings to notify the short-order cook of a new ticket.  “Order up!” is written next to the bell.  I wondered, “what was wrong with our team?”  Under the sketch is this statement and question I asked God:

 We have moved from remarkable to predictable.  How do we return to remarkable?

 As I prayed through this question, I wrote this, “God wants me to LEAD, not just orchestrate, manage or coordinate.”

 The remarkability issue was not about the team…it was about my leadership.   God gently pointed the way back to remarkable.

 Are you feeling predictable?  I don’t know what God may say to you…but seek His direction and find your way back to remarkable.

People will do anything for a free shirt

Do you count on other people to get your stuff done?

 Whether you lead a team, draw on volunteers or contract with outside resources to get your work done (or some combo) it’s key to keep your people moving, motivated and feeling upbeat about their work.  Recently, I was reminded of a very simple truth that reinforced this point.

My new friend and Fishhook client, Mike Ducy of Run2Relay has been involved in the running and competition event business for 20+ years.  Before launching Run2Relay as a low-barrier community event for churches to incorporate into their outreach strategy (and a all out fun event for competitors), Mike owned End Result and GetMeRegistered.com.  Mike sold these two businesses to allow him the time and focus to create Run2Relay.  Recently, Mike and I spent time together connecting with people at the North American Christian Convention.  We were both wearing Run2Relay shirts and the shirts were a giveaway in his booth.  We had devised a simple game people could play that engaged them in learning the Run2Relay story.  As it turns out, everybody wins the game and everybody got his or her own Run2Relay shirt.  What amazed me was to watch men and women, teens and kids stop dead in their convention-induced-walking-trance to play the game…to get the shirt.

As Mike and I spent time together, he said, “People will do anything for a free shirt,” and proceeded to tell me several stories about how he has used event shirts as the way to get all sorts of stuff done over the years.  Convention center dockworkers would drop what they were doing and lend Mike a free hand to unload his stuff…in exchange for a airborne tossed free shirt.  Event bystanders would roll-up their sleeves and jump in to help man a table or water station…for a free shirt.  And the stories went on.

 So, here’s a simple idea. 

1. Connect with your favorite designer and come up with a cool shirt design to represent your communication team or church.
2. Hook up with your favorite shirt vendor and get a batch of shirts made.  Stick with one color and a decent weight T and you’ll likely be at $5/each – print up 100 and you’re only $500 invested toward a bunch of team love.
3. Start tossing shirts around.  
4. You’ll bring a smile to your staff, volunteers or partners.
5. Watch the results. They’ll be more excited to help you get your stuff done.
6. Send me a free shirt if the idea worked for you!