Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Innovation's Dirty Little Secret


Most innovations fail.


Larry Osborn's session at the Church Solutions Conference had a great title, and it did not disappoint. The subtitle, Confessions of a Serial Innovator, had me hooked from the moment I saw it - and he spoke with some great content. There is a lot of great material I could post about, but the most powerful and thought-provoking comments were a set of eight questions which I think every church leader should be asking themselves about all of their ministries - not just ones that are considering beginning.


  • How are we going to market this in a way that gives us maximum flexibility?

  • How can we prepare for a quick and relatively painless exit?

  • How are we going to communicate if things go slower than expected?

  • How are we going to communicate if we need to shut the whole thing down?

  • How are we going to communicate if we need to go back to the old way?

  • How are we going to absorb and limit the financial burden?

  • What benchmarks will cause us to pull the plug?

  • What benchmarks will cause us to keep going even though things are slow?

Ask yourself these questions - and be honest with the answers.

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