27 gen

700 Posts...

2011-05-13T17:35:00.000-04:00

This is the 700th post on 27gen - I hope you've enjoyed the ride!

Starting Monday May 16th, I'm moving this blog over to 27gen.com. The archives here will still be up, but all new posts will be on the new site.

I hope you'll join me there!

Thanks for reading...

Bob

American Idle

2011-05-11T22:47:00.000-04:00

In 1954, about 96 percent of American men between 25 and 54 worked. Today it's around 80 percent.

One-fifth of all men of prime working age are not working.

American Idle, indeed.

Columnist David Brooks, writing in the New York Times on May 12, delivers some powerful (and thought-provoking) thoughts on the subject. Read the whole article here.

Consider these sobering facts:

Part of the problem is human capital. More American men lack the emotional and professional skills they need. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 35 percent of those without a high school diploma are out of the labor force, compared with less than 10 percent of those with a college degree.
Part of the problem has to do with structural changes in the economy. Sectors like government, health care and leisure have grown, generating jobs for college grads. Manufacturing, agriculture and energy haven't been generating more jobs, as companies use machines or foreign workers.
Probably more men are idle now than at any time since the Great Depression. This time the problem is mostly structural, not cyclical. They will find it hard to attract spouses. Many will pick up habits that have a corrosive cultural influence on those around them. The country won't benefit from their potential.

Bringing the missing fifth back into the labor market and using their capabilities will require money. If this were a smart country, we'd be debating how to shift money from programs that provide comfort toward those that spark reinvigoration.

But we probably won't.
What are the implications for ChurchWorld?

Transformation Hurts

2011-05-11T07:36:00.000-04:00

If you were comfortable where you were, or if things were okay as they were, you wouldn't go through transformation.

Only when the pain of changing things overcomes the pain of status quo would you ever consider transformation.

That's where Starbucks found itself in early 2008. Chronicled in CEO Howard Schultz's recent book "Onward," Starbucks - at the apparent height of its success - was declining inwardly, and on the edge of declining outwardly. "Onward" details the transformation Starbucks went through in 2008-2010, utilizing a Transformation Agenda developed by the senior leadership team at Starbucks as the primary guide.

The Transformation Agenda featured 7 "Big Moves" - innovations and advancements designed to return Starbucks to its core practices. The Big Moves also contained one final, painful set of actions designed to reverse sales trends and bolster stock value.

600 stores closed.

12,000 partner positions eliminated in these stores.

1,000 non-store positions eliminated.

Schultz called it the most painful decision he has ever made. Only the certainty that closing the stores would keep Starbucks operational in the long run allowed him to make the decision. He understood the reasoning, but it was impossible to take the emotion out of the equation:

For all the flak about Starbucks' ubiquity, almost every store maintained a devoted following inside and out. A soul. With each closing, we would be erasing a fingerprint, and that was a reality I could not possibly ignore.

Fast forward to the fall of 2010: Starbucks regained a healthy balance with culture that celebrates creativity and discipline, entrepreneurship and process, as well as rigorous innovation. Their fiscal 2010 operating margin was the highest consolidated one in their 40 year history. The transformation worked.

But according to Schultz, "perhaps the most valuable thing that came out of the two year transformation was the confidence we gained knowing that we could preserve our values despite the hardships we faced. Holding fast to those values steadied us throughout the tumultuous journey, and the ways in which we conduct our business will continue to bring our partners pride and fuel their engagement as we continue to grow".

Success is not sustainable if it's defined by how big you become. Large numbers are not what matter. The only number that matters is "one."

One cup.

One customer.

One partner.

One experience at a time.

Question for ChurchWorld:

What's your "one"?

Transformation Initiatives at Starbucks

2011-05-07T06:00:00.002-04:00

Yesterday's post was a brief look at the bold Transformation Agenda that Starbucks put into place early in 2008 to overcome their decline. The Agenda contained a mission statement and 7 Big Moves designed to return Starbucks to success.

Within a few months, at their April 2008 shareholders meeting, Starbucks rolled out the following six transformation initiatives:

The Mastrena - a finely-crafted, Swiss made espresso machine that would provide baristas with the ability to give customers a high-quality consistent shot of espresso second to none, transforming the espresso experience in their stores. By the end of 2008 the machine was in 30% of stores, and by 2010 a majority of Starbucks had the Mastrena.
Conservation International - a partnership with CI, begun in 1998, was expanded so that Starbucks could buy fair-trade coffee, produced in shade-grown conditions with fair compensation and safe working conditions for coffee farm workers. By 2009, all Starbucks espresso beans and espresso-based products would qualify for a new marking designed to articulate their practices: Responsibly Grown. Ethically Traded. Proudly Served.
The Rewards Card - designed to recognize their most loyal customers with freebies, the Card addressed an emerging need for value. Existing Starbucks Card holders could register their cards online, instantly turning it into a Rewards Card.
MyStarbucksIdea.com - an interactive website designed to listen to customers suggestions, rants, and comments. Moderated by 50 veteran Starbucks employees, the website was launched live by uploading ideas submitted by shareholders that morning. Within minutes, more ideas came streaming in from people listening to the meeting's broadcast or following rolling blog posts. In the next 24 hours, over 7,000 ideas were posted.
Pike Place Roast - announcing that Starbucks would once again grind whole beans in their stores, two master baristas introduced Pike Place Roast, a smooth, well-balanced, lighter blend of coffee, designed to give full flavor while not being as bold as traditional blends.
Clover - a commercially viable way to replicate the benefits of the French Press method of brewed coffee, Clover was a local invention acquired by Starbucks early in 2008. It created a fantastic cup of coffee at a pace designed to keep up with the demand of most Starbucks stores.

Seven Big Moves.

Six Transformation Initiatives.

All of these engaging tools that helped Starbucks navigate through a very unpredictable journey, one milestone at a time.

The initiatives introduced at that meeting each heralded a return to the core values of Starbucks - coffee, customers, innovation, and values - but they weren't enough by themselves to bring the company back from the brink.

Painfully personal decisions were the final step in the transformation.

Lessons for ChurchWorld

Take a look at the initiatives above, and translate them into your world. What actions can you dream up - and then put into action - that would help you accomplish your transformation agenda?
Are you secure enough in your core values to put anything - and everything - on the table?
Transformation is not just about nuts and bolts, about systems and processes. Is your vision lived out in the lives of your people?

The Transformation Agenda

2011-05-06T07:22:00.000-04:00

Once Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz decided to return as CEO, he pulled together a team to began working on the process of turning the company's performance around.

As noted here, one of the team's key realizations was the need to focus on the ones: one cup of coffee, served to one customer, at one store. That thought drove the team to draft a transformation agenda that would be used company-wide to implement decisions.

The Transformation Agenda started with a compelling strategic vision, and was followed by a backbone of seven big moves, each with specific tactics. Here's a synopsis:

Our Aspiration
To become and enduring, great company with one of the most recognized and respected brands in the world, know for inspiring and nurturing the human spirit.

Seven Big Moves

Be the undisputed coffee authority - Starbucks could not possibly transform the company if they did not excel and lead in their core business. Focusing on their quality and passion they exhibit in sourcing, roasting, and brewing coffee, actions included improving the quality and delivery of espresso drinks, reinventing brewed coffee, delivering innovative beverages, and increase the share of the at-home market. Undergirding all these actions was the push to continue telling their story.
Engage and inspire their partners - Every Starbucks partner (employee) should be passionate about coffee - from soil to cup - and possess the skills, enthusiasm, and permission to share that expertise with customers. Actions included significantly improving training and career development for partners at all levels as well as developing meaningful and groundbreaking compensation, benefit, and incentive packages for partners.
Ignite the emotional attachment with their customers - People come to Starbucks for coffee and human connection. Their goal was to put customers back in the center of the experience by addressing their needs, providing the "value" in a manner congruent with the brand, and developing programs that recognize and reward the most loyal customers. In the stores, that meant achieving operational excellence, finding new ways to deliver world-class customer service and perfect beverages while keeping costs in line and retail partners engaged.
Expand their global presence-while making each store the heart of the local neighborhood - The challenge was to grow their retail presence while striving to connect with and support the neighborhoods and cultures that each store serves. Enhancing local relevancy would mean redesigning existing and new stores, offering new products that reflected the tastes of particular cultures, and reaching out by volunteering or fund-raising to support local programs and causes.
Be a leader in ethical sourcing and environmental impact - Starbucks has led the way in treating farmers with respect and dignity. These efforts would expand, strengthening existing partnerships and forging new ones. They also have a goal of reducing each store's environmental footprint and sharing their initiatives with others.
Create innovative growth platforms worthy of their coffee - Starbucks would grow not just by adding stores and selling coffee, buy also by extending its brand and/or expertise to new product platforms expanding or complementing coffee, such as tea, cold beverages, instant coffee, food, and the booming health and wellness market. Innovation that was relevant to their core values would be the hallmark of their transformation.
Deliver a sustainable economic model - Without a profitable business model, Big Moves 1-6 would not be possible. It was imperative that the refocus on customers and core also be matched by an improvement on how they operated their business. Creating a culture that drove quality and speed, managing expenses on an ongoing basis, reducing costs, and building a world-class supply chain would be the primary tactics in this area. Big Move 7 would be the most painful, least sexy, and most difficult part of transforming the company.

Launched at a global summit of 200 of Starbucks' most senior leaders from around the world, the Transformation was in Schultz's words "to make sure that we level set the reason we exist."

Schultz felt that ultimately the summit helped align Starbucks' top global leaders around two very important statements: the Transformation Agenda, which outlined what everyone at Starbucks needed to do, and the mission statement, which reminded them why.

Lessons for ChurchWorld:

Do you know what you are doing?
Do you why you are doing it?
Do you know how you are doing it?
Do you know when you are successful?
Do you know where God is taking you?

For a better understanding of these questions, take a look at the Church Unique Visual Summary here, or download it here as a free ebook.

It might just be the start of your own Transformation Agenda.

Celebrating Adams Family Style

2011-05-05T19:55:00.000-04:00

Chef Boys prepared our own version of Cinco de Mayo for our favorite lady: tacos, tamales, chips, rice, beans, fresh pico de gallo, plenty of toppings - all served outside on the lawn, with fiesta decorations from the house to the trees, with salsa music playing on Pandora. Fun!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

"Ones" Add Up

2011-05-05T08:15:00.000-04:00

Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz's recently-released book "Onward" details the amazing comeback story of Starbucks: after more than three decades of success, in 2008 they found themselves with sales sliding at a distressing rate, a falling stock value, and relentless competition. Compounding the problem, the world's economy was in a tailspin.

With aggressive, sometimes painful moves and a powerful transformation agenda to guide them, they were able to reverse their decline, and by the end of 2010 were once again on top of their game.

What happened?

Here's an excerpt from the book that gives you a big clue:

Like a doctor who measures a patient's height and weight every year without checking blood pressure or heart rate, Starbucks was not diagnosing itself at a level of detail that would help ensure its long-term health. We predicated future success on how many stores we opened during a quarter instead of taking the time to determine whether each of those stores, would, in fact, be profitable. We though in terms of millions of customers and thousands of stores instead of one customer, one partner, and one cup of coffee at a time.

With such a mind-set, many little things dangerously slipped by unnoticed, or at least went unacknowledged. How could one imperfect cup of coffee, one unqualified manager, or one poorly located store matter when millions of cups of coffee were being served in tens of thousands of stores?

We forgot that "ones" add up.

Lessons for ChurchWorld:

What "business" are you in?
What are the roots of that business?
It's okay to have a 30,000 foot view, but eventually you've got to land the plane.
You've got to produce results.
When you see the crowds, never forget the "ones".

Success Brings Unintended Consequences

2011-05-04T06:00:00.001-04:00

Starbucks' battle back from mediocrity is well documented in CEO Howard Schultz's new book "Onward." Pairing it with Jim Collins' 2009 book "How the Mighty Fall" gives ChurchWorld a sobering lesson in how to handle success.

Collins' 5 Stages of Decline begin with "Hubris Born of Success." He describes it in a short paragraph:

Great enterprises can become insulated by success; accumulated momentum can carry an enterprise forward, for a while, even if its leaders make poor decisions or lose discipline. Stage 1 kicks in when people become arrogant, regarding success virtually as an entitlement, and the lose sight of the true underlying factors that created success in the first place. When the rhetoric of success ("We're successful because we do the specific things") replaces penetrating understanding and insight ("We're successful because we understand why we do the specific things and under what condition they would no longer work"), decline will likely follow.

Here's what Starbucks' Schultz had to say in looking back to early 2008:

If not checked, success has a way of covering up small failures, and when many of us at Starbucks became swept up in the company's success, it had unintended effects. We ignored, or maybe we just failed to notice, shortcomings.

We were so intent upon building more stores fast to meet each quarter's projected sales growth that, too often, we picked bad locations or didn't adequately train newly hired baristas. Sometimes we transferred a good store manager to oversee a new store, but filled the old post by promoting a barista before he or she was properly trained.

As the years passed, enthusiasm morphed into a sense of entitlement, at least from my perspective. Confidence became arrogance and, as some point, confusion as some of our people stepped back and began to scratch their heads, wondering what Starbucks stood for.

In the early years at Starbucks, I liked to say that a partner's job at Starbucks was to "deliver on the unexpected" for customers. Now, many partners' energies seemed to be focused on trying to deliver the expected - mostly for Wall Street.

Great companies foster a productive tension between continuity and change. On the one hand, they adhere to the principles that produces success int the first place, yet on the other hand, they continually evolve, modifying their approach with creative improvements and intelligent adaptation.

When organizations fail to distinguish between current practices and the enduring principles of their success, and mistakenly fossilize around their practices, they've set themselves up for decline.

By confusing what and why, Starbucks found itself at a dangerous crossroads. Which direction would they go?

Questions for ChurchWorld

Is your organization locked in on your core values, purpose, and culture?
Or do you move in first this direction, then that, just to have "success"?

Beware the unintended consequences of success

Failing at Success

2011-05-03T06:00:00.001-04:00

Even before the economic bubble burst in the fall of 2008, signs of trouble had already appeared on Starbucks' horizon.

For decades Starbucks' shareholders and partners had prospered, but by 2007 Starbucks had begun to fail itself. Obsessed with growth in the US and around the world, the company took its eye off operations and became distracted from the core of their business.

As CEO Howard Schultz recounts, "No single bad decision or tactic or person was to blame. The damage was slow and quiet, incremental, like a singe loose thread that unravels a sweater inch by inch. Decision by decision, store by store, customer by customer, Starbucks was loosing some of the signature traits it had been founded on."

The company's internal problems were compounded by external circumstances as the world went through unprecedented change on several fronts:

The economy was hurtling toward a financial crisis that would destroy trillions of dollars in personal wealth; spur a credit crunch; cause a housing bust, and trigger high unemployment
Consumer behavior was shifting; people were not only becoming more cost-conscious, but also more environmentally aware, health-minded, and ethically driven
The digital revolution was ushering in a new age of information and content delivery; the news cycle was 24/7 and instantaneous - both good news and bad

Taken together, these challenges became a "perfect storm" that almost capsized the Starbucks' ship.

For Howard Schultz - who since acquiring the original Starbucks in 1982 and setting in motion the people, processes, and places that would forever revolutionize how we experienced community - it was time to step back into the leadership and responsibility of the CEO.

Let's hit the pause button: What are the implications for what happened to Starbucks for ChurchWorld?

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to insert ChurchWorld in most of the above comments and find a disturbing reality for leaders like you.

Could my church or organization be facing the same sort of crisis - even in the middle of apparent success?

To help understand this a little better, I want to run some parallel thoughts with Jim Collins' great book of a couple of years ago, "How the Mighty Fall." Based on years of research and validation, he posed an interesting observation:

I've come to see institutional decline like a staged disease: harder to detect but easier to cure in the early stages, easier to detect but harder to cure in the later stages. An institution can look strong on the outside but already be sick on the inside, dangerously on the cusp of a precipitous fall.

For a summary of Collins' "Five Stages of Decline", see this post for an introduction to Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success.

Now for the critical question for you to ponder:

Do you see your church in this place?

Transformation Lessons from Starbucks

2011-05-02T06:00:00.002-04:00

Readers of this blog know of my fondness of using Starbucks as a model for excellence in Guest Services. Over the past two and a half years I have probably referred to them a couple of dozen times. When something works well, and can serve as a model for what churches can do, why not?

There's a flip side to Starbucks as well. In late 2007, the company was not doing well, and the future looked bleak. To address the emerging problems, former CEO Howard Schultz, who had stepped aside almost eight years earlier to become chairman of the board, did something unexpected: he returned as CEO to oversee day-to-day operations.

Schultz came back to Starbucks with a passion and a plan, and over the next two years, Starbucks returned to sustainable, profitable growth.

Schultz has recounted this story in "Onward," released earlier this year. It is a fascinating and extraordinarily intimate look at Schultz's leadership - one that I think church leaders would find appropriate for their own journey.

So, this week, I want to dive into "Onward" and pull out some lessons for ChurchWorld leaders. The best place to start? February 26, 2008 - the following sign appeared on all 7,100 Starbucks stores in the US as they closed for three hours:

We're taking time to perfect our espresso.

Great espresso requires practice. That's why we're dedicating ourselves to honing our craft.

That's right - Starbucks closed the doors early and spent three hours retraining the baristas to make sure they were doing their best. Touted by some as a marketing stunt, taken advantage of by the competitors, losing over $6 million dollars - what was up with Starbucks?

It was a symbolic act - three hours of education would not solve the huge problems Starbucks was facing.

But it worked.

Over the next year and a half, Starbucks followed a "Transformation Agenda" that provided some great leadership principles that church leaders will find helpful. Here is a summary paragraph from Schultz listing those leadership lessons:

Grow with discipline. Balance intuition with rigor. Innovate around the core. Don't embrace the status quo. Find new ways to see. Never expect a silver bullet. Get your hands dirty. Listen with empathy and over communicate with transparency. Telly our story, refusing to let others define you. Use authentic experiences to inspire. Stick to your values, they are your foundation. Hold people accountable but give them the tools to succeed. Make the tough choices; it's how you execute that counts. Be decisive in times of crisis. Be nimble. Find truth in trials and lessons in mistakes. Be responsible for what you see, hear and do. Believe.

Ready to learn from Starbucks' painful journey of transformation?

Got Clarity?

2011-04-26T06:00:00.003-04:00

If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.
- the Chesire Cat

Where's your red X?

You know, the spot that says "You are here."

Looking for the shortest distance between Point A and Point B?

The answers to the above questions aren't in Will Mancini's Visual Summary to his book "Church Unique," but you will be able to grasp the process that just might answer the tough qustions you're facing today.

Take a look.

Download the free e-book.

Start out on the journey...

...today!

Church Unique Visual Summary Released today

2011-04-25T08:10:00.000-04:00

It's the Monday after Easter and you are wiped out in every definition of the word, right?

Here's a shot of pure vision adrenaline for you - in one hundred and eleven words, illustrated and expounded on:

The Church Unique Visual Summary

Church Unique is the most powerful tool you can use in your church today.

Period.

It is a field manual for leaders like you who are in the ministry trenches daily - struggling along, not content with the status quo.

Download this free e-book, grab a cup of coffee and read through it.

Author Will Mancini just released a "Visual Summary" of the material in a free e-book. Use this link to download your copy today.

Take a look at the book here.

For additional resources about the process, go here to Auxano's website.

The Church Unique Visual Summary will infuse you with energy today - and start you on a path to vision clarity tomorrow.

The Lord's Hospitality...

2011-04-22T06:00:00.001-04:00

...demonstrated so simply - and so powerfully - with a basin and a towel.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

John 13:3-5

Talk about a lasting impression!

Jesus knew his time on Earth with his disciples was rapidly drawing to a close. What powerful teaching could he give them to help prepare them for the days ahead, and for a lifetime of discipleship?

Only to serve them.

Jesus is the most active one at the table. He is not portrayed as one who reclines and receives, but as one who stands and gives.

How will you serve your Guests this Easter Sunday?

Model Jesus.

It's Almost Time...

2011-04-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

The journey is almost over.

On March 15 I launched a "40 Day Guest Services Journey" through the words and images of this blog. It was my attempt to impress upon church leaders the importance of Guest Services by focusing on a unique calendar event: Easter Sunday is as late as it can get, followed in two weeks by Mother's Day, followed in three weeks by the "unofficial" start of summer.

Easter and Mother's Day are traditionally two of the three highest attended worship experiences at the typical US church.

So What?

If you knew company was coming to your house, you would make a special effort to have everything just right. Your house would be clean and tidy, you would probably be cooking some special meals, and your family would be on their best behavior.

Why should your church be any different?

Creating a WOW! First Impression isn't about you. It's all about your guests. It's about them coming back to your church so they can discover God's love.

First impressions really do matter. They matter on first dates, job interviews, meeting the future in-laws - and in the ministry of your church. First impressions are automatic and involuntary. You have the opportunity to influence the outcome of your guest's experience by deciding in advance what you will design that experience to be.

It's about People.

It's about Process.

It's about Place.

And a closing thought:

It's your first expression that makes the first impression

Creating Environments...

2011-04-20T06:00:00.001-04:00

Literally and figuratively

Andy Stanley and the team at North Point have identified three types of "spaces" they are intentionally creating in order to first welcome people and then move them along a path of growth. The spaces are primarily figurative, but you could also think of them in literal terms.

The Foyer: Where you are welcomed as a guest

The Living Room: Where you connect as a friend

The Kitchen: Where you are loved like family

Literal or figurative - or both, you can design spaces and experiences that encourage people to engage with others and to create relationships.

What kind of spaces are you designing?

Mickey's Ten Commandments for the Setting

2011-04-19T06:00:00.001-04:00

In yesterday's post the concept of the "setting" at Disney World was introduced. Going a little deeper, vice chairman Marty Sklar gave the following list of setting design principles (from "Be Our Guest" by the Disney Institute).

Know your audience - before creating a setting, obtain a firm understanding of who will be using it
Wear your guest's shoes - never forget the human factor; evaluate your setting from the guest's perspective by experiencing it as a guest
Organize the flow of people and ideas - think of your setting as a story; tell that story in an organized, sequenced way
Create a visual magnet - a landmark used to orient and attract guests
Communicate with visual literacy - use the common languages of color, shape, and form to communicate through setting
Avoid overload - do not bombard guests with information; let them chose the information they want when they want it
Tell one story at a time - mixing multiple stories in a singe setting is confusing; create one setting for each big idea
Avoid contradictions - every detail and every setting should support and further your organizational identity and mission
For every ounce of treatment provide a ton of treat - give your guests the highest value by building an interactive setting that gives them the opportunity to exercise all of their senses
Keep it up - never get complacent and always maintain your setting

What stories are your settings telling?

Everything Matters

2011-04-18T10:50:00.000-04:00

All organizations, knowingly or unknowingly, build messages to their customers (guests) into the settings in which they operate.

Consider these pairs:

A luxury car dealership and a used car lot
A theme park and a traveling carnival
A designer clothing retailer and an outlet store

In each pair, people are buying a similar product - cars, entertainment, and apparel. But in each case, the setting in which they buy these products is communicating a great deal about the quality of the products and services customers can expect, not to mention the price they are willing to pay.

The simple fact is that everything, animate and inanimate, speaks to customers.

The above words come from "Be Our Guest," the fantastic customer service book published by The Disney Institute. During this 40 Day Guest Services Journey, I have mentioned Disney several times. As we head into the final week of the journey - talking about Place - it's appropriate to start at Disney and understand "the magic of setting."

Setting is the environment in which service is delivered to customers, all of the objects within that environment, and the procedures used to enhance and maintain the service environment and objects.

Components include:

Architectural design
Landscaping
Lighting
Color
Signage
Directional designs on flooring and wall coverings
Texture of floor surfaces
Focal points and directional signs
Internal and external detail
Music and ambient noise
Smell
Touch and tactile experiences
Taste

Quite a list, right? Remember that when considering Guest Services...

Everything matters.

It All Began with a Mouse...

2011-04-17T06:00:00.001-04:00

The title of this post is actually a quote from Walt Disney himself, when asked to reflect upon the vast Disney empire shortly before his death in 1966. While Disneyland was successful, Disney World was 5 years from opening and EPCOT was just a few sketches on paper.

But Disney didn't coin the term "Imagineer" for nothing.

The magic that Disney brought to the world was summed up in this phrase: "My business is making people, especially children, happy." More than a statement, it was the basis for Disney's mission as a business; it represented what the company stands for and why it exists. Changing just a little over the past 60 years, it is The Walt Disney Company's service theme:

We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages, everywhere

So to close out this week of the "process" of Guest Services, there is no better place to go than the Disney Company and look at their practical magic for creating the best know guest experiences in the world.

Practical Magic

Disney has a simple definition for quality service - exceeding your guests' expectations and paying attention to detail.

The Disney WOW! Factor is exceeding guests' expectations

Paying close attention to every aspect of the guest experience
Analyzing that experience from the guest's perspective
Understanding the needs and wants of the guest
Committing every element of the process to the creation of an exceptional experience

At Disney, the word Guest is always capitalized and treated as a formal noun.

Quality Service Cycle - the Practical Magic of Disney

Service theme - a simple statement, shared among all team members, that becomes the driving force of the service
Service standards - the criteria for actions that are necessary to accomplish the service theme
Service delivery systems - vehicles used to deliver service
Service integration - each element in the QSC combined to create a complete operating system

Sounds complicated, doesn't it? It is, and should be - at least from your perspective. Spend a lot of time getting it right. Set up all the process you need to make it work. Implement your process. Evaluate it rigorously, and change it when necessary. Guestology, as Disney calls it, is both an art and a science.

But to the guest, it should all appear effortless.

Company's coming - are you ready to welcome guests in your church?

Language Engineering

2011-04-16T06:00:00.003-04:00

Every. Word. Counts.

Language underlies all other components in creating powerful guest services experiences. Yeah, words are that important.

Consider:

Your efforts to have everything "just so" won't be experienced as perfect unless you also use the right language in engaging your guests
Even the most well-intentioned and well-trained team members can alienate guests if they use the wrong language
When things don't go like they were planned, the right words can be your best ally

If you haven't given much thought to choosing and using your church's language - what your staff, volunteers, signage, emails, texts, tweets, voice mails, and website should say (and never say) to your guests, don't you think it's time?

Establish a Consistent Style of Speech - identify and implement an appropriate style of speaking throughout your organization
Create a Lexicon of Preferred Language and Phrasing - study the language that works best with your guests, and identify harmful phrases that should be avoided
Choose Language to Put Guests at Ease, Not Confuse Them - make it your mission to avoid and condescending or coercive language
Concentrate your Language Efforts on the Key Guest Moments - focus your language efforts on moments that are known to remain vivid in memory: hellos (make yours unusually warm and personal) and good-byes (make them wonderful)
Sometimes No Words are Best - align your team to the value of listening
Words Have Their Limits - remember that verbal and physical cues speak louder than words
Show, Don't Tell (and Don't Ever Just Point) - don't give guests verbal directions; physically lead them where they need to go
Phone and Web Language and Communication Pointers - go out of your way to be as human, friendly, and personal as you can

Remember that your guests are making their first impressions in the every day, day-to-day conversations with your Guest Services Team - before they are exposed to the highly scripted worship service music and sermon.

They are the first impressions, and those are the impressions they tell others about.

It bears repeating:

Every. Word. Counts.

Understanding Your Guests

2011-04-15T06:00:00.001-04:00

The posts this week in the 40 Day Guest Services Journey have all been about process. Yesterday I gave the bottom line principle needed to design guest services processes: think like a guest.

Can you think like a guest?

Probably not.

If you've been a part of your church for even just 6 weeks, you no longer have the ability to see and experience things as a guest does. Really - it only takes about that long to acclimate yourself to the setting you find yourself in every weekend at your church.

So how do you think like a guest? I thought you would never ask.

In order to understand what your guests are thinking, you have to ask them. There are many tools available to help you build the viewpoint, thoughts, and feelings of your guests into your experiences. Have you ever thought about using some of the following tools?

In-House "Quizzes" - an on-site, three-to-seven question mini-survey tends to yield a very high participation rate. The rate is typically much higher than a survey sent home with your guests and much higher than a full-length survey.
In-Depth Surveys - detailed, in-depth surveys can provide a wealth of information that your team will find useful. Just be sure you ask the right questions!
Mystery Worshippers - trained "professionals" will anonymously come to your church and evaluate a whole range of items (agreed upon in advance). A critical review from a complete outside can be very helpful information - but make sure your team is open and will receive the evaluation.

Each of the three areas has a lot of depth to them - so dive in whenever you're ready! If you want to know more about any of these, just give me a shout.

The important point remains: if you want to know something, you've got to ask. Pick the right method(s),ask the right questions, and listen with an open mind and heart.

The answers may surprise you.

Putting Processes to Work for You

2011-04-14T06:00:00.001-04:00

Here's the bottom line principle when it comes to designing processes for guest services:

An organization needs to think like a customer (or in this case, a guest)

Put yourselves in the shoes of the typical guest coming to your campus this weekend. Walk through (literally) every touchpoint and interaction that your guest might conceivably encounter. Develop a process or system that will anticipate their need and meet it before it becomes apparent to the guest.

Need help working it out? Try this six-step continuous improvement cycle from Xerox:

Identify and select the problem to be worked on
Analyze the problem
Generate potential solutions
Select and plan the best solution
Implement the solution
Evaluate the solution

Once you have identified a solution and find that it works, continue to use it, evaluating it periodically as needed, replacing it completely when it no longer works.

Here's a real world situation as an example:

I serve as a Guest Services (Parking) Team Coordinator for Elevation Church's Uptown campus. We meet in McGlohan Theater in Spirit Square (the former First Baptist Charlotte campus, turned into an entertainment venue in the 1970's when the church relocated).

Problem: Almost everyone attending the Uptown Campus drives from somewhere else in Charlotte - which means lots of cars.

Analysis: The theatre only has about 40 parking spaces associated with it. Wanting to reserve those for VIPs (first time guests) and families with small children, we had to locate other parking.

Potential Solutions: Everybody for themselves (no way!); utilize street parking (not enough, and used by businesses or not available many Sundays); negotiate favorable rates with surface parking lots (not so favorable rates, it turns out); negotiate the use of a parking deck 1 1/2 blocks away (good rate, but a little far)

Select the Best Solution: Utilize the parking deck because it puts the majority of cars in one place, allowing maximum efficiency of guest services teams; helps with security; gives a sense of "place" to everyone coming Uptown

Implement the Solution: Determine the traffic patterns of cars coming Uptown and design appropriate signs and locations to maximize impact; develop a checklist of the different types of signs and their locations; negotiate with parking company to insure staff is on site or nearby in case of mechanical problems; promote the "how" of the parking deck through website videos, print materials, and live announcements as needed; plan for inclement weather; coordinate Parking Team, VIP Team, and Greeters to insure smooth transition from parking deck to theater

Evaluate the Solution: Every week the parking team notes hits and misses, and adjusts the process to eliminate them

That's how we do it at Uptown!

Now, take the principle and apply it in your context.

Efficient processes can transform your Guest Services Team

Designing Success

2011-04-13T06:00:00.001-04:00

When it comes to Guest Services, "Defining Success" is not easy - ultimately, the guest makes the definition.

But you can influence and shape that definition - and that's where "Designing Success" comes in.

Earlier in the series I introduced the concept of "The Experience Blueprint". This powerful idea was introduced by Tim Brown, CEO of the world-renowned design firm IDEO in his latest book, "Change By Design." Brown wrote that:

Just as a product begins with an engineering blueprint and a building with an architectural blueprint, an experience blueprint provides the framework for working out the details of a human interaction.

And where does this framework come from? The secret is already on your team: Utilizing an experience blueprint creates a culture in which everyone can be a design thinker.

Another quote from Tim Brown: Design has the power to enrich our lives by engaging our emotions through image, form, texture, color, sound, and smell. The intrinsically human-centered nature of design thinking points to the next step: we can use our empathy and understanding of people to design experiences that create opportunities for active engagement and participation.

What are the guidelines for designing an experience blueprint?

A successful experience requires active guest participation
A guest experience that feels authentic, genuine, and compelling is likely to be delivered by a team operating within an experience culture themselves
Every touchpoint must be executed with thoughtfulness and precision

Are you ready to create an experience blueprint for Guest Services at your church?

Defining Success

2011-04-12T06:00:00.001-04:00

What makes an experience successful from a guest's perspective?

Is it knowing how to get from Point A to Point B with the help of signs and people? Is it the expectation that your family will be made to feel welcome at this place? Is it great coffee? Is being treated something special? Is it...

Yes.

The fact of the matter is that we cannot define what makes an experience successful; we can only prepare for the possibility that our guest will define it as successful.

That's what process is all about.

Here are the some of the known factors:

A guest (or guests) is coming to a
A physical place where
An activity or activities taking place in which
An atmosphere that is being created
The participant(s) make(s) a decision(s) in which
The experience is evaluated and
Revisions are made and hopefully the experience is
Repeated.

What do you have to do to make sure all of the above happens?

With Consistency?

With Passion?

With Excellence?

That's the Process of Guest Services that your church needs to nail - this Sunday, next week, and on and on.

Excuse me, Can I See the Manager?

2011-04-11T07:00:00.001-04:00

Earlier in this 40 Days of Guest Services, I mentioned the magical combination Starbucks uses to create an experience that keeps people coming back. To close out this journey, we are taking a week each in order to get a closer look. Last week, it was people; this week, it will be process.

And the best place to start thinking about process is at the end; in this case, where a customer or guest didn't have a great time/meal/service/whatever.

The customer/guest usually takes it out on the person who was most involved in the transaction - a clerk or waiter or flight attendant - a front-line person.

But is it really their fault?

A recent post by Seth Godin entitled "Who's responsible for service design?" provides an excellent starting point for a better understanding of the "process" that must go into your Guest Services Team. Here are a few highlights, but be sure to read the entire post:

Too often, we blame bad service on the people who actually deliver the service. Sometimes (often) it's not their fault. Sadly, the complaints rarely make it as far as the overpaid (and possibly overworked) executive who made the bad design decision in the first place. It's the architecture of service that makes the phone ring and the customers leave.

Three quick tips for anyone who cares about this:

Require service designers to sign their work
Run a customer service audit. Walk through the building or the event or the phone tree with all the designers in the room and call out what's not right.
Make it easy for complaints (and compliments) about each decision to reach the designer (and her boss).

That's powerful.

What are the processes behind the scenes that make your Guest Services work?

What are the processes you have in place when something unexpected pops up?

What are the processes you have in place when something needs to be changed?

How do you even know that something needs to be changed?

A closing quote from Seth Godin: In my experience, most of the problems are caused by ignorance and isolation, not incompetence or a lack of concern.

Ready to be a process engineer for a week?

The Lineup

2011-04-10T06:00:00.003-04:00

It's one thing to have a Credo, Three Steps of Service, and 12 Service Values like the Ritz-Carlton (see the post here for more details). Many businesses go through the exercise of defining key values or composing mission statements. They might even display them in their literature, or in imposing art displays on the corporate walls.

But how many business leaders understand the importance of regular and repetitive presentation of these core aspects of their business - not only to management, but to their front-line staff?

Enter the "lineup" at Ritz-Carlton.

To truly appreciate the Ritz-Carlton leadership approach to repeated dissemination of the "Gold Standard" mentioned above, you would have to drop in on a section of the housekeeping staff as they prepare for their days work - or at the corporate headquarters - or in the kitchen of the fine restaurants that serve the hotel chain - or anywhere, and everywhere, throughout the entire organization.

You would observe that a meeting is taking place at the beginning of each shift. Not just any meeting, though: the leader in each group starts by sharing the Credo and talking about the importance of creating a unique guest experience. Another team member might share a guest story from a Ritz-Carlton hotel in another country. Another team member shares how what they do in their department helps create memorable guest experiences. Then a few quick announcements, special recognitions are given, and the meeting is closed with a motivational quote by another team member.

All in about 20 minutes.

Every day.

On every shift.

In every Ritz-Carlton hotel and office around the world.

The magic of the lineup involves the following:

Repetition of values - the core belief that values need to be discussed daily, and that values can't be discussed enough
Common language - shared phrases across all tasks binds the team together
Visual symbols - The Credo is printed on a card that all team members carry at all times
Oral traditions - Personal, direct, and face-to-face communication makes a huge impact in a world increasingly dominated by e-mail, text, and voice messages
Positive storytelling - stories communicate life in a powerful and memorable way
Modeling by leaders - the active, daily presence of the leaders communicates the importance of the time together

What would "lineup" for each of your Guest Services teams do to preserve the core values, communicate the importance of everyone on the team, and provide momentum for the day's activities?

Or how about this word for the process? Alignment.

Puttin' on the Ritz...

2011-04-09T06:00:00.001-04:00

The final two posts in this week-long look at the people aspect of Guest Services practices from some of the best in the business world requires one final stop.

When it comes to refined service and exquisite hospitality, one name stands high above the rest: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. With ceaseless attention to every luxurious detail, the company has set the bar for creating memorable customer experiences in world-class settings.

In 2008, author and business consultant Joseph Michelli was able to obtain the leadership secrets behind the company's extraordinary success. In "The New Gold Standard," Michelli takes an exclusive tour behind the scenes of The Ritz-Carlton and comes away with great reference work for church Guest Services Teams who want to learn and apply principles of a WOW! Experience to their own practices.

Michelli develops "5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience" that you can explore in the book. Here's a quick look behind the brass lion that symbolizes excellence at the Ritz:

The Credo

The Ritz-Carlton is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission
We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for our guest who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambiance
The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wished and needs of our guests

The Three Steps of Service

A warm and sincere greeting, using the guest's name
Anticipation and fulfillment of each guest's needs
A fond farewell, giving a warm goodbye, and using the guest's name

Service Values of Ritz-Carlton Staff

I build strong relationships and create Ritz-Carlton guests for life
I am always responsive the the expressed and unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests
I am empowered to create unique, memorable, and personal experiences for our guests
I understand my role in achieving the Key Success Factors, embracing community footprints, and creating the Ritz-Carlton mystique
I continually seek opportunities to innovate and improve the Ritz-Carlton experience
I own and immediately resolve guest problems
I create a work environment of teamwork and lateral service so that the needs of our guests and each other are met
I have to opportunity to continuously learn and grow
I am involved in the planning of the work that affects me
I am proud of my professional appearance, language, and behavior
I protect the privacy and security of our guests, my fellow employees, and the company's confidential information and assets
I am responsible for uncompromising levels of cleanliness and creating a safe and accident-free environment

Gold standard indeed! These are priceless nuggets of truth that you can mine and put into practice in your Guest Services team immediately...

Why not start this week?

Tomorrow: Creating an Environment of Respect for Those Who Serve

Learning About Guest Services Over a White Chocolate Mocha

2011-04-08T06:00:00.002-04:00

My quest for learning the Guest Services secrets of Starbucks began with a hot White Chocolate Mocha on a cold January day several years ago. I settled into a comfortable seat, observing the friendly, welcoming interactions between the baristas behind the counter and their customers as they walked in. I didn't know I was in for Guest Services 101.

The single episode that sticks in my mind to this day, though, was the following: While I was observing the barista's interactions with customers, a young mother and her 3 year-old daughter walked into the store. As they were walking in the door, the barista came out from behind the counter, said hello to the mom, then knelt down in front of the daughter, calling her by name and engaging in a conversation for several minutes - all while other customers continued to come into the store. The store was well-staffed, so no one was held up by the barista's actions. A seemingly small gesture? Maybe so, but it spoke volumes to me.

Later I asked the barista what prompted her actions. She replied, "It's in the basic training all partners take when they start working at Starbucks. It's called the 'Starbucks Experience,' and it's all in this." With that, she handed me The Green Apron Book.

Containing no less than the core philosophies and values of Starbucks, the Green Apron book is a small package with a large impact. Its simple but powerful structure contains guiding principles of the environments Starbucks baristas hope to create and legendary service they strive to provide. You can read it in about five minutes - and that's if you pause to sip your coffee a few times while reading it. But it's really leadership at its best: simple instruction provided in an appealing way, with a spirit that encourages baristas to make each Starbucks Experience uniquely their own.

The central theme is called "The Five Ways of Being":

Be welcoming
Be genuine
Be considerate
Be knowledgeable
Be involved

Along with the core purpose, values, and mission statement, the book provides partners with concrete ideas on how to personalize relationships with customers by giving to, connecting with, and elevating customer interactions.

It closes with three simple sentences:

Creating the experience that keeps people coming back relies on the magical combination of three things: our products, our places, and our people.

They come for coffee, stay for the inviting warmth, and return for the very human connection.

Now go ahead, welcome your next new regular!

You don't need to copy the Green Apron Book for your Guest Services team, but you do need to understand the principles behind it, develop concepts that will encourage your team to be fully engaged with the people they are welcoming to your campus, and apply them to your context.

How are you serving the guests at your church?

The Extraordinary Starts with ...

2011-04-07T06:00:00.001-04:00

The theme all week long has been "People." Next week, it will be time for "Process" and the final week of our journey will be "Place." Just keeping you on track!

The single most important part of your Guest Services Team is the people that serve on it. During this week, we have taken a look at the various types of teams that comprise the typical Guest Services in a church; been treated to the people secrets of one of NYC's most famous restaurant owners; and gone backstage at Disney to learn the foundational principles their cast members use to deliver the magic.

Now it's time for a cup of coffee - and a great lesson in creating an extraordinary experience out of an ordinary event.

I'm talking about Starbucks.

Love it or hate it (and it seems there's not much middle ground) Starbucks began a revolution of "the third place," creating an experience (with a price to match!) that consumers flocked to in droves. Even over the past few years with rising prices, store closings, and increased competition, Starbucks has some great lessons on Guest Services that the church can learn.

Central to the experience at Starbucks is the barista, the smiling face that greets you when you come into the store and takes your order. I frequent Starbucks across the country (it's a favorite meeting place for church leaders), and I am amazed at the knowledge, uniformity of service, and general attitude displayed - from Phoenix to New York City. Being naturally curious, several years ago I began a research project to see how the experience of Starbucks could be transferred to the church.

It turns out it could - and it all begins with The Green Apron Book...

Tomorrow: Learning About Guest Services over a Caffe Mocha

Performance Tips from the Mouse

2011-04-06T06:00:00.001-04:00

Walt Disney is perhaps the greatest practitioner of Guest Services around today. Books have been written about what the "cast" at Disney does to make people feel welcome (I know - I've read all of them, and own most of them).

So I'm sure you won't mind if we go backstage at Disney to learn about their Performance Tips - a list of actions which every Disney employee learns during their orientation.

Performance Tips are a set of generic behaviors that ensure that cast members know how to act courteously and respect the individuality of each guest. These tips have been translated into a set of behavioral actions called Guidelines for Guest Services:

Make eye contact and smile!
Greet and welcome each and every guest
Seek out guest contact
Provide immediate service recovery
Display appropriate body language at all times
Preserve the "magical" guest experience
Thank each and every guest

You can read more about these guidelines found in the excellent book "Be Our Guest," published by the Disney Institute by going here.

These seven sentences serve a variety of purposes. First, the define behavior in terms of guests. They also communicate employee responsibilities. Finally, they showcase ways to customize service to individual guests.

Your church won't have tens of thousands of people coming through your doors every day - but the principles Disney uses as a baseline starting point for training its cast members are appropriate in the context of your church.

Why don't you put these Perfomance Tips into practice for your Guest Team?

The 51 Percent Solution

2011-04-05T06:00:00.001-04:00

What kind of person serves on a Guest Services team?

Danny Meyer, founder and co-owner of eleven successful restaurants in New Youk City, writes the following about his staff:

The idea of someone giving 110 percent is about as realistic as working to achieve the twenty-six hour day. At our restaurants, we are hoping to develop 100 percent employees whose skills are divided 51-49 between emotional hospitality and technical excellence. These are 51 percenters.

A 51 percenter has five core emotional skills. If your team has these skills, you can be champions at the team sport of hospitality. They are:

Optimistic warmth - genuine kindness, thoughtfulness, and a sense that the glass is always at least half full
Intelligence - not just "smarts", but rather an insatiable curiosity to lean for the sake of learning
Work ethic - a natural tendency to do something as well as it can possibly be done
Empathy - an awareness of, care for, and connection to how others feel and how your actions make others feel
Self-awareness and integrity - an understanding of what makes you tick and a natural inclination to be accountable for doing the right thing with honesty and superb judgement

Your Guest Services team may not operate under the same pressures as the staff in a highly regarded restaurant. But if the CEO of a restaurant recognizes that the human beings who animate his restaurants have far more impact on whether they succeed than the food, the decor, or the location, I would say that is a lesson worth learning - and applying - at your church.

Hospitality is a dialogue. How's the conversation coming at your church?

Guest Services Begins with ...

2011-04-04T07:00:00.003-04:00

People

Two kinds, actually - the people who provide the Guest Services, and the people who are the recipients of your Guest Services. Let's start with the people who provide Guest Services at your church.

Greeting guests is EVERYONE's responsibility in a church. Vibrant, fruitful, growing congregations practice Radical Hospitality (a term I first heard used by Robert Schnase, Bishop in the Missouri Conference of the UMC-we'll be revisiting this concept later). The entire church focuses on those outside their congregation with as much passion as the attend to the nurture and growth of those who already belong to the family of faith, and they apply their utmost creativity, energy, and effectiveness to the task, exceeding all expectations.

Beyond the entire church body's responsibility for engaging in hospitality toward guests, there needs to be a dedicated team of individuals covering a wide range of roles under the umbrella of Guest Services. Here's a typical make-up of a Guest Services Team:

Hospitality
Hospitality team members welcome each person into the foyer/commons area with a kind word, a welcoming smile, and offer coffee/snacks as appropriate.

Parking
The Parking team is an excited, friendly, and smiling group of people who are the first face of your Church. This team literally makes the first impression on every guest. It’s not about putting cars in parking spots, but about creating a friendly environment where people feel genuinely welcomed.

Greeters
Greeters stand at every outside access door, warmly welcoming guests, members, and regular attenders to your church. They are ready and willing to meet any need that might arise.

VIP
VIP team members go above and beyond welcoming first time guests. They go to extraordinary lengths to ensure VIPS are honored and know exactly where the worship center, children’s check-in, and restrooms are located.

Ushers
Users are totally devoted to helping people find great seats before and during worship services. Their presence also helps keep people feeling out of place if they arrive late, and helps to minimize distraction once the service has begun. Ushers are also the first responders (with appropriate other teams) in emergencies.

Follow-up
The follow-up team partners with the church staff and other designated teams to implement the appropriate follow-up process to guests.

Medical Team
The medical team is a network of medical professionals on call during worship hours to respond to medical emergencies.

Security
The security team monitors the entire campus to make sure everyone at your church is safe as can be. Special training and/or currently serving law enforcement officers is a requirement.

The above teams are representative of the roles and responsibilities that Guest Services fulfill at the typical church. Other churches may add specific teams as needed for special and unique opportunities.

Guest Services begins with people who are totally sold out to providing a WOW! Experience to all who come to your campus. They are the foundation to a successful guest experience.

Hospitality

2011-04-03T06:00:00.001-04:00

20 days in; 20 days to go! This 40 Day Guest Services Journey is all about how churches can learn to create a WOW! Experience for their guests, members, and regular attenders. I hope you've enjoyed the journey so far!

In another post I alluded to the fact that our competition is not other churches; it's places that provide WOW! Experiences and to which guests compare our churches. While that may seem a negative, it can also be turned into a positive by LEARNING from those top notch notch places and their leaders.

Take for instance Danny Meyer, the founder and co-owner of eleven New York restaurants. He wrote a book entitled "Setting the Table." Subtitled "The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business," Meyer shares the lessons he's learned while developing the winning recipe for doing the business he calls "enlightened hospitality." They are lessons that the church can learn from. Here's a sample:

Hospitality is the foundation of my business philosophy. Virtually nothing else is as important as how one is made to feel in any business transaction. Hospitality exists whe you believe the other person is on your side. Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you. Those two prepositions - for and to - express it all.
Understanding the distinction between service and hospitality has been at the foundation of our success. Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes it recipient feel. Service is a monologue - we decide how we wan to do thins and set our own standards for service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue. To be on a guest's side requires listening to that person with every sense, and following up with a thoughtful, gracious, appropriate response. It takes both great service and great hospitality to rise to the top.
People duck as a natural reflex when something is hurled at them. Similarly, the excellence reflex is a natural reaction to fix something that isn't right, or to improve something that could be better. The excellence reflex is rooted in instinct and upbringing, and then constantly honed through awareness, caring, and practice. The overarching concern to do the right thing well is there or it isn't.

What a great learning environment for churches wanting to improve their Guest Services team. I'm pretty sure I will revisit "Setting the Table" again on this journey.

Earlier this year, I posted a series on hospitality based on Le Bernardin, the famous restaurant in NYC owned by Chef Eric Ripert. If this post resonated with you, click on the links below for more.

Creating experiences of hospitality allow for positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. They will help you connect to people coming in your door week in and week out.

What's Keeping You From Delivering a WOW! Experience?

2011-04-02T11:24:00.000-04:00

We're just about half way into the 40 Day Guest Services Journey. While reading these daily posts, you may have picked up on a common theme sprinkled throughout:

It's all about WOW!

WOW! doesn't happen by accident, though. You have to work hard at it, whether you are talking about serving on the parking team, greeting guests at the entrance to your buildings, or serving as an usher.

Michael Hyatt, Chairman and CEO at Thomas Nelson Publishers, has a great post about obstacles to WOW!. Some of the key points are listed below; read the whole article here.

In my experience, there are at least five obstacles to creating wow experiences:

1. Often, we simply run out of time. The deadline looms. We are scrambling to get the product out the door. Or, we have to wrap up the service, so we can get to the next client before he starts complaining. We simply don’t have the time to give the job our best effort. So, we let it go. Half-baked. Before it is really done.

2. Sometimes, the problem is resources. We’d like to do a better job. We sincerely want to take it to the next level. But we just don’t have the money or the man-power. We rationalize by saying, I did the best I could do with the resources I had. And again, we let it go and turn our attention to the next project or client in the queue.

3. Occasionally, we don’t have sufficient experience. We just don’t know how to do what we know needs to be done. Our vision exceeds our know-how. We know what the product or service could deliver, but we don’t have the knowledge, the skills, or the experience to get us there. So, we settle for something less than our vision demands.

4. Too often, we acquiesce to the committee Perhaps we are a little unsure of ourselves. Everyone else seems to like it, we say to ourselves. Maybe they’re right. There are a lot of smart people in this room. C’mon, just let it go! And, so we do. We dial back our own vision for what could be and succumb to the collective judgment of the group.

5. But the biggest obstacle of all is fear. In fact, I would say that this is the primary obstacle. If we are honest, we must admit that the previous four items are only excuses. If we had enough courage, we would find the time, the resources or the experience. We would stand up to the committee. We wouldn’t settle for something less than wow.

What about you?

What's standing in the way of creating a WOW! Experience for your guests?

A Hospitality Quiz

2011-04-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

No fooling!

The questions below are designed to be thought-provoking in terms of what you are doing at your own church.

If you asked the average person at your church who is responsible for greeting guests, what would they say?
If you asked the average person at your church who is responsible for helping guests become regular attenders and then members, what would they say?
How do members and regular attenders of your church describe what the church is like in a sentence or two? In a word or two?
If I drove into the nearest convenience store or gas station and asked the clerk about your church, what would they say?
Is your church facility a warm, inviting place? Is it easy to find?
When a guest comes into your campus, do they know where to park? Where to enter the building? Where to take their children? Where to find the worship service?
Are the print materials you use easy to understand?
Is the language you use during worship full of "insider" terms? Would a person without a church background understand what is going on?
If a guest attends your church once, but doesn't come back for a few weeks, would you know it? If you did, what would you do about it?
When a guest wants to further investigate faith in Christ, is there a clear "next step" to follow?
Does your church really want guests attending every week?
What are you as a leader prepared to do to is the answer to the previous question is "no"?
What if the answer to the question is "yes"?

Surprise Your Guests

2011-03-31T07:00:00.001-04:00

From time to time throughout this 40 Day Guest Services Journey, I want to drop in some "Best Practices" from Mark Waltz and the Connections team at Granger Community Church. Author of the books "First Impressions" and "Lasting Impressions," Waltz and his team at GCC consistently knock it out of the park when it comes to Guest Services.

Surprise Your Guests

I'm not talking about jumping out from behind bushes and scaring your guests. That'd be a surprise, but no.

And I'm not thinking about blowing your budget to lavish you guest with extravagant gifts.

Think simple. Think functional. Think...

Umbrella escorts in inclement weather
Hand sanitizer dispensers around your building
Chairs/lounge area in the women's restrooms
Clean everything
Follow-up when guests request help
Mouthwash, lotion, and mints in the restroom
Soft seating in the common areas

The point isn't to merely surprise your guests. The surprise communicates care and value.

...because people matter.

What Do You Do When It Rains at Your Church?

2011-03-30T09:33:00.001-04:00

Overnight rain lingering into the morning redirected my original thoughts for today.

Rainy days, especially on Sundays and other days you have worship, can be a real challenge - for guests and for your regular attenders and members.

What do you do when it rains?

Maybe your facility has a covered drop-off area and it's not much of a problem. Many churches don't have that option. Now what?

Here are a few "rainy day thoughts" you might consider:

Make sure your parking team is dressed appropriately for the weather (unless it's cold, simple ponchos work great)
Purchase a quantity of large golf umbrellas (with your logo!)
Recruit extra team members if possible to walk guests from the parking lot to the entrance, holding the umbrella for them
Or give them an umbrella to use walking from their car to the entrance
Coordinate with your greeter team the logistics of running umbrellas back and forth as needed
Reverse the process when the worship experience is over
Rain usually slows people down - plan for latecomers
Umbrellas left at the entrance can get tangled up in a mess pretty quickly; organize them neatly
Rain means wet floors, especially near entrances; alert the housekeeping/custodial crews so that the floors can be kept as dry as possible to prevent slips and falls
Rainy days mean visibility is less than optimum; have flashlights and directional lights available as needed
Rainy days are an opportunity to encourage your congregation to be servants; take a look at this post to see what I mean

That's just a few ideas - what can you add to the conversation?

The Importance of One Anothers

2011-03-29T06:00:00.002-04:00

The ministry of guest services in churches today often seems to rank below that of preaching, teaching, and music. While that may be indeed be true, it is important that the ministry of guest services is most often the first impression guests get of your church – well before any of the others listed above! Guest Services is a ministry – one that is becoming more important than ever in today’s experience-oriented culture. The guests coming to your church next Sunday may not understand all the words they will hear, but the warm and caring actions of your Guest Services Team will speak very loud and clear. To a person seeking Truth and Peace, an ounce of kindness is worth a pound of preaching. Christian kindness is a ministry for church guest services teams who care deeply about people.

No assignment in the church is more one-on-one than the ministry of the guest services teams. The foyer is their chapel, the information desk their pulpit, and the walk-around spaces their parish. Church guest services teams have a one-another ministry – face to face, hand to hand, and heart to heart with the people they are called to serve. From the largest megachurch to the smallest rural church, their Christian service is to one customer at a time. And to make their service even more important, church guest services teams are the first face and voice guests meet when arriving at church.

Church guest services should be elevated to its fully deserved and recognized status as a one-another ministry. Scattered throughout Paul’s letter to the Romans are seven references to the one-another ministry. What a great spiritual and biblical foundation for the ministry of church guest services teams! Here are some brief thoughts about these one-anothers by Leslie Parrot, author of "Serving as a Church Greeter."

Accept One Another – Romans 15:7 gives us the ministry of mutual acceptance, resting on Christ’s teaching of unconditional love. A verbal greeting and the offer of a handshake are ways of focusing on the other person. As Jesus accepts us – no matter what – accept each and every person who comes through the church door.

Honor One Another – Romans 12:10 provides the one-another ministry of an encouraging word. Effective guest services teams hone their skills at the capacity to come up with a few words or a brief sentence that is appropriate to the person and the situation.

Be Kind to One Another – This one-another kindness is found in Romans 12:10 as well. Deliberate acts of kindness welcome worshippers no matter what their week has been. A guest services team member with a kind heart can set the tone for the rest of the day with his or her actions.

Love One Another – Found in Romans 13:8, this is the one-another ministry of unconditional goodwill. It is expressed in a positive attitude toward all people, a love that bans all kinds of verbal abuse and an attitude of love toward life in general and people in particular.

Understand One Another – Romans 14:13 phrases it negatively, but a positive approach and a spiritual understanding will overcome a negative attitude. Guest services teams need to also remember that their lives outside the church make a powerful statement, and must be lived in an uncompromising manner.

Instruct One Another – Romans 15:14 reminds guest services teams that they are to be role models in the fruit of the Spirit at all times. They live out their craft by being, doing, and demonstrating, not by telling, admonishing, and finger-pointing.

Greet One Another – In Romans 16:16 we are reminded of the ministry of the human touch and its import healing and calming qualities. The guest services team member needs to be sensitive to the manner of the touch and the recipient; in most cases, the offer of a handshake is appropriate for guests, while a friendly hug may be more appropriate for friends and long-time members. The key is to express a genuine welcome in the manner most appropriate.

A Final Admonition: Serve One Another – Paul, writing in Galatians 5:13, spelled out the final one-another: a ministry of service that leads guest services team members to welcome all in the name of Christ, serving all who come without prejudice or judgment.

When the guest services team members at your church understand and practice these one-another ministries, they are well on the way to living out the presence of Christ within – and it becomes very obvious to those to whom they are extending a friendly hand.

Wayfinding-More Than Just Signs

2011-03-28T06:00:00.002-04:00

Most churches do a pretty lousy job at wayfinding. Because many churches are built as add-ons over time, sometimes many years, buildings tend to be mazes of corridors and stairwells with little rhyme or reason. Many churches suffer from poor layout, people-traffic control, and wayfinding.

Wayfinding is the process of using spatial and environmental cues to navigate through an environment. In its most literal sense, wayfinding is the ability of a person to find his or her way to a destination. It can also be defined from the standpoint of the designer or owner who is seeking to improve the function of a particular environment.

Wayfinding is not separate from traditional signage design, but is a broader, more inclusive way of assessing all of the environmental issues that affect our ability to find our way to a given destination.

A comprehensive wayfinding system can greatly improve your congregation’s ability to not only find areas of the church campus they are seeking, but to direct guests and others to these areas as well. A clear wayfinding system can add to the accessibility and friendliness of the church buildings. Here are a few tips on wayfinding:

Focus people on buildings by labeling them
Avoid long directional signs that slow people down
Divide the campus into distinct zones
Use color and monuments to create bread-crumbs
Make room numbers make sense
Develop a simple campus map

A church of even moderate size should address basic wayfinding

After all, how can anyone really connect with your church if they can't find the front door?

Parking is More Than Just Cars

2011-03-27T06:00:00.001-04:00

Yesterday's post introduced the concept of parking teams and how important they are to welcoming guests, members and attenders to your campus. Today I want to expand the parking concept beyond just cars.

I lead the Guest Services (Parking) Teams at Elevation Church’s Uptown location. As the “first face” of Elevation, my crew and I get weekly opportunities to practice guest services and make a lasting first impression.

We don’t just park cars; we also:

Sanitize all touch points and spray air freshener in the elevator cabs and stairwells of the parking deck we use
Pick up trash along the route from the parking deck to the theater
Put up 19 parking signs (3 different types) in a 2 block area around theater
Pull the parking ticket from the dispenser and personally hand it to guests entering the deck and welcome them to Elevation
When possible, push the call button so the elevator is waiting for guests to take them from the parking deck levels to the ground floor
Hold the door for guests entering and leaving the parking garage elevator lobby
Validate parking for all Elevation guests
Provide VIP (our first time guests) and family parking right next to the theater
Know what’s going on Uptown so we can help any and everyone who has a question (sporting events, concerts, special activities, etc.)
Provide umbrellas to guests when it's raining for the walk from the parking deck to the theater
Give a verbal greeting to everyone coming and going - in at least three different locations
Be alert to any special needs and radio them ahead to the VIP tent
As guests are leaving, we take the validated ticket from them and feed it into the dispenser, giving them a verbal blessing as they head out of the garage

And that’s just the parking team! Elevation’s audacious Guest Services Team also has Greeters, a First Impressions Team, VIP Tent, and Connections Tent (but that’s another part of the journey). All this BEFORE a guest has stepped into the theater for worship.

Your church is different than my campus - you probably don't have a parking garage. But you do have parking lots - and that is an excellent opportunity for you to make a powerful first impression.

Take the principle - Parking is your first opportunity to make an impact on your guests - and apply it to the context of your place.

What will you do this week to implement/change/improve your parking team?

Do not underestimate the power and influence of the first impression your parking lot makes!

The "First Face" of your Church...

2011-03-26T08:21:00.000-04:00

...should be in the parking lot.

Guests and members coming to your church should see an energetic, welcoming, smiling group of people helping you pull into the parking lot and getting safely to the buildings.

I admit my bias: I serve as the Parking Team Coordinator for Elevation Church's Uptown Campus, so I'm all over this thing called parking.

You should be too, because it's often the "first impression" your guests receive of your church.

At Elevation Church, our worship experiences begin in the parking lot.

You may have thought that church parking lots, and the teams that staff them weekly, were just about cars, orange vests, and two-way radios.

We see it differently: we’re the first face of Elevation, and we are connectors to the current of the power of God. The parking teams at Elevation have a vision that is the same as the church’s: So that people far from God become filled with life in Christ.

We fulfill that vision by welcoming everyone to our four campuses, giving them the first of several audacious welcomes for the day. We remove every barrier possible so that they can be a part of a powerful worship experience.

As a Parking Team Coordinator at one campus, and after surveying our other campus team leaders, here’s why we think parking is a very important part of what happens at Elevation Church. From the first few sections of our parking manual:

Purpose:The Parking Team exists so that people far from God will be filled with life in Christ.

Goal:We will “WOW” every guest by exceeding their expectations.

Strategy: Create and ensure a quick, easy, and stress-free parking experience.

Why?
Elevation Church is called to dominate the city of Charlotte with the Gospel of Jesus. No one person can accomplish that. God accomplishes that through us as a team. You have a role to play in that - God wants to use your life. When the calling is significant there is no role that is insignificant. Parking is a demanding role in a high-pressure environment, and it requires quick thinking and high organizational skills. It is not for everyone, but for those who enjoy it, it is extremely rewarding.

Statistics show that guests make a decision on whether or not they will return to a church within the first ten minutes of driving onto the campus. It’s the role of the parkers to instantly exceed each guest’s expectation. Parkers are the first impression of Elevation, and a smile, a wave, and quick direction to a spot can ease fears and prepare a guests heart to hear the Gospel. Parking can either be a disaster or can instantly make someone’s experience great. Pastor Steven is depending on us to create a problem free parking experience so that our guests are entering the worship experience with a positive impression and high expectations.

Our priority is to help traffic enter and exit smoothly but more importantly to honor people and get them excited about Elevation.

Our basic parking guidelines are very simple:

Make eye contact
Smile
Wave
Go the extra mile to make someone else smile

So are our suggestions for moving traffic:

When you move, they move.
Keep the main line of entrance traffic flowing the majority of the time.
Quickly help those that are stopping to ask questions and get them moving again.
Be aware of pedestrian traffic and be considerate of those going the wrong way.
Stay visible.
Wear your vest and make motions with the entire arm instead of just the forearm

The parking teams may have a single vision, and simple guidelines, but we express them differently at each campus. Even though we are one church in four locations and there are a lot of similarities, there are a lot of differences in the parking lots. For example, consider the locations:

Providence – a high school, with limited entrances and exits and multiple lots
Matthews – retail shopping center with shared designated parking areas
Blakeney – mixed development with five means of egress in multiple lots
Uptown – parking garage with two entrances

Our locations alone make a big difference in how we serve as a parking team.

Here are some interesting parking factors anyone with a parking team might consider:

1. Our parking teams have more fun than you can pay for!
2. We understand the power of a great first impression.
3. We understand the letdown of a poor first impression.
4. Safety is at the top of our list; juggling lines of moving cars and walking people is always a balancing act.
5. Multiple parking lots with many entrances and exits (Blakeney, Matthews, and Providence Campuses) are great-until you try to staff all them at once.
6. Traffic cones are a wonderful invention (see #5).
7. People sometimes pay more attention to a traffic cone than a person in a vest directing traffic flow.
8. Parking teams have to know everything about the church in order to answer guest’s questions.
9. Sharing parking spaces with retail stores (Blakeney, Matthews Campuses) is a science – and an art.
10. Checklists help parking teams do it right, every time.
11. Grace helps the parking team deal with situation when #10 doesn’t work.
12. Safety orange is everybody’s favorite color!
13. With large multiple lots, two-way radios help direct traffic flow efficiently
14. Parking garages (Uptown Campus) are a whole different world, especially when they also serve two very large nightclubs.
15. When in parking areas with major attractions nearby, the parking team will be asked directions, times, etc. A little knowledge and a great smile make a great first impression even when someone isn’t coming to Elevation.

All Parking Teams do is help guests find spaces to park their cars, right? At Elevation, there’s so much more to being a part of the parking team.

We serve everyone with audacious, radical hospitality – “just” by parking cars!

The Virtual Experience

2011-03-25T06:00:00.007-04:00

Guests coming to your church have already checked you out - maybe in person, but almost certainly online.

What are your digital experiences telling your guests?

My good friend Mark MacDonald, founder of Pinpoint Creative Group, is the best source on church digital information around.

Go here to view his website for all kinds of great information on the church digital world.

Go here to download his eBook on "The Ten Commandments of Church Websites."

Becoming a Experience Architect begins in the digital world.

Friday Resource Wrap-Up

A companion resource to Mark Waltz's excellent book "First Impressions" is his book "Lasting Impressions." Picking up were the first book left off, "Lasting Impressions" will help you discover how to create a church culture that encourages connections - lasting impressions - and continually draws people deeper into the life of your church...and of the Kingdom.

Another excellent resource is Nelson Searcy's book "Fusion." Searcy is the founding pastor of The Journey Church in New York City. "Fusion" is an innovative, practical guide full of practical, how-to-information, testimonials from newcomers-turned-members, and helpful materials and check points to make sure you stay on track.

It All Starts with a Single Word

2011-03-24T07:00:00.008-04:00

When it comes to ChurchWorld, more often than not we have visitors.

It may be a little thing to you, just a word, but I think it's actually a powerful first impression that needs to change.

Do you have visitor parking? Visitor packets? A Visitor's Center? Do you welcome your visitors during the service? And so on.

The first step in becoming an Experience Architect is to remove the word visitor from your vocabulary, never to be used again.

It's little thing, to be sure. But it's a mindset change that will really impact how you create the rest of the experience at your church.

You are expecting guests this weekend.

Guests come to your place, looking for a warm greeting, a smiling face, and an experience designed to make them feel like, well, guests. Nothing phony, manipulative, or in-your-face; just welcome them as guests with the most sincere, energizing, and loving experiences you can.

Can we agree to start with a simple change that conveys a powerful image, one that will be reflected throughout your church?

Creating an Experience Blueprint

2011-03-23T06:00:00.002-04:00

Now that you have a basic understanding of one critical part of guest services, it's time to go back to school - design school

Becoming an Experience Architect
One of the game-changing concepts related to guest services came from Tim Brown's book "Change by Design". Brown, the CEO of the innovation and design firm IDEO, has challenged my thinking about design in a number of ways: it's not just for creative industries or people designing products. Design thinking is most powerful when applied to abstract, multifaceted problems that address a wide range of issues and concerns. Problems that the typical church encounters every day!

Here's a great example from one chapter on the design of experience:

Design has the power to enrich our lives by engaging our emotions through image, form, texture, color, sound and smell. The intrinsically human-centered nature of design thinking points to the next step: we can use our empathy and understanding of people to design experiences that create opportunities for active engagement and participation.

Wow-that's a lot to think about! In the world of serving the church where I work and live, the concepts of designing for experience are so important, yet so often totally overlooked. Brown goes on to talk about 3 "themes" of the design of experiences:

The experience economy - people have shifted from passive consumption to active participation
Best experiences are not scripted at corporate headquarters but decided on the spot by service professionals who create an authentic, genuine, and compelling experience
Implementation is everything-an experience must be as finely crafted and precision-engineered as any other product

Just as a product begins with an engineering blueprint and a building with an architectural blueprint, an experience blueprint provides the framework for working out the details of a human interaction, including emotive elements, from beginning to end.

It captures how people travel through an experience in time. Rather than trying to choreograph that journey, its function is to identify the most meaningful points and turn them into opportunities to positively impact the individual. What might be a source of discomfort or pain is now an opportunity for an experience that is distinctive, emotionally gratifying, and memorable.

The experience blueprint is at one and the same time a high-level strategy document and a fine-grained analysis of the details that matter.

It's time to create an Experience Blueprint for your Guest Services!

Crash Course in the A Word...

2011-03-22T06:00:00.001-04:00

...as in Assimilation

The opening of baseball season is just around the corner, so maybe a little "baseball analogy" is in order to help with this "A" word. Click on the links below to look at posts relating to guest services and the assimilation process.

First of all, it's nice to have a winning team.

Then, it helps to get a hit.

Of course, proper hitting requires proper follow-through.

And finally, you always want to stay in the game.

As depicted in the posts above, assimilation is really just a definition of biblical hospitality, applied in today's world, using today's methods.

The goal is to have first time guests become second time guests who become regular attenders who then become members.

It's not rocket science, but it does take some planning and follow-up.

And when you do that, you can hit a home run every time.

Jumping Ahead to Easter

2011-03-21T15:00:00.002-04:00

I'm eight days into a 40-day series of posts about the importance of guest services, especially this year (read the kick-off post here). I thought it would be appropriate to jump to the end so you can get your orientation.

Imagine with me...
It's Easter Sunday night (or the end of the weekend, for those of you that have multiple services spread out over the weekend). You have had great numbers of guests and attenders in your services today. Everything went off pretty well as planned. You're tired - probably just plain worn out. You can't think about another thing.

That's why you need to think about it today (if you haven't already, and I hope you have).

So what are you going to do with the information you collected on all your guests and attenders?

You did collect information, right?

You do have a plan to follow-up on all those people, right?

It's already started, correct?

Just is case you haven't, don't panic! There is still time (with a lot of hard work over the next few weeks) to plan, prepare, and process information that you can gather at Easter services.

Information that will help you connect with guests, and lead them to take the next step in their faith journey...

...even if they don't realize they have one!

Tomorrow: Crash Course in the A word

Turning the Ordinary into EXTRAORDINARY!

2011-03-20T06:00:00.002-04:00

At Starbucks, an ordinary commodity - coffee - is transformed into an EXTRAORDINARY experience.

ChurchWorld can learn a lesson or two - or three from Starbucks.

To learn more about the secrets to EXTRAORDINARY customer experiences at Starbucks, click on these links below to previous posts:

Product

Places

People

How can you apply these lessons at your church?

Your Church Has Competition...

2011-03-19T06:00:00.001-04:00

...and it's not the church down the street.

Like it or not, we live in a consumer-driven society, and the people who come to our church - you and me - and the people we are trying to reach are consumers.

With consumers comes competition.

If your church is going to be effective in its mission, you must beat the competition.

Pretty strong words by Mark Waltz, author of "First Impressions."

But dead on accurate.

The good news is that our "competition" is not the other churches in your town. As a matter of fact, they're on your team.

So who is your competition? Here is how Waltz sees it:

Your competition, the rival that will keep people away from your church, is any business, services, or experience your guests have encountered in the past few weeks.

That competition includes restaurants, malls, golf courses, amusement parks, movie theaters, sporting events, and so on.

Bottom line: the competition for your guests began when they were wowed in another environment. Your guests have high expectations that are formed every day from new encounters with excellence and conscientious care.

Although too much of their world is merely adequate, they know excellence, and they return to place where they experience it.

Bottom bottom line: Will your guests' experience in your church be worth getting out of bed?

Thanks, Mark, for a challenging word on the critical importance of understanding who our competition is.

Now it's time to do something about it.

Making Your First Impression a Lasting Impression

2011-03-18T06:00:00.002-04:00

Mark Waltz, author of "First Impressions," suggests the following word-association exercise:

Look at the following list, and jot down your first thought about each place. Don't spend a lot of time on this - just write the first thought that comes to mind.

McDonald's
Your last hotel stay (not the name of the hotel, but your impression of it)
Your last airline experience (again, not the name of the company)
Your bank
Your local church
Starbucks

Now take a moment to evaluate the impressions you jotted down. Which reflect your feelings from initial encounter, and which ones describe your thoughts at the end of your experience with that organization? What does this tell you about the impressions we retain?

Organizations that understand the lasting nature of first impressions also understand that people matter. When people matter, guests are wowed. And when guests are wowed, they know they matter.

What kind of lasting impression is your first impression making?

Friday Resource Wrap up

This week kicks off a 40 Day Journey of Guest Services, leading up to Easter Sunday, followed 2 weeks later by Mother's Day - which just happen to be 2 of the 3 largest attended church services in America's typical church.

I hope the posts this week will serve as an appetizer for you to dive into the main course - found in some of the following resources:

This week I've drawn heavily on the single best resource for Guest Services available today: the book "First Impressions" by Mark Waltz, Connections Pastor at Granger Community Church near South Bend, IN, and campus pastor of their Elkhart campus. If you want to know about Guest Services, get a copy of this book today!

I've also utilized "Customer Satisfaction is Worthless; Customer Loyalty is Priceless" by Jeffrey Gitomer, a sales and customer service expert. His primary market is the business world, but I've found dozens of applications to ChurchWorld in his writings.

What's Ahead:

Saturday - Who is your competiton?
Sunday - Turn the Ordinary into EXTRAORDINARY!

Making a WOW! First Impression

2011-03-17T07:00:00.001-04:00

Several years ago I experienced a WOW! First Impression while eating out. It came from great guest experiences over consecutive days from two establishments at opposite ends of the dining spectrum: Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and Taco Bell. In both instances, the staff went beyond the expectations to deliver exemplary service. You expect it at one, but are surprised at the other, right? Why should price be any indicator of the level of service delivered?

What about a place with no "price" at all - the church?

When was the last time you had a WOW! experience - at church or anywhere else?

WOW! is great service
WOW! separates the EXTRAordinary from the ordinary
WOW! separates the sincere from the insincere
WOW! separates the yes's from the no's
WOW! is doing what others can't (or won't)
WOW! is what you do for others in an exceptional way
WOW! is communicating you care
WOW! is creating a memorable experience

Remember some WOW! moments
Recall a couple of times you've been wowed. Who blew you away with excellent service? Who surprised you with remarkably good quality? Who impressed you with a product's value? What did the people involved in these experiences do? How did the actions and behavior affect you?

Did those experiences want to make you return to that place? My guess is a definite yes!

The same is true of guests in our churches. The churches delivering experiences which exceed guests' expectations are those to which people return, again and again, until they're no longer guests but full-fledged members of the church community.

Now that's a WOW!

The Consumer in Your Mirror

2011-03-16T06:00:00.001-04:00

Does the word "consumer" bother you when used in the context of ChurchWorld?

If you view a consumer strictly in the language of business, it can be offensive when used in the context of church. Who wants to be a part of consumer mentality where the object is to satisfy the wants (both stated and unstated) of individuals? Who wants to focus on telling people what they want to hear? Who really enjoys enabling a selfish, me-first attitude?

Not you, right?

Go look in the mirror.

Standing before you is a consumer - whether you like it or not. You are a consumer: you have daily or weekly food needs that are satisfied by the grocery store or a restaurant. You need clothing - provided by a variety of stores. You have cash coming in and going out, so you need the financial services of a bank. The house or apartment you live in requires maintenance and upkeep, so it's off to the local home improvement store. When you have leisure time, it's off to the movie theaters, or downloading the latest movie, or maybe taking in a concert. For birthdays and certain holidays, there are gifts to buy for your loved ones. Parents with kids in school have multiple occasions to buy this book or that resource in order to meet the requirements. And on and on and on...

The fact is, we consume. (too much, but that's another story altogether)

Guess what? The people coming to your church - for the first time or the fifteenth time - are consumers too.

Ignore that fact, and your guests will come once - and never return.

Recognize that fact, take appropriate actions, and you will soon have guests who become regular attenders who become involved members.

Are you ready for the journey to WOW?

You've Planned the Music and Sermon Well...

2011-03-15T06:00:00.001-04:00

...but will your guests even notice?

The Power of a First Impression

Seven minutes is all you get to make a positive First Impression. In the first seven minutes of contact with your church, your first-time guests will know whether or not they are coming back.

That's before a single worship song is sung and before a single word of the message is uttered.

Nelson Searcy, pastor of Journey Church in New York City, wrote the above words in his book "Fusion." They're a timely reminder that we only get to make a first impression once.

Obviously, the First Impression isn't a logical decision based on theological integrity or staff character or doctrinal character. The power of a First Impression comes from a more rudimentary level - our subconscious.

What is the subconscious finding at your place?

40 - 2 - 3

2011-03-14T14:07:00.000-04:00

40 days from tomorrow (March 15) it will be Easter Sunday...
After Easter, there are 2 weeks until Mother's Day...
It's 3 weeks from Mother's Day till the beginning of summer...

So what?

Here's what...

I'm a HUGE advocate of Guest Services in the church. What we do to prepare for guests is so important in how guests perceive the church - and whether they will return or not.

Tomorrow I'm kicking off a 40 day series of posts on how churches can make smart decisions on preparing for, and following up on, guests who are at their churches for Easter and Mother's Day.

If you want to go more in depth on any of these topics, give me a call or send an email.

You have a tremendous opportunity coming up...

Don't waste it.

The Genius of the "AND" in Real Life

2011-03-12T06:00:00.003-05:00

In the fall of 2005, I attended the Coast to Coast Multi-Site Conference at Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL. While there I talked with some of the staff members, who shared with me a practical application of "The Genius of the AND."

The following illustrates how Dave Ferguson, lead pastor of CCC, views the concept of multi-site: by comparing them to what goes on in the banking, health care, higher education - and church settings.

Our institutions are growing larger and smaller simultaneously, blending the strength that size offers with the comfort and convenience of smaller, closer venues. This is one example of what Jim Collins in “Built to Last” called "the genius of the AND," the paradoxical view that allows you to pursue both A and B simultaneously.

While developing our multi-site church, we discovered these advantages that all demonstrate the genius of the AND:

Brand new AND trusted brand
We've found a similar dynamic with the multi-site church. It has the upside of what used to be denominational loyalty, which was prominent in yesteryear but now is found in congregational loyalty. The particular congregation is the trusted brand, and the opening of a new site makes it brand new.

Staff with generalists AND specialists
The multi-site church allows you to start a new location with the existing staff in place. Instead of hiring more generalists, you add specialists such as technical arts, administrator, or director of creative arts for children.

Less cost AND greater impact
Financially, a new campus is tremendously cost effective. When we started our north campus (our first) we spent lots of money on staff, equipment, and marketing. When we started our south campus (our second site), we spent less money, added specialists to our existing staff team, and a similar marketing blitz. We had 565 at the first service, but more importantly, after three months we were averaging 360 at our south campus, again 80 percent unchurched. Doing the math, that's 39 percent retention at our first location, and 64 percent retention at our second location. Our second campus cost less money to start, reached more people, and resulted in a greater retention.

New church vibe AND big church punch
Lyle Schaller told us, "The most important thing you offer to this new work is your large church culture." At first I wasn't sure what he was talking about. He meant expectations and excellence. We were able to launch the second site with the same level of excellence that it took us eight years to achieve at our north campus.

Move there AND stay here
Growing churches and real estate have this in common: "location, location, location." Many existing churches, particularly older churches, are located in communities with little growth. These churches look across town where new development is happening and they see the potential. Perhaps many of their members are moving there. After looking at their options, instead abandoning their existing site to move to the booming west side, they can choose to "move there and stay here." That keeps a campus in the downtown neighborhood with an intentional outreach to the community, and allows the launch of a campus in one of the faster growing areas.

More need AND more support
As we think about a new site, we lay out a matrix of about 100 blanks, representing the positions we need to fill in order for us to launch. The increased opportunities create a vacuum that challenges more people to step in to serve in voluntary leadership roles in all areas, such as children's, hospitality, and small groups.

More outreach AND more maturity
While people will drive long distances to join the weekly celebration service at a large church, if they live more than 20 minutes away, their ability to serve and to invite friends is diminished. A multi-site campus allows them to participate in volunteer teams as well as small groups.The multi-site church reaches out to make both more Christians and more mature Christians.

That's the Genius of the "AND" in real life.

How are you going to put it into practice at your organization?

Embrace the Genius...

2011-03-11T06:00:00.002-05:00

of the "AND"

Instead of being oppressed by the "Tyranny of the OR," highly visionary leaders - and the organizations they lead - liberate themselves with the "Genius of the AND" - the ability to embrace both extremes or dimensions at the same time.

Instead of choosing between A OR B, they figure out a way to have both A AND B.

Jim Collins first introduced this line of thinking in "Built to Last" in 1994. Intended primarily for the business audience, it wasn't long till perceptive church leaders picked up the idea and ran with it.

For example, here are a few ways it might play out in ChurchWorld:

On the one hand                                 Yet on the other hand
a fixed core ideology          AND        vigorous change
conserve the core              AND         bold, risky moves
clear vision and direction    AND        experimentation
leaders steeped in the core AND        leaders who induce change
ideological control              AND        operational autonomy
close-knit culture               AND        ability to change and adapt
long-term goals                 AND        short-term performance

This is not just a balancing act. "Balance" implies going to the midpoint, fifty-fifty, half and half. Visionary leaders lead organizations that seek to have a fixed core ideology and take vigorous change to the extreme.

There's no gray, cloudy, shapeless mass in these organizations. It's a bold attempt to be both "this" AND "that" - at the same time, all the time.

Need a real-life example in ChurchWorld? Come back tomorrow and see how some of the early pioneers in today's multi-site movement used the genius of the "AND" to launch a movement.

Reject the Tyranny...

2011-03-10T07:41:00.000-05:00

... of the "OR"

Without a doubt one of the most influential business writers of the past 15 years has been Jim Collins. Some of the most respected leaders in ChurchWorld list his works as tremendously important in the foundation of critical elements of their development - both as individuals and of their ministries.

Level 5 Leadership - First Who, Then What - Hedgehog Concept - Culture of Discipline - The Flywheel - BHAG

If you recognize these phrases, then you are probably familiar with Collins' work. If you don't, I suggest you check out "Built to Last," "Good to Great," "How the Mighty Fall," and "Good to Great and the Social Sectors."

Of all his insightful work, my favorite is the brilliantly simple concept of dualism, referred to in the title. I'll introduce it today, and finish it tomorrow.

The Tyranny of the "OR"

It's easy to understand why leaders - or organizations - subscribe to the rational view that cannot easily accept paradox, that cannot live with two seemingly contradictory forces or ideas at the same time. The "Tyranny of the OR" pushes people to believe that things must be either A OR B, but not both. It makes such proclamations as:

You can have change OR stability
You can be conservative OR bold
You can have low cost OR high quality
You can have creative autonomy OR consistency and control
You can invest for the future OR do well in the short-term
You can make progress by methodical planning OR by opportunistic groping
You can be idealistic OR pragmatic

Why?

Is there a natural principle at work here like gravity? "That's the way things have always been"; That's the we we've always done it"; "It's always worked that way before, so why change it now?"

I think not.

There is a better way...

History

2011-03-07T07:12:00.001-05:00

Usually the word elicits one of two responses: a glassy-eyed stare and memories of those required classes in school that were mind-numbing, or an excited look followed by the phrase "Did you know that..."

I, proudly, am guilty of the latter.

Not content to read and study "normal" history (both my undergraduate and graduate minors are in history), I default to the obscure and strange. Who else would read books on the history of salt - or the history of dust - or the history of cod. Yes, cod. The little fish, that when salted, kept it edible for long sea voyages, allowing the "discovery" of the Americas by Europeans, among other uses (that's a two-for-one use of history, in case you didn't notice).

Leaders need to understand history, too.

Not just the history of books, though that's a great start. Leaders in the local church need to know the history of the people and place they are serving.

Only by understanding the past can you ever hope to lead to the future. Will Mancini, author of "Church Unique" and founder of Auxano, calls that "vision equity." It's the stories and actions over the years that have led that church to the place it is today. It's the solid foundation that tomorrow is built on. To be ignorant of it or to ignore it is an invitation to mediocrity at best, or disaster at worst.

History is a rock. Not an anchor to the past, but a bridge to the future.

Are you a student of the history of the people and place you serve? If not, there's still time.

Class starts today.

The World of Seven Billion

2011-03-06T06:00:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I participated in an economic summit hosted by New Dominion Bank in Charlotte. During one of the presentations on the global economy, the presenter referenced the following video:

I was reminded of this video by the poster in the March issue of National Geographic. A previous post referenced the striking composite image on one side of the poster.

The reverse side of the poster takes a closer look - through statistics - of where and how our seven billion neighbors live. Through four broad ranges of income level, it graphically depicts 16 "measurements" of world population.

When the Earth's population hits seven billion later this year, the percentage of people with a decent standard of living will be higher than it has ever been before. While inequality still abounds, the gap between the world's poorest and richest is now filled by a broad middle-income group that scarcely existed on a global scale 50 years ago. More children live to be adults, and fewer adults die of preventable disease.

A few of the more notable highlights:

Population - most future population growth will happen in the less developed countries, where birthrates remain highest
Life expectancy at birth - improved health care and nutrition have raised life expectancy from a global average of 52 years in 1960 to 69 years today
Deaths under age 5 - worldwide improvement continues in preventing deaths of children; since 1960 it has fallen by more than half

If you don't have access to National Geographic, head to the nearest library and take a look at it.

Your future depends on how you understand our global neighbors.

7 Billion...

2011-03-05T16:53:00.000-05:00

The number of text messages sent in the U.S. every 30 seconds...

The number of steps you would take when circling the earth 133 times...

The number of kilometers in Pluto's maximum distance from the sun...

More importantly,

the estimated population of the world this year.

National Geographic magazine - one of my favorites since childhood - has a fascinating poster insert in the March 2011 issue. Entitled "The Face of 7 Billion," it is a depiction of the "most typical human."

The poster is a work of art itself: the composite image is made of 7,000 photos of 28 year-old Han Chinese males, each representing a million people.

According to statistics, the most typical human is a 28-year-old Han Chinese male. The world's largest age bracket is 28, the largest ethnic group is Han, and with 1.3 billion people, the most populous nation is China.

Other notable facts about the world's population:

82% are literate
51% live in urban environments
40% work in services
19% are Chinese

An interesting fact about the stats above - all will continue to increase, except the last - in a few years India will be the most populous nation on earth.

The world is getting bigger - and smaller - at the same time.

How does this impact you now?

How does this impact the next generation?

Why the Language of Culture Matters

2011-03-03T07:34:00.000-05:00

I really can't say it any better that James Emery White, pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church, says it:

The Words of the Year

Read it.

Ponder it.

Get out and listen to the language of the culture you are trying to reach and impact.

Altitude Effects Attitude

2011-03-02T06:00:00.001-05:00

Take a drive through the beautiful Western North Carolina mountains, especially around Asheville, and you will see why the city adopted the above saying as their tagline.

Chamber of Commerce thinking aside, being aware of your altitude also helps when reviewing your priorities in order to get things done. In order to fully understand your priorities, you meed to know what your work is. Using an aerospace analogy by management consultant David Allen, the conversations you need to be having have a lot to do with altitude:

50,000 feet: Life - this is the "biggest picture" view you can have. Why does your organization exist? The primary purpose for anything provides a core definition of what its "work" really is. All goals, visions, objectives, projects, and actions both derive from this, and lead toward it.

40,000 feet: Three to Five Year Vision - projecting three to five years into the future generates thinking about big categories like organization strategies, trends, and transition circumstances. Decisions at this altitude could easily change what your work might look like on many levels.

30,000 feet: One to Two Year Goals - One to two year goals add a new dimension to defining your work. Meeting goals and objectives often require a shift in emphasis of your job focus.

20,000 feet: Areas of Responsibility - You create or accept most of your projects because of your responsibilities, which for most people can be defined in ten to fifteen categories. These are key areas in which you want to achieve results and maintain standards. Listing and reviewing these responsibilities gives a more comprehensive framework for evaluating your inventory of projects.

10,000 feet: Current Projects - Creating many of the actions that you currently have in front of you are the thirty to one hundred projects on your plate. These are relatively short term outcomes you want to achieve.

Runway: Current Actions - this is the accumulated list of all the actions you need to take - phone calls to make, emails to respond to, errands you need to run, and the agendas you want to communicate to your boss or team.

Though these altitude analogies are somewhat arbitrary, they provide a useful framework to remind you of the multi-layered nature of your "job" and the resulting commitments and tasks it demands.

Mastering the flow of work at all the "altitudes" you experience that work provides a "flight plan" that will help you accomplish a great deal and feel good in the process.

Fasten your seat belts and make sure your tray tables are in the upright and locked position -

...it's time for your framework for decision-making to take flight.

Presentation Generation

2011-03-01T06:00:00.004-05:00

Garr Reynolds, author of the best-selling books "Presentation Zen" and "Presentation Zen Design" is a leading authority on presentation design and delivery.

His latest book - "The Naked Presenter" - focuses primarily on the presentation delivery process. With a foundation in the Japanese concepts of simplicity and naturalness, it will help you make natural connections with your audience and deliver powerful presentations that are effective and remembered.

Today I want to begin a periodic sampling of some of the key ideas in Reynolds books. I hope you find them intriguing enough to get a copy for your own use - after all, every leader is a presenter.

Presentation Generation
The ability to stand and deliver a powerful presentation that engages the whole minds of the audience has never been more important than today. The ability to speak passionately, clearly, and visually is more important than ever before - partly because of the fantastic reach that our talks have, largely thanks to the power of online video.

What you day and what you present visually today can now be captured easily and cheaply in video and webcast around the world for anyone to see. The potential of your speech or your presentation to change things - maybe even change the world - goes far beyond the words spoken. Words are important, but if it were just about words, you could create a detailed document, disseminate it, and that would be that.

Effective presentations allow you to amplify the meaning of your words.

What does this mean to you as a leader in your organization? How do you approach presentations - from one-on-one to a group of a few dozen or to a crowd of hundreds or thousands?

Bert Decker, author and speaking coach, says presentations need to move from information to influence, beginning at the intellectual and passive quadrant and moving to the active and emotional quadrant.

Seth Godin puts it this way: A presentation is a precious opportunity. It's a powerful arrangement...one speaker, an attentive audience, all in their seats, paying attention (at least at first).

Don't waste it.

The Discovery of DNA, the meaning of life...

2011-02-28T07:30:00.009-05:00

...or how individual intelligence led to second place

Fifty eight years ago today, two scientists walked into their neighborhood pub in Cambridge England, ordered their drinks, and one of them announced to the patrons “We have found the secret to life.”

This was no lie – that morning, Cambridge University scientists James D. Watson and Frances H.C. Crick had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the biological material that carries life’s genetic information.

On the fiftieth anniversary of that discovery, Watson took part in an interview inquiring about the aspects of their work that had led them to solve the problem ahead of an array of other highly accomplished and recognized rival scientists.

Along with the expected answers – they identified the most important part of the problem, they were passionate about their work, they devoted themselves single-mindedly to the task, they were willing to attempt approaches outside their area of familiarity – came this surprise:

Watson said that he and Crick had cracked the elusive code for DNA primarily because they were not the most intelligent scientists pursuing the answer.

Watson went on to explain that the most intelligent person working on the project in those days was Rosalind Franklin, a British scientist working in Paris at the time. According to Watson:

Rosalind was so intelligent that she rarely sought advice. And if you’re the brightest person in the room, then you’re in trouble.

Watson’s comment describes exactly the error that many leaders in today’s organizations make: they believe that they are the best-informed, most-experienced, or most-skilled person in the group. They may be, but studies have repeatedly shown that the approaches and outcomes of groups who cooperate in seeking a solution are not just better than the average member working along, they are even better than the group’s best problem solver working alone.

Far too often, leaders – who by virtue of greater experience, skill, and wisdom, deem themselves the ablest problem solver in the group – fail to ask for input from team members.

Lone decision makers can’t match the diversity of knowledge and perspectives of a team
Input from others can stimulate thinking processes that wouldn’t develop on their own
Individual thinkers can’t parallel process – dividing parts of the problem among many members

Trying to discover the meaning of life? How about something much simpler, like a new funding initiative to increase service to one of your target groups? Or any problem facing your team?

Don’t forget the danger of being the brightest person in the room.

The Window and The Mirror

2011-02-25T06:00:00.003-05:00

This week I was talking with a church leader and the concepts of Jim Collins' "Level 5 Leader" came up in our discussion.

The conversation triggered a quick revisit to the book, and to this little gem by Collins:

Level 5 leaders look out the window to apportion credit to factors outside themselves when things go well (and if they cannot find a specific person or event to give credit to, they credit good luck).

At the same time, they look in the mirror to apportion responsibility, never blaming bad luck when things go poorly.

Every leader looks out the window and in the mirror.

What do you see?

Change is...

2011-02-24T06:00:00.001-05:00

Healthy.

Organizations are not alive in a literal sense - but they have to change and adapt in order to stay alive.

Nancy Duarte, writing in "Resonate," talks about the life cycle of organizations - start up, growth, maturity, and eventually decline. But it doesn't have to be that way.

An organization should make continual shifts and improvements to stay healthy.

In order to do that well, leaders must excel at persuasion.

Movements are started, products are purchased, philosphies are adopted, subject matter is mastered - all with the help of persuasive presentations.

Presentations create a catalyst for meaningful change by using human contact in a way that no other medium can.

Go ahead - change the world.

Like a Two Way Mirror...

2011-02-23T08:19:00.000-05:00

You see it used in all kinds of movies and television shows, usually the police drama type.

The good guys and the victim are on one side, the suspects on the other. Each are nervous for different reasons: one thinks "Can I be seen?" and the other "Will I be recognized?"

It's called a two way mirror.

We have them in ChurchWorld, too. And they are used a lot of different ways.

How about Simplicity/Complexity?

On one side, we should strive to make everything as compelling, seamless, and simple as possible. The way we welcome guests (facilities, processes, people); how we navigate inside (wayfinding); the worship experience (flow, communicating The Big Idea, call to action); gathering information (connection card, digital system). You get the idea. We want everything our guests and participants see to be clean, elegant, simple, and logical.

Then there's the other side of the mirror - the darkened room of reality where it's often chaos, confusion, last-minute changes, and sometimes flat-out failures. It's the hundreds of details that go into a simple print piece. It's weeks, if not months, of planning and work to make sure the worship experiences go smoothly. It's arriving early to set up, clean up, polish up, and look at your absolute best - because you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Guests and attendees don't need to see the complexity of the systems designed and implemented to give them simple, powerful, life-changing experiences.

But they wouldn't have those experiences without the complexity.

Defying the Odds

2011-02-21T07:01:00.000-05:00

Twenty-year old Trevor Bayne (by a day-his birthday was Saturday),
driving in only his second Sprint Cup race (NASCAR's top level),
driving for the Wood Brothers (a storied race car team that predates NASCAR but has fallen on hard times over the last several years)
competing in the sport's biggest event (the season-opener Daytona 500)
on the 10th anniversary of the tragic and untimely death of the sport's favorite driver (Dale Earnhardt Sr, killed in the 2001 race),
competing on a newly-resurfaced track (requiring new strategies)

wins.

"Are you kidding me? What?" were the first words heard over the radio after Bayne took the checkered flag. Later during a post-race interview, he was still in shock - "If I try to put it into words, I wouldn't be doing it any justice, that's for sure."

Was it luck? Driver skill? Teamwork? Experience? Circumstances?

All of the above - and more.

Just like what it takes to have a "win" in your organization.

How Friendly is Your Church?

2011-02-21T06:00:00.001-05:00

Just how friendly is your church?

Friendly makes an impact - It makes your guests return
Friendly is a quality - Like all qualities, there are varying levels of competency
Friendly is a degree -What’s the temperature of friendly in your church?

Secret:

We need to create a friendly environment
and train people to be friendly
and be friendly all the time

Friendly has to be “on-purpose.”

The value of friendly is beyond measure. It costs nothing, yet it’s worth a fortune. It creates a church’s reputation and it creates your reputation.

It’s the most contagious disease known to man – catch it, and spread it.

Respond to the Vision God Has for Your Life

2011-02-20T20:33:00.000-05:00

Perry Noble, pastor of Newspring Church in Anderson, SC, filled in Sunday at Elevation Church for Steven Furtick, who was ill. It was certainly a God-timing thing, as months ago Perry had asked to preach on this particular date, but Pastor Steven was reluctant as we were scheduled to start a new series today. But when Pastor Steven begin feeling ill Thursday, and finally made the decision not to preach around Saturday noon, Perry was on his way an hour later.

In his unique style, Perry preached on Vision. Preaching from Acts 26:15-18, he gave the following four points about vision:

Vision begins with an accurate view of Jesus - when we recognize who He is, we will do what He says
Vision calls us to action - In Christ we are completely forgiven, valuable, and unconditionally loved
Vision will impact you personally - what would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew you could not fail?
Vision will lead to the supernatural - God doing the "super" through your "natural"

...and a final comment: God's not finished with me yet!

Leadership Principles: The Iceberg

2011-02-17T06:00:00.002-05:00

My wife and I were enjoying a quiet evening the other night watching "Titanic." An object so central to the story, but one that never gets much PR, is the iceberg that caused the ship to sink.

The iceberg can be a good illustration for a leadership principle, too.

It's expressed as a phrase:

The tip of the iceberg

What it means in scientific terms is that the bulk of the typical iceberg (from 80-90%) is below the surface of the water. The visible part is only about 10% or so.

What's visible is important - but what's below the surface is critical.

Just ask the captain of the Titanic.

In leadership terms, Dr. Tim Elmore expressed it this way:

10% of a leader's makeup is skill
90% of a leader's makeup is character

So much of a leader's influence comes from qualities we can't see - the stuff below the surface. Elmore goes on to say that character is the sum of:

Self-discipline - the ability to do what's right even if you don't feel like it
Core values - principles you live by that enable you to make a moral stand
Sense of identity - a realistic self-image based on who God made you to be
Emotional security - the capacity to be emotionally stable and consistent

The bad news about icebergs is that it's what's below the surface that sinks the ship. Weak character will eventually damage our ability to lead. The good news about icebergs is that it's what's below the surface that supports the visible tip of the iceberg. In the same way, strong character will hold you up long enough to use your skills.

The 4 Principles of Customer Satisfaction

2011-02-16T07:31:00.001-05:00

...illustrated by parking cars...

...for church...

...in a rented facility.

A Perfect Product
Customers want defect-free products and services. You need to design your product or service so that it can be expected to function perfectly within foreseeable boundaries.

At Elevation Church's Uptown campus, we meet in a rented theater - the former First Baptist Charlotte's sanctuary, purchased by the city in the 70's and turned into a performance venue. It's a beautiful, intimate setting for our worship experiences - but it has no parking, other than a few spots along the street. Practically everyone attending drives from all over the city, so we have to provide parking to accommodate them. Our solution? We rent an adjacent lot for VIPs (our term for first time guests) and families with small children, a parking deck 1 1/2 blocks away for attendees, and a small lot about 3 blocks away for volunteers. All parking is free; we put up signage in a 1 block radius around the facility to direct traffic to the right place; we have friendly parking teams to provide the human touch; and our web site has a campus welcome page that includes video of where to park.

Application: Design the product (in this case, a service system) to get people from point A to point B, foreseeing all that is foreseeable. It's just parking, right? But when you're averaging over 50 new guests every Sunday, along with 900 other attenders, all coming into the same 2 block area in a short amount of time, you've got to remove as many barriers as possible. We walked (well, literally drove) through the process of getting to campus, and designed systems to get people into the garage or lot, up the sidewalks, and into the theater. Once there, the rest of the amazing team of Guest Services (VIP team, Greeters, Ushers, and First Impressions) takes over - each with their own unique system of providing an audacious welcome to guests and attendees. It's an ongoing process, reviewed constantly to adjust to lessons learned.

Delivered by Caring People
Your perfect product now requires caring, friendly people to deliver it.

At the Uptown Campus, parking is concentrated into 2 primary areas, with the majority of that being in one parking garage - with only 2 entrances/exits. That simplifies the Parking Team a little bit (one of our other campus locations is in a mixed use environment, and has 5 surface lots, each with multiple entrances - but that's another story!). With an optimum team size of 5 people, it's our job to smile and wave at each car entering the lot, personally greet and hand a parking ticket from the dispenser to the driver, be visible inside the deck on multiple levels, and take the validated ticket as the car leaves.

Application: An interaction with just a single, caring, friendly team member can make a guest feel good about being there in the first place, and sets the stage through a powerful first impression about what's in store for the rest of the morning. We're the first face of Elevation - we take that responsibility very seriously.

In a Timely Fashion
In this fast paced world of instant results, our customers (guests) decide what is and isn't an appropriate timeline. A perfect product delivered late by friendly, caring people is the equivalent of a defective one. Ouch!

Application: I don't know about your church, but at Elevation's Uptown campus the intensity and volume of traffic increases incrementally the closer the worship experience start time approaches. For the 9:30 start time, traffic trickles in beginning at 9, picks up the pace around 9:20, and by 9:30 it's cars lined up the street waiting to get in. We move the cars through as fast as possible, and encourage those in a long line to drive around the block and use the other entrance. As we dispense the ticket, we remind drivers of the second entrance. In between services, we open two exit lanes, allowing the deck to empty quicker. Our team is always brainstorming ways to make it flow quicker and smoother. Valet parking? Nah, just kidding! Would it be easier for everyone if they came earlier and weren't as rushed? Sure - but it's not going to happen. Learn your own customer's definition of "on time", and structure the process to meet that definition - not your own.

With the Support of an Effective Problem Resolution Process
Everything described so far is great - in theory. But like most things in life, there's reality. Sometimes we are short-handed on our teams. Occasionally we have equipment malfunctions with the gates or ticket machines, or our validator in the lobby isn't working right. An occasional Uptown event (a Panther's or Bobcats game, the circus, a big convention) sometimes creates more traffic on a Sunday morning. We've even arrived to find the main entrance closed, along with the first floor of parking, due to maintenance that we weren't notified about. When these unexpected surprises occur, effective problem resolution is measured not when we have restored the situation to the status quo, but when we have restored customer satisfaction.

Application: It's almost become a game among our parking team to brainstorm what could go wrong with the process, and then come up with a solution to use when it happens. Main entrance blocked? No problem - in 5 minutes we can shift all the signage and personnel to redirect traffic down the block, around the corner, and into the rear entrance. Ticket validated but not working? The team leader pays the parking fee to get out guests out and on their way, and is reimbursed by the church. Lost ticket? Ditto. Guest have a flat tire, potentially blocking the whole deck? Pull off our best impression of a NASCAR pit stop to get them on their way. A guest wants to grab a quick cup of coffee? We have a map of nearby coffee shops and restaurants. Here's the real goal: Resolve a service problem effectively and your guest is more likely to become loyal than if they had never run into a problem in the first place. Why? Because until a problem occurs, the customer doesn't get to see us fully strut our service.

Want to learn how to provide extraordinary, loyalty-building customer service to your guests? The first step, as outlined above, is to learn what makes them satisfied. Customer satisfaction is based on the four predictable factors above. I've used just one part of the Guest Services practices of Elevation Church to illustrate the principles. Take these four factors, apply them in the context of your own place, and watch amazing things happen.

Check out "Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit" by Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon for more big ideas you can put to use as you build a five-star service organization.

The Incredible Value of Customer Loyalty

2011-02-15T06:00:00.003-05:00

The path to customer loyalty begins with customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction is based on four predictable factors:

Customers are satisfied whenever they consistently receive:

A perfect product
Delivered by a caring, friendly person
In a timely fashion

with (because any of those three elements may misfire)

The support of an effective problem resolution process

"Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit," written by Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon, provides loyalty-building techniques pioneered by the world's most successful service leaders, including The Ritz-Carlton, Lexus, and Netflix.

"Few organizations realize how valuable customer loyalty is," the authors explain. "Many aspects of your business are out of your control, but the single most important process - creating loyal customers - obey predictable, stable rules that need to be mastered only once. Then the rules can be successfully applied over and over."

Regular readers of this blog know I am a huge proponent of guest services in the church; here's a post that sums it up. I'm looking forward to diving into this book and pulling out some of the key principles and sharing them with you.

How about it - are you ready to create loyal customers?

By the way, if you think a church doesn't have customers, I humbly suggest you're wrong.

And if you think a church doesn't need to use the vocabulary of customers, guest services, and the like, well, why don't you hang around and see?

Looking for LUV?

2011-02-14T08:00:00.001-05:00

At Southwest Airlines, it is more than their stock ticker symbol. The ticker symbol LUV is more than an honor to it's first flight and headquarters (Love Field in Dallas); more than an ongoing advertising theme since 1971; it represents the loving character of the company.

On Valentine's Day, there's no better way to emphasize customer service than taking a quick look at the company that is the epitome of practicing love as a way of doing business.

The Greatest Need of the Human Heart
Southwest Airlines understands that the deepest need in our human existence is the need to be loved and accepted - and it doesn't change suddenly or mysteriously disappear when their employees walk through the door at work.

Here are some of the lessons Southwest has learned about love - and how they express them:

Love is action-oriented: at Southwest, love is something employees choose to do because they are committed to the well-being of others
Love is patient: employees at Southwest get in the trenches with people and endure difficulty or hardship, and they do it without complaining - that's expressing love
Love is kind and generous: Southwest employees don't look away; they involve themselves and sometimes inconvenience themselves
Love is courteous: at Southwest, love helps employees believe in people and look for the goodness of others
Love is affirming: Southwest believes that when people receive affirmation, they develop the courage to change and the confidence to succeed when they try something new
Love is compassionate: at Southwest, compassion consists of the capability of identifying with the pain of another person coupled with the desire to relieve it
Love extends grace and forgiveness: Southwest has created a culture where the norm is to forgive and forget
Love doesn't guarantee approval: real love comes without conditions; it doesn't depend on anything else. At Southwest, employees are loved without approving of their performance
Love is tough and gutsy: Southwest believes that actions are motivated by genuine love, and that sometimes the most loving thing you can do for others is telling them the truth - even when it hurts.
Love embraces humility: Southwest employees believe that when you are okay with yourself and yet not caught up with yourself, you can focus more on the needs of others

How is your organization practicing love?

Want to know more about Southwest Airlines and the secrets of their success? The comments on love found above, along with hundreds of other insights, stories, and suggestions can be found in the book "Nuts!" by Kevin and Jackie Freiberg.

How Shall a Church Grow Its Own Leaders?

2011-02-11T13:48:00.000-05:00

Ask any gathering of church staff what their #1 concern is, and the answer invariably sounds something like this:

How do I get more leaders to help in our church?

I've written about it before, but it's a question that keeps coming up. Interestingly enough, it's a question with a lot of history behind it, too.

The question is not just for today's fast-paced, multiple-ministry churches. It was also being asked back in the 1920s-30s. Gaines S. Dobbins, professor of religious education at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote the following in his book "Building Better Churches":

Varied places of leadership in the church call for a variety of leaders. In the main, types of leadership may be classified in four divisions:

Promotional - a church has nothing to sell, yet it has that which it would commend to the people, a message and a service of supreme value. Someone must take the lead in promoting publicity, attendance, special activities, service, and good will.
Administrative - a church needs men and women whose aptitudes and special training fit them to take the leadership in carrying out plans which have been made and approved. Such people know how to organize, systematize, routinize, delegate responsibility, prevent failure through wise counsel, check up on results, and utilize experience in making one effort contribute to the success of the next effort.
Educational - leaders do not succeed by magic - they must be given continuous training and supervision. Churches need a combination of directors, teachers, sponsors, assistants, trainers, and counselors to fulfil the complex education program of a modern church.
Inspirational - these leaders do not form an exclusive group, but emerge in all the other groups and from the congregation as a whole, furnishing the very breath of life to the total church body. Their spirt, zeal, devotion, loyalty, and character provide and sustain much of the motivation of the church.

Dobbins also suggests four ideas about discovering and developing leaders from within the church:

Leaders are made as well as born
Leaders emerge in response to need
Leaders grow under the stimulation of study
Leaders are inspired by confidence and appreciation

Some of the words and phrases may be a little dated, but the truths behind them are rock solid and pure gold.

If you are a leader in ChurchWorld, how are you producing other leaders?

Community Context

2011-02-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

The community does not exist primarily for the church

but the church for the community.

This quote by Gaines S. Dobbins in "Building Better Churches" underscores the importance of understanding the context of the "place" a church finds itself in. Here is a sampling of some questions church leaders ought to be asking on a regular basis:

Has the church a plan for studying and knowing its territory?
Has the church a map or maps of its territory and outlying districts?
Has the church accurate information as to population statistics such as age, race, and occupation?
Is the church reasonably informed as to economic conditions in the community?
Has the church ever made a study of community health conditions?
Has the church any plan of active cooperation with the schools in the community?
Does the church take an active interest in providing or encouraging better cultural advantage?
Is the church aware of and making any contribution toward the solution of the problem of delinquency?
Has the church any program for the improvement of family life?
Is the church building wholesome community consciousness and developing civic pride?
Is the church promoting good citizenship?
Is the church promoting neighborliness?

Sounds like questions taken from the latest writings on leadership and vision, right?

Wrong - they were written in 1947, near the end of Dobbins' career as a professor of Christian education. For over 25 years Dr. Dobbins used knowledge like this to train young pastors as they prepared to begin serving in churches across the world.

We would do well today to remember his teachings.

Old School Thinking

2011-02-09T08:36:00.000-05:00

Translating New Testament Principles into Present-Day Practices

I discovered a treasure in the form of the book "Building Better Churches" by Gaines S. Dobbins, prominent Southern Baptist educator from the 1920s-1950s.

He asks some great questions:

What sort of church would it be that undertook intelligently and fearlessly to fashion itself according to the basic principles of the New Testament?
On what vital functions would it major?
What would be revealed to be its strengths and weaknesses?
What would it give up as encumbrances inherited from a traditional past but clearly of doubtful value in the living present?

His answers? He thought the church should be a

Regenerate body - an inward change growing out of a personal experience in which the shift of life's center has been from self to Christ
Beloved community - sacrifice for the common good is the essence of true community; love cannot flourish in an atmosphere where some assume an attitude of superiority over others as their inferiors
Company of worshippers - the object of worship is the God of the Lord Jesus Christ made real through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The practice of worship is in spirit and truth; the purpose of worship is to maintain vital unity between the worshiper and God through the mediator, Jesus Christ, and the illuminator the Holy Spirit. A church may do much else besides worship, but it will do little else of consequence without worship
Winner of believers - the process of intelligent persuasion began with Christ's invitation to "come and see." It continued throughout His ministry and Paul expanded it. There is no mistaking the proposal of the New Testament that believers be won to saving faith through persuasion
Teacher of disciples - preaching and teaching are indispensable means of leading toward Christ, to Christ, and into the service and likeness of Christ. A church is essentially a school with Christ as the Great Teacher; the Holy Spirit as His interpreter; the Bible the chief textbook; the minister the chief officer of the school with other leaders gathered around him as teachers and staff; every believer an enrolled student; and all others who can be reached are sought as learners to be led toward Christ
Server of humanity - the early Christians caught the spirit of Christ and like Him, "went about doing good." It must send regenerate men and women out into an immoral society to transform evil into good, wrong into right, injustice into justice, not so much by political measures as by the leavening process of Christian influence
Agency of the Kingdom - the Kingdom of God is a present and future reality. It is not an organization to be promoted, nor a movement to be advanced, nor a social ideal to be realized, but a relationship to be entered and a spiritual order into which others are to be brought through persuasive witnessing

Dobbins, after a lifetime of service to the church, but writing this in 1947, had this final thought which I leave for you to consider:

Ours is an age of revolution. Inevitably the churches are undergoing change. Why not seize on this opportunity to make changes back to the New Testament rather than farther away from it?

Facing A Changing World

2011-02-04T13:39:00.000-05:00

In researching and working on some leadership development material for an upcoming seminar, I came across the following:

Christianity is a religion of change. Jesus' call in Mark 1:15 (the kingdom of God is at hand) was a call to change - change of mind and heart, of conduct and character, of self and society. By its very nature Christianity is a religion for a changing world and has always had its greatest opportunity during times of upheaval.

The Christan leader has no option; he must face a changing world. If the leader is to render maximum service, he must both adjust himself to the phenomena of change and address himself passionately to the business of producing and guiding change. Here are some elements that constitute the changed world in which the Christian leader today is called to fulfill his ministry.

Changed world outlook
Changed economic philosophy
Changed social consciousness
Changed family life
Changed community conditions
Changed moral standards
Changed religious viewpoints
Changed conceptions of the church
Changed media for molding public opinion
Changed demands made upon the leader

Pretty good list, right? Dead on. Taken from today's headlines.

Nope.

The author was Gaines S. Dobbins, distinguished professor of Religious Education at my alma mater, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Louisville KY.

Written in 1947.

As the introduction to the book "Building Better Churches: A Guide to Pastoral Ministry."

Dr. Dobbins retired before I was born, but I had the privilege of sitting under a couple of professors who were students under Dr. Dobbins. When I came across this book in a used bookstore recently, I bought it on impulse. After flipping through it, I realized it was a treasure of leadership wisdom.

Time to go back to school...

Don't Think You are in Sales?

2011-02-03T08:00:00.001-05:00

Think again.

You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere...

- Former Chrysler Chairman and CEO Lee Iacocca

To just invent something and have a great idea is a lot of work, but it is not enough. You need to know how to get people excited.
- Larry Page, cofounder of Google Inc.

While companies sell their products and services, people in organizations sell their ideas.

Your success depends on how well you sell.

But selling ideas - especially the kind of ideas that make organizations work - is a skill shrouded in mystery. The ancient Greeks considered idea selling to be one of the most critical subjects an educated person could learn. Oh, they called it "rhetoric," but that's what it was.

It takes real skill to push your ideas and initiatives through the dense network of relationships that exist in organizations today - organizations just like yours.

Richard Shell and Mario Moussa, authors of "The Art of Woo," have turned the mysterious, intuitive art of "winning others over" into a clear, systematic science.

Shell and Moussa have discovered that relationship-based persuasion follows a distinctive, repeatable four-step process that leaders can master to achieve their goals:

Step 1 - Survey Your Situation
Step 2 - Confront the Five Barriers
Step 3 - Make Your Pitch
Step 4 - Secure Your Commitments

A typical organization has many speed bumps, stop signs, and "wrong way" signs for people who want to sell their idea. Standard operating procedures, policies and procedures, and the like are often ignored - and everyone knows it.

To move your idea through the maze, you have to navigate by keeping your eye on the right people and avoid obstacles such as conflicting interests, hostile belief, cultural missteps, and political minefields that can come out of nowhere and derail you.

Woo.

Simple to say. Hard to do.

How will you practice Woo today?

Cracking Your Church's Culture Code

2011-02-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

Groundhog Day is a celebration of an old tradition – Candlemas Day – where clergy blessed and distributed candles for winter, representing how long and cold winter would be.

Groundhog Day is also a 1993 movie starring Bill Murray that popularized the usage of “groundhog day” to mean something that is repeated over and over.

Many churches find themselves in their own version of groundhog day, living out a dream and vision that was once relevant, but now is long in the past. Unwilling or unable to face reality, they are simply repeating the past over and over.

Church leaders who find themselves in this situation have an excellent new resource in “Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code” by Sam Chand.

“Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code” offers a practical resource for discovering the deficits in an existing church’s culture and includes steps needed to assess, correct, and change culture from lackluster to vibrant and inspirational so that it truly meets the needs of the congregation.

The book includes descriptions of five categories of church culture (Inspiring, Accepting, Stagnant, Discouraging, and Toxic) as well as diagnostic methods(including a free online assessment) that church leaders can use to identify the particular strengths and needs of their church.

One particularly useful section of the book deals with the seven keys of CULTURE:

Control – it isn’t a dirty word; delegating responsibility and maintaining accountability are essential for any organization to be effective
Understanding – every person on a team needs to have a clear grasp of the vision, his or her role, the gifts of the team members, and the way the team functions
Leadership – healthy teams are pipelines of leadership development, consistently discovering, developing, and deploying leaders
Trust – mutual trust up, down, and across the organizational structure is the glue that makes everything good possible
Unafraid – healthy teams foster the perspective that failure isn’t a tragedy and conflict isn’t the end of the world
Responsive – teams with healthy cultures are alert to open doors and ones that are closing; they have a sensitive spirit and a workable system to make sure things don’t fall through the cracks
Execution – executing decisions is a function of clarity, roles and responsibilities, and a system of accountability

Understanding your church’s culture is not an easy task. “Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code” is a very helpful resource for the leader who wants to delve below the surface of church as usual and lead it to greater impact.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Leadership Network as a part of the blog tour for “Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Forget 2012 - the end of the world is coming February 14...

2011-02-01T15:18:00.000-05:00

...that's when an IBM computer named Watson will take on two Jeopardy champions for domination of the world - at least the game show world.

I first heard about it last fall, but now the real deal is only two weeks away.

Here's a quick summary from Informationweek.com:

IBM has spent four years and untold hundreds of millions of dollars developing Watson, a computer that can play Jeopardy. In fact, Watson answers questions so quickly and accurately that IBM challenged Jeopardy and two of the show's all-time champions to a match. Jeopardy's producers and the human contestants agreed. Taping took place January 14, and the three computer-vs.-human episodes will air February 14-16. Cynics may call it a publicity stunt, but the project has brought real advances in computer science. If IBM's previous (chess-playing) Deep Blue and (genetics-studying) Blue Gene supercomputers are any indication, advances in what IBM calls deep question-and-answer analytics could show up in the real world within three to five years.

For complete information, see the article here.

What's it mean for the real world?

From Doug Henschen at InformationWeek: As Director of IBM Research John Kelly noted, there could be no higher calling than the promise of medical breakthroughs and saving lives, so let's hope the teachings of Watson become elementary within a few short years. In the shorter term, the prizes at stake in the Jeopardy IBM challenge are $1 million for first place, $300,000 for second place and $200,000 for third place. IBM has agreed to give 100% of Watson's winnings and Jennings and Rutter have agreed to give 50% of their winnings to charity. Watson couldn't be more selfless.

Double Jeopardy, anyone?

Why Geese Fly Further Than Eagles

2011-01-31T07:22:00.000-05:00

Storyteller and dramatist Bob Stromberg recalls this story from his childhood:

What I witnessed that day as a child
has been going on with geese in the wild since the very first autumn.
You see, their bodies are streamlined,
the neck like a spear,
slicing the wind,
breaking the air.
And from the ground it's impossible to see,
but their wings aren't flapping randomly.

When the head goose grabs the wind,
air is displaced,
which then rushes up to reclaim its place,
only to see the smiling ace
of the bird flying behind,
whose wings just happen to be in the downward position -
a very dangerous condition,
which doesn't last for long,
Because the upward rush
gives them a push,
and they're right back where they belong.
This goose then grabs the air again,
causing another upward wind,
which lifts the bird behind.
And so ans so it goes on down the line.

So the head goose breaks the wind,
and all the rest are carried by him,
with very little effort I've heard,
on the part of any one bird.
When the head goose has had enough,
he or she simply drops back
and depends on another bird for strength
when strength is what is lacked.

So that's how I found out
how the goose can fly from up north
to way down south and back again.
But she cannot do it alone, you see.
It's something that must be done in community.

These days it's a popular notion,
and people swell with emotion and pride
when they think of themselves on the eagle-side:
     Solitary,
          Self-sufficient,
               Strong.

But what we are,
That's something we cannot choose.
Though many would wish to be seen as an eagle,
God made most like the goose.

Yesterday at Elevation Pastor Steven used the geese flying in formation story as a reminder of the importance of community. We're kicking off a new season of community at Elevation, and our eGroup has 7 new people dropping by tomorrow night for the first time.

Getting connected with others who share similar interests or passions is one of the best ways to truly build community. God always intended for us to encourage, challenge, inspire and care for others. Spiritual growth, discipleship, serving, and relationships are all a part of our eGroup experience.

What does community look like in your church?

History, Repeating Itself?

2011-01-28T06:00:00.003-05:00

A continuation in a series of posts on "the new old" (here, here, and here)...

Amy Hanson is probably one of the best sources and resources available for ministry opportunities with aging adults. Her scholarship includes a master’s degree in gerontology, followed by a doctorate in human sciences from the University of Nebraska. She has worked in congregations and retirement communities, has a deep commitment to her faith—and now has distilled a wealth of research into a handy new book "Baby Boomers and Beyond: Tapping the Ministry Talents and Passions of Adults over 50."

A section from the opening chapter of the book really caught my eye. Here's a brief summary: read it, and then ponder the single question following.

In the mid-late 50's millions of baby boomers were nearing adolescence. Never before had there been such an influx of young people who ere drastically shaping the culture. And the church was unprepared. Youth ministry expert Mark Senter writes "The post-war baby boom caught the church without a strategy for dealing with the sudden influx of people whom the media began to call 'teenagers."

The young baby boomers represented a huge untapped resource for the church, and some people began to work at convincing church leaders that youth ministry was vitally important. These entrepreneurs created a sense of urgency among churches to reach out to this young generation before it was too late.

The idea caught on - and expanded. Youth ministries, youth ministers, activity buildings, age specialization in church ministries, para church activities and programs, leadership training for those specializing in youth - the list goes on and on.

Nothing wrong with that.

Flash forward to 2011: those baby boomers who revolutionized youth ministry are now entering their fifth and sixth decades of life. They are marching into their later years of life in unprecedented numbers, healthier and more active than any segment of population before them.

And the urgency of ministry with them is just as great as when they were young - perhaps even greater.

There is much to be gained or much to be lost. It starts with whether or not ChurchWorld chooses to ignore or embrace this aging reality.

As a leader in ChurchWorld, how will you respond to "the new old"?

Redesigning Life, Reinventing Retirement

2011-01-27T08:14:00.001-05:00

There's a move underway to make life safer, easier, and more healthy - and who do we have to thank?

Baby Boomers - because they're getting older.

When January 1 rolled around this year, the first Baby Boomers turned 65 - and will continue every 7 seconds for the next 18 years. I fit that category - I was born in 1958 - so you might say I have a personal interest in it! Here are a few noteworthy developments:

Boeing, the airplane manufacturer, is improving in-flight design and comfort for aging passengers. Pete Guard, cabin-experience strategy leader, says "As Boomers age, their vision, mobility, and hearing may become a challenge, but the last thing we want is to make them seem less than capable - they're an independent group." On-tap: easier-to-open lavatory doors, redesigned overhead compartment latches, and thinner, lightweight seats allowing more leg room.
Volvo, already known for making one of the world's safest cars, is studying the driving habits of the aging to develop cars that will keep them - and other drivers - safe. Thomas Broberg, senior safety advisor, says "Because Boomers are living longer and healthier than any previous generation, there will be more of them driving longer. The misperception is that older adults are involved in more accidents; they're not - they just have different reactions." One solution? Build cars with senses: they recognize a potential collision and apply the brakes if necessary.
General Mills is boosting Boomer's health by creating engaging and interactive communities online. Marc Belton, EVP of global strategy, growth, and marketing innovation says "People like to talk about themselves and be a part of a story. One of our websites asks consumers to submit their favorite unhealthy recipes, and our team will healthify them."

It's really impressive to see Corporate America step up to the line and lead the way in innovation for the huge segment of our population known as the Baby Boomers. But their motives are at least in some part driven by the enormous potential market share - as a group, the Boomers have over $2 trillion worth of annual spending power.

What about ChurchWorld?

Amy Hanson, noted speaker, consultant, and author in the area of aging adult ministry, has some great thoughts about what she calls "the new old."

The new old are reinventing retirement - a recent survey by Merrill Lynch found that 76% of Boomers want to keep working in some fashion during retirement. They want their retirement years to include a component of work that is significant.
Not all older adults are Christians - think of the characteristics of adults who are 50 and older: caring for aging parents, concerns about their own health, financial worries, and continually evolving relationships with their own adult children and grandchildren. These life transitions provide communities of faith huge opportunities to reach out, engage, and share the Gospel with them.
Aging Boomers have the potential to make a tremendous Kingdom impact with their lives - they have time, experience, and resources and they want to participate in purposeful endeavors that will benefit others.

The challenge is there. The corporate world has stepped up and is gearing toward innovating and engaging the new old.

Where are you, church?

MIT Engages the Boomers

2011-01-25T06:00:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I introduced the first of a series of posts about my favorite generational cohort - the Baby Boomers. It's only my favorite because I am one - I'm connected to one generation above me and three below me, but the Baby Boomers (born 1946-64) are once again front page news.

All because beginning on January 1st this year, the first Boomer turned 65 - followed by 77 million, one every seven seconds, for the next 18 years.

At the MIT AgeLab, research fellow Rozanne Puleo and research scientist Lisa D'Ambrosio are leading the research into the changing needs of boomers:

D'Ambrosio: "The fact that we're living longer than ever before has a significant implications for how we live as a society. The generation approaching retirement now (Boomers) is not planning on being relegated to the couch. They see it as retirement from a job, not life."

Puleo: "it's a matter of learning what works best and what's most user-friendly - not just Boomer friendly. We have to find solutions that transcend age."

Using scientific research methods, scientists like these two are leading the way in investigation and innovation into the life - and lifestyles - of the Boomer as they approach 65.

But it's not retirement - at least not like my parents view it.

Amy Hanson, consultant in the area of older adult ministry in the church, has made the term "the new old" a popular description of this age group. She finds several key issues for the church to consider. Here's one:

The new old are approaching aging in a much different way than preceding generations. Churches frustrated by sixty-somethings shying away from "senior adult ministries" need look no further than the name. Boomers do not like the word "senior" and they reject just about anything that smacks of old age.

(Well, there was that one time I got the senior pricing at the movies without being asked...)

Whatever the format, today's ministry with Boomers approaching retirement needs different names, fresh ideas, and a whole new approach.

What's your church doing in the areas of ~~aging~~ "the new old"?

Build a Better Mousetrap...

2011-01-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

As the title of this blog indicates (27 years is the average age between the four male generations in my family), I think studying generational differences is very informative for ChurchWorld. We're living, working, and ministering in a world where 5 generations are active. But as I am a Baby Boomer, I've always been a little partial to that particular cohort.

When 1/1/11 came, the first of 78 million Baby Boomers turned 65 - and will continue to do so, every 7 seconds.

Welcome to senior adulthood - NOT.

According to the Pew Research Center, 10,000 adults are turning 65 every day, and that by 2030, almost 20% of our population will be over the age of 65.

Amy Hanson, a consultant and author specializing in this age group, calls this group "the new old," describing them as "adults primarily between the age of 50 to 70 who view the later years of life in a completely different way than their parent's generation".

The new old are active, involved, and anything but "old."

Corporate America has noticed: as this group begins to reach "retirement" age, their $2 trillion worth of annual spending power is driving companies to rethink aging.

Marc Hottenroth, an industrial designer, leads GE's team as they learn to design better appliances for older Americans. They hold empathy sessions to help their design team understand what an aging adult goes through every day:

taped knuckles to represent arthritic hands
kernels of popcorn in shoes to create imbalance
weighing down pans to simulate putting food in ovens

According to Hottenroth, "They won't give up style or performance, and they won't buy something made specifically for the aging because that's not how they see themselves." But if it's easier to use and it speaks to their needs, they'll love it."

What about ChurchWorld?

Are you ready to rethink aging?

Julia...and Bob

2011-01-22T20:15:00.002-05:00

For Christmas, Anita gave me a set of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," the classic cookbooks by Julia Child. You may remember a movie from last year: "Julie and Julia," the story of a writer who cooked her way through Child's cookbook in a year, blogging about the experience. The movie was part of my Christmas gift to Anita. Tonight, we kind of re-created it:

Tonight, I cooked my first meal from the cook book for Anita and me:

Boeuf Bourguignon

Oignons Glaces a Brun

Champignons Sautes au Beurre

Gratin Dauphinois

It was fun shopping for the ingredients, going though all the preparation, and delivering a wonderful meal. I banished Anita from the kitchen, only revealing everything when we were ready to eat. We set up a table in the great room and watched "No Reservations."

It was wonderful.

Now that's a date night...

Bridging the Digital Divide, Part Three

2011-01-21T06:00:00.002-05:00

Our leadership brains are dealing with a digital divide in organizations today: team members of different generations think differently. First, there's the digital natives; then come the digital immigrants. Bringing up the rear (literally) are the digital dinosaurs.

Author Marilee Sprenger, writing in "The Leadership Brain for Dummies," makes these observations about the digital dinosaur:

The Digital Dinosaur
Natives speak the language of their birth; immigrants are learning to translate the digital language of the natives, and then there are those individuals or organizations who are hopelessly out of date - the digital dinosaur.

You may think that Traditionalists (born before WW II) fall into this category, and many do. But anyone or any organization can be a dinosaur.

Digital media is transforming organizations everywhere. If your organization appears to be incapable of change, those who embrace digital technology won't find it appealing. If your clients are changing their minds and getting plugged into the latest technology, you don't won't to present yourself as stuck in an analog world.

Take a close look at what your competition is doing digitally. If they are still dinosaurs, make some changes so your organization can be the first to enter the global age. Rather than feeling safe because they aren't doing anything that you're not doing, get out of that reptile brain and use your thinking brain to take some risks to get updated.

Note to church leaders: if my use of the words "client" and "competition" bother you, sorry - you have a whole different set of problems! The people who come to your church are your clients, and you do have competition - but it's not the church down the street from you.

A closing thought: leadership is all in your head - literally. When your brain is at its best, you will be at your best as a leader. Understanding how your brain works is just the first step. Put your leadership brain to work today!

Bridging the Digital Divide, Part Two

2011-01-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

The brains of those who are digitally connected are different from those who are not. Here's how Marilee Sprenger, author of "The Leadership Brain for Dummies," sees this divide:

The Digital Immigrant
Some Traditionalists (born before WW II), many Baby Boomers (born 1945-1964), and the early Gen Xers (born 1965-through the 70s) fall into the category of digital immigrants. They didn't grow up learning the second language of the digital world and speak it with varying degrees of fluency.

Many digital immigrants:

Insist on paper bills even though receiving copies via email
Print out emails and attachments
Rely on printed newspapers, books, and so on
Are somewhat leery of paying bills online
Believe that methods taught years ago should work for everyone
Don't understand the informal language used in emails and texts
Believe a social network consists of people he meets with for parties

Digital immigrants have much to offer to your organization. Wisdom derived from years of storing patterns in the brain gives them the ability to see the big picture, predict accurately, foresee future consequences, and draw on mental templates to help store new information.

Challenging tasks activate more areas in the frontal lobes of the brains of digital immigrants than in the brain of digital natives. The immigrants have little choice because their brains change as they increase their skills with technology. The natives may need to practice more skills that their brains haven't used very much, like building rapport face to face.

How do you lead digital natives and immigrants to work together?

Bridging the Digital Divide

2011-01-19T06:00:00.001-05:00

Using the Leadership Brain to Understand Generational Differences

Marilee Sprenger, author of "The Leadership Brain for Dummies," does a good job of outlining the differences in organizations that have multiple generations involved - like the church.

This post isn't about that - read her book here on page 223 to understand those differences. Instead, let's take a look at the the digital divide.

The brains of those who are digitally connected are different from those who are not. Since your organization has different kinds of brains working together, maybe you should understand a little about it.

The Digital Native
Today's world requires a new language and a new literacy - digital literacy. The late Generation X'ers (born in the late 70's) and the generations that follow them are digital natives - they speak the language well. These people have grown up with video games, cell phones, computers, the Internet, and other techno toys. The ABCs of learning have been replaced with the the XYZs of technology.

The digital natives grew up communicating in a very different and fast-paced way from their parents and older siblings. They're proud of their ability to come up with hard data quickly and easily. It's a wide learning gap between these generations and the prior ones.

The digital natives who believe that their world isn't complete if they aren't constantly connected are always trying to multitask (you can't, but that's another post). They're always working hard, switching from one task to another and back again without skipping a beat.

Former Microsoft executive Linda Stone called this problem continuous partial attention.

Not truly giving anything complete attention has a number of negative effects, not the least of which is the inability to accomplish anything! Efforts to stay connected may prohibit you from bringing deep thought and closure to any one project, which may lead to stress. Elevated stress leads to distraction which starts the cycle over again.

Recognize yourself?

SMART or SAFE?

2011-01-18T06:00:00.001-05:00

Setting goals and the leadership brain

Goal setting is vital to the success of every team - and the process also increases brain performance. According to neuroscience consultant Marilee Sprenger in " The Leadership Brain for Dummies," the brain sees goal-setting as an extension of itself - it takes ownership of the goal and the accomplishment.

But what do you do when your team has different kinds of "brains" trying to set goals? Could it be that you need to consider two kinds of goals?

The SMART approach to goal-setting is linear, logical, and very left-brain oriented. Those teams that think in a left-brained format appreciate this type of goal setting because it is easy to track and measure. SMART goals are:

Specific - each goal specifies your target exactly.
Measurable - each goal must be measurable so you know when you've reached it - or not.
Achievable - a goal that is within reach increases motivation and those brain chemicals that keep you motivate.
Realistic - a realistic goal is one your team has the resources to realize.
Time - specific time frames provide clear deadlines for action.

But what about teams that aren't as left-brained? How do they set goals? Consider SAFE goals. Approaching goals in a nonlinear manner appeals more to the right hemisphere of the brain. If your team members are creative, visual, and right-brain dominant, consider SAFE goals:

See it - see yourself working toward the goal; then picture it already achieved.
Accept it - accept that you can achieve the goal, and picture what that looks like.
Feel it - adding emotion to your visualization is very powerful: feel good about your accomplishment; enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done.
Express it - visualize yourself telling others about the accomplishment of the goal; make presentations at team meetings about your contribution to the success.

The SAFE method is especially good for those brains that need to have the big picture in order to accept the fact that they can in fact accomplish their goals.

So, does your team need SMART or SAFE goals? Or a combination of both?

As leader, it's your job to know the difference and lead accordingly!

Brain Science and Decision-Making

2011-01-17T07:00:00.002-05:00

Making good decisions under a variety of circumstances is a critical leadership skill. Your brain works differently to decide when you have little time than it does when you can consider your options.

Marilee Sprenger, author of "The Leadership Brain for Dummies,", offers the following ideas to help you make the best decision when you have the time to research the situation:

Clearly define the problem - exactly define the challenge
Gather all the data related to the problem - enlist your team's help
List all possible solutions - even the crazy ones
Consider the consequences of each solution - with a little thought, the right solution may turn out to be a disaster in waiting

When you're making decisions with little time:

Consider previous situations - the decisions you made in that situation probably apply to the current one
Look to the future impact - even when pressed for time, considering the ramifications of your choice is critical
Gather as much information as you can
Listen to your instincts - as well as your logic

Making good choices is a matter of gathering input from all areas of your brain. Understanding how your brain processes information - even in a time crunch - will help you make better decisions.

Feed Your Brain

2011-01-15T06:00:00.001-05:00

I always thought Cherry Coke and a Hershey's bar was brain food, but neuroscience is proving me wrong.

Marilee Sprenger, author of "The Leadership Brain for Dummies," thinks that our leadership brains can be nourished so that they excel. You can provide great leadership and brain "nourishment" for your team by:

Providing training opportunities - on the job, onsite, offsite, virtually - you name it. Learning never stops, and the brain thrives on it.
Conducting personal meetings - by letting team members know you value their contributions, they are secure and will be more productive.
Keeping stress levels low - high stress interferes with the brain's functions; offer coaching, mentoring, and partnering programs to help your team thrive without stressing out.
Celebrating successes - big or small, celebrations help teams bond. Make them regular and special; after all, humans are social animals.
Connecting teamwork and the organizational goals - help your team's brains make pathways to work more efficiently.
Promoting life outside of work - emphasize exercise, rest, and family time; without breaks, the brain can't work at its best.

Tomorrow: Using Your Leadership Brain in Decision-Making

I like Dummies...

2011-01-14T08:00:00.001-05:00

... the books, that is.

I've been a big fan of the "Dummies" books for a long time. I own at least 10 - they serve as great introductions to a new topic and help chart a course for expanded learning later on.

I guess you could say they are like Cliff Notes on steroids - or is that mixing too many metaphors?

For instance, when our 18 year-old son decided to give rugby a try after 14 years of playing soccer, it was "Rugby for Dummies" to the rescue. From a brief history of the game to key terms to strategy, after a few nights reading I felt somewhat knowledgeable about the game and could appreciate the fact that my son was a hooker. That's another story.

About a year and a half ago, I became aware of a book by John Medina entitled "Brain Rules", a fascinating study of how the latest studies in neuroscience were helping us understand more about our brains. A series of posts beginning here took a look at a few of the key learnings from the book.

Enter "The Leadership Brain for Dummies." Author Marilee Sprenger translates the recent abundance of brain science into into leadership principles which help your team keep operating at its best.

Applying Brain Science to Leadership

When you lead with the brain in mind, you address the structures of the brain and its needs. Scientists commonly consider the brain as a structure with three separate "brains" that have their own specialized jobs. Understanding how these different brains work and what they need enable you to better relate to and lead your team.

The survival brain wants safety and security. In a nutshell, its job is to keep you alive, and so it's always on the lookout for changes in the environment that might put you in jeopardy. You address this brain's needs by providing a predictable ans stable workplace - agendas, schedules, information, and procedures.
The emotional brain deals not just with emotion but memory. You help keep this brain moving along by being socially aware (noting your feelings but not letting them rule you), and you put it to work for you by giving your team an emotional connection to training. Any information that is connected to an emotion has a better chance of becoming a long-term memory. Also, remember that your emotions are contagious - whatever you are feeling will spread to your team.
The thinking brain handles the brain's executive functions: decision-making, future planning, judgement, and emotional control. The brain learns through feedback. Change your team's minds by providing immediate, constructive feedback.

Tomorrow: Feed Your Brain