An Apple a Day

The July/August of "Fast Company" has a great article on Apple entitled "Apple Nation." It's one observer's version of what "the Apple playbook" might look like. It's fascinating - and it has some implications for your organization.

• Go into your cave - Apple is fanatic about secrecy when it comes to their development process. Behind it's often closed doors, Apple can ignore the clamor of the world and create its own unique brand of "magic."
• It's okay to be king - Apple's engineers spend 100% of their time making products planned by a small club of senior managers - and sometimes entirely by Steve Jobs himself. It may seem dictatorial, but it works. The hyper focus lets everyone know exactly what is needed.
• Transcend orthodoxy - despite all the noise about Apple's closed ideology, the company adopts positions based on whether they make for good products and good business. Results are the driving philosophy.
• Just say no - CEO Steve Job's primary role at Apple is to turn things down. "I'm as proud of the products that we have not done as the ones we have done," Jobs told an interviewer.
• Serve your customer. No, really - however great your product or service, something will go wrong - and only then will the customer/client take the true measure of your organization.
• Everything is marketing - Apple understands the lasting power of sensory cues, and goes out its way to infuse everything it make with memorable ideas that scream its brand.
• Kill the past - no other company re imagines the fundamental parts of its business as frequently, and with as much gusto, as Apple does. Nothing holds it back, so it can always stay on the edge of what's technologically possible.
• Turn feedback into inspiration - Apple doesn't exactly ignore the many customer requests for improvements in its products. They simply use their ideas as inspiration, not direction; as a means, not an end.
• Don't invent, reinvent - revolutionary is one of Jobs's favorite words. It curates the best ideas bubbling up around the tech world and makes them its own.
• Play by your own clock - Apple doesn't get caught up in the competitive frenzy of the industry; it plays by its own clock. Apple's product release schedule is designed around its own strategy and its own determination of what products will advance the company's long-term goals.

Everyone wants to be like Steve Jobs and his powerhouse company. It's not easy. But the lessons of Apple above may just help move your own organization forward.

Have you had your Apple today?

Milestone at ABF

A church construction project goes on for months and months; after the excitement of the groundbreaking and the first few weeks, sometimes interest begins to lag. At JH Batten, we like to keep the client fully informed and involved throughout the project. One of the ways we do that is through “milestone celebrations”. Scheduled throughout the duration of the project, they help the client keep the momentum and enthusiasm at a high level.

On one of our recent projects, a new sanctuary and education building for Alliance Bible Fellowship in Boone, NC, the congregation was able to come onto the site at the end of Phase 1 of construction and participate in a “beam signing” ceremony.

The ceremony is typical in large construction projects by signing their names and writing scripture verses and prayers on the steel infrastructure of the building when it is complete. Members of the church “left their mark” on the steel columns, signing with permanent markers.

Some view the signing of the beam as a form of legalized graffiti and almost like a time capsule for members. While we hope the building is there for awhile, in a hundred years if the building is demolished, some day somebody will know a little more about ABF; who they were, why they were here and that they had a presence and purpose for the project.

At its very basic meaning, the names of those who signed will be forever attached to ABF’s worship center project.

And that's a pretty cool thing!

The Brightest Person and the Baton

Last year I wrote a post about the danger of being the brightest person in the room (it was not self-descriptive!). It was about the problems encountered when individuals (no matter how brilliant) put themselves above their team.

Reading this month's "Fast Company" magazine, I came across an article by Dan and Chip Heath entitled "Blowing the Baton Pass." The story highlights the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the misfortune of the men's and women's relay team's disastrous results: a dropped baton disqualified each team. Read the whole article for some great insight, but here is the absolute gold quote:

Organizations make this mistake constantly: They prize individual brilliance over the ability to work together as a team.

• The relay team with the fastest sprinters doesn't always win.
• The business with the most talented employees doesn't either.

How about your team? Do you have a process that promotes teamwork, allowing collaboration and cooperation? Are you practicing baton handoffs regularly, or do you assume your team can do it without coordination?

Answer wrong, and you will be looking at a baton on the track and the backside of your competition.

Mission is What You Measure

Following up from yesterday's post, here's a simple question for you:

What types of "film" would you watch to improve the effectiveness of your church?

Keeping in mind that I'm using "film" in a figurative sense - there are many ways to observe, measure, and evaluate activities in your organization for possible improvement.

What most established churches measure is harmony, stability, and privilege. That is what occupies the agenda of most staff meetings, congregational gatherings, and denominational processes.

• Churches go to great lengths to measure harmony - they mark every single, conceivable, and even half-baked complaint, anxiety, or hurt feeling.
• Churches go to great lengths to measure stability. They chart the financial and membership trends. They have mastered the art of risk management.
• Churches go to great length to measure privilege. They maintain elaborate by-laws and exacting processes for consensus management

Often the problem is that a watching and seeking world sees the disconnect between the stated (or at least assumed) mission of the church and the reality.

Is it possible to consider other activities that the church should be doing? How about "watching the film" in these areas for starters?

• Do you have a red carpet? - what is your guest experience like? How do you welcome people to your campus? What makes your guests say "Wow - I didn't expect that!"
• How do you handle frequent fliers? - welcoming every guest is important. Welcoming guests for the second and third time is extremely important!
• Who's on your team? - team matters - if you're going to be in the game, you've got to have a team. There are probably dozens of opportunities in your church for people to be involved. How do you move them from attending to participating?
• What's my draft like? - sports teams don't just randomly pick their players; they spend lots of money and effort to know the potential of each player. Recruiting leaders in your church ought to operate the same way.
• How many teams are in your league? Your church probably worships in a large group or two, but it will only thrive and grow by creating small groups. How do you create them, what do you expect them to do, and how do they reproduce?
• How do you define a win? In sports, you look at the scoreboard. What's a win look like for your church as individuals, groups, and the church as a whole?

I've only scratched the surface - you can probably add a dozen more activities to this list - things you ought to be "watching the film" on. Understanding what is important, and then taking steps to continually improve it, will produce results.

Mission is what you measure.

Roll That Film

It may be soccer-crazy right now following the USA's win over Algeria, but I'm thinking football.

Let me explain.

I'm working on a leadership training event for a new church plant that is launching this fall. Their marketing campaign for the launch centers around football concepts. Borrowing the theme, I'm structuring four sessions over two days that will use the metaphor of football and its associated "team" lessons.

In the middle of this preparation drops a great article by Dan and Chip Heath (authors of "Made to Stick" and "Switch"). Published in the June issue of Fast Company magazine, it's entitled "Watch the Game Film." You really need to check out the whole article, but here's a quick summary:

• Football coaches use game film to spot things they'd never see in real time. They have an entire week to review a 60-minute game.
• In the business world, every day is game day, and leaders don't take the time to "study the film" of their activities. It's unfortunate, because studying game film can yield unexpected results.
• Doug Lemov, a consultant to school districts, utilized film of top-tier teachers in the classroom to train other teachers - resulting in raising students a grade level and a half in one year.
• It doesn't have to be film - Jump Associates, a strategy consulting firm, uses trained observers to record client meetings. After the meeting, the Jump staff hold a debriefing, modeled on the Army's after-action reviews.

What insights might your team be overlooking because no one is observing carefully enough?

Maybe it's time to press the PAUSE button and start screening some game film. There are some things you'll never see unless you look.

From Personal to Organizational

Yesterday's post on creating a "stop-doing" list was a starting point, but it goes much beyond the personal - to the organization you lead.

Here's a simple, strategic challenge for your organization:

In the next 90 days, work with your leadership team on a "Stop Doing" Strategic Review.

As you make "stop"decisions, a careful, disciplined get-out-from-under execution plan must be developed as well. Keep it visible to the whole organization -out front, above ground, in-your-face visible.

Where will clarity take you on Day 91?

One of the Most Important Lists You Will Ever Make

Jim Collins,  teacher to companies around the world and best-selling author (Good to Great, Built to Last, and How the Mighty Fall) speaks and writes about it frequently.

Tom Peters, consummate speaker and game-changing author (The Search for Excellence, Re-imagine, The Pursuit of WOW!, and The Little Big Things) doesn't just speak on the subject - he rants about it.

Steven Covey, business consultant, professor, and author (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, First Things First, and Principle-Centered Leadership) makes it the foundation of his time management principles.

Richard Swenson, physician-futurist, award-winning educator, and best-selling author (Margin, The Overload Syndrome, and In Search of Balance) thinks it is one of the keys to restoring balance in our lives.

Maybe you're getting the idea it's a big deal. It is...

...especially for such an innocuous thing.

Here it is:

"To-Don'ts" are more important than "To-Dos"

A little elaboration:

• What you decide not to do is probably more important than what you decide to do
• You probably can't work on "to-don't" alone - you need a sounding board/mentor/advisor/nag whom you trust to act as a drill sergeant who will march you to the wood-shed when you stray and start doing those time-draining "to-don'ts."

With only a little tongue-in-cheek:

The top of your "to-do" list for today is to immediately begin working on your "to-don't" list!