Since joining the staff at my church I’ve found it challenging to stay connected to people outside the church. As a corporate guy I obviously spent my whole day working with people outside of the church, many of whom very far from God. Now, I really have to work at it.
For more than 4 years now the guys in my neighborhood have gotten together every other week to shoot pool. It is organized league play (8-Ball) with a cash prize for the top 3 players and a catered event held at one of the participant’s homes at the end of the season. One of the things I really like about how the league is organized is that the purpose of the league is clearly understood. Being the winner and being all concerned about winning the game is not the focus. We do the league because we’re interested in spending time together and getting to know one another better as neighbors and friends. Cool!
Last night was league night. We had a larger than normal turnout (about 14 players). It was a great night. Yes … I won all 3 of my games, but that’s not why it was a great night. The number of players that showed up to play (at Joe’s house) and the fun we had together is what made the night great.
It’s been fun for me to have made the career transition to ministry that I’ve made since the first season of league play. The guys are curious to hear about CCV and how we’re growing. I’ve had the pleasure of talking about our building programs, Kids’ Camp, and all the other cool stuff that’s happening around here. Of course, I often invite them to church or to bring their kids to one of our children’s events.
So far, none of them have come to church. But, you know what? I don’t really care. I don’t think that is what it’s all about. Just hanging with them and being part of their lives is all that I’m doing for now. Hopefully, I’m still here and available to serve them in some way when the time comes.
One of the most important components of good leadership is also one of the most difficult. Have you ever heard the expression, "I feel like I'm being treated like a mushroom"? Mushrooms are fed a lot of "crap" and kept in the dark ... obviously not good when it comes to communication.
The bottom line is that continuously communicating with everyone is critically important to an organization's overall effectiveness. But, actually getting this done consistently is very difficult. Like many of the other difficulties of leadership and infrastructure building, communication must be systemic - happening almost automatically at all levels of the organization.
In fact, communicating effectively is so important senior leadership should establish and document a Communication Plan. The Communication Plan should be "communicated" to all team members and be continuously available for reference. Of course, once you put a plan in writing you definitely have to follow it.
The Communication Plan should include communication guidelines/requirements at all levels of the organization. A typical plan would include guidelines as follows:
Announcements - A vehicle for routine all employee announcements should be established and utilized as much as possible to get the word out to everyone frequently. Almost anything of interest to the team that is public knowledge can be communicated via e-mail or an internal website bulletin board.
One on One Meetings - On a very frequent and informal basis a leader should meet one on one with each of their direct reports. This can be done in an actual sit down meeting and/or through routine interaction throughout the week. Regardless, there needs to be a forum for team leader to team member communication.
Routine Staff Meetings - Every team leader should schedule and conduct routine team meetings. The two most critical aspects of a "staff meeting" are that they are regularly scheduled and on everyone's calendar well in advance and that an agenda is sent to the team before the meeting begins. I've asked many a leader if they have a "routine" staff meeting and they immediately respond with a "yes." But when I ask when the next one is scheduled, I more often than not get a response like, "We try to have them every week or two." In other words, the leader hasn't made the commitment in the form of a standing appointment on the calendar. It's important that the team know they can count on a regularly scheduled forum for communication and coordination with other team members. The agenda piece is just good practice. People need to know what will be discussed and have the opportunity to add things to the agenda if they want.
Quarterly Communication Meetings - All organizations of any size at all should have a periodic forum for presenting information from leadership to the rest of the organization. In the past, I've done this via a "Quarterly Communication Meeting." Around mid-month of the new quarter a meeting is held with all employees. Again the meeting is scheduled in advance and has an agenda published ahead of time. Communication in a large group setting like this one is mostly "one way" and should have more of a "state of the business" feel to it. There can be a brief Q&A time, but actually resolving anything or making a decision in a forum this large is not easy and not really the point of this communication method.
Annual Meeting - One of the quarterly meetings (1st quarter of the new "business year") can be utilized as the "annual" meeting. Again, in a state of the business format the previous year is discussed and the plans for the coming year are presented.
Feedback - Another important aspect of good communication includes a method of allowing employees to give feedback to their leadership. In larger organizations this can be done via a suggestion program of some sort. Smaller organizations can implement something less formal, sometimes having a feedback segment to a regular staff meeting like a roundtable agenda item.
As important as communication is to the success of the mission, it should be given the attention that many other aspects of the business are given. Having a formal Communication Plan can help the leader to get it done.
That's right! This coming Sunday (7/27/08) we will be hosting a Ground Breaking Ceremony as we approach the beginning of construction on our new Student Ministries building!
The ceremony will start shortly after 1 p.m. that afternoon.
We kicked off our annual Kids' Camp event on Wednesday morning (7/16/08) at 9 a.m. with more than 500 vehicles dropping off over 800 "campers." It was pretty amazing! It was the awesome experience we have come to expect around here. Of course I didn't mention the more than 350 adult volunteers who showed up an hour before.
I remember when the logistical challenge of pulling off a camp this extensive first hit me. It was before I came on staff here at CCV. We were hosting Kids' Camp Splashdown in 2003. I was volunteering as the tech team leader. The amount of stuff that had to be done and the coordination required rivaled any project I had ever been involved in before. (And, I've managed some pretty large projects over the years!)
We formed the Logistics Team as a key part of making our Kids' Camp a success in 2004 with Kids' Camp Rocks! The team wore a different color t-shirt (blue) than everyone else to make them easy to identify in any situation. From parking cars and managing "people traffic" to executing an organized search in the event a child gets separated from his/her team, the Logistics Team was a big success. From there, a similar team was formed to serve on Sunday mornings. The Logistics Team is now a normal part of our ministry.
Kids' Camp BIG TOP wrapped yesterday at noon. This morning, reflecting on the experience, I'm really amazed about what was accomplished over the 3 day camp. Every plan and all the preparation really paid off. The logistical challenge of making Kids' Camp happen has been met again this year thanks, in part, to the efforts of the "blue shirts." Great job!
Kevin's Blog 
We kicked off our annual Kids' Camp event on Wednesday morning (7/16/08) at 9 a.m. with more than 500 vehicles dropping off over 800 "campers." It was pretty amazing! It was the awesome experience we have come to expect around 