Ken Newton

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Find the Balance June 29, 2007

Report 

Broke through the lock-up.  Down 3.8 kg.  Just in time for the weekend when temptation typically exceeds the limit of self-control.   Have to go to a wedding in 2 weeks and getting into that suit is going to be a close hit or miss.  We’ll see.

Find the Balance 

The office where I work is closed each Friday.  There is a lot of weekend and evening activity associated with working in a church environment, and we try to give employees the opportunity to find 2 consecutive days off.  But I rarely take Fridays, and have been fairly successful in (self) rationalizing this decision as maximizing the efficiency that comes with uninterrupted effort.  And, of course, the extension of that argument that I will take the time in lieu at a more convenient opportunity.

Well  -  I am doing well on the first part.  My Fridays are efficient.  I am not doing well on the second part.  I heard about it this morning as I had my morning coffee with Lynda on the front porch.  Guess it goes without saying who I heard about it from.

What to do?  I could really go defensive and make noise about the demands of an “elevated” responsibility.  I could reflect on my extreme inclination to work, and throw in words like “workaholic”, and “driven” and “ethical”.  I could talk about how I work less now than I did 10 years ago, that the 100-hour weeks are a thing of the past.  I might even throw in that the expectations of management are for effort far and beyond the simple calculation of a 40-hour work week.  60-70 hours would therefore seem acceptable.

I tried those arguments and then some.  I think they have been played out too many times.  Either the tolerances are wearing thin or I just picked the wrong morning to argue my case.  Maybe I wasn’t focussed enough on the body language.  Perhaps everything all wound up together.  But, could it not just be that Lynda was telling me that, for just this moment, this day, her needs were more important than my  “calling”?  That her excitement of installing a fountain and arbor and painting the bathroom was more meaningful than my backlog of work at the office?

I now have the benefit of reflection and realize that it is probably just that simple.  Lynda can be, and is impressed with and encouraging about what I do as a vocation.  But she would be more impressed, and is more deserving, of a right balance of attention and respect and care and time.  A book that we have kept coming back to for the last 15 years is The Marriage Builder by Larry Crabb.  The premise is that within a marriage relationship, each is called to ministry as influencing the other into a closer relationship with God.  Experiencing God within the oneness of marriage. 

Makes sense to me.  Can’t really do much about changing my work plans for today, but I can make a call and commit to making a fair adjustment for the future.  Man, it’s so easy to rationalize working in a church as abrogating full life ministry.  For sure the desire and related effort of change, which absolutely drives me, takes some serious investment of time and mental effort.  But the last thing I want to do is change one setting at the needless expense of the other.

Painting.  Gardening.  Arghhh!  Coffee with Lynda on the porch….  YES!

GSTQ

Advertising – Help! June 27, 2007

Report

Stuck but determined.

Advertising  -  Help!

Finding solutions can come by different means.  Certainly as one stacks up more experience there is more to draw on within one’s area of expertise.  While generalists with a bent to a particular area has been the past, extreme specialists are now the order of the day.  I think I am somewhere in between, with about 33 years across a broad variety of corporate applications, ultimately culminating in a systems integration niche.  Basically that means having a sufficient enough understanding of means and applications of operating practices that they can be optimized.

The disclaimer for me is that I know enough to be competent (or dangerous as the case may be from time to time) to define points of connection, however ignorant enough not to be qualified within the unique functionality.  Be it at a design level, detailed specifications, development, maintenance or any other aspect of product management, I know that there are too many specialty components within any corporate enterprise that I can not be the expert across the board.  So finding solutions through outside competencies becomes the means by which I can be effective for what I am accountable.

I like to research.  I like to facilitate consensus.  I like to craft the intent and objectives and allow the brilliant specialized mind work its skills to produce the detailed specs.  I like to step back and allow others to build on my behalf for having chosen to align their gifts and inclination.  What I absolutely despise are those people who will always come about an initiative and top load their minimal contribution.  They show up at the back end and place their signature in order to gain notoriety.  Their upwards mobility is tied to their ineptness and insecurity that they manage in some fashion to translate into self-achievement on someone else’s effort and skill set.

I digress.  Expressing that point of view bears no resemblance to why I am writing.

At SpringWell we have been shaping a plan for our operation that extends well into next year.  The objectives are clear.  The specifications are evolving from concept to real detail.  The product in itself will be outstanding.  But, as is always the case, marketing does not mean much without sales.  You know the expression  -  marketing and sales.  Whole departments are constructed around this descriptive.  Many of you know that I define marketing to be about the outcome.  For a church, that outcome is changed lives.  Sales is the means by which we pull this off, and we have created the environments and relative functionality to connect and move people.

Here it is.  At SpringWell we have reached the place where we finally understand the simple reality that what you have and how you do it and its intended outcome just doesn’t accomplish a lot when you never tell anybody where you have set up shop.  What to buy.  Where to buy it.  How long the sale runs. Why you need it.  How it will add value over present.  What it looks like.  Just like shopping on eBay.  The more information that’s there, especially a view from just about every angle, increases your confidence and interest to consider buying it without first touching and feeling it. 

I was asked yesterday to spec and cost the “advertising” program whereby everything we are planning to do at SpringWell going into the fall will have maximum awareness, inside and out.  (You will note that I do not use the word “marketing” as it means something different to me than “communications” or “advertising”).  Here’s the deal.  I don’t have an ounce of experience, understanding, savvy of what constitutes a meaningful communications effort and a responsibile investment warranted for its return.  I don’t know how to translate product specs into medium and frequency and content and targetting.  I’m OK with that, because I know that the solution lies with the specialists.  The people who really get today’s stuff.  Maybe even people who get today’s stuff within the specific context of a relevant church enterprise. 

But where are they?  Who are they?  Could it be that you are reading this blog and it’s you?  Could it be that you’re reading this blog and you have in mind exactly who I should be talking with?  I really could use some help here.  I look around and see just about every media form doing its advertising thing, but I don’t know how to map it from here to there.  I could get really excited if someone would drop me an email or a lead.  And, as I hear from you, I will feed back on this discussion. 

I’ll be looking for flashes of brilliance!  Thanks!

Leadership and Change June 26, 2007

I won’t even bother with a subtitle today.  Nothing to report in terms of any measurable change.  There’s a battle going on right now over where to land my weight.  My body says right here, right now, but I am not going to cave. 

Pulled a short list defining a leader out of a publication I was glossing over last night.  In summary, leaders are described as people who have courage, vision, perseverance, and integrity.  I’m all about change, and as I looked at these four words, I think that being a leader is mostly about change.  Having the outstanding attributes that constitute a leader.  Change takes an aggressive outlook, courage to execute, perseverance to stand in the face of resistance and abuse, with everything credible and held together by personal integrity.  Leadership and change are interchangeable about these characteristics.

Here’s the dichotomy.  The greater the leader, the more difficult the achievement.  The greater the change, the more likely the tendency to unsettledness.  The more provocative and uniqueness of the initiative, the greater the hostility and opposition.  What salvages innovation from failure is its incremental nature.  A leader can accept loss on one hand in favor of a net improvement in growth.  Not everything is salvageable, including people and their preferences.  As illustration, to be constantly effective for what we are called to be as a church, it must include losing while gaining.   That’s why people will leave a community within which they, at one time, felt closely connected to.  Change is just not a favored commodity.  For some reason, people think change places connection in jeopardy.

An analogy of a comet comes to mind.  It is always moving forward, and while having an extended appearance for its fiery trail, remains a single point entity in its place and time.   The distinction is that the place and time are forever changing.

Leaders are not about what they are able to hold to over time.  They are about what lies ahead; the path, the direction and the need to leave behind what was for a moment.  And, within a church context, many people just want to stop and hold on to the now, and to forget that the beauty and intrigue of the comet is its metaphorical identity.  Tough, get-it type leaders are prepared to let those go in the interest of adaptation. 

And that certainly takes vision, courage, perseverance, and integrity. 

French Toast June 25, 2007

Report

Up 0.8 kg. from Friday.   I’m not even going to try to figure this one  -  doubled my morning distance, upped the speed, played some tennis, ate pretty well.  Oh well  -  I’m feeling great, and I have to think that’s the biggest part of the strategy going into week 2.  Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

French Toast

Lynda and I spent the weekend with friends at their beachside home.  It couldn’t have been sweeter.  It had to have been one of the most relaxing couple of days I have had in a long time.  The couple who invited us have this ability to bring everything down to a perfect pace and state of ease and relaxation.  Just by being themselves!  What a gift!

Sunday morning came and I had been wrestling with some guilt of not being “at church”.  Probably in part because it goes with the job, but also because of the decades of my life where “going to church” marked your eternal destiny.  Recharged by the weekly dose of condemnation.  Guilted and manipulated by church form and practice.  Driven to a place of low self-esteem and the need for a public show of a contrite heart.

But mostly about the discipline of being in church.

On Sunday morning the four of us sat together over coffee and just connected.  No sense of time and when the “service” would end.  Sunday morning I learned how to flip a fried egg without sticking it to the ceiling.  Sunday morning I became privy to a secret family recipe for making french toast and then was not shot for being told.  Sunday morning we learned more about each other than we might otherwise had been uncomfortable to share.  Sunday morning we encouraged each other and talked about true relationship with God and his grace.  Sunday morning was not about a practice and a morning discipline.  It was about connection. 

I wish “doing church” within an institutional context could be more about “being church”.  I think our definition is messed.  Regardless of the stated purposes, churches are predominantly production streams.  The majority of people who come to church week after week do so about the operation and not the finished product.  They value or criticise the process.  They don’t examine and experience the real product of relationships.  Some do, don’t get me wrong.  But it keeps coming around to the same old statistics.  Twenty do and eighty don’t. 

The concept of environments we have constructed at SpringWell should effectively detonate the loose connection that comes with coming to church as the exclusive definition that has evolved over time.  SpringWell has its definitions right.  But we aren’t anywhere close yet to publishing statistics that defy the norm.  People still tend to coming, not being.  It’s hard work making the transition, but there can be no slack in the effort to pull it off.

I really enjoyed church this past weekend.  Attendance was 4.  We forgot to take up the offering.  Music was bad (I sang a verse of an old hymn).  Preacher never showed up.  God spoke to us….

Joggers and Churches June 22, 2007

Report

Down 3.0 kg.  Looks like things are moving into the slow and tedious zone.  But still movement in the right direction.  I’m feeling better every day on the morning excursion.  Added another cul du sac today, and turned the walking into a slow jog.  The old guy didn’t pass me (probably because he was going in the opposite direction when we encountered each other).  As we drew closer, I shifted into super athlete mode, put on a rested, casual face, breathed through my nose, smiled and waved.  He didn’t even acknowledge me.  He didn’t care that he ran as if every step was his last.  No pretense.  Me  -  as soon as I was past him, I let the effort translate back into the honest appearance.  Tomorrow we’ll meet as true warriors.

Joggers and Churches

As I was writing my Report, I couldn’t stop thinking about the embedded church analogies.  Anybody reading my stuff by now should have a pretty good sense that I try to apply experience, systems thinking, industry comparatives, study on culture, emotional responses, whatever, to how church can stand to be better at what it hopes to accomplish.  I don’t care that everyone agrees with the point made; more importantly, I care that people will at least start to think.  Perhaps about the idea, or at least about their own position and with a solid frame of reference.  I would even consider a well-made argument in response  -  not often, because usually comments about what I say aren’t suitably rebutted.  They typically are without substance, reflecting only a contrary emotional state.  You know  -  don’t just come with the problem; come with the solution.

I digress.  I love to write and very often it is hardly more than watching the screen and following what my fingers are typing.

Back to the point.  Here are the analogies that pop out:

• don’t look for instant results  -  change is hard and extended
• I stated in yesterday’s blog that I thrive on the constant elixir of movement.  You should see movement in change
• indicators should be built along the continuum of change.  Energy, morale, focus, synergy, and other subjective aspects of the effort should be monitored
• the change should have intervals of aggressive effort and times to stabilize and take stock of position and accomplishment
• no matter what emotional or physical influences come to play, do not revert to a lesser form
• you can’t get passed by a better strategy if it is headed the other way
• don’t fake the effort.  Don’t camouflage the progress.  You can’t bring the right influences to bear against what is hidden to others
• make the decision to do it, whatever that might be.  Execute on strategy

I could start all over with a whole new list of analogies that are about church (people) behavior based on today’s Report.  You’ve been reading my blogs for the past 4 months.  Let’s see to what extent you have been influenced to ‘process’ church effectiveness by finding some applications that jump out at you in today’s report.  Be fearless!  I would love to publish your thoughts!  And don’t go crazy on the churchese jargon or I will have to edit you down!

Elixir June 21, 2007

Report

Down 3.1 kg.  Too early to establish a trend, but I am encouraged.  Maybe had something to do with shaving off my beard yesterday.  As for the exercise part, had a great morning walk (still got passed by the old guy jogging though…).

Elixir

Just came out of a great staff meeting.  Every once in a while there is synergy and creativity that comes into incredible alignment.  Yes  -  there is the usual grind of business on hand, but when the minds turn to the future and suddenly there are all these spontaneous ideas for moving forward, there is this rich reward of being part of a team that all wants the same thing.  Growth!  It becomes less about the job description and more about what’s outside of the box.

I think the trigger point was when someone said that they would have quit a long time ago had they thought there was nothing more to do to influence change.  So many people think they have arrived, and that the product is in a finished state.  That’s a death sentence for a church. Our form and our functionality and our strategies are component parts of the culture within which we operate and influence.  The moment we move out of sync is the moment we lock up.

My life elixir is movement.  Career, relationships, knowledge, experiences, spirituality.  I cannot sit still.  I cannot sleep most of the time for thinking of new approaches and new applications.  I will not be in an environment that has no tolerance for a better way of doing something, or a job that endorses redundant effort.  I like where I am at these days, and the expectations of my contribution, systems approach, and wild schemes.  SpringWell is a great church with incredible potential and lots of big hills ahead to climb.  Today is when I absolutely know this is the place to be.

Yesterday I said that I was not into corporate blogging and that I needed to come back to a place of inciting criticism and controversy.  Well  -  guess that will have to be another day soon.  Right now I am enjoying the moment of this place and the confidence I have in the future of this church.

Watch for the old miserable me in my next blog.

GSTQ  

Blog Check June 20, 2007

Report

Down 1.95 kg.  I think the first few days always produce the best results.  But already I am settling into the discipline and the long haul.  Seems other people tying into my blog are coming alongside in their support and participation.  One of the measures of an effective blog is that it closes the gap between the writer and the reader.  Encouragement and commitment become the product.

Blog Check

I have been at this for 4 months.  Today I decided to do a self-assessment for a couple of reasons.   Firstly, I mentioned some time ago that I was reading through a book called The Corporate Blogging Book.   Normally I read quickly, but I have not connected well enough with this book that it has been hard to put down.  I am more interested in reading Wired and checking out other people’s blogs.  But I have read far enough into the book that I think I have a first measure of performance.

Here are some descriptives of a blog:

• packaged, filtered, controlled conversations are out
• power and excitement of raw, honest communication
• open, less-than-perfect communication
• bound to trip an explosion of controversy or criticism
• interactive
• should resonate with your look and feel
• close the gap between writer and reader
• may be unintended consequences, both positive and negative
• reflects the voice of an individual who is passionate and authoritative about the topic at hand

I figured I was stacking up pretty well in relation to these standards until…. what follows firstly.   Secondly.  Someone mentioned to me today that there hasn’t been much to my recent blogs.  Ouch!  So  -  back to those descriptives.  I think my writing is falling short because it may not be resonating with who I really am.  Maybe I have gone a bit soft hoping to appease the broad base.  Smack me upside the head!  Sure  -  there is nothing wrong with the daily progress report of what I ate and how much I exercised.  I have already mentioned that it is within the same discipline of writing a blog that I am able to be disciplined in my fitness journey.

But let that be nothing more than a simple preamble.  The “raw, honest communication” is what counts.  That it does or does not derive criticism doesn’t matter.  I am still writing as an individual, not a corporation.  The rules change when that happens, and as I come to understand more about corporate blogging, I may eventually swing over to that sphere.  But, for now, I want to continue to push out ideas and systems analogies in relation to church effectiveness. 

Speaking of which  -  if the church is all about connecting, why can’t we follow the same rules of blogging.  Open, less-than-perfect, interactive, authentic, intentional about closing the gap in relation to the unchurched.  Being fair, being equivalent is today’s generation’s approach to relationships.  Even in knowing that, I think we still operate as an (church) institution more in a dictatorial fashion. 

Our terms.  Our way.  Our form.  Our traditions.

How’s that for unpackaged, unfiltered, open, and, of course (I admit it), less-than-perfect communication?  And, by the way  -  the person who said my last few blogs were not all that great   -  I am going to punch them off the email subscription list.  Nothing dictatorial about that, is there?

Writing – A Few Thoughts June 19, 2007

Daily Report

Down 0.95.  (That’s good if you were to convert it to U.S.).  First day out and already faltered  -  had a small piece of coconut cream pie last night.  It was that or watch it get thrown in the garbage  -  or worse yet, given to the dog.  Life is all about compromise, I guess.  Walked another mile and shin splints already starting to kick in.  Whatever will happen when I actually break into a jog….

But I am determined…

Good News!

Scott has finally broken through writer’s block!  If I didn’t get to see him most days, I would have thought he left the country.  He always says he would love to live in Canada.  I like it when he writes.  He is really good at putting things into perspective.  He has incredible tolerances and explanations for human behavior.  He always likes to give the benefit of the doubt. He is crazy enough to link to my site, then has to come to the rescue for all the damage that comes of people reading my stuff. 

Here’s what this is really all about.  Scott believes in me because he knows me.  He cringes sometimes about my expression and behavior, but he doesn’t hang his assessment there.  He certainly doesn’t condemn.  If he doesn’t understand, he digs.  He comes around me, not against me.  How well and what he writes is the derivative.   It is fair.

My point is that when he writes, he writes well.  Keep checking his website for new articles.  Better yet, subscribe to his blog via email. 

And comment.  Here are some bits of advice on comments:

• stay on topic
• don’t attack or try to engage a fight
• add value
• “because” doesn’t constitute a better position
• show tolerance

So you know, comments are moderated.  Anything inappropriate isn’t going to make publication.  Following these guidelines pretty well assures your thoughts and position get fair display.  And at the end of the day, ideas take on a greater dimension, and learning occurs. 

I love to learn.

GSTQ

Day Zero June 18, 2007

Moving south really wasn’t in my full best interest.  Don’t get me wrong.  This is where I want to be.  But I don’t think I will ever be a complete convert to this sector.  Basic conversion only.  The deluxe package has features that may be good for some, but, for me, I probably don’t need.  For instance, this whole thing of body parts coming together when a simple handshake would suffice.  Or, the bonus of fat and calories that come with the deep-fried package.  The use of extra syllables and words and apostrophes are appealing, but once again, they’re in the deluxe kit.

I have tried the deluxe package.  Particularly the deep-fried feature.  When I moved here from up north, I could have made an argument that I was healthy.  I was 88 kg and easily running a 10k.  In less than 2 years, I have added 17.37 to one number and reduced the other by 10.  Not hard to figure what number applies to the other.

Time to do something about it.  I started to undo the damage this morning.  Wow  -  walking a mile takes work!  I was passed by a jogger, but he wasn’t even able to say good morning, he was working so hard at breathing.  It was good to find out that I was not the only baptist boy in our neighborhood who needs to shape up a bit.

Anyway  -  like I said in my last blog, I am going to report on the status of my efforts to trim up.  I am not setting any goals, at least not in the full definition of a goal.  Out of measurable, attainable, and reasonable, I am only going to go with the measurable part.  Partly because I think that this southern cooking renders unreasonable most weight reduction goals.  And something can only be attainable if it is qualified or quantified in measurable terms.  You know me well enough that I am interested in the system and the momentum more than outcome.  Plus I can always use that argument as my fall back on having actually really accomplished something.  Process and vectors…. 

There you have it.  My starting state.  Tomorrow, back to better writing.  But I will keep you posted on this other journey…. 

It’s Monday morning.  Wonder what’s for dinner…..

GSTQ

Get Healthy – My Blog Subset June 14, 2007

Writing a blog every day isn’t as easy as always having a new idea and hammering out and posting a few lines.  Some days it jumps right out at you and you can’t wait to move those ideas out of your head and onto your computer.  Other days you wake up and the first thing you think about is that you have to blog and don’t have the faintest idea of what might be of any remote importance to say.  Let alone important to the extent anybody else might even give it a passing read.

But I do it anyway.  I blog for reasons I have shared another time, but amidst all those reasons, also for the satisfaction the discipline brings.  It has become important enough for me to blog that it is now a primary discipline of my day.  I have been writing non-stop since March. 

Of course I have other disciplines.  They include:

• coming to work long before anybody else to have the peace and quiet that allows me to compile my day and priorities
• working an extra day each week to tackle the big thinking stuff without interruption
• reading and checking out other peoples’ philosophy and concepts
• having early morning coffee with Lynda and spending no less than 30 minutes talking about family
• learning something new about technology applications (thank goodness my family is comprised of computer science majors…)

…and on.

I was thinking this morning that I need to extend the same order of discipline of blogging into another aspect of my life.  My health!  Reading another person’s blog the other day got me thinking about this, and my first thought was that, sure, it might work for him.   His schedule was more accommodating, his target audience was pastors (which I certainly am not) and just about any other relative excuse for his ideas working in his favor but not mine.  None of which is probably true.  The point is, I was just finding ways to avoid making the commitment to do something that I really wasn’t excited about doing.  So I have had to come up with the means (my means) by which I will do something about my physical condition.

Here’s the logic.  I will tie into an existing discipline a “discipline subset”.  I know I have an established discipline of writing a blog pretty much 5 days a week.  I now have a pretty decent track record.  If I incorporate an obligation of reporting within each blog the status of my effort to get physically fit, then I am held to a level of commitment that just might keep me focussed and on track.  I don’t want to call it accountability. There are all kinds of people who read my stuff who really don’t care about my weight, my running ability, my bench strength….  But there are people who care that I deliver on the script as they are accustomed to finding it in their inbox every day.  They enjoy, or not, thinking about what I think.

So, starting next week (because I want one last weekend to binge and sit in front of Nascar with snack food of every variety), I am going to tell you how I am doing on my effort to get fit.  I am not even going to guarantee that I will succeed.  But I am going to tell you.  Every day I write.  For me.  And, if you’re inspired to be part of the journey in your own way, then how’s that for accomplishing something!

I must be crazy! 

GSTQ

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  I think I can finally declare myself retired. Probably for the wrong reasons - I have simply quit the self-deception of believing systems are the solution to the large church success. Not that I have been wrong, rather, I am in limited company for my belief, and it may be that the force of religious tradition still rallies too strong against conventional corporate process and re-invention. No regrets, no faulting, no resentment - just personal enlightenment. So now, I am quitting life in its bucking, controversial, compelling form, and finding greater meaning amidst simple needs, and amongst great minds who have already figured out what I am going to learn. What it means to be humanitarian, and how we are called to care. Life will be a mix of detoxification and renewed understanding of humility and gentle effort. And, for this season, Panama is the place to be....

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