Ken Newton

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Shifting the Target July 31, 2007

I sure do like writing.  Most days I sit down and just start.  Other days I have a point in mind that has to be made, and I probably wrestle more with the wording than where I am free-flowing.

You will notice a couple of changes occuring on my blogsite.  Firstly, no more comments.  I had considered doing this a couple of times in the past, but felt that there could be something to be gained for someone’s opinion in response.  I really don’t care that much that someone would simply agree or disagree.  That doesn’t do anything for me in adding another dimension of logic or approach that makes me think any differently.  You always hope that you get something back that is meaningful.  That’s what I look for.

Lately I have been getting set off by responses that criticize the “level” at which I communicate.  Comments that slam my use of words and discount a well-expressed concept.   Mostly it’s people who are loosely connected with church, who by their defense of doing nothing other than use scripture without present substance, simply mess me up.  I honestly think they despise anything to do with complexity and systems and technology even though it is now the essence of how we function and communicate.

My fault.  I never offered the disclaimer.  I never really set out who I hoped would become the reader base.   They are the people in church leadership, and for starters, get the importance of change.  They aren’t old school, stuck on past practice, and welcome the suggestion of a new approach.  They capably challenge and counter while being encouragers, and take the time to consider the possibility of an application.  They make the effort to wrap their intelligent minds around someone else’s point of view without taking offense by the delivery.  It is for their feedback that I wish I could keep the option to comment open.  But there are some cortically subilluminated folks out there (by the way, there are days where I am certain that I fall into that category) who have absolutely no relevant point of view yet feel they have some kind of right of response to something they have no understanding of.   Worse yet, that they have no interest in understanding before countering.

Sorry  -  from this point out it’s just my word and you will have to take it or leave it without any sign of struggle or contribution.  Maybe some time we’ll bring it back.  For now, take one last look at my bio.  Tomorrow it will be different.   

GSTQ

Mail & Ministry July 27, 2007

A few years ago, while working at Canada Post Inc., I held responsibility for the national distribution of all commercial mail products in Canada.  As with USPS, at CPC, commercial mailings constitute the greater percentage of mail volume.  We marketed service.  Not delivery.  Delivery of a mail piece outside of a time commitment was a failed product.  A person who receives a parcel, an envelope, even a publication is only pleased with the product where it arrives within an anticipated time frame.

I’ve chatted lots over the past several months about marketing.  The differences between product and process.  That as a church, our product is changed lives.  That’s what we market and that’s how we define our strategies.  If Canada Post marketed its product types, and never pegged to it a service commitment, people would be looking to the competition to satisfy their needs requirements.  It doesn’t take much to understand that competition within the small parcel distribution industry is fierce when you see all the different colors of delivery vehicles tearing through your neighborhood.  It comes down to cost and serice.

Competition to change lives is also fierce.  It’s not exclusive to the church, nor do we compete very well.  By what means can voluntary behavior be altered?  What are we trying to change?  If we can only at best offer an assortment of methods or programs (which we ridiculously continue to publish as “ministries”) and expect that people will choose us in favor of a better investment of their time and emotions and intellect, then we fail.  We might not think so, and our measure may become the means to the end.  We will still have those loyal customers who choose to stuff a letter in an envelope and lick the stamp, instead of using email or text messaging.  There will always be both, but the ratios are changing and one of the products is dying.

Is your mind mapping back and forth between church and mail distribution and making the connection?  It’s not all that difficult to see the application.  Translate mail products into ministry (arghhh) programs.  They’re the envelopes and the stamps and the parcels and even the delivery.  Now translate delivery service into connection.  Community.  Connection with God.  It’s a both/and condition.  But the genius is what you market.  It isn’t enough to market a selection of products or activities or streams.  It’s what sets you apart for what people want at the deepest level.  If it’s time in transit, then that’s what you represent.  If it is connection with God and community within which a life will be transformed, then that’s what you represent.

I’m just thinking that I once wrote an article (apart from a blog) on how systems we used at CPC can be a perfect fit for the systems we need to engage in a church operation.  I will dig through my archives and reconstitute the information over a few days’ blogs.

And, you know what?  Each day goes by I think that more and more  people are getting it.

Thursday Meetings July 26, 2007

Thursday is always a packed day for me.  It’s when we have our weekly meeting marathons starting early in the morning with senior management then opening up to a full staff session.  There is not as much a formal agenda at these meetings, rather, for each Thursday of the month, there is a specific purpose to the discussion and presentations.  There is also the tendency to cover off such an array of present and upcoming issues that the energy of the possibilities escalates quickly, but also sets up for a greater let-down once the reality of accomplishing everything catches up after the fact.

Here are some suggestions.

Firstly, plan to participate.  Assuming you know ahead of time what topics will be given attention, regardless if it has or doesn’t have a direct bearing on you or your area of responsibility, consider to what extent you can bring added value to the discussion.  Collaboration cannot occur under one voice.  I can attest to the influence of dialogue and point of view as yielding a more balanced outcome.

Secondly, don’t rely on recall or meeting notes taken by a designated person.  Especially if meetings cross through a broad functional spectrum and ideas are generated that come back into your area from a different angle.  Have pen and paper or notebook to capture the critical points and bearing on your continuing contribution to the enterprise.  My biggest problem these days seems to be a slightly fading memory, and all it takes are a few trigger words to bring things back into mental play.

Don’t settle on first pass discussion.  Play things back real time.  Clarify by asking questions or reconstituting the thought for what you heard and how you would represent it to someone else.  Own it by your own understanding and expression without compromising its conceptual or definitive attributes.

Know with full certainty what your assignment is coming out of the discussion.  Don’t assume.  If there are expectations of you for which you will be held in some fashion to the final deliverable, don’t defer to another time or source of understanding that is after the fact.    Know exactly what you need to do and write it down.

Good meetings are those times where you should be able to safely express a contrary point of view.  Or an admission of confusion or lack of understanding.  Or another approach.  The key is in the delivery.  Be mindful of how other people are positioned, their vested interest, their effort and functional ownership, and their personal feelings.  But find a way to bring a well-motivated perspective.

One last idea.  The reason Thursday is packed is that the rest of the day following a meeting is given to acting on assignments.  The best time is while the iron is hot.  While the memory is strong and the intent is still vivid.  While the assignments are still out in front of the next barrage of priorities that are sure to come from nowhere as quickly as you come to work the next day.  Meet with whomever you need to meet with right away.  Get as much information into play as you can lay your hands on.  Assignments that simmer lose the benefit of the emotional edge. 

Go home at the end of the day with more of the effort already behind you than awaits you.  It will feel better.  And next Thursday is one day closer….

It’s All in the Wording July 25, 2007

Every once in a while I like to be reminded that my philosophy and experience in corporate business has meaning.  When you are working in a church, the expectations seem to be different, although everyone should want the same deliverables.  But they want them scripted differently, and derived without bearing any resemblance to the “secular world”, notwithstanding they are equivalent. 

I get verbal and written responses to my blogs, of which a good percentage have objection to what I say.  Or, probably more accurately stated, to how I say it.  The range of response begins with “I have no idea what you are talking about” (translation  -  why can’t you use words and descriptives we understand) to “we’re a church not a business” (translation  -  so there can be no application of standard logic and arguments).

Then, every once in a while I get feedback from the community outside of a church operation that is reinforcing and reminding that what I do and how I process still has validity.  Marketing, systems, strategy, return, integration, efficiency, technology, and all those other good words fall momentarily into familiar territory and come back with affirmation.

Why the difference in response?

The easy answer is the descriptives have only recently become part of church growth strategy.  At least where I work.  Many people are simply unaccustomed to the words themselves.  That’s valid.  But I also think the deeper explanation is that with understanding and agreement comes accountability of a different form.  The realm of big church accountability doesn’t stop at “preaching the gospel”.  Its shape is corporate.  Its competition is a broader industry and the charge on values and options.  Its systems are complex and even extravagant.  New definitions and approaches to building the future are on novel  platforms that require continuous upgrade.  It’s a tougher accountability that rests against varying specialties of operation.

Being a church has far more facets of planning and operations than ”doing” church.  Being needs the corporate approach  -  the systems approach.  Being incorporates all those words that offend “church” people.  Being requires that leadership take on a new face.  The product remains a constant, but the plant requires continuing retrofit and upgrade to its systems.  This becomes the greater bent of leadership as the church grows. 

So  -  I will continue to be and express as I am and think.  I know I’m right.  This isn’t about feeling one’s way along a new approach.  I know this road.  And, as every once in a while I receive a  response that says “dead nuts, man”, that’s what makes it worth while.

Lessons on Getting There July 24, 2007

Where I work we continue to move closer to the structure and means we have fashioned to carry us into and through the next increment of growth and achievement.  It has taken too long for my liking, and has crossed over some precarious embedded culture.  New language and concepts have begun to take hold.  They now need to be given their season.

Along the way, I have either learned or relearned a few lessons:

• let go of the fear of things that probably won’t happen
• work really counts when you take it to the point of exhaustion
• empower others
• lead high enough to give space for other leaders
• match resources to the unique culture of SpringWell
• if a decision is right and makes sense, then it will be
• leverage the know-how of the stakeholders
• concepts and their convergence have diverse applications in untried settings
• being passionate is different than being emotional
• don’t create something big, rather stimulate a reaction that will translate it into something big
• tag to every initiative the words contemporary, generationally relevant
• create something that wouldn’t exist if I weren’t here (otherwise, why bother?)
• you can’t please everyone

Finally, build the product that has the highest likelihood to succeed and then sustain success. 

Coming down to the wire….   Just a few more weeks.

GSTQ

Back to Tuesday….. July 19, 2007

I just learned that many of you who subscribe to my blog by email may have been shorchanged on Tuesday.  Me and Feedburner had an issue that day I guess.

Just in case you missed it, check out Life’s Tough Questions. 

GSTQ

Choices Without Complexity July 19, 2007

I had a vain moment the other day.  I did a Google search on myself to see how I was ranking amongst all the other world’s KN’s.  Not bad.  Over time, and given enough word searches bringing people to my url, I have made it to the front page and struggling towards top position. 

As I was on the KN search results, I picked up on an article about managing complexity in the supply chain that referenced a panel of executives who were brainstorming on new strategies and their inpact on complexity.  One of the panel participants was Ken Newton, a retired Senior VP of Purchasing at Kraft Foods and Colgate Palmolive.  Mr. Newton offered a perspective that one never goes to work and thinks that they are going to work on reducing complexity today.  Rather, you need to understand that changes made in one area could create additional complexities in another area, particularly as the environment is silo in nature.  He ends his comments with the challenge that we need to look at it holistically across the organization.

A couple of things caught me.  Firstly, to the extent we have been working towards a fully integrated matrix operation at SpringWell, we are addressing the possibility of positive change in one department bringing negative change in another were departments to continue to operate in isolation.  Secondly, within a supply chain context, as the number of options might be reduced by a marketing effort, there could be an extended impact.  I am intrigued by this statement.

Here’s why.

I have talked about “unlearning church”, particularly as it should negate the expectations of frequency and selection.  Try reconstituting church as a big idea with a limited functionality and a high rate of return on effort.  See what happens when you take the 100 or so “ministry programs” and all of their inefficiencies and drain on overhead and punt them in exchange for a few products that are fully assigned to the core purpose of being a church.  Wow  -  people in place get pretty twisted.  So how do you manage such a transition without losing ground to gain ground?

A goal discussed by this panel was to be able to provide the “appearance” of endless choices.  The Dell online ordering model was used as an illustration.  I understand this strategy, particularly as a marketing initiative  -  the customer wants to think they have unlimited options.  I’m wondering how the concept could work in the church world.  People like to think they have every conceivable choice of experience and connection in a church, and it seems the only way we have been able to accomplish this in the past was to create far too many programs and clusters.  That’s one of the reasons so much of income goes into an expenditure item other than the basic service church is to provide.  Is it possible that people can still “build to order” to their needs within a limited description of products?

At SpringWell we market environments.  We have an infrastructure that is anti-silo and held accountable to the effectiveness of the environments.  We have critical departments that are demographically oriented.  We are now defining the choices, and must find the way to keep them limited so as to be efficient.  Efficient in terms of the increased complexity of being a church in relation to other demands on peoples’ values, but limited in relation to maximum achievement and least cost of operation.

Quite a find, this article.  I’ve got a long way to go to really get my mind around it!

Garmin and Church July 18, 2007

I have become fully dependent on my Garmin GPS.  Every one who drives a car should have one.  No more printing of mapquest directions before heading out.  No more watching for street signs or exit numbers.  Never a time any more where I fault Lynda for reading maps upside down or telling me to take the next exit as I watch it fade in my rear view mirror.

It’s enough to just sit quietly waiting for the next time I will hear that sweet computerized female voice gently reminding me of an upcoming exit or turn.  And if I happen to be deep in thought and have accidently tuned her out, she quickly finds an alternative for directions I failed to negotiate.  No yelling, no faulting.

You read my blog and you know that I love to find analogies of everyday life to being a church.  Here’s one, compliments of Garmin.

When you set out on a trip, Garmin calculates your estimated arrival time.  I’m sure it includes all kinds of algorithms and average speeds and just about any known variables that can influence your time relative to total distance.  I’ve noticed that no matter how hard I try early on to advance the arrival time (and there is really only one way to do that -  physics says that time equals distance over speed), the arrival time barely changes. 

For the first part of the journey…..

I also noticed that as you sustain the change relative to the embedded calculation, as time progresses, the destination time can be influenced.  It’s just mathematics.  The system adjusts its calculations only for that part of the full computation that has transpired or is in present change.  However the weighting continues to be that of what is embedded.  It is only at the point at which the weighting shifts to the achievement of the change that the outcome begins to take form.

The analogy?  Church has its “calculations”.  Its predeterminations.  Its fixed way of doing things based on the norm.  Norms are traditions.  Along comes a systems thinker and a shift off norm, and nothing seems to be happening.  The weight of the determined means still determines average speed and rate of change.  It seems that as aggressive an influence is being brought to bear, the long-term indicators don’t budge.  Real time measures are positive, but they just don’t seem enough to alter the outcome. 

This is where Goethe and endurance come together.  Decisions to engage change must occur at all times, and the initiative must be pursued to its completion for it to generate its force.  As we make changes in how we operate as a church, we must anticipate the extended haul.  We must expect imperceptible results early on, and hold to accomplishing the long term adjustment. 

I like change to have an immediate impact.  I am impatient by nature, and get frustrated by lack of any measurable change at the front end.  My Garmin has brought some reality back into my task and expectations here at SpringWell.

Life’s Tough Questions July 17, 2007

Well  -  just made a run to the border, crossed over into Canada, attended my nephew’s wedding, got back in the car, managed to get back across the border (that’s a whole other story…), made it back to Greer, SC, and did it all in 3 days.  Anyway  -  when you are driving for 24 hours, there is a lot of time to ponder the deeper questions of life.  Here’s a lineup of some of the questions that crossed my mind, many of which I have yet to learn the answers:

• why is it that on a 6-lane highway, the traffic light is always red?
• why is the first room you check into at any high-end hotel (as in Motel 6) never good enough, and you have to request another room?
• why do trucks always wait for the next steep hill to pass each other? (and, on a serious note, why aren’t more truckers charged with attempted vehicular manslaughter or something like that?)
• how do highways get built when the only person working on a construction site is the one directing traffic?
• why do cell phones work in the middle of nowhere, yet it is impossible to get a signal in your own living room?
• what’s the good of cruise control if nobody every uses it?
• should turn signals be optional when buying a new car? (seeing nobody uses them when changing lanes)
• why is gas cheaper out-of-state?
• why are the roads on toll highways in worse condition than regular highways (and why do they hire people at toll booths who don’t know how to make change on a $10 bill?)

And, finally (for those who have crossed international border points)….

• why is the line you choose out of a possible 10 lines always the one that moves the slowest?

Next time I will plan to take some CD’s and spend more time singing instead of thinking…..

GSTQ

Unlearn as a Project July 12, 2007

Since being part of a brainstorm session last Thursday where someone used the expression “unlearn church”, I find my approach to strategy and tasks fashioning itself around that objective.  Not in a negative way, moreso about a check on whether it is the right way or whether it is “the way we’ve always done it”.  It is the difference between “doing” and “being”.

I have been trying to formulate an approach to maximizing connection at SpringWell.  Churches typically lay all their cards on a few bits of information about people, and then try and find some kind of a match to task.  By the way, I don’t think that’s the kind of connection that holds it all together.  Churches have the standing program lineup, and build their “strategies” within an activity.  That’s the approach we need to unlearn.

I’m a systems guy.  I do project management.  Now there’s an approach.  Make unlearning a project.  The business case lays out a high level goal that includes the word “unlearn”.  My daughter is a project manager and sent me a nice, neat template for communicating a project concept.  Wow  -  you plug in the word “unlearn”, or any other word that suggests change by first disconnecting, and you can build a whole strategy around connecting.  It all works in building a plan that represents a decision statement, opportunities, preferred alternatives, deliverables, and all that cool stuff that constitutes a project.

I took a first run at it this morning.  I liked how it started to lay out with all the operating elements summarized.  How within a project management template we automatically unlearn the past practice of propagating tired practices.  How within a stepwise determination we can work from the highest level of purpose down to the most detailed of tasks and interdependencies.  The big difference of this approach is that the starting point is the big idea within the context of forward movement and growth.  The starting point is not current process.  And, for it not to be, it must be unlearned. 

As for the “big idea”, that’s the name of the book written by Dave Ferguson I just ordered from Amazon.com.  Can’t wait to read it and see how it fits  -  I’ll write about it in a few days.

It’s all about change…..

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• Bio

  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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