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Tag Archives: culture
Kevin Carroll interviews IDEO Tom and David Kelley
Great interview by Kevin Carroll (Rules of the Red Rubber Ball) of brothers Tom and David Kelley (founders of IDEO).
Tagged Creative Leadership, culture, IDEO
Design Thinking in the Church
If you are a student of “innovation” you’re probably familiar with the term Design Thinking. If you’re not familiar with the term here’s a link that can give you broad overview.
The actual process of design thinking is often attributed to IDEO, a product design company located in California. To make the story short, IDEO was doing a lot of business in designing products they were getting a lot of attention (the mouse for the first Mac computer among others). Nightline the news program did a very cool story on them and the unique process by which they designed their products. Many people we interested, and looked for ways to adapt IDEO’s product design process to tackling other non-design problems.
Over time, Tom Kelley and IDEO began to refer to it as Design Thinking instead of simply “design”. They realized that it has more to do with the way that you think about the problem and its solution than about the actual product. They also began to consult with many different companies on how to integrate this thought process into the common challenge of being innovative.
There are several books worth reading on the topic including The Art of Innovation, Ten Faces of Innovation, The Rise of the Creative Class, and A Whole New Mind.
In general the concept is that our society has moved to very left brain thinking. Left brain thinking is characterized by analysis, logical, and linear thought processes. Right brain thinking is more creative, adaptable, and innovative. The goal is to use both the right and left brain thinking abilities.
For the church, this makes great sense. For hundreds of years the message of the gospel and the story of Christianity was represented through art, creativity and the narrative. It is a recent trend that we have focused so much on the logical and scientific aspects of the faith. In denying our creativity we have denied a large part of who God created us to be. At the same time – simply being creative, without understanding the rational and logical truths of the faith- is also denying a large part of who we are. It is when those two parts are brought together that we can most resemble the functioning body of Christ.
Over the next few posts I’ll be going into more detail about Design Thinking as a process and how it can benefit the church. It is one of the core processes that we use at 218Consulting when we help churches overcome the obstacles they face.
Tagged creativity, culture, design thinking
Post Christian America
In a recent article in Newsweek it is reported that the percentage self identified Christians has dropped by 10 points in the last 20 years. Throughout this article the implication is given that the Christian influence in United States is headed towards and end. The article is entitled The End of Christian America.
I don’t want to get into the semantics of whether or not this was ever a Christian country, but it doesn’t take much research to see that this nation was founded on Christian principles.
Tagged culture
100 Best…Competing for the Future
In Competing for the Future, the author challenges the widely held idea that short term incremental changes will effectively prepare your organization for the future. In the local church, incremental change is the approach most leaders take. The idea of “tweaking” the service, ministries, programs, etc. is the predominate method of getting ready for the future.
Hamel highlights the strategies of companies that were setting themselves apart as “different” in this book. In the world of the local church, I believe this concept of “different” can apply. The challenge for the church is identifying what you are trying to be “different ” from.
The local church needs to be different from
1) the other non church options that are available and
2) the negative perceptions of the local church.
Let’s dig deeper.
1. Other options.
The real competition for the Sunday morning time slot is no longer other churches. Rather it is golf, tennis, the beach, the bay, sleeping in, family time, soccer, working out, and a few other leisure options. (After reading that list, I think I may take this Sunday off!) Can the church compete with all of those? Yes. It must just be a positive “different”. One that gives things none of these others can deliver.
2. Negative perceptions.
Many who do not attend church will tell you that have very specific reasons for that choice. They will often give stories of bad experiences in the past or paint a negative picture of what they expect the church experience will be like. You have to be “different” from those experiences and fears to get them.
Another key is seeing the societal trends and being ready to deal with them.
Are you ready for:
- A financial environment that means people give less and expect more?
- An economy that creates higher expenses to do the same ministry?
- A complete lack of loyalty commitment to any one church?
- A demand that what you talk about from the pulpit relates DIRECTLY to my life?
- An expectation for the church to give a “return on investment” of time and money?
These are just some of the trends that the local church is beginning to face and will continue to face for the next decade. Are you ready?
- What are the key “core competencies” that you must master to survive the new reality?
- What practices/programs must you abandon?
- What must you add?
What must you fundamentally change in order to be “different”enough to survive and be effective in your mission in the new reality?
Take a long term view of the decisions you are making today, for they will determine your ability to survive tomorrow.