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Tag Archives: design thinking
Why Churches Need Design Thinking
Unless you lead the only local church in America that has no problems, then you need to find an effective process to solve the challenges that you face.
What I know about you is that you didn’t go into church leadership to deal with a lot of the stuff that you have to deal with. You went into church leadership because you believed God was calling you to something significant…something life changing…something…well, other than what you spend a huge amount of time doing.
As a leader, you have to deal with all the “other” stuff. You know, the stuff that no one really tells you about. The stuff that wasn’t a part of the conversation when God called you to give your life to the church. But what if He had? I can almost imagine what that conversation would be like.
God: I have gifted you and called you to give your life to full time ministry in the local church…
You: Wow. I am humbled. I will get to lead people from pain to peace, from lost to found. I will get to proclaim your Word and watch people respond by giving you their lives, I will have the honor of representing the most Holy God as the leader of His people.
God: Yes, but… there is more. You will also get to spend time with people who say horrible things about you because you made a decision about something without asking them. You will be put in the middle of situations that you have no control over, yet be held accountable. You will watch people leave the church because you said something that they did not like. You will go to sleep at night asking me…”Are you sure this is what you called me to do?’
You: Hmmm… is there anyway to just do the good stuff?
So where does that reality leave you? If you are like me, it leaves you looking for the best way possible to navigate the web of decisions and problems that we all face as we lead the church. I can share what I have learned, and how it can completely change your circumstances. (more…)
Tagged creativity, design thinking, leadership, process
Rise of the Creatives…
In working on a yet to be publish post on the Future of God, I realized some truths about the Past of Leadership.
Industrial Age -The Individual worker is minimized, the Managers are Empowered, and Leadership is minimized. (think Peter Drucker)
Technology Age – The Individual worker is minimized, the Manager is minimized, and Leadership is Empowered (think John Maxwell)
Creative Age – The Individual worker is Empowered, the Manager is minimized, and Leadership is minimized (think Richard Florida)
Empowered in the sense that the attention is shifted to that position, and much is written on how to make the work environment most conducive to that position being effective.
Minimized in the sense that ability to perform is assumed and not the focus of attention.
The current trend of business related thinking on this topic will soon begin to significantly impact the church (as it has in the past) and we will feel the same shift. There is already the early signs of this with the growing movement in the church to develop a “Strengths based” ministry concept. We are still very consumed with the Leadership models of the past 30 years, so it may take a while to see this as a “new” paradigm of ministry.
There are several other posts on this site about the Strengths-based approach on this site.
A wise church leader will listen and learn, and be read to lead in a new Era.
Tagged Creative Leadership, design thinking, Future
Design Thinking and the church
Several months ago I decided to put together a new website that would cover a different area of my consulting life: Design Thinking.
At the time, I thought it would be a small site that might get a little traffic, and maybe inspire some people to consider the effectiveness of the Art of Design Thinking. Wrong.
It has been a HUGE surprise to see the amount of traffic from all over the globe. As a result, I have spent a great deal of time blogging, Tweeting, and consulting on the topic.
So how does this fit with the primary topic of this blog??? Well, it’s all about the ability to bring effective solutions to real problems. And that is what leaders do…especially in the church.
If you have not had a chance, I encourage you to check out the new site DesignThinkingBlog and see what you can learn.
And for those of you who are looking for direct help, use the contact page and let’s talk.
Tagged design thinking
Design Thinking
For several months now I have been on a quest to pull the best information together on the topic of Design Thinking. I was first introduced to the concept through a Nightline story on IDEO, an Industrial Design and Engineering company in California. As I watched to story almost 10 years ago, I was fascinated with the ability that this company had to create very cool and effective products. They were on to something that could change the way companies developed products.
Over the years, I have followed IDEO as they have moved from creating products to teaching other companies how to create. The success they have had has opened the doors to an international audience that is hungry to find new ways to do things. Eventually, the big focus was on HOW they did things, not WHAT they did. The IDEO process became known as Design Thinking and is now hitting the business world as a new way of getting results.
So is Design Thinking just another business fad…the lasted “flavor of the month”? Maybe. But it is also one of the most legitimate shifts in thinking over the past 20 years.
We as humans seem to have this odd desire to look for extreme solutions to the problems that we face. For a generation, the solutions came from our ability to dream and create. Then for a generation, it was our ability to analyze and engineer. For a new generation, it is about personal experience. So which of these extremes is correct? D. All of the above.
Tagged design, design thinking, Future
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