It has often been said
there’s so much to be read,
you never can cram
all those words in your head.
So the writer who breeds
more words than he needs
is making a chore
for the reader who reads.
That’s why my belief is
the briefer the brief is,
the greater the sigh
of the reader’s relief is.
~ Dr. Seuss
Think about Dr. Seuss’ wisdom the next time you are writing an email to someone! I will.
Keith
I read these quotes in the latest Rick Warren newsletter. These are GREAT!
I especially like the Wilkinson quote: God is … “planning miracle appointments on earth and looking for people who will volunteer to partner with him in delivering them.” Gives meaning to every person in my day. Do they need a miracle smile from someone who recognizes them as another human being. A miracle door held open by someone who isn’t thinking only of himself. A miracle conversation about Jesus by someone who overcomes his fears of how they might respond.
“I used to see Heaven as a place where I might live someday. Now I recognize that Heaven is also a place where God is busy right now planning miracle appointments on earth and looking for people who will volunteer to partner with him in delivering them.” ~ Bruce Wilkinson, You Were Born for This (Multnomah Books, reprint, 2011)
“Church is not a meeting or a place you enter. It is an identity that is ours in Christ. It is an identity that shapes the whole of life so that life and mission become ‘total church.'” ~ Total Church: A Radical Re-Shaping around Gospel and Community (Crossway, 2008)
“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” ~ American author Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Who are the technologists who can translate opportunities into results? What does it take to become someone who can consistently deliver measurable results? I read an article recently that sparked my thinking.
High-performing technology leaders are leaders first, technologists second.
Leaders manage people well. They have learned the “soft skills” of leading others. Leaders know how to move a group of people from here to there. Leaders specialize in leadership. They are generalists in technology. High-performing technology leaders are still passionate about technology, but focus on the missional objectives, not the technologies.
High-performing technology leaders have learned to speak another language.
Learn to speak the language of leadership, the language of mission and business. Ask questions. Read books. Broaden your perspective. When around non-tech leaders, never, never, never talk about servers and protocols and megabytes and upload speeds. Ever!
Etched in my memory is a meeting with a technology leader and his organizational director. The discussion was about a new database system to replace the one that was about to exceed it’s maximum 1.5 million record limit. The director asked “Will this new system you are proposing last for a long time, or will it fill up like the current one?” The tech leader replied with a 15 minute explanation about how the Chunnel system linking France and the U.K. uses the same database system, has millions of passengers and vehicles a year pass through hence millions of database records added each year, and will last for many many years without exceeding the database’s maximum record limitations. The director asked his question again, “But will it last for a long time or will we be replacing it in a few years?” Another lengthy explanation. The director asked a third time. I jumped in to help the struggling tech leader saying, “What he is saying is ‘Yes, it will last a long time.'” The director thanked me for clarifying this important point.
High-performing technology leaders have found a balance.
When speaking outside the technology department, the high-performance leader speaks the language of leadership. Inside the technology department, the high-performance leader balances the language of leadership with the language of technology. The technology staff feel their leader understands the challenges they face and compromises they are making. All technology solutions are a balance, a compromise. The tech team needs to have confidence that their leader understands the issues and engages in the details.
What components of high-performance leadership have you found in technology leaders?
The mission task is changing in many ways. Some concern the content of missions. Others, such as what I’m writing about today, concern the context of missions.
In the past, missionaries were “prepared for everything”. The context of missions today, though, allows us to prepare for focused, precise opportunities and outcomes.
How?
Through the rich information available to us today. Through the way the internet is allowing rapid collection of metrics and the rapid dissemination of what we are learning back into the spiritual context of changing lives.
These changes are affecting many aspects of the missionary enterprise. But perhaps the most jarring aspects are in technology and traditional Information Technology. Server uptime or minimizing help requests are no longer the primary measures of success. Engaging people in meaningful life transformations are.
What is driving these changes in the role of technology? There are several significant trends, including:
These drivers are leading to relevance-driven engagement with information. A friend commented to me recently that when she was looking for something for her children, she did not use information-based searching such as Google.com, but searched through her social networks such as Facebook for what her friends recommended. What do my friends saying about this new movie? What are my friends doing this weekend? I’m at the local coffee shop, and I wonder who of my friends might be nearby?
Technology is at the core of these opportunities. But we have to think about the opportunities in non-technical, mission-driven ways.
What ideas do you have to engage in using information to lead?
| This blog post first appeared as a guest post on the Campus Crusade for Christ Blogference. If you’ve not been there yet, you are missing some good materials. Get on over there! |
Innovation takes many forms. It may look like a new use for an old tool; a new tool for an old need, or more commonly, a new tool for a new need.
Christian Maureira, the national director for Campus Crusade for Christ in Chile, innovated. He saw a creative opportunity to engage 33 miners with the reality of Jesus Christ. He took a common tool (the Jesus film in audio) and innovated a strategy to reach them 2660 feet below ground. And we all applauded his creativity, his courage, and his innovation.
Global Media Outreach innovated. In the era of sophisticated websites, they saw an opportunity. Their “simple sites” are basically the Four Spiritual Laws and are designed for those the Spirit has brought almost to the point of decision. The saw an opportunity for those around -1 on the Engel scale, who simply needed to know how to ask Jesus into their lives.
Agape Europe innovated. In their spiritual environment, they understood that there are many steps from those who are far from God. To move seekers from -10 on the Engel scale to the point of a decision for Christ, takes multiple steps. So they devised the stepping stone strategy. They develop web experiences as a series of steps moving people closer to God. They connect people with mentor coaches to help them along the way. They looked at the process of discovering God, and met people at critical points along the way with insightful experiences and trustworthy people.
Brian Barela innovated. This blogference is a creative way to engage hundreds of people around critical topics focused on reaching and discipling people today. Creatively. Innovatively. Faithfully.
What a time to be alive! What a time to be engaged as Christ’s ambassadors. We can connect with people in ways that Paul, Barnabas, Peter and others could only imagine. We are only bound by our imagination of what God could do through our availability.
God needs each of us to engage with all the creativity He gives. Our organization needs each of us to engage full of faith, growing our collective ability to fulfill God’s calling, employing every approach we can imagine to be fruitful. Our organization needs us to share what we’re learning, both what is working and what is not working. We also need people who have mastered the basics. People who can make a clear presentation of the gospel at the drop of a hat. People who understand the basic elements of how people grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.
At the recent Catalyst conference, Seth Godin said, “Change is made by people who eagerly accept responsibility without expecting authority.” Personally, I have rarely felt held back from innovating in my staff career. Innovation has been a hallmark of my time with Campus Crusade for Christ. While I am responsible for what I have done, I have always had freedom to try.
What about you? Are you eager for responsibility? What are you going to do before the end of this year that you have never done before?