Leadership

Developing Leaders in Technology

March 9, 2011 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

Richard has been to every one. Oumar has been to most as have several others. At this last Global Technology Leaders meeting, we had 28 leaders from 12 of the 13 areas of the world.

When I was asked to pioneer the role of Chief Technology Officer for Campus Crusade for Christ, my assignment was to build technology capacity to help sustain and accelerate the mission. That responsibility is more about developing leaders than it is about installing servers or buying software. Since the beginning in 2001, we have identified potential leaders and developed their leadership abilities.

During these meetings, we:

Develop leadership competency in the four roles of a leader. Grow as those who understand how to lead effectively to employ technologies to sustain and accelerate the mission of CCCI.
Grow in personal and professional competency.
Work together to implement common solutions to common needs.
Learn from each other, both leadership skills and technical competencies.
Network with like-minded leaders through building strong relationships.

It is fun and stimulating to work with these creative leaders on real projects needed by our organization.

Leading with Information

February 25, 2011 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

“It is my observation that your organization doesn’t pay much attention to mission effectiveness.”

A business leader observed this with one of our top leaders in Campus Crusade for Christ. Many of us agree that he is correct. We pay attention to good relationships. We pay attention to strong spiritual life. We pay attention to good processes that win people to Christ, build them in their faith, and send them out.

But perhaps we don’t pay much attention to effectiveness. We do many things well. But we don’t measure our progress towards the mission very well.

It is hard to do. How do you measure transformed lives? Transformed communities? Personal holiness? Spiritual formation?

But it needs to be done.

That is why this group of people has met these last 3 days in Thailand. We have been tasked by Campus Crusade for Christ to help help develop a culture of using measurable information to make leadership decisions.

Our President, Steve Douglass, has said that we want to have the right information to make the right decisions. We do not necessarily need perfect and complete information. Rather, we need timely information.

We call it Leading with Information. And it needs to be done.

Leading with Information

December 13, 2010 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

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:

Social networking. Mashable says it well, “Once, Twitter was a place where you could read about someone else’s cat. Now, it’s the first place you go to when there’s breaking news.” Recently, to repair the door handle on my car, I went to YouTube to see how someone else did it.
Mobility. Facebook statistics indicate that users are twice as engaged when using a mobile device. Most people are rarely more than 3 feet from their mobile device.
Cloud computing. Information is stored so that it is available anywhere, all the time. It is no longer “at home on my computer” or “at the office”.

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?

Permission to Innovate

November 19, 2010 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

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?

Leading with Information

November 1, 2010 by Keith Seabourn 2 Comments

It’s not how many worms the bird feeds its young, but how well the fledgling flies. (United Way of America, 2002)

We are engaging in a significant initiative in what we call leading with information. LwI is an intentional plan to add objective, outcome-based measures to our use of anecdotal, life stories in measuring effectiveness in accomplishing our mission.

It is helpful to understand four types of measures:

Inputs: Resources dedicated to or consumed by the organization
Activities: What the organization does with inputs to fulfill its mission
Outputs: The direct products of organization activities
Outcomes: The differences the organization makes

It is easiest to measure inputs: how many staff are on the field, funds raised. Activities are things the staff do each day: gospel presentations, bible studies led. Outputs are things like: exposures to the gospel, indicated decisions. Outcomes are the most difficult to quantify: changed lives, behavioral changes.

Since outcomes are the most difficult to measure but are the most important measures of mission success, it is important to identify and quantify the key drivers of each outcome. But to identify the key drivers, it is important to understand the end-to-end process flow and the critical points in the process.

Changed lives are the result of God’s direct intervention. Most of the time, God chooses to work through his people. God does not share his glory with anyone, but he does invite us into his processes in the lives of others. We do have a part.

We are working through these issues. We are seeking God’s wisdom to measure our part with excellence so that we can improve.

[NOTE: Click here to read my notes from several articles and papers I’ve read.]