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5 Secrets That Unleash Innovation — Breaking Free in 2023

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This week, I’m bringing you 4 ideas to help you BREAK FREE IN 2023.

I can’t think of anything that rhymes with 2024, so next year may be a bit tougher.

Nevertheless, we begin our series with a topic I love: INNOVATION.

Today’s post is all about getting unstuck by unleashing the power of innovation.

Here’s one thing I can guarantee: If you DON’T know how to innovate, your organization will die. Maybe not today. Or even this year. But eventually, death is the only destination for the organization without innovation.

I can’t encourage you enough to review this post.

If you find this helpful, you may enjoy TODAY’S 2:30 PM EST FREE WEBINAR: Building a Better Church Model.
https://churchacceleratorcommunity.com/webinar-remodel-your-church-model/

If you can’t attend live, no worries. Register anyway to receive the replay AND the Masterclass discount code.

Four Benefits of Organizational Confusion

As a leader, I don’t love confusion. But I’m learning to like it quite a bit.

The reason (I give four reasons in this new post): Confusion can equate to progress, innovation, and transformation.

The Devastation of Innovation

Did you have a Palm Pilot? I did, and I thought I was pretty cool carrying around a handheld device that kept my calendar and contacts. In 1997, the Palm Pilot innovation wreaked havoc on several industries. A few years later, the smartphone did the same to Palm Pilot. The rate of innovation is staggering, giving us all a choice: Innovate and keep up or allow the innovations of others to leave us behind. That’s the devastation of innovation.

In this post, I talk more about the devastating effects of innovation and provide some innovative opportunities for church leaders.

Thanks for giving it a read and passing it along.

How can I help?
Getting better through change and innovation is why I created Transformation Solutions. At Transformation Solutions, we help churches discern what needs to change and coach pastors through the challenge of change. If you are ready to get better, I’d love to support you and your church through the process of evaluation and execution.

Go right now to mytransformationsolutions.com and sign up for a free, 30-minute conversation to decide if working together works for you.

How To Try It Before You Launch It

One of the greatest drawbacks to change is the risk. I get it. I’m a bit risk-averse myself.

When possible, lowering risk makes new changes smarter and better.

Data is often the answer. When we can get real data, we can make more informed decisions.

How can we get this data? Surveys? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Surveys tell us only what people say they will do. We need to know what they will do.

In this new post, that’s what I’m discussing. I hope this helps you try something before you spend time, money, and energy starting something.

Neutralizing Your Fear to Lead Change

What’s keeping you from making a change?

There are some things that are unchangeable—things outside of our control. But what about the stuff that we do control? What about the stuff that we can change. The places where we have autonomy or authority.

– You’re a business leader, and your primary product is slipping in market share. If something doesn’t change soon, you’ll be out of business. You know it. Your staff knows it. Your competition knows it.

– You’re a team leader, and your staff is growing complacent. Moral is low, people are beginning to leave, and you know something must change internally for the team to be a team once again. You’re the leader. You have the power to make a change.

– You’re a pastor or church leader. Things have grown stagnant in the congregation. People are still attending, but they aren’t engaging like before. They arrive late and leave early. New families are not showing up. You know something must change if you are going to reach the community again. You’re the leader. You know what’s wrong, and you believe you can fix it. You can make the shift. You can implement the change.

– You’re a parent, and you sense your influence is lessening because your relationship is slipping. Something needs to change. If it doesn’t transition soon, you fear the opportunity to change will be gone forever.

– In your personal life, some areas are a mess. That’s the best way to describe how you feel. Physically you are a mess. Emotionally a mess. Spiritually a mess. Maybe a habit needs to be put down, or a relationship needs to be ended. Change is necessary, and your know it.

What’s keeping you from making a change?

There are many reasons we resist changing what is actually under our control to change. In my life, there are three specific fears that have caused me to pause instead of pushing me to progress. If you’re a leader, you’ve probably experienced them, too.

1. Fear of failure.

We know the only failure is a failure to learn, but intellectually embracing a pithy statement is much easier than holding to it literally. Failure is such a strong deterrent for change that we often choose the status quo of apathy, mediocrity, and even small failure. That is nonsensical, but we do it every day, because even a huge possibility of success is no match for a slight possibility of failure.

So Your Idea Isn’t Perfect…Big Deal!

AT A GLANCE…

Read this if…
You have ever hesitated try something, start something, or develop something.

This post in one sentence…
What should you do if you want to launch something new, but your something doesn’t feel ready?

How you can engage…
Share this specifically with people who have great ideas and need to move forward. Or any perfectionist you know! Lastly, leave a comment with your start story. I’d love to read about your experience.

HERE WE GO…

I have always loved Seth Godin. I’ve probably read all of his books. His blog. Basically everything Seth says resonates with my marketing inner-self.

Seth talks a lot about launching new stuff. He famously labeled it “shipping.” Seth’s stance is simple: “Ship often. Ship lousy stuff, but ship. Ship constantly.” I love that, even though it scares me to death.

Honestly, Seth’s encouragement is the reason I launched a blog. I partially wanted a new, fresh space to ideate and create content, but I also knew launching a blog would be an exercise in “shipping” something. Most likely, shipping something lousy, but at least shipping something.

Recently, I was reminded how true Seth’s stance really is. I was looking over some old blog post and I wanted more than anything to rewrite and republish them all, apologizing to anyone who accidentally endured these early writings in the process. As a blogging newbie, I didn’t know what to write about. I didn’t know how to blog. Once I posted all my Kindle highlights from a book. Who wants to read 5 pages of my highlights!?! And I was not a good conversational writer. For two years I had only written academically (insert incessant footnotes here…), and nobody enjoys reading a textbook! I had no clue how to take the oral communication skill I was developing and transition it to the written word. But I battled through the resistance (another concept I’ve embraced from Seth) and shipped. And I’m glad I did. I still feel sorry for my early readers, but I’m glad I pushed through. And while I’m still not an expert blogger or great writer, I’m learning and improving with each subsequent little shipment.

3 Tips to Leverage Social Media at Church (Plus 1 to Try)

Have you ever twitter-complained?

With some companies, it’s the only way to get their attention! With some, they never seem to hear, do they?

I recently visited Six Flags over Georgia (it’s a theme park in the Atlanta area, and before you ask – don’t go) with my kids. It was a terrible experience in many respects. Think Disney – then consider the inverse – and you’ll have Six Flags over Georgia.

While I was searching the park for an open drink retailer, dumbfounded that on a 93-degree day in Atlanta virtually every drink station was closed, I tweeted my frustration.

How To Ensure Feedback Is Helpful, Not Harmful

Have you ever given great feedback in the wrong way or to the wrong person, virtually negating the feedback in total?
I sure have – like it was my job!

Actually, evaluating and providing feedback IS a huge part of my job. It is an important part of any leader’s job. As a Lead Pastor in a campus location with North Point Ministries, I am constantly evaluating our services, events, and programs. One of our staff covenants is “Make it Better,” so it’s safe to say evaluation and feedback is in our organizational DNA.

While evaluation alone is relatively innocent, the feedback mechanisms that carry our evaluations are ripe for harm – especially if you are a senior leader.

I learned this lesson the hard way a few times (I’m a slow learner). I remember two specifically:

Could Your Success Today Kill Your Innovation Tomorrow?

Do you have the resources necessary for your job?

What about your department or organization? At our church, we challenge the leadership to ask that question frequently. The thought is simple and logical – if you don’t have the resources you need to succeed, we want to help fill in the gaps – within reason, of course.

When I first arrived at Watermarke Church, we were FAR from resourced. We existed as a hand-to-mouth organization. Every dollar we received left as it arrived. Every offering was critical. Every check was necessary. For two years, we scratched and clawed our way. It was a difficult season, but it was also a season full of fun and challenge … and innovation.

Then, after two years, we converted our church partnership into a campus location of North Point Ministries. Many things changed. And by many, I mean nearly everything. But our resources changed the most. Overnight, we went from being under-resourced to winning the church resource lottery (not really, but it felt that way). There were no blank checks, but we immediately improved financially. Within weeks our church began to take on new staff and new equipment. Our services improved. Our technology improved. Our leadership bench improved.

But… our innovative spirit began to wane.

Throwing Your Weight Around. Personalize Your Values, Part 4

In the previous post, we discussed how every leader should “go first.” By that, in reference to organizational values, we mean that leaders should not just communicate values, they must publicly demonstrate values – consistently. Going first is important – in fact, it’s critical – but leaders cannot just display a value once and consider their work done.

As an organizational leader, it’s oh too easy to forget that “going first” is only the beginning of setting the tone. As John Maxwell has made famous, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” When it comes to the life of organizational values, John’s assertion holds true, as well. But values are only as good as a leaders ability to clarify and consistently demonstrate. That is exactly what Dan does consistently across the Chick-fil-A chain. Here’s what I saw Dan do beautifully:

Leaders set the tone.

Read more to discover the three ways you and I can be tone-setters when it comes to the values we hope to lead.

Discover the Sermon Strategies Driving Growth in America’s Fastest Growing Churches

We’ve compiled a spreadsheet detailing the last 12 sermon series from the 100 fastest-growing churches in America.