Just finished reading Great by Choice, Jim Collin’s newest.  As much as we talk about clarifying the win, I caught something that I just needed to point out to you.

If you read Good to Great (Collins’ 2001 best-seller), you recognize the terms hedgehog concept and flywheel effect.  If you need a refresher, here’s the basic info:

“The Hedgehog Concept is a simple, crystalline concept that flows from a deep understanding about the intersection of the following three circles:

• What you are passionate about
• What can you be the best in the world at
• What drives your resource or economic engine”

Looking for a question or two that might be game-changers?  Magazine Luiza is one of Brazil’s most admired companies, catering to the needs of the country’s poorest shoppers.  Really quite a fascinating story (as detailed by Bill Taylor in Practically Radical).

In preparation for Magazine Luiza’s biannual strategy session (referred to as the “Big Meeting”) employees at every level are asked two questions.  Their answers are collected, compiled, analyzed and create the foundation for the Big Meeting.

Want to know what the two questions are?  Here you go:

“Before they attend the meeting, though, thousands of rank-and-file workers answer two questions that drive much of the discussion: First, What are we not doing that we should start doing right away?  Second, What should we immediately stop doing in order to allow for the emergence of the new?” (p. 123, Practically Radical)

Can I tell you something?  Great questions will change the game.  These two might change yours.

Love this great line from The Innovation Killer by Cynthia Barton Rabe, a former strategist at Intel:

“What we know limits what we can imagine.” Many organizations, she argues, struggle with a ‘paradox of expertise’ in which deep knowledge of what exists in a marketplace or a product category makes it harder to consider what-if strategies that challenge long-held assumptions. “When it comes to innovation,” she writes, “the same hard-won experience, best practice, and processes that are the cornerstones of an organization’s success may be more like millstones that threaten to sink it.”

I don’t know about you, but I love a good group exercise that will get a team talking about the way things are going.  As we’ve talked about recently, it’s one thing to vaguely know that you’re not where you need to be.  It’s an entirely different thing to acknowledge the truth about where you actually are.

I was at a Leadership Network Innovation Lab this week and was introduced to a great exercise.  Just knew you’d want to add it to your innovation toolkit.  Here’s how it works:

Start by identifying a process that is part of the way your ministry functions.  For example, you might think about the way you identify and recruit potential coaches.

In the stop quadrant, you’ll write down the aspects of your process that you know is not working and you just need to stop.

In the start quadrant, write down any new methods or ideas that you want to start.

In the tweak quadrant, write down steps that are working but aspects that need to be adjusted or changed slightly.

In the continue quadrant, write down the aspects of your current process that are working and just need to be kept intact.

The value is in thinking through the quadrants and talking about what fits where.

A story is told that soon after the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971 someone said, “Isn’t it too bad Walt Disney didn’t live to see this?” And Mike Vance, former Dean of Disney University replied, “He did see it—that’s why it’s here.”

I don’t know about you…but I love that quote!  I love the idea that Walt Disney dreamed of the place, the environment that would one day be Walt Disney World…that he saw it…and that’s why it it opened the way it did in 1971.

Can you imagine what it was like to hang with Walt?  I don’t know about you, but I am a Walt Disney kind of guy.  My family loves Disneyland!  We love the beauty.  We love the feeling of delight.  We love the design and the intricate detail you see only if you’re looking close.  We love the imagination.  One of our coolest family memories is about the time in 2004 that we first bought a season pass and I surprised everyone and said, “Let’s not just buy the pass.  Let’s get on the Monorail and go into the park!”  It was a good night.  A very good night.

My Dream

Can I tell you something?  As much as I love Disneyland…and as much as I love the idea that Disney World is what it is because Walt saw it in advance…I absolutely LOVE the idea that I can be part of reaching the widening 60% that will never be reached by the attractional model.  I love that.  And I’ll die trying to figure out ways to leverage the existing relationships at crowd’s edge.  I will never stop.  It is the reason I am alive.

I am dreaming of the day when millions of people, friends of the folks at crowd’s edge, look across coffee tables and dinner tables and say, “I am so glad you and your friends were just real with us!  We don’t know why we never noticed Him before…but we met Jesus through you!”

I am dreaming of the day when out of the blue Lance and Lisa say, “We were at a party and the host showed this Nickelback video called Savin’ Me and then there was an interview with the video’s director and the next thing we knew we were in a discussion about the meaning of life that kept us riveted for 90 minutes!  We’re going back to watch Daughtry’s What About Now next week!”

What’s Your Dream?

So I’ve told you mine…what’s yours?  Got a dream?

Now is the time!  Put your dream in black and white!  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

I love this inspiring presentation by Simon Sinek.  Filmed at the TED conference in September, 2009, it should be mandatory viewing if you are designing, developing or leading ministry of any kind.  I’ve watched it at least 5 times.

There are two fabulous illustrations (if you hang out here very much, you know why I care about that).  It is just a great talk.  Only 18 minutes…he nails one point.  If you want to become a better ministry point leader, this is a must watch presentation:

Can’t see the video? Click here to watch it.

Recently Rick Howerton was asked a challenging question by some small group pastors and Rick responded by sending the question on to a number of small group pastors in order to get a broader perspective.  Ready for the question?  It might be yours, too!

They asked, “What are the markers for a healthy small group ministry.  That is, when a small group pastor does her/his evaluation of the ministry, what are the list of things that that small group pastor should be measuring to determine how effective the ministry really is?”

Isn’t that a great question?  I thought you’d think so.  I also was sure you’d enjoy reading the responses.  Really good stuff from a number of the sharpest minds in small group ministry.  I got Rick’s permission to use the idea and asked each of the participants if they’d be willing to share with you.  All of them said “yes!”

(This is part one of a four part series.  You’ll find the other three parts below)

Here’s Alan Danielson’s Response:

When determining what to measure in regard to the health of an overall group ministry, I think measurements can change from year to year based on what you are trying to achieve.  For example:  if your biggest hope one year is to train up new leaders for future growth, then you’d measure how many leaders you train over the year.  If you are focusing on getting groups to be missional, you keep track of the number of small groups who participated in missions.  If you’re wanting your number of groups to dramatically rise, then you track your number of groups.  If you want more of your congregation to join groups, measure the % of your weekend attendance in groups.

I like setting 12 months metric goals based on the ministry’s overall needs each year because measured performance is improved performance.  If I need to improve something, I measure it, make it a habit, then move on to the next thing.

Alan Danielson, 3Threat.net Great answer! If you’re not aware of Alan’s ministry, you can find out more about what he does at 3Threat.net!

This is Part One of a series of posts about Measuring Small Group Ministry Effectiveness.  Here are the other three parts:

• Mike Mack on Measuring Small Group Ministry Effectiveness
• Eddie Mosley on Measuring Small Group Ministry Effectiveness
• Reid Smith on Measuring Small Group Ministry Effectiveness

Developing a deep understanding of the business you are in is one of the most important things you will ever do.  Right on its heels, you must develop an awareness of who your true customer is.  Without an accurate understanding of those two certainties…your only chance for success will be based on chance (or providence, depending on your world view).

This is very, very important.  And it is not the way many of us think.  For the sake of time, I want to skip ahead to the customer issue today.  Although you might have a different idea, let’s just say that the business we are in is building environments where real life change can happen.  Once we have that understanding, the next conviction we must develop is an awareness of who our true customer is.

So the question today is, who is your true customer?  How you answer that question will determine a lot about the way your small group ministry comes together.  For example, if you determine that your true customers are the members of your existing groups, you will often choose topics or curriculum that they will request, not realizing (or at least not acknowledging) that their tastes and interests do not reflect the interests of those who are not yet in a group.

Now, you get to choose who your true customer will be.  You get to choose whether your true customer will be the people you’ve already connected or the people who have not yet found grouplife.  Sometimes right here I know I need to acknowledge that there are advocates for the idea that to grow your business you need to focus on delighting your current customer.  Let me say that while there is truth to that…it’s not a very biblical notion (Philippians 2:3-4).  That’s part of the reason  I’ve always gravitated toward the great William Temple line that “the Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.”  That said, I determined a long time ago that my true customers are those who aren’t yet in a group and I make decisions about topics based on that understanding.  By the way, embracing the notion that there is no problem-free makes this understanding acceptable.

Stop and think about the topic you’ve chosen for your upcoming connection or church-wide campaign?  Who will be attracted to that topic?  Will it primarily appeal to the people in your congregation who are already in a group?  Or will it appeal to those who aren’t yet in a group?

This is a really big understanding.  And don’t kid yourself either.  Although there are topics that connect with both…they are not easy to find.  This is why the 40 Days of Purpose had broad appeal and Walk Across the Room did not.  It is all about an awareness of the customer and careful selection of topic based on that understanding.  Is there anything wrong with offering Walk Across the Room?  Definitely not.  Just understand that that topic will not have broad appeal (regardless of how much you believe the Great Commission is for everyone).  If your target customers are the people who aren’t yet in a group…better choose the right topic.

Putting the Concept into Practice (Case Study):

One of the classic illustrations of this important principle was a church preparing for a church-wide study that had chosen as their topic the idea that the Holy Spirit could provide power for daily living.  Based on the Book of Acts, their title was Catch the Wind and the cover art was a very cool image of a sailing ship with full sails.  See where they were going?  Is the concept true?  Absolutely.  Would it interest people who aren’t yet in a group?  Maybe.  You might be able to engage folks who are already attending church but not yet in a group.  What about friends or neighbors who aren’t yet attending the church?  Not a chance.

How’s Your Understanding of the Customer?

This is one of the first discussions I have with many churches.  You can find out about my consulting and coaching opportunities right here.

We all have reasons for the way we’ve designed our small group ministries.  You use a particular strategy or system for a reason (or a lot of interrelated or barely related reasons).  You may have chosen your system or you may have inherited it when you came on the scene.  Sometimes the system was very intentionally selected.  Other times it just became “the way we do things around here” without much thought.

I want to get you thinking today about taking a serious look at the why behind the way of your small group ministry strategy.  Another way of saying it is that you need to take a serious look at the assumptions that are driving the way you do small group ministry.

Why?  Why is it so important?  Examining the assumptions that drive what you do is important for a number of reasons, but one huge reason is that you may find them out of date or incorrect.

In When Growth Stalls, a really helpful article over at HBR, authors Matthew S. Olson, Derek van Bever, and Seth Verry share some powerful ideas about the causes of stall-points in organizational growth. Let me be quick to add, you may not see what you’re wrestling with as a stall-point.  I get that.  But the truth is, if you’re stuck on the way to a church of groups, if you’re consistently averaging 55% of your weekend adult worship attendees in small groups, or if you just have a hard time convincing very many of your adults about the importance of being in a group…you probably need to examine your assumptions.

Here are two of the key reasons for growth stalls they discovered in their study:

• Leaders must bring the underlying assumptions that drive company strategy into line with the changes in the external environment.
• Assumptions that a team has held the longest or the most deeply are the most likely to be its undoing.

Let me unpack these statements.  First, one of the main reasons for a growth stall is that the leaders have underlying assumptions that don’t match up changes in the external environment.  For example, participation in sermon based small groups might have leveled off at the same time your student or children’s ministries are attracting large numbers of unchurched families.  It may be time to look at the assumptions that drive your use of the sermon based approach.

Second, lets say you have a perennial challenge finding enough leaders for your free market small group ministry.  The people who are enthused about leading a dog training or fly fishing group, or for that matter a Bible study group, are not reproducing as fast as the need for groups.  What do you need to do?  You may need to reexamine the assumptions that drive the why behind the way you’ve organized your ministry.

Examining underlying assumptions is a challenging venture for many of us.  I’ve written quiet a bit about it over on StrategyCentral.  You may want to take a look at these articles:

• The Danger of Unexamined Assumptions
• Is It Time to Change Your Strategy?
• Ready to Go on an Assumption Hunt?
• Andy Stanley on Assumptions

At the same time, it may be that the best thing you could do is get the perspective of some fresh eyes.  Click here to find out about scheduling a coaching call or a consulting visit.

“We are committed,” he said.  It is time and this is the year that we become a church of groups.  Being a church with groups is just not getting it done.  We’re all in this together to make it happen this year.”

Love the determination in those words.  Love the spirit.  Love the hope.  Cannot embrace the assumption that it will happen this year.  It just won’t.  For several reasons:

First, moving to a significantly new trajectory almost always requires persistence over several seasons (contrary to the fantasy that you can move from a church with groups to a church of groups in one ministry season).  You can get there from here…but you can’t do it overnight.  It takes a steady hand and commitment to a new destination.

Second, continuing on a new trajectory requires determination and resilience in the face of the tension to go back to the land of previous, the land of familiarity, the land of comfortable.  Only determination and resilience will sustain a trajectory that can escape the gravitational pull of the status quo.

Third, commitment to a new trajectory requires a locked on sense of ultimate destination.  Like a rocket to the moon, you might only be on course 98% of the time, but you need to be unwavering about where you’re going.

Fourth, arriving at a new destination requires a commitment to the last 10%.  Regardless of how passionate you are, how fervently committed to the vision of church of groups…there will always be a determined resistance more passionate than the Taliban or the Tamil Tigers.

You’ll find the rest of the top 10 fantasies of churches with groups right here.