Once you’ve begun the process of performing a system checkup you’ll probably find yourself running up against some issues that seem like they’re set in stone.  Insurmountable.  When you get to there, you will need to go on what Gary Hamel calls an assumption hunt.  Why?  Assumptions can kill off any change initiative…even before it begins.

In When Growth Stalls, a really helpful article over at HBR, authors Olson, Van Bever, and Verry share some powerful ideas about how and why to examine your assumptions.  Here are two keys:

• 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.

Insightful and a little frightening.  Think about your deepest held assumptions.  Now just imagine if that actually leads to the undoing of your organization.

That is the point of an assumption hunt.

How to do an assumption hunt:

1. Pick out a big problem (like disciple-making, life-change, etc.)
2. Assemble 10 to 20 participants (staff or volunteer)
3. Have each of them write down 10 things they believe about the problem (use post-its)
4. Stick notes on the wall, grouping similar beliefs together
5. If a belief seems ungroupable, stick it off to the side.
6. Focus on commonly held assumptions.
7. Ask, “Which of these assumptions deserves to be challenged—which beliefs reflect a reality they wish could be otherwise?”
8. Ask, “Can you think of counterexamples to the assumption?”  If no, move on to the next question.
9. Ask, “Why?”  (and keep asking “why?”)  (From The Future of Management, by Gary Hamel.

See where this could go? 

How’s your small group system?  Winning?  Workable?  Wobbly?  Weak?

Is it time for a system checkup?  We’ve all been to the doctor for a checkup.  Most of us have taken our car in for an oil change that includes an “18 point inspection.”  Have you ever put your small group system through a diagnostic checkup?  What questions would you ask?

Here are three that need to be asked:

1. What business are your small groups in?  This is a Peter Drucker question and although he asked it about business, it is a very good question for us to be asking.  At its heart, it is a question about the purpose of your groups.  What are you trying to do with them?
2. What are you going to call “success”?  Some might ask, “What will you call a ‘win’?”  The key here is to define in advance what it will look like when you succeed at the business your groups are in.
3. How’s business?  This follow-up question is one we need to be asking about our group systems.  We ought to be able to evaluate whether we are actually succeeding at what we’re trying to do.  In other words, we should be asking if we’re seeing any fruit?

Do these make sense?  Can you see how your answers to these questions will provide an important foundation for further diagnosis?  For example, until you have determined what your small group ministry is actually designed to do you will have great difficulty evaluating whether you are winning or losing!  And until you are ready to declare that success will be ______________________, you won’t be able to intelligently determine whether your ministry is actually doing what it needs to do.

Does this make sense?  Now…can you see how your answers to these questions are simply the beginning?  Only after you know what you’re trying to do, what it will look like to succeed, and whether you’re succeeding at what you’re trying to do, will you be ready to evaluate what might be more effective.

Ready for that step?  Join me next to learn how to do an assumption hunt.

P.S. For more on asking great questions, Peter Drucker’s Managing for Results is a fantastic resource.

How are you connecting with your leaders and coaches for encouragement and training?  Still calling a monthly meeting?  You may want to think about shifting some of those meetings to conference call or better yet…a video conference call!

One of the challenges almost anywhere you live now is that attending a one hour meeting is often a two hour time commitment.  Regardless of the size of your congregation, it’s not unusual to draw from a 15 to 30 minute drive-time radius.  Add in getting ready to go, walking out to the car, parking, and walking into the meeting facility…you’ve got an additional time commitment of some amount.  And that makes a good case for offering at least some of your meetings via telephone or computer.

I’ve been using conference calls for several years to train and encourage coaches and community leaders.  There are a number of free services (I use FreeConferenceCall.com) that allow you to call into a phone number and conduct a conference call.  Most of them have a version that is free.  The phone number is usually a long distance number and so there is a little expense…but most of your leaders have either cell plans or long distance plans that allow a certain number of minutes.  I often conduct these calls in the evening when volunteers are available and long distance minutes are cheap.

I’ve recently been experimenting with Tokbox.com.  Tokbox makes it possible to do a free video conference call.  The upsides are that it makes it possible to see the folks on your call and for them to see you.  In addition, it’s possible to share a training video right on the call.  Whether everyone has a webcam or not, they’ll still be able to see you (or the trainer/leader).

The downsides to Tokbox are that it requires a little technological familiarity.  There are times when you’ll need to coach participants in how to mute their microphone or help them debug their video connection.  In addition, it’s very beneficial that everyone have a headset.  Each caller magnifies the feedback potential when there are too many “un-headsetted participants.”

All in all, I’ve found that people really appreciate the opportunity to attend the meeting without leaving their home or office.  It definitely makes it easier for many of my leaders and coaches to participate.  On top of that, they can join the meeting whether they’re in town or not!

Want to test it out?  Go to Tokbox.com and sign up.  It’s free.  Then, give me a call at http://www.tokbox.com/markhowell

As I've written previously, I evaluate the effectiveness of small group strategy through a carefully developed process.  My process is based on three assumptions and the first assumption I make is that "it is what it is."  That is, what is happening in your small group ministry right now is directly related to the way it is designed.

I love the way that Andy Stanley says it: "Your ministry is perfectly designed to give you the results you are currently experiencing." 

When you think about your small group ministry (or the ministry of your church in the broader sense), do you ever stop to think that the things you are finding exciting or frustrating are the direct result of the way your ministry is designed?  In other words, if you're excited because your small group system is really producing a growing number of committed Christ-followers who are actively engaging in ministry together…it is the directly related to the way your small group ministry is designed.  And on the other hand, if you're frustrated by the way your groups never seem to stick…it is the direct result of your design.  Ever had that thought?

You need to have that thought.  You need to be able to really own the fact that there is a reason, a definite reason, that things are the way they are.  After all, the systems you are currently using, the curriculum you're currently using, the recruiting tactics, everything together…is perfectly designed to give you the results you are currently experiencing.

In some ways this is related to the practices of Good to Great companies who infused everything with the "brutal facts of reality."  Jim Collins makes the point that "You absolutely cannot make a series of good decisions without first confronting the brutal facts (p. 70, Good to Great)." 

Let me encourage you to take advantage of right now to give serious attention to the pieces that make up your design.  You may need to carve out a few hours, a day, maybe even a week or a weekend retreat to carefully evaluate all the moving parts.  Here's a short list that will get you started:

• What kind of priority are you giving small group ministry?  Is it clearly the way you're making disciples?  Or is it one of several ways?
• Are you emphasizing the importance of small groups every week in your worship service?  Or is it a seasonal highlight?
• Are you investing sufficient energy in developing a constant stream of ways that the importance of groups is being highlighted? (live testimonies, video, personal stories told by the senior pastor, announcements, special events)
• To what extent are you developing your small group leaders?  Are you proactively investing in them?  Or are you mostly doing crisis intervention?

You can see that there is a lot to talk about!  The key?  Start talking.  If you want results that you're not currently getting…you're going to have to do something different.  And the very first step is to understand the system you actually have in place.

New 4 Week Telecourse:  Launching Groups That Connect with Your Community

Looking for a way to connect with your community?  Trying to figure out how to develop a "crowd-to-core" small group strategy?  Available for limited time at $49.95, our new 4 week telecourse could be just what you need.  Packed with practical ideas and a detailed strategy…  

You will learn how to:

1. Plan for maximum impact.
2. Recruit the right team.
3. Engage your whole congregation.
4. Sustain the largest number of groups.

You will receive:

• 4 sixty minute conference calls
• Access to full recordings to share with your team
• Complete outlines

When does it begin?

• Tuesdays, March 3  to March 24, 2009
• 8:00 a.m. PT, 10:00 a.m. CT, 11:00 a.m. ET

Anybody planning on catching Innovation3?  Be sure and let me know you're going to be there.  Always good to get time to connect!

One of the assumptions I have about strategy and strategic planning is that there is no problem-free solution.  In other words, every solution has a set of problems that accompanies it.  How do you determine which solution to use?  Most groups simply go along with the loudest voice or the most powerful voice…or the most authoritative voice.  My recommendation is to identify the solutions that seem best…actually list all the reasonable ones…and then assess the problems that accompany each with brutal honesty.  Don’t play favorites.  If you need to, bring in a nonpartisan bystander.  This is a fantastic team exercise that will help your team work through the possibilities.  Once you’ve carefully listed out the problems of each solution (they’ll all have problems) your work is half done.  Next, make your decision about what to do based on the problem set you’d rather have.

Need a for-instance?  The decision to launch groups using a Small Group Connection is often challenged by people who don’t buy the initial premise that a group of adults can reliably figure out who the relative shepherd is.  Their belief is that some other process of identifying a leader has to be preferable.  My take?  I’ve been using the Connection strategy since about 2000.  In my experience it is a better way of finding the number of leaders you need for the number of people ready to join a group.

Now, I’m always finding new nuances of the exercise.  I’ve come to the conclusion that the pursuit of problem-free is often related to the attempt to delay implementation.  I put up several posts over at StrategyCentral about Peter Block’s great book, The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters.  He makes a very similar point when he writes about the idea that many requests for more information (how much will it cost, how long will it take, etc.) are simply an attempt to delay.  For more on the idea from Block you can check out The Speed of Implementation.

Thoughts?  Let me know how it works for you!

I'm excited about my upcoming schedule!  I've got some breakouts planned on topics that I love talking about (including GettingToThere). Really looking forward to seeing a lot of my friends around the country over the next few months!  Will you be there?  Be sure and let me know!

Here's where I'll be:

January 27-28, Dallas, TX Innovation3 (just hangin' and learnin')

January 29-30, Greensboro, NC, Anglican Mission Winter Conference

February 19-21, Lake Forest, CA Saddleback Small Group Conference

March 3, Vacaville, CA Western District Evangelical Free Church

March 26-28, Houston, TX Saddleback Small Group Conference

April 23-25, Atlanta, GA  Saddleback Small Group Conference

May 14-16, Cincinnati, OH Saddleback Small Group Conference

How are you communicating with your small group leaders and hosts?  How hard (or easy) is it for you to get the word out about upcoming events, recommended curriculum, and leader development?  How do you do it?  Still using a print newsletter?  Sending an email out to a list?  Smiling and dialing?  In this post I want to point you to four easy-to-use tools that will make communicating with your team easier and more effective.

First, give your leaders a way to get information 24/7. You may have a great website and a really cooperative webmaster…but most of us don’t.  The truth about most church websites is that finding what you’re looking for is a challenge and adding or changing content is even tougher.  What’s the answer?  Use a blog linked to your website that you and your team can update!  It’s easy to use and inexpensive to provide (less than $60 a year).  There are several web-based programs that make it so easy that even a caveman can do it!

You can see the blog I’ve created for small group leaders at Adventure right here. If you click on “life groups” in the middle of this page you can see how I’ve linked my leader’s blog from my church’s website.  If I have a training event that I want to promote or curriculum that I want to recommend it is easy to add and I can do it without waiting on our webmaster.  Even better…I can set it up so that when I add the content my leaders are notified!

Second, provide training and encouragement without scheduling an on-campus meeting. You can do this several ways.  For example, a short teleconference is a great technique that your leaders will really appreciate.  Using a service like FreeConferenceCall.com allows your leaders to take part in a training session without driving over to the church.  That is a huge idea!  For many of your leaders it will save them 30 minutes both ways by the time they get in their car and drive over.

Another idea that is being used more and more is providing a quick video teleconference.  With a free service like Tokbox.com you can do training or coaching huddles using a webcam and a computer.  Tokbox.com allows your team to click a link from wherever they are and join a video call in progress.  If they don’t have a webcam they’ll still be able to see everyone who does.  If only the leader of the call has a webcam it can still provide a way for you to communicate visually with your team.  And it’s free!  Another option is to use Mogulus.com which allows you to broadcast your training live over the internet.  Your leaders will be able to see and hear your presentation as well as type in questions on the screen.

Further, you can use Tokbox.com or Mogulus.com to record your training and post the video on your blog.  Then your leaders can watch the training on their own time.

Third, use a web-based service like Churchteams to allow unconnected people to find a group 24/7. Easy-to-use, your leaders can do the updates themselves (or you can do it for them),  It is a real advantage to be able to provide current information about available groups 24/7.  Additionally, with a web-based approach you can send out a church-wide email using a program like Constant Contact, (which is offering a FREE 60-Day Trial
),
that will provide a link to your small group finder.  This can be used in combination with verbal and print announcements to encourage maximum response to a church-wide emphasis.

Finally, take advantage of social media to stay connected with your leaders. You may be surprised to discover how many of your leaders are already on Facebook.  If you haven’t set up your page yet, there’s no time like the present.  Twitter is another social media service that should be on your to-do list.  Funny name, interesting concept…Twitter allows you to update by text message all the people who are “following” your tweets.  You can also set Twitter up to update your Facebook status.  You can see how I use Twitter in the right column of this web site.

Need a new approach? You don’t need to move from A to Z on one move.  Move to B.  Add a simple blog that you can update yourself.  Try on Constant Contact for size.  The key on all of these new ideas is to take a first step!

My friend Doug Cowburn has an interesting series going on Small Group Myths over at SkintightTranfsormation.  Check it out.  What do you think?