EveryTHING Ends Up in the Trash

Posted on September 24, 2012 Written by

I have two kids: a teenager and a preteen. One of the lessons that I, as a parent, am trying to teach them is the lack of value of possessions. My wife are not wealthy, but we are blessed financially and can use our money to give our kids lots of things. However, we know that everyTHING we give our kids will end up in a landfill as trash. No exceptions – even our house will end up there at some point.

There is one thing that we can give our kids that will never end up in the trash: memories. Memories will last a lifetime. Memories are stories and when coupled with pictures, they are powerful reminders of days gone by. Those bygone days (like today) are not perfect, but they hold their value better than most possessions.

So a couple of years ago, we began carrying out what we feel is a much better investment of our money: going on trips in the US and internationally. We drove from our home in Virginia to Oklahoma for a family wedding and on the way back, we visited Ft. Worth, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Louisville, Mammoth Cave, and other sights on the way. Last year we took a trip to Spain and visited Madrid, Granada, and Sevilla. We’re already dreaming and planning more trips across the US and to Europe (our preferred international destination).

These trips are fun (my kids are great travelers), instructional and educational (they’ve visited the Gateway Arch and the Alhambra, learning about culture and architecture), and priceless bonding time (my kids get to see their parents in a different light in a different venue). My wife and I want to continue traveling as often as we can; we are blessed financially to be able to do this, and (more importantly) we consider it one of the best things we can do for our kids. Travel and memories are certainly better and longer lasting than a video game or clothes.

To etch these memories in our collective memory, my wife does something wonderful at the end of each year and special trip. She uses an online publisher to create a picture book. These picture or memory books are easy to do, relatively inexpensive, and they will be wonderful to look at years later.

I don’t want to tell anyone how to spend their money. I will suggest you consider how you’re investing your money in your kids and in the future. Are you putting it into assets that will wither up, break, and end up in the trash? Or are you putting your money in priceless, precious memories which involve spending time with your kids? You don’t have to travel (that is our choice and we’re grateful we can do that), but you do have to set aside time to be with your family.

Invest yourself in the future—in memories made with your kids and your family. You’ll never regret it.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: generosity, leadership Tagged: ,

What Hasn’t Changed?

Posted on August 20, 2012 Written by

My missionary/pastor father was born in 1928. I distinctly remember going on vacations where he wore a coat and tie every day – of vacation! That’s who he was and the generation of which he was a part. He went to church every time the doors were open, even when he wasn’t the pastor of the church.

It’s been 32 years since he died. And times have changed – dramatically. My children don’t go to church in “Sunday go to meeting” clothes. They wear what they wear to school – shorts, flip-flops, shirts (we usually do require a solid color shirt, not a logo shirt).

What else has changed in church from 30, 40, or 50 years ago? Actually, EVERYTHING!

  • The music we sing to
  • The instrumentalists
  • The “hymnals”
  • The pews
  • What people wear
  • The Bibles people bring (mine is on my iPhone)
  • How people learn (in the middle of a Bible study, someone will pull up a doc from the internet)
  • The “Sunday School quarterlies”
  • Mission trips
  • How we do missions
  • How members support their church financially (electronic offerings are increasingly the norm)
  • etc., etc.

I can’t think of a single area of church-life which has remained stagnant in the past 30 years (except maybe the sermon!).

Okay, now think 30 years from now to the year 2042. If you think we’ve had a lot of change in the past 30 years, it’s going to be increasingly exponential change in the next 30. That leads me to ask:

Are you being intentional in preparing your church for upcoming changes? OR Are you just going to let the changes happen to you?

Change will happen – you can’t stop time, don’t even try. But you can get ready for change. I’m not saying you have to embrace every change that comes along, but you don’t have to fight every change either. Pick and choose your battles (the best piece of advice my mom ever gave me!) – learn what changes your church should adopt and adapt to. If you resist change, your church might end up with closed doors. Your church will be stronger in the long run by developing a healthy attitude to change.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: church administration, leadership, wisdom Tagged: , ,

Conversations Not Confrontations

Posted on August 6, 2012 Written by

In elementary school I remember the entire class being punished because of the infraction of one person who would not come forward and admit to what he or she did. Instead, all of us got punished. I’ve seen that happen in churches and church staffs, too. Because of one person’s actions, an edict is issued or a policy is passed which applies to everyone.

Church policies have their place but my experience is that when you have formal policies, then you need “policy police” to enforce them. At worst, that can lead to a culture of negativity or fear or confrontation. Many church policies are created in reaction to one incident in an effort to prevent future situations. My experience tells me that often these are over-reactions to one occasion. Instead of passing policies, let me suggest that church leaders act as leaders and confront the person that caused the situation.

Actually, confrontation has negative connotations but there are positive ways to have a confrontation. So, intead of using a negatively-tinged word, I’ll switch to the word “conversation.” Rather than have a confrontation, have a conversation.

A conversation – a constructive, positive, “one-minute-manager” conversation – can do a lot to salvage the employee or volunteer in ways that a policy can never do. In fact, the person that caused the incident may never associate that his action resulted in a policy. Policies require time and discussion among a bigger group when that may not be necessary.

So, please talk with people – have conversations. Help the person understand how his words or actions were received by others, how what she did caused confusion, pain, or even disruption in the organization. Show that person how he could have handled it better or what she should have said. Do this in a conversational way, not confrontational.

At the end of this, you will have saved loads of time in not passing a policy when then requires further policing. You will have gone straight to the source of the issue. And you will have had a conversation which will lead to better communication among everyone in the organization.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: church staff, leadership Tagged: ,

Roadblocks to Strategy Implementation

Posted on July 5, 2012 Written by

Below is the outline of materials presented by Susan Beaumont, a consultant with the Alban Institute. She is very effective and what she has to say (and how she says it) is excellent. Think about each of these 10 items – flesh them out in your own mind and reflect on which one(s) are the roadblocks to the success of your vision and your church.

Top 10 List of What Gets in the Way of Executing Strategy

  1. Too many strategic priorities (should be no more than 2-3 priorities)
  2. Senior clergy losing strategic focus
  3. Board fails to provide oversight
  4. Rogue committees that over-function
  5. Board micromanages the staff team
  6. Staffing structures that don’t support the strategy
  7. No performance management system
  8. Absence of program evaluation
  9. Lack of meaningful measures of success
  10. Operating budget not aligned with strategies

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: leadership, planning, strategy, wisdom Tagged: , , ,

Reading List

Posted on June 26, 2012 Written by

This is a list of some of my favorite reading materials for my profession: church business administration in no particular order. What’s on your list? Share it.

  • Books
    • Me, Myself and Bob by Phil Vischer
    • E-Myth Re-visited by Michael Gerber
    • In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters
  • Magazines
    • Fast Company
    • Religious Product News
    • Church Executive
    • Peachtree Business Products catalog
    • NACBA Ledger
    • Harvard Business Review
    • Christian Computing Magazine
    • Today’s Facility Manager
    • Church & Clergy Tax Update

 

Filed Under: church finances, church staff, leadership, wisdom Tagged: , , ,

Favorite Sayings

Posted on June 5, 2012 Written by

Over the years I’ve collected a few favorite sayings. Some are original with me, and others I’ve adopted. Here they are (I’ll add to the list as I go along through life):

  1. The problem with leadership is knowing who is following you and who is chasing you. That may take a while to sink in. What it means is that some of the people behind you are supporting you while others are actively throwing knives at your back. You want to get rid of the latter or transform them into the former. Regardless, leaders need to know that some people in their circles are not followers but chasers.
  2. A financial crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Use crises as opportunities to fine tune the organization and prune programs, expenses, staff, and even buildings that are not in the critical path of your mission. If everyone knows there is a fiscal crisis, then don’t waste it by continuing to support ministries that have needed to go away but you didn’t have a good enough reason to terminate them.
  3. Give God what’s right, not what’s left. Neat stewardship quote (not original to me).
  4. Separate the Personal from the Professional. Too many times people perceive a professional criticism as a personal attack. Or they mix their professional lives with their personal lives and that blend causes angst for them and those around them. Professionals should act professionally and realize that who they are (personal life) is NOT their job or career (professional life).
  5. Committees should be a balance of institutional memory and new ideas. As you work with who should be on a committee, always have a balance young people and new people with new ideas with people who’ve been on the committee a while and those who’ve been in the church a while. The longevity group tempers the younger/fresher group (but hopefully doesn’t completely dampen them) and the younger/fresher group instills vitality and enthusiamsm (but not at a cost that tramples history or leads into minefields which could cost the church its unity).
  6. Quality + Service + Cost = Value. This is based on Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s, who used the QSCV formula to run his stores. I’ve modified it to define value which is what I strive for in all my purchases. I don’t necessary take the low bidder but I will go with the vendor that gives me the best perceived value, and that is a combination of quality, service, and cost.
  7. If nothing unifies us, then everything divides us. Every church and every organization should have one central thing around which everyone unites. That one thing will keep everyone on task and everything in focus. When a church or organization just does routine things without any unifying commitment, then everyone will feel that their particular passion should be the most important thing. That leads to division.
  8. Attack the problem, not the person. Quote from an article in the 1980s in Fortune magazine. It’s been something I’ve used with every staff I’ve ever had. It helps people to focus on the issue and not the person. If the person is the issue, that’s another thing, but most of the time, problems (not people) are at the root of conflicts.
  9. Hire attitude; train aptitude. After hiring and firing dozens of people, I’ve learned that aptitude (skills, abilities, talents, knowledge, etc.) can be taught or learned (not always, but most of the time). Attitude cannot be taught or learned; it is in someone’s DNA to have the right (or wrong) attitude. My experience as a manager is that a person’s attitude is the single most important factor in that person keeping or losing a job. Résumés list a person’s aptitudes; the interview reveals the attitude, and that is the part that should get you hired.
  10. If you need a tool to do your job and I don’t give it to you, shame on me. If I you need a tool to do your job and I give it to you but you don’t use it, we’re going to talk. I let all new employees know that this is what I expect from them. First, if they need something, they need to ask me for it. Second, if I don’t provide it (and don’t have a good reason for not providing it), that is my fault and they should complain louder or to someone else. Finally, if I do give them a tool and they don’t use it, then the employee is heading toward losing his/her job.
  11. Have conversations, not policies. This comes from North Point Community Church where they have almost no operating policies (except Personnel Policies, which are a must). Instead, they have conversations when someone acts up. So, when someone does something that out of bounds, instead of passing a policy to “punish the entire class” the supervisor has a conversation with the person. For instance, if someone schedules an event and gives the building staff about 24 hours to get ready for it, that results in a conversation to explain to the person that there are lots of moving parts to pulling off an event, even a small one, with just a few hours’ notice and the best practices is to give two week’s notice of a event.
  12. I get worried when I don’t hear laughter in the halls. A former boss said this. He feels that having a staff that laughs with each other is healthy emotionally. When a staff does not laugh and carry on, then things have become very serious in the office and even tense. I encourage laughter in the halls!

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: leadership Tagged:

Bell Curves and Giving

Posted on May 24, 2012 Written by

Here’s an interesting stat: the most generous age bracket in any church are 50-somethings.

  • College for the kids is done and paid for
  • The kids’ weddings are over
  • The mortgage is low because they got it several decades ago (if they even have a first mortgage)
  • They are in middle to upper management at work making really good money
  • In short, their expenses are low and their income is high which means they’ve got more disposable income than other age brackets.

What about the other decade age brackets regarding their charitable gifts? Here’s my analysis of them:

  • 20-somethings are just getting started financially. Many have serious college debt, most are not ready to settle down with a spouse (much less kids), and their income is on the low side since they are just beginning their careers.
  • 30-somethings have begun to settle down with families and careers but they are financially strapped because of the mortgage, cars, retirement planning, new furniture for the home and kids, etc. They’ll give, but it will be usually from their financial leftovers. A few are giving more and more but they are the exceptions.
  • 40-somethings are well into their careers and an impressive number have even risen to upper management already. Many have figured out a financial strategy and are able to give surprising amounts. Others want to give but can’t, right now.
  • 50-somethings are the main givers to every church. Not every 50-something is a big giver but the preponderance of them give more than at any other time in their lives. They’ve reached the age when they want to live for significance, not success.
  • 60-somethings have retirement looming over them and their giving begins to decrease, sometimes rather sharply. Some 60-somethings have to keep working while others are planning comfortable retirements. However, in every case, they are beginning to ask the question that 70-somethings ask every day.
  • 70-somethings wonder “Am I going to outlive my money?” and that causes their charitable giving to drop off a cliff. Those with ample resources continue to give, but the ones with “just enough” cut their giving back significantly.
  • 80-somethings and beyond do not form a large giving base for two reasons: their numbers are smaller than other age brackets (and shrinking daily) and their financial resources are smaller than the other age brackets. An occasional 80-something will be a high-capacity giver, but most are hanging on by their financial fingernails.

How does this translate to a church?

  • At either end are the 20-somethings and 80-somethings: the goal is for the 20-somethings to be giving, per person, more than the 80-somethings. “More” is probably about 1.5 times.
  • Next are the 30-somethings and 70-somethings. In a healthy-giving church, the 30-somethings will be giving about twice what the average 70-something is giving, because giving by 70-somethings is plummeting.
  • The 40-somethings should be the second strongest age bracket in a church, and the third strongest should be 60-somethings. 40-somethings are the “left shoulder” of the bell curve and 60-somethings are the “right shoulder.” Strengthen that right shoulder as much as you can because in 10 years, they’ll be 50-somethings.
  • The peak of the bell curve is the 50-something crowd. Who are your 50-somethings today? Who coached them to give? What was their giving like 10 and even 20 years ago?  But wait, look at your church 10 and even 20 from now. Is estimated future giving by your current 30- and 40-somethings enough to replace what your current 50-somethings are doing? What are you doing long term to ensure that generosity becomes part of your church’s culture?

A church must be cultivating and encouraging generous giving with the 40- and 50-somethings. That should be the church’s main focus. Next should be the 30- and 60-somethings. Lastly, the 20-, 70- and 80-somethings should get the least financial emphasis focus, because they are in the weakest position to contribute to a church. By “cultivating and encouraging generous giving,” I mean that there should be a stewardship education plan for all groups but that those age brackets should get a bigger dose than other age brackets. Give them a second helping of generosity teaching; it will do them and you some good.

By the way, this analysis is true of annual giving (giving from your checkbook or income statement) but also of planned giving (giving from your estate or balance sheet). A church should encourage 40- and 50-somethings to put the church in their will. The 60-something and older crowd have typically already created a will (although the percentage of people without wills is shockingly high). Get some estate planning for 40-somethings and 50-somethings ASAP!

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: church finances, leadership, wisdom, young adults Tagged: , , ,

Walt & Roy

Posted on May 9, 2012 Written by

One of my favorite business books is Me, Myself and Bob. This hilarious book is the story of the rise and collapse of Veggie Tales as told by its founder, Phil Vischer. Throughout the book you learn that Phil’s childhood hero was Walt Disney – to the point that Phil wanted to create a Veggie Tales theme park like Walt did. It was not to be and it all fell apart due to some bad business decisions. Toward the end of the book, Phil has a chapter called “Lessons” in which he very openly shares what he learned from the experience and that will help him in the future.

One of his critical lessons was that while Walt was the innovative genius, his brother Roy was a fiscal sage. Orignally it was called Disney Brothers’ Studios before Walt bought out Roy. One of the advantages that Roy had over anyone else was that he was Walt’s brother. As such, he had the ability and power to confront Walt and tell him, as no one else could, whether one of Walt’s ideas was crazy or not. Roy could get in Walt’s face and tell him the honest truth. Walt had to accept it – it was coming from his partner who had as much to lose as he did. Roy’s motives were honest – he wanted success. Roy was responsible for counting the money (Roy’s Boys were the Disney beancounters!) while Walt’s guys were the creative thinkers. It took both of them to come up with the American success story that is the Disney empire. However, none of this could have happened if Walt didn’t have a Roy and if Roy didn’t have a Walt.

Phil continues in this chapter with a personal lesson that he learned the hard way – he was a Walt without a Roy. He never gave anyone the authority to confront him with the cold, hard financial facts. Instead, Phil figured he could “create” his way to financial success. I especially like how Phil ends the chapter. He tells the reader that if you are a Walt, find yourself a Roy and give him the responsibility, authority, and trust to tell you the hard financial picture. And if you are a Roy, then wait for your Walt and don’t sell yourself short. Phil acknowledges that as a Walt or a Roy you may never find your counterpart, but always keep looking.

My take-away from this is to encourage pastors, CEOs, and other visionary leaders to intentionally find a Roy. Leaders absolutely need an equally visionary beancounter (that is not an oxymoron, they do exist!). And what’s more, leaders need to very clearly tell the financial guru that the leader depends on getting good, accurate, and even scary financial figures. The financial status of the organization is not the fault of the CFO/messenger, but that if the CEO does not heed the financial advice, the fiscal failure of the organization will rest on the CEO.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: church staff, leadership, wisdom Tagged: , ,
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