[00:00:00] You don't want half-baked visions and scattered ideas to leak and generate unnecessary resistance
[00:00:06] from the people. Because that's what happens, right? A half-baked idea gets out there and it spreads
[00:00:12] like crazy and people can get all upset over something that you maybe even didn't intend to say.
[00:00:20] Welcome to episode 323. Today we follow up the process with you. And before we hit record, I've vented to Jason for about 10 minutes, about the situation. It's just helpful to kind of get it out and talk it through.
[00:01:41] So looking forward to our conversation today, of course, as we're thinking about leadership
[00:01:46] and how do we keep moving things forward? go slow and make sure the vision isn't just coming from you, but it's coming from others alongside of you. Trying to avoid, I don't know, Jesse, you're that language. I love that language. What is the win? What is the goal of this thing that we're gonna do? And it's in this small group that really the vision
[00:04:23] is incubated.
[00:04:25] And when you're in this stage, In 1819, we talked about wanting to add another contemporary service all the way back then. It wasn't even that we had a attendance need and we weren't bursting at the seams and needed that. We were just thinking, what's an alternative for the, especially for our volunteers who are volunteering during the Sunday school hour who can't attend worship at the same
[00:05:41] time or the worship style of their choice?
[00:05:44] What if we created another And honestly, that starting that first stage right made all the difference. That's the first step in generating buy-in is that you're sharing
[00:07:00] the very beginning of the vision process with others.
[00:07:03] Yeah.
[00:07:04] What should we do?
[00:07:05] What a powerful question.
[00:08:01] with the right. And make sure you're picking people who are comfortable saying no to you.
[00:08:05] Or who are disagreeing or coming up with free thinkers who aren't just going to be like,
[00:08:09] oh, well, the pastor said it's that's what we're going to do.
[00:08:12] But in this stage, so in this stage, the ideation stage, this is where though you're
[00:08:17] keeping your information on your change, whatever you're going to do close to the vest.
[00:08:22] It's not public yet.
[00:08:23] Now, I know that sounds counterintuitive because you ask them to chew on it, provide input I said, this is the plan. What do you think? Basically. Yeah. Right. This is a plan. What do you think? And they ended up not really having any ownership over it. In fact, nobody really did. And it really showed in its, it just never launched. It just never really got anywhere.
[00:11:00] And then this last round, 2023, I presented the options and asked, you know, how do you
[00:11:07] think we should be doing. We have an opportunity to raise some funds to do some things in our facilities, and here's what I think those things should be. I think they were the right things, but it was the missed opportunity
[00:12:22] of having others get excited about it too,. You only need really like three to five people. And you could probably just do it with three or three in yourself and start asking the questions, you know, what are we going to do? And then to your governance board, then it's what are we going to try?
[00:13:42] How are we going to get it done?
[00:13:44] Formation. draft, but it is still a draft. It's responsive marketing. So based on your feedback, we may make the following adjustments, right? And you're, you have to really be listening. It's not just selling the plan. You're also refining the plan based on the feedback that you get. It's really, it's giving them a voice.
[00:15:00] And this is so, so important.
[00:15:02] How have you done that?
[00:15:03] What, or do you, or do a survey?
[00:15:04] Do you do like an open ended comment section?
[00:15:07] How have you tackled that feedback? really listen. And people say some crazy things. People also say some really good insightful things. That's right. And no matter what it is, I sort of took this page out of the Billy Graham book. My response is always something like, you may be right, I'm going to pray on it. Or you may be right, we're going to think on it together. I don't, I don't, there's no promise attached to
[00:16:22] the suggestion, right? But it curious to hear your thoughts over here. It's a win some thing is what it comes down to.
[00:17:41] Well, that's it.
[00:17:42] And piggybacking on that,
[00:17:44] you're articulating a vision
[00:17:45] and the vision should be exciting. to participate their questions, I invite them to ask and to give feedback. And those, I think, are the best by far. Is those smaller, more intimate gatherings? Yeah, I agree. One other thing that's really worked for us in this phase is, like I frequently ask questions. I just keep track of all the questions people are asking and create a document that kind
[00:19:01] of tracks those.
[00:19:02] Here's kind of the questions we started with with led us to this idea.
[00:19:05] Here's some of the questions about that we were asking around how to do it or how to
[00:19:08] implement it. Right? Yeah. Well, give money and support it or whatever. Sometimes out of that sense of loyalty or their belief in you as a leader, people will go what? So, so it doesn't matter what we do. We have to do it. Like that's what it felt like. And there are a lot of people still angry over how that went down and they didn't have to be. And I, and I just have sort of filed that away.
[00:21:41] Just, hey, remember when that happened to you, what that felt like?
[00:21:45] You felt frustrated.
[00:21:46] You felt like, you know, the, great. We got a plan now. I mean, they were teed up for it. Yeah. And it has absolutely stuck. It's been great.
[00:23:00] So it's been going for a couple of months and it's solid.
[00:23:03] So it's all in the process.
[00:23:06] Did you hear it?
[00:23:07] Yeah. turn to me something so drastically different, it's not something I wanna do. Yeah, I think there's been moments along the way for me where I worry that my idea is not gonna be the one that is implemented or that we're gonna move in a direction I don't want to move in and I would be resistant to or I don't know, there's some control thing maybe for leaders sometimes
[00:24:22] where we get anxious or fearful.
[00:24:24] I think I've used the example before
[00:24:26] of some of our strategic planning sessions. to help generate the ideas that are going to move the mission of the church forward. Do we really trust that? And I think if I'm really honest, there are times when I do, and there's times when I say, I don't, and I feel like I got to take a tight leadership reign. So I think it is a journey for us as pastors and leaders. I guess maybe it's just sort of naming that and acknowledging it as we go through the process.
[00:25:42] But what I've discovered is most of the most, not cautious in a bad way, but one of the most sober thinkers, like
[00:27:01] I see the good and the bad and the unintended consequences kind of person spoke up and said,
[00:27:06] well, why don't know. Does that make sense? 100%. So three steps, ideation, formation, communication. This is how you generate buy-in. This is how it actually looks on the ground. People see a well conceived strategic plan and have an opportunity to feel ownership of that plan because of meaningful communication
[00:28:20] before it's implemented.
[00:28:22] Yep, yep.
[00:28:24] All right, well, hey, thanks so much for listening
[00:28:26] everyone.
[00:28:27] Jesse, do you wanna tee up that we're in the same lane?