Prototype > Meetings!
I love organizational leadership. Maybe too much. I’m fascinated by how people, with all their unique individuality, connect to accomplish great things. Making the world more awesome will never be done alone.
My brain got a serious workout yesterday as I was invited to a think tank with about 80 leaders from businesses, non-profits, and churches to talk about violence in the community in the aftermath of the Super Bowl parade shooting in Kansas City. I went with low expectations because, typically, leaders from such a diverse set of backgrounds and operations don’t get much done beyond aspirational dreams in a space like that.
We heard stories from leaders who had seen tremendous success serving and engaging the community in Portland, Austin, and Bolder. From the outside, none of these places would be thought of as having a thriving faith community. Yet, some of the success stories left me inspired and curious about the church’s role in community development and restoration. A particularly convicting quote that has caused me some serious introspection is, “The Church let the government become the Good Samaritan, and we’ve become content with being the Levitical priest.” Man, as I imagine the scene Jesus described in the parable, I can’t help but see myself as the priest. Busy, hurrying, and trying to get to one of my many “good responsibilities.” Yet, when I pause, breathe, and look around, I see so much hurt and need in our surrounding community.
What if the Church (not just a church) decided to address the biggest issues in their community.
In small groups, we were asked to discuss why the church hasn’t had a greater impact on the needs of the community. A quick search reveals that KC has more than its share of violent crimes, and a quick correlation can be made between education, employment, income, and home value. Some might look at that list and think that the church doesn’t have responsibility in those arenas, but I’m curious about why we might think that. Bob Goff said, “God wants us to learn about Him by reading the letters and the stories collected in the Bible, but He also wants us to meet Him by loving the people who are difficult to get along with. If I’m only willing to love the people who are nice to me, the ones who see things the way I do, and avoid all the rest, it’s like reading every other page of the Bible and thinking I know what it says.”
As the discussion progressed about why our community still has these problems, it’s easy to point out that Jesus told his friends they’d always have the poor with them. However, I went back to my perspective of energy and physics and theorized that we don’t see results because we lack cohesive focus. This exists in us as individuals, collectively in our teams, even more in our organizations, and massively as we zoom out to the community level and larger. Lack of focus equals lack of results.
A common or shared goal can do so much for alignment, and alignment starts focus. Kotter teaches that urgency and a compelling vision must be present for change to happen. With 80 leaders in a room, the default action step will generally involve more meetings and work on vision and goals. Managing the schedules and priorities of 80 leaders adds a level of bureaucracy that begins to compete with other priorities instantly. Scott Belsky of Adobe said, “A prototype is worth a hundred meetings.” He further explained that a prototype allows the discussion to become about improvement and adjustment, and it’s less theoretical and more actionable. I love theory and hypothetical planning. SWOT analysis is my love language. However, if I get real, I love them because you can’t fail. In theory, it’s safe and comfortable to talk, but until it becomes action…nothing really happens.
Kansas City is plagued by violence, poverty, homelessness, and drugs because we talk too much and do too little. What if the Church decided to do something about what’s wrong?
Leaders, is there anywhere that you are delaying action in favor of talking? What are you going to do about it?