Better Management

Taking Charge or Laying Low

~ Mike Schwiebert ~ 4 Comments

Most of us techies are task oriented people. We probably are, or have the potential to be, productive managers. This is something that is a great benefit to the churches where we serve. We are known as people who get stuff done. If we took a strength finder test, achievement would be in our top five. This is how many of us are wired (If you’re not wired that way, that’s OK. Maximizing your gifts, and helping others flourish in their’s, is the path to success, after all).

Plans are nothing; planning is everything.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Most tech people I know are detailed planners. We want all the details (all!) ASAP. Perhaps even before that. Our goal is to help the ministry be successful and to see people’s lives changed by the power of the Gospel. Our part is to make sure all of the technical ducks are in a row so nothing blocks what God is doing. There are always curve balls. We know and accept that.

By planning all of the details that we can control ahead of time, we give adequate time and space for the curveballs that come up right before or during the service/event/project.

That seems so obvious it shouldn’t be stated. Therein lies the problem. It is not obvious to some of our teammates.

I have often been part of a project that started to go off the rails because of lack of planning and communication (I like to say, “the wheels fell off the bus” as an analogy for failure that leads to more failure).

I see two extremes for handling this potential minefield: we can take charge or lay low.
The answer probably lies somewhere between the two extremes, and depending on the situation, leans one way or the other.

Keep thinking! Continue reading.

Lab or Factory or Church

~ Mike Schwiebert ~ 8 Comments

TestTubes

My mind has been spinning for the last week on a recent Seth Godin post, “The Lab or the Factory”. I have been contemplating what this distinction could reveal about the way we do church. It has also given me a new paradigm to freshly examine my own experiences.

The lab or the factory.

You work at one, or the other.

At the lab, the pressure is to keep searching for a breakthrough, a new way to do things. And it’s accepted that the cost of this insight is failure, finding out what doesn’t work on your way to figuring out what does. The lab doesn’t worry so much about exploiting all the value of what it produces–they’re too busy working on the next thing.

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The factory, on the other hand, prizes reliability and productivity. The factory wants no surprises, it wants what it did yesterday, but faster and cheaper.

Seth Godin

Some personalities are more lab technician, others are more factory worker.
Churches are also either labs or factories: partly because of the personality of our leaders and partly because of the philosophy of ministry.

Some leaders prefer an assembly line approach where they are in control of the methods and results. They prize efficiency in the execution of their ideas. For some people, this approach works really well. My wife is one of them. She would say: tell me what to do, show me how you want me to do it, and I will work really hard to improve efficiency and maximize the return.

Other leaders prefer a lab approach where the organized chaos leads to innovation. They prize learning with each individual creating additional value. They are trendsetters in new ministry methods and experiences. Others often come later and improve on the things they’ve pioneered. This is where I come in. I like to question things. If it’s not broken, let’s break it and see if we can make it better. I would say: tell me what you want to accomplish, the problem you want to solve, and I’ll help you figure out how to do it. Then I’ll move to the next problem.

With these very different styles, it would be valuable to understand both the kind of ministry we serve in and our natural bias.

Keep thinking! Continue reading.

Church Technical Leaders: Jobs-to-be-done

~ Mike Schwiebert ~ 2 Comments

Recently, I had the privilege of contributing an article for the Church Technical Leaders website where I discussed jobs-to-be-done theory and how it relates to the local church tech team, “What Motivates Your Team?“.

“As technical directors, we usually think in terms of what the church hires the tech team to do: run audio for live events, make videos, maintain infrastructure, etc. Have you ever considered what your volunteers are hiring your team to do for them? In other words, what is motivating them to serve in technical arts? If technical arts was a product, why would they be your customers?” From my article.

Keep thinking! Continue reading.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

~ Mike Schwiebert ~ 3 Comments

Thinking on the beach

Love these posts I’m reading over at the Church Technical Leaders website by Jacob Barbour @hdctechdirect, “Should I Even Be Here?” Pt. 1, Pt. 2, and Pt.3.

Jacob’s writing has been really good. I get energized when I see people wrestle with their calling, wrestle with their circumstances, and speak wisdom out of their disillusionment. It is a given to get disillusioned in church work. Those who say otherwise are living an unexamined life or lying. Both of which are destroyers of authentic ministry.

Let’s dig in. Jacob asks: “Should I even be here?” My answer:

Where’s here?

One of the greatest challenges I have faced in life is deciphering the riddle of the will of God. In the church tradition I grew up in, discovering God’s will for your life was the most important thing a young person could do. And although I do believe that God can call specific people to specific tasks, I question that God calls all people to specific vocations.

Keep thinking! Continue reading.

Church Technical Leaders: Leading Up

~ Mike Schwiebert ~ Leave a comment

As part of an ongoing discussion on the  Church Tech Leaders website about Leading Up, I recently had the privilege of adding my two cents via video.

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As a Manager Tools’s fan, I do not believe that a person should try to manage their boss. However, as technical artists in the church, we have knowledge and skills that the rest of the staff can benefit from. We were hired for our expertise. In that sense, we are the leaders in the church staff when it comes to our field.

Often, we are called on to communicate up the chain. As leaders at our church in technical arts, the skill set needed for this type of communication is different. That just makes sense. You are the leader in knowledge or expertise, but not the leader in the organization. It can be a tricky place to navigate.

Greg Baker, technical director at Saddleback Church, started the conversation with this excellent article.

To watch the videos of Van and me click here.