Recently, I had the opportunity and privilege to write an article for the Church Technical Leaders website
I’m reposting that article here.
Me in the wild!
Church Technical Leaders: Jobs-to-be-done
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.
Church Technical Leaders: Leading Up
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.
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.
My Interview on Church Tech Profiles
Being a Tech Director can be a lonely, misunderstood job in a world surrounded by hard driving pastors and demanding creatives. It’s your job to make it all work; often with little time and little budget. And although we love the challenge, serving the church staff and the people of God can be overwhelming and take it’s toll on health and family.
In 2012, I had the opportunity to talk with Van Metschke for his podcast Church Tech Profiles. If you’ve never met Van, he is a gifted tech director with a passion for helping other techs not only be more effective, but spiritually healthy. Often, he will be seen with Mike Sessler and other members of the Tech Arts Network.
These guys are making a difference in the lives of technical artists and I feel like I struck gold when I became aware of what they were doing.
I think I eventually calmed down enough to speak a coherent sentence. I hope you enjoy this:
For more information on what Van is up to, check out his blog or catch up with him on twitter.
This seems like a good opportunity to plug another recommendation–if you volunteer or work on staff in the technical area at a church, don’t walk alone. Join the community of Church Technical Leaders.
Technically Thinking 