Confabulation

Ministry at any level requires strategy and planning.  Many of us voice frustration with all the meetings we are required to attend.  From my perspective, there would be a lot less meetings if the list of invitees was better thought out.  Many meetings take place impromptu and there is really nothing that can be done about these.  I’m talking about the planned strategy meetings.  The ones where the highest leadership is involved.  The plan?  Get in a room and brainstorm the best ideas.  Why wouldn’t it work?  You’ve probably got the most experienced team of people in the room.  What is missing?  Quite often the doers are missing.  The marketing people, the design people, the web people, the video producers…the people who have to facilitate the good idea and help it get traction.  They are ones who can advise of certain pitfalls and bumps in the road if you go a certain direction.  Believe me, you are not hiding from the reality of pitfalls by not inviting the doers.  Those pitfalls just surface way later than necessary and then another meeting is needed to address these issues.

My advice?  Start by thinking about the doers that need to be at the table.  I can almost guarantee you will have less meetings and the programs will come to fruition much sooner with the right people at the table.

When you develop a message to communicate, how do you prepare it for dissemination?  Do you write like the expert you are…someone who knows the message so well that you have a hard time communicating it?  Do you package it in a manner that is convenient for you but overwhelming to your audience?  I had a Statistics professor in college that knew statistics so well that he could not teach it well.  Half the class had a D or an F.  Sometimes we need to step back and prepare the message according to how it will be received by our constituents.  I read a blog post on Phil Cooke’s blog that had some great insight on this.  You can check it out here: http://philcooke.com/your_message_is_not_working.

Some web sites are free to develop and host.  Some cost a good amount of money to develop and host.  All sites have a cost of some sort though.  Even the free sites demand someone’s time…maybe yours.  So, how do we measure the return on investment (ROI) on websites?

Current statistics show that there are approximately 110 million websites.  There are 6.7 billion people living on this planet, but not all of them are able to access the web.  In reality there are approximately 1.4 billion people on earth that realistically can access the Internet.  This figures out to be about 13 people per site.

What should we do with this information?  It seems kind of meager to me.  I don’t want to think about all the work I do being for only 13 people.  But what if those 13 people took ownership of the site and content because they could contribute and interact?  How far would they go to tell their friends and acquaintances?  How often would they place links to the site from their own site or blog?

ROI is hard to measure when dealing with the web.  A financial ROI is fairly simple.  You invest funds and you get a return…sometimes positive and sometimes not so positive.  On the web we may need to measure ROI on how interactive our sites are.  If you offer web 2.0 applications like blogs, forums, etc., is it safe to say that you are getting a good ROI?  What else should be considered?

In this digital age many peices of mail and media can be distributed via the web.  My office has given direction to the creation of the Nazarene MediaLibrary (http://nazarenemedialibrary.org). This tool can distribute most anything digital (documents, PDFs, Videos, Images,Graphics, audio, etc).  Many offices I work with at the GMC (Global Ministry Center) are looking to diseminate mail packets and videos via this online resource rather than mail hardcopy paper and media.  If you think about it, this can save a fairly significant cost in packaging and mailing not to mention the printing costs of the actual item if it is paper or duplication of media (ex. DVDs or CDs) if the content requires this delivery method.  We at the GMC are getting excited to start implementing this tool for delivering content.  My only question is how it will be received by our constituents.  For the most part we have received nothing but high praise for this tool (currently we have a little over 1500 users).  Many have found it easy to use and love the 24-7 access to these resources.  I still wonder how many people will still require us to mail hardcopy items.  I am sure there will be some and I think it is our responsibiity to help those that find the MediaLibrary a poor option for them.  Regardless, we should realize some true savings in mailing costs even if we still need to mail a limited number in hardcopy.  How do you see this type of tool being accepted?  Only time will tell for sure but I would be interested in other thoughts on such a radical switch.

A web–log or “blog”, according to Pyra Labs Blogger is: “A web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically––like a what’s new page or a journal.” OK…cool.  Now what do I do with it?  Where’s the value?  Why spend the time?

Blogs can be personal in nature…consisting of diaries, opinions on anything and links to interesting content on the web.  These are fun and a great creative outlet for some people.  A blog can also be corporate in nature as a tool for communicating with customers and employees as knowledge and expertise are shared.

In the church there are real advantages to blogs, especially for leaders and pastors.  Through this web tool you can share the church’s mission, share expertise on ministry practices, build additional traffic to your website, and facilitate connections between likeminded colleagues.

Just having a blog is not enough.  You need a plan so it is not pointless.  You need a focus and strategy to really nurture a blog into an indispensable communication tool.  Rambling or “incessant barking” (see cartoon above) is of no value.  Blogging takes work and dedication.  However, your church or ministry can realize some true marketplace recognition through a blog.  Who knows who might find your blog through a search engine like Google?  You could begin impacting and ministering far beyond the walls of your office through a tool like this.  Two-way communication is an expectation on the web.  You can send out a newsletter either by hard copy or electronically, but if you don’t allow for continued dialogue on the topic(s) you hinder the value.

Through a blog you can open up a dialogue that can allow you to mentor someone(s) or allow you to learn from others in your field.  ALWAYS allow for comments on your blog posts whether you decide to approve them first or let them be placed directly on the site immediately.  Stifling communication is the kiss of death for interactive media like a blog site.

In the Church of the Nazarene our Mission is To Make Christlike Disciples in the Nations.  There are few tools in the world that can allow us to nurture that mission directly from our offices like a blog can.  I’d say that alone impresses value in a blog.

Being part of a global denomination is a wonderful experience but also presents several challenges…like actually being global in all we do.  In many cases we have said we are a global church but have not responded as such.  One area that has taken on a very USA/Canada feel is our denominational website.  Without any intent of developing the site in this manner we have created a website that has very few resources in other languages.  Some areas of our site have done a pretty good job but overall we have failed in this area.  At the heart of the issue seems to have been finances.  Getting content translated is expensive and there have not been sufficient funds available to do it correctly.

Recently we have been researching the Google translator.  While we understand that this will not be 100% accurate we feel that utilizing it on some parts of our site will allow the user to possibly get the idea of the content we have posted.  This is a little scary for some of us.  How will this be seen by our constituents?  Will they see this as an easy way out or as an attempt to close the gap we inadvertently created.  We sure hope it is seen as a good gesture and a good stop gap measure until we can implement a plan to have professionals translate all of our content.  Being a global church is much easier said than done…especially when you say it in English and a good percentage of your brothers and sisters in Christ don’t understand you.

In many ways I am a control freak.  I don’t think that most people see this side of me.  I try to suppress it as much as possible.  I really think the reason I don’t like roller coasters is because I am not driving, therefore not in control.  I have been doing some reading  that is challenging me to address this tendancy.  One book is Joseph Jaffe’s “Join the Conversation”.  As more and more people (consumers) use the internet and become more and more technically savvy they are becoming prosumers.  Most of them capable of producing media and content that simply was not possible a few years ago.  Prosumers are not satisfied to have content pushed their direction with no mechanism for them to interact with that content.  Its a two way street now days.  This presents issues for inner control freaks like myself.  These prosumers can say and show anything online.  What if it doesn’t mesh with my thinking?  What if I vehemently disagree with what they post?  They could even post something that conflicts with the theology I subscribe to.

Where do we…or do we draw a line?  Maybe we all need to join the online conversation.  It may not always be the most pleasant experience but it can definitely help us all stay in dialogue and maybe even build bridges from one generation to another.