Tag: time management

  • The problem with “We do our own thing”

    The problem with “We do our own thing”

    Maybe it’s just because we’re now publishing curriculum? Or maybe it’s because after 4-5 years of trying I realized that buying curriculum is better than trying to do everything myself?

    But as I’m out, talking to youth workers, I hear a phrase over and over again when I ask about what they are teaching. “We do our own thing.”

    “Really? You write your own curriculum? Why?”

    (more…)

  • Committee Meetings – A Cartoon

    Click image to see full-sized version

  • Team Meeting Strategy

    The team meeting.

    It’s one of those necessary evils of most organizations.

    No one truly enjoys them but it’s also critical for teammates to get an idea of where you are at regularly. Whether you are a start-up with 3 employees or a conglomerate with thousands of employees across multiple offices and departments, this is one of those ubiquitous things you do.

    For as long as I’ve had these meetings I’ve heard people complain about them. But the simple truth is I don’t know of a better alternative. How else are you going to know who is doing what, what needs to  get done, and how we are doing as a team?

    Forms of team meetings

    I break it down into two distinct styles:

    1. The sit down – Get the coffee, even the shortest version of this is an hour.
    2. The stand up – Get the coffee, but we aren’t going to sit so it’ll only last 10-15 minutes.

    Style of team meetings

    I break it down into three types:

    1. Report to the boss – Everything is presented to or directed at the boss, who responds and digs deeper as needed.
    2. Catch up with the team – Everything is directed at the team, those who need to ask more questions do so.
    3. Hybrid – Most team meetings are this, there’s a little bit of reporting to the boss, and hopes of collaboration.

    Adam’s rules for team meetings

    1. Be prepared – Typically these happen weekly. If you don’t show up ready you don’t take your job seriously.
    2. It’s a briefing, keep it brief – When I show up I want to have my facts handy, I try to stay on point, and I want to plainly communicate the whole truth. Facts, numbers, problems.
    3. Don’t hide failures – I like to make sure I communicate where I’m struggling, where my problems are, etc. Hiding that only leads to bad things.
    4. Open to questions – Even when I screw up, I make sure to ask if anyone has any follow-up questions.
    5. If you aren’t the team lead, don’t take over – I don’t like it when someone dominates this meeting that isn’t in charge of the meeting.
    6. If you are the team lead, moderate well – When I’m running these meetings I make sure I keep them moving. I’m never afraid to interrupt and say, “That’s a sidebar, let’s meet later.” Or “it would be better if you two just talked about that and reported back next time.“
    7. The meter is running – In my mind, I calculate the hourly rate of these types of meetings. If there are 10 people who average $30/hour, are we getting $300/hour worth of benefit here?

    What about you? What are your rules for team meetings?

  • 3.2 steps for dealing with crazy people

    If you serve in ministry than there’s a good chance you have one or two crazy people regularly occupying your time. (I don’t mean mentally ill people, I just mean irrational people who bring undue stress to your daily life.)

    For example:

    • A homeschooling mom who constantly tells you she doesn’t want her teenage son influenced by non-Christian boys despite the fact that she has a raging addiction to prescription pain killers and her children know it.
    • A group of parents that won’t let their kids go to a Christian concert because crowds are dangerous and terrorists are likely to attack.
    • A couple in the church who calls together the elders because I was teaching kids how to pray. And we know there’s only one kind of acceptable prayer, and the kind Adam teaches must be emergent and he’s leading kids to hell because their friend from the other Baptist church gave them a tract that said that Rick Warren and Tony Jones had a secret arrangement to destroy the church in America. And Adam has read Purpose Driven Life and he has a Tony Jones book on his bookshelf.

    The question for those of us in ministry isn’t, if we can avoid these people as the church somehow magically attracts them. The question is “What’s a strategy for dealing with these crazy people that works while not eating up all of your time or disrespecting a child of God acting irrationally?”

    Here’s how I handle it.

    Step .2: Tell your boss

    It’s always a good idea to let your boss know that someone is behaving irrationally. If you don’t manage the situation well than the situation may just handle you. (Many, many church staff lose their jobs annually because crazy people complained to the right people.) There’s a good possibility this person/people are going to tell everyone how you are mistreating them or ignoring them or whatever. So, it’s just good to go ahead and put it on your bosses radar early.

    Step 1.2: Breathe deep, remain calm, and smile when you see them

    I know these people are making your life uncomfortable. But you are still a minister of the Gospel called to love all people. One way I’ve tried to adjust my attitude towards the crazy people in my life is to label their behavior, “misplaced care” or “something they can control in a life spinning out-of-control.” My observation is that these folks aren’t driving you batty simply for the sake of that, it’s somehow fulfilling something they are passionate about. And it’s a good thing to be passionate about their kids, their kids faith development, their church, and the integrity of the church they attend. Changing my attitude towards their behavior helps me remain professional for the next step.

    Step 2.2: Explain your thinking or your philosophy behind their concern

    Fear, by its very nature, is irrational. And while it may merely fuel the fires I always try to backfill irrational behavior with my rationale. It might not help very much in the end but I find it best to schedule a time to sit down with the person and overload them with kindness and information. I’ll explain what I am doing, why I am doing it, I’ll fill their hands with books and documents, and most importantly– I will listen intently to their concerns. Listening validates their personhood without you having to change or agree with their perspective. Next, I’ll invite them to talk with someone else on the church staff or even an elder. Then, when the meeting is over, I document the meeting and share the notes with my boss. If the situation explodes later, everyone who needs to know will know that I treated that person with respect, I gave them all the information they wanted, and I acted professionally.

    Step 3.2: Minimize your time invested in crazy people

    Once you’ve done the first steps it’s probably best to just move on. There’s no need to rehash the thing with co-workers and waste their time. If you’ve followed the steps above, the best thing to do is stop talking and/or thinking about the situation and just get back to the task at hand. Don’t allow someone else’s irrational behavior to distract you too much.

  • 4 Types of Youth Ministry Teachers

    Teaching is a core competency for youth ministry. If you’re going to make it… you had better be an above average communicator of God’s Word. Titus 1:9 gives a simple description of a ministry overseer that is tough to escape:

    “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”

    As I chat with professional, full-time youth workers around the country I think I can categorize most of them into basic 4 categories. Forgive the generalizations. It’s not clean and I think people hop in and out of different categories at different parts of the school year and their life cycle in ministry. I think I’ve been all of these at various times in my life.

    4 Types of Youth Ministry Teachers

    1. The artist: These people consider their teaching a craft. In their eyes, their lessons are as much art as a photographer, an architect, or a ballet dancer. They spend countless hours lost in crafting their teaching series, messages, etc. These folks look down on those who buy resources. Though, they may buy stuff occasionally for inspiration.
    2. The time manager: These people understand and were maybe once “the artist.” But they don’t have time for that anymore. They look at their role as a teacher a task and they want to prepare quickly. They are always on the look-out for a quick idea. They love ministry resources, video curriculum, and have a mantra that if they spend a little money on a resource that they’ll spend more time with students and less time preparing lessons.
    3. Copycats: These folks are always looking for someone else’s idea. It’s all equal in the Jesus economy, right? They listen in 6-8 sermons a week to glean ideas… not be taught, they love free downloads and hunt them, and they are always trying to take something someone else did and tweak it for their own use. They may not have many of their own ideas in play, but they’ll also be the first people to label their ministry as “very creative.“
    4. Processors: These youth workers believe that their teaching will be better when they work through the content as a team. So they draft concepts and have a team of friends/volunteers look at it. By the time a lesson is taught, it has gone through 4-5 levels of revision. These people love their process.

    Here’s the kicker. I don’t think any of them are necessarily better or worse than the others. I think they all have a place. And I think each category can lead you to be a better-than-average communicator of biblical truth to adolescents.

    Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter that much which process you use. It matters far more that the message/teaching/lesson is delivered in a way it is absorbed than it is how the message/teaching/lesson was produced.

  • Holy Travel Schedule Batman

    scheduleThis is more of a confessional post than anything else. I can feel my travel schedule getting out of control. In 2007, Kristen and I carefully managed our schedule to maximize our time together. It was fantastic spending so much one-on-one time with the love of my life.

    Then reality struck back. Here’s a quick rundown of what I’m currently trying to jam into the next 12 months… these are the temptations of a networking-crackhead. A true one-week family vacation. A YMX getaway. Two or three National Youth Worker Conventions 08. Internet Ministry Conference 08. National Youth Ministry Conference 09. Shift 09. Staff retreats, Light Force mission trip, and of course… more family trips. Did I mention that next week I’m headed to a 3 day conference? Yeah.

    Every single one of those are good things. Great things! I love every one of these opportunities. I love that at each one of them I get a chance to be a friend to people, learn new things, and hopefully minister. The challenge is that I don’t truly have the ability to travel that much. Every one of those opportunities comes at a cost, doesn’t it? And sometimes the cost has nothing to do with money… it has to do with the time away from family.

    I’m not the only person in the world with more opportunities than time. How do you balance it all?