This past Wednesday, I was invited by some friends to go down to the Cobb Galleria to see a presentation by Dan Heath, author of "Made To Stick" and "Switch." I really didn't do much research on this guy, or his brother (he co-wrote the books with his brother Chip), because it mostly deals with business organizations dealing with change. However, little did I realize the parallels that he shared were in all reality what all churches face.
Dan came in and did his presentation. It was great. It was funny and very insightful. He basically talked about the premise of the book and the reason behind it. He challenged us with several things. First, look for the bight spots and do them well. What he means by that is that too many organizations try to do too many things. However, if one thing is going well, try to make it the best it can be. He gave an example of a man who went to Vietnam to help with Mal-nourished children. However, the statics and research showed that there were multiple problems; from unclean water, to disease, to lack of medical care, to poverty. All of these problems were the obvious problems. However, this man found a few children who were healthy, and asked the mothers why. They told them it was their diet. The mother's split the 2 meals a day that most kids had, to 4 smaller portion meals. They would also add little bits of crab and other meats that most people would throw out. However, these simply practices proved to be more beneficial for the kids health. Therefore, he trained several tribes and published this information. Soon more and more kids began to regain their health. He didn't focus on trying to solve the poverty issue, or try to purify all the water. Even though those changes would have helped, he went and found a "bright spot" and focused on that.
Now, you can imagine how this applies to every church. There are many things needing help in a church. However, the mission or bright spot is what should always be the focus. I know I need to focus on the bright spot more often.
Second, he talked about an illustration of a man riding an elephant. This was taken I believe from a professor from the university of Virginia. However, his point is that the rider may know where he wants to go, and may have the elephant trained where he wants to go, but the elephant is still the one who makes that decision. He related this to our practical side (the rider) and our emotional side (the elephant). This is the reality in our life. He shared three points from this. First you have to direct the rider. You need to have a direction and goal that you want to reach. Second, you need to motivate the elephant. You need to find the feeling that will grow the people. And third, you need to shape the path. You need to build habits and tweak the environment to go the direction you want to go.
And again, after he continued on, I felt this had to do with any leader in any position. These principles can and should be applied to churches. It is not just a successful business model, it is one that will connect with a church.
I was really glad I went. And I am excited to read the book. I think there will be many more things I can apply from this.
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