Mark Waltz | ...Because People Matter

Busy People and Volunteering: An Interview with Tony Morgan

I met up with Tony Morgan recently to chat about engaging busy people as volunteers in the local church. As you read this brief conversation, join me in celebrating the hundreds and hundreds of selfless volunteers who carry the ministry of Granger Community Church - on and off the campus, in and out of the local community.

You can read the entire article here. Follow Tony Morgan here and here.

Tony, it was fun to see you a couple of days ago at STORY09.

Guest Services Best Practice #16: Diversify

There's a common leadership principle that suggests we attract who we are.John Maxwell calls it the Law of Magnetism. Maxwell suggests that leaders must work hard to add people to their team who don't merely mirror themselves. 

Here's at least one application of this law in the world of Guest Services in your local church or organization. You have a dyno-leader who's 62. Professional in every way. Sharp image. Mature leadership. Formal, but personable, presentation. This leader will naturally attract others like her. That's not a bad thing.

Nor is it a bad thing that the leader of another team is 34. Sharp, but hip. Untucked, frayed jeans, no socks. Mature leader. Laid back and personable. He will attract others like himself. And that's not a bad thing either.

Except for this reality. Each of these leaders leads a greeter team. On different weekends. Which means on weekend one, when the mature 62-year old is leading, the majority of team members greeting at doors and assisting guests are mature 60-somethings. Again - there's nothing wrong with that, except that there will likely be younger people attending the service this weekend. When they arrive they're likely to assume - "I don't know if this is my church, because..." don't miss this... "there's no one here like me."

The same thing will happen next week when the team is comprised of late-20 and 30-somethings. Older people will arrive and wonder if this church is their church, because "everyone seems younger."

People want to fit in. They want to sense that they belong. Remove those barriers. Diversify your teams.

Your leaders will have to work hard to do so. They'll have to empower other younger - or older - team members to invite and involve others like them. Then when guests arrive, on any weekend, they'll sense at first glance that they just might belong.

SWITCH | Navigating Change with Chip Heath: Session 3

Part 3 of 3: Shaping the Path (Part 1, Part 2)

• Tweak the environment to make change/impact more possible   ...because what often looks like a people problem is actually a situation problem
• • Lieutenant General William Gus Pagonis (Gulf War & Desert Storm) called morning meetings that were consistent, 5-15 minutes in length - and they met standing up. This environment communicated urgency, the meetings were consistently focused and brief.
  • Tweaking the environment provides space, communicates a new "normal" and clarifies the do-able objective.
• Rally the herd
• • People are often not ready for change. Consider...
  • • moving people into the first sky-scraper
    • eating the first shrimp
    • UGG boots in the middle of summer
  • But one change agent impacts another who impacts another who ... (you get the idea)
  • New norms are formed that redefine the "win" for the person or organization

Now here's the question that a couple of us have been wondering: How do we apply this conversation about behavioral change to spiritual formation? Is mere behavioral change the point? Are the desired outcomes about...

• higher weekend attendance?
• more people in small groups?
• a thriving marriage ministry?
• larger offerings?

OR...

• more people coming to Christ?
• people developing meaningful relationships that help them navigate their spiritual journey?
• deepening marriages that model self-sacrificing love?
• generous people more focused on others than themselves

Do we see the win, the outcomes, as measurables that paint us as a success or do we see the win for what our people experience in their relationship with Jesus? How do we best help people move toward their God-designed, truest self?

SWITCH | Navigating Change with Chip Heath: Session 2

From last post: First of all: Direct the Rider

Next...

• Motivate the Elephant
• • Find the Feeling
  • • Change requires tapping the emotions. The "want to." The rider is outmatched by the elephant. The elephant must be excited about the change.
    • Paint a picture. Tell stories. Get people involved so they experience the problem, the reality, the people and relationships beyond the task at hand.
    • You want people to say:
    • • This is wrong! This is crazy!
      • ...AND We can fix this!
    • People then become part of the solution and move toward change.
    • John Kotter notes: Change doesn't happen by 1)thinking, 2) analyzing 3) changing. Rather it is by 1) Seeing 2) Feeling then 3) Changing
  • Shrink the Change
  • • Must be manageable change. A step.
    • • Make it small. Create an immediate win.
      • • Example - the dread of cleaning (a desk, a room, etc)...Fly Lady: 5-minute Room Rescue
  • Grow the Elephant
  • • Create an identity that makes people feel proud.
    • We love break-throughs... but don't like the thought of smashing into walls
    • A fixed mindset will shy away from challenges, will be defensive to correction and will deny or be shaped negatively by failure
    • A growth mindset embraces challenges, appreciates the opportunities that come from correction and accept failure as learning
    • • By preparing people to fail - which is always part of success - you help people to develop and live out of a growth mindset. It's normal. It's good.

What change are you working on? How will you direct the rider with clarity... then instill emotional motivation that evokes change?

SWITCH | Navigating Change with Chip Heath: Session 1

I'm in an all-day training session with Chip Heath and about 70 other people at Willow Creek. Chip and his brother Dan are brilliant thinkers who apply their research to life: business, church, personal.

Here are some rough notes from session 1:

• We are willing to change. We do it a lot.
• We willingly marry; have kids… voluntarily embracing change. Major change.
• These changes seem easy to accept… however, others are very difficult.

• We experience the schizophrenia of change. We want to… we don't want to. We will, but we won't.
• Analytical vs. emotional self
• Part of us wants to get up on a Saturday morning to get a task done… another part wants to sleep in
• Consider these juxtapositions; the last of these is the primary image for today's focus:

• Analytical	Emotional
  Reflective	Unconscious
  Charioteer	Unruly horse
  Superego	Id
  Planner	Doer
  Rider: sometimes causes us to regret, press too hard, to long, etc...	Elephant : sometimes steers us away from our intention; but also asks important questions: What if…? That's wrong!

• Consider a rider on an elephant. The rider may know where he wants to go, but the elephant in largely in charge. How do you get those two in sync? That's the challenge of change.
• If we spend time staring at cookies and not eating; restraining from honking; etc… it saps our will power. And when our will power is low, we more quickly give in to other temptations.  [Ministries that focus on 'staying away from porn'; 'quitting smoking'; etc… often only strain and drain the self will. Sounds like Romans 7.]
• Must direct the rider.

Who, by the way over-plans, over-analyzes, other-things

• Find the bright spots.
• How many novels/movies merely celebrate a successful marriage? Few if any. We love the conflict, the struggle, to create the story. We are not accustomed to this search.
• What will we change to? That’s a challenge at the onset.
• So, when find the bright spots, don't analyze them or dismiss them. Celebrate them. Own them.

• Script the critical moves.
• People may not be resisting change; they may have no idea how to change.
• Limit the number of options. Or people won't choose.
• Be specific. Abstract directives aren't helpful:
• Be nicer.
• Play better in the sandbox.
• Be a good Christian.

• Point to the destination.
• Change is much easier when you know where you're headed.
• Specific outcomes must motivate.

Guest Services Best Practice #17: Create a Schedule

I learned the hard way. People need to be reminded.

Back in my student ministry days I thought that grown adults could remember meeting dates and times. After all, they get kids to soccer practice, keep doctor appointments, show up for work, and remember birthdays. All that's true. And maybe that's the point: it's ALL true. There's a lot going on.

It's happened to all of us. Weekend service. You're ready. You're on time. And someone else isn't. You cripple through the services or services on a shoestring, hoping to not miss any critical elements or people as you attempt to provide a welcoming space for your guests. It happens. People aren't always blowing off responsibility. Sometimes people just forget.

Here are some thoughts about serving as a full team:

• Create a schedule. Put it on paper. Make sure everyone has it.
• Make the schedule easy to remember. Build some pattern into it. Monthly. Biweekly. Find a rhythm.
• Send reminders. Make phone calls. Send postcards. Tweet. Text. Email. And you must, you must, you must - not choose the easiest and preferred communication for yourself as the leader. Learn how everyone on your team is best connected. You'll likely call some, text others, and email the rest.
• Follow-up when someone doesn't show. This is a simple and opportune chance to care. You may discover they're facing difficulty, illness, or worse. Reach out. You made it past the weekend. That's good. But, it's not all there is to the team.
• Expect the schedule to be kept and followed. By planning it, printing it, reminding, following up you'll communicate that people matter - the team matters. "We're counting on you!"

Sunday's coming! Is your team?

Now, It's a Party

Just a couple weeks ago we celebrated year ONE of our Granger Community Church in Elkhart. Jeff Bell and his wife, Leslee, are leading a great team of kingdom-minded people there! Way to go, team!

Elkhart Campus' One Year Review from Granger Community on Vimeo.

Guest Services Best Practice #18: Surprise Your Guests

I'm not talking about jumping out from behind trash cans and scaring your guests. That'd be a surprise, but no.

And I'm not thinking about blowing your budget to lavish your guest with extravagant gifts.

Think simple. Think functional. Think...

• umbrella escorts in inclement weather
• hand sanitizer dispensers around your building
• chairs/lounge area in the women's restroom
• clean everything
• follow-up when guests request help
• mouthwash, lotion, mints in the restroom
• soft seating in common areas

Check out this transformation at Christ Community in St Charles, IL (thanks for sharing the pics, Brian!):

Before...

 

After...

 
 

The point isn't too merely surprise your guests. The surprise communicates care and value.

...because people matter.

It's a Pile

A reading pile, that is. I've been slowly, but slowly working through a few books - since the spring. It's been a bit pathetic, quite honestly. Why am I putting this out there in "permanent, instant, global" world? Confession's good, right? Truth is, it's been a season. A good season, but an intense season. The pace has been unusual, even for me. My focus has been challenged, which is somewhat of a constant reality for me, but more so the past few months. Hence, my reading has been sporadic. Some would advise me to slow it down and read one at a time, but that's just not my wiring. I like the pile. And I'm ready.

In addition to my Bible here are the books I'm diving into and a quote or take-away that hooked me early:

• Walter Brueggemann's The Word That Redescribes the Word
• • "...like the people of God from the beginning, the church has to live between peculiarity and pluralism, between shaping ourselves as a different people - different not in our humanness but in our obedience - and living in relation to the other who is our immediate neighbor and also to the nation far off."
• Chris Castaldo's Holy Ground: Walking with Jesus as a Former Catholic
• • A former Roman Catholic, Castaldo is now an Evangelical pastor. His book is not a Catholic-bash-fest. Rather he writes from his experiences and seeks to help Christians with Catholic roots embrace a grace-filled relationship with God. I think I'll learn better how to help many of our people and my new friends.
• Tony Dungy's Uncommon Ground: Finding Your Path to Significance
• • I've been a Colts fan since living in Indianapolis 15 years ago. Following them, I've also gained great respect for their Super-Bowl winning Coach, Tony Dungy. This book comes after decades of success to say that's not all there is to success. Committed to see young men live up to the aspirations of their Creator, Dungy speaks to the reality of living life in an "uncommon" way.
• Ann Spangler's & Lois Tverberg's Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith
• • The authors draw from a rich well of research to help us Westerners read the Bible as the document it is - Jewish. Their well-written, story-filled book brings the nuances and customs of an ancient culture to bear on our often surface-skimming read of the Scriptures. And it's written for simple folk like me.
• Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
• • Challenged with the task of remembering all the details of his life, Miller writes: "I know I've had more experiences than this, but there's no way I can remember everything. Life isn't memorable enough to remember everything. It's not like there are explosions happening all the time or dogs smoking cigarettes. Life is slower. It's like we're all watching a movie, waiting for something to happen, and every couple months the audience points at the screen and says, "Look, that guy's getting a parking ticket." It's strange the things we remember."
• John Burke's Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended
• • On of our Groups experiences at Granger is centered around this book, intended to help people be transformed as they engage personal relationship with God. My wife and I are reading it together. I invited a team to read it with me, along with another friend. Burke awakens a challenge that Frank Laubach wrote about and practiced nearly 80 years ago. It's really all about practicing the presence of Jesus. 

I'll finish out the Guest Services Best Practices list soon, then be occasionally posting and/or tweeting from my reading. Maybe you'd like to join me and read one of these books over the next few weeks.

Welcome to my reading journey.

Advice to a New Dad

A gentleman in our church just emailed me a picture of his new baby girl, prouder than snot to be a new dad of his precious princess. He asked what additional advice I had for him. So, without a lot of prolonged thought, I fired back:

• Love her momma well. Make sure she sees it, hears it, knows it.
• Tell her how beautiful she is and how proud of her you are of her– often.
• Listen. Then listen some more. Keep listening.
• Trust her. Make sure she knows it.
• Always hug her.
• Show her what it looks like to be treasured: treat her like a princess.
• Don’t be afraid to say “no.” You’ll say it a lot.
• Be sure to say “yes” to lots of right things.
• Pray all the time.
• Buy a shotgun.

Nuf said? What would you add?

Guest Services Best Practice #19: Think One Chance

Over the past few days I've been through a fair amount of frustration with Comcast. Three of four conversations with different reps left me feeling like I had done something wrong. I felt chided, even scolded a couple of times. I'd chuck the whole deal with them and go to another provider, but I'm in an older neighborhood and ... well, I feel stuck with Comcast. So, I'm negotiating and finding the arrangement livable.

I'm really not that hard to get along with, honest. But, like you, there's something in me that knows I have personal value. And when we experience "customer service" that isn't "customer care," we feel de-valued. Great service is about value. 

We could happen into a restaurant where the food is excellent. I mean, the best we've ever eaten. But if the service is poor - slow, impersonal, or indifferent, we'll likely be so distracted by the lack of service that we'll miss just how superb the meal is.

That's why we'll stop going to a restaurant that can't seem to get our steak cooked as requested. It's why we'll switch dry cleaners after more than a couple shirts are ruined or not pressed properly. We're not snobs. We just know that value can be communicated, so we go to places, businesses and people where that's our consistent experience.

Our guests in our church do the same thing. Every weekend.

They assess - involuntarily - the sense of personal value they experience. It could be the best message our pastor has ever preached. It could be the most inspiring media, impactful music... but, if our guests didn't feel welcomed, found the restroom dirty, the parking lot difficult to navigate, the children's room crowded - they may sit in our service and completely miss the message that they matter to God.

They may choose, in one visit, to not return simply because they didn't experience value. Call it guest services, call it customer care, call it ministry. It doesn't matter the label. Our people will experience value - or not. And they'll make decisions about returning based on it.

We may only get one chance.

What are you doing to make that one weekend for that one guest be an experience of personal value? Will people be distracted or embraced by the excellence of your care? Will they leave and not return or come back to experience the love of Christ through his people?

Think "one chance."

Guest Services Best Practice #20: Team is More than Task

Unfortunately, a team of people committed to a common task or cause can be so focused on that task that they forget they're doing it together. Mark Beeson has reminded us often at Granger that we want to keep some kind of "balance" between task and relationship. It probably looks something like 49% relationship, 51% task, and maintaining that balancing act requires diligent intentionality.

Any task worth accomplishing requires focus. Greeting guests, serving beverages in a cafe, feeding the poor, teaching children, performing the arts - these and more require attention. It's easy when the pace is fast and the need is intense to put your nose to the grindstone, relentless on just "gitten' 'er dun." The risk is that we miss the people with whom we're serving and miss half the benefit of serving in team.

Here are some quick thoughts about maximizing relationships in the process of accomplishing the tasks of ministry:

• build "connect" time into the serve time
• expect volunteers to arrive early enough to eat together, pray together and prepare for the serve
• if you're the leader of the team, make sure you're "free" during the serving time to talk, invest, and celebrate "wins"
• if you allow yourself to get "stuck" in a task role, you'll not be available to do so...
• extend the conversation beyond the serving component
• using email, phone, Twitter, Facebook and personal visits, encourage the team to share life by supporting each other outside the weekend or other serving times
• initiate a mass-email follow-up to the serving time
• send emails, listing prayer concerns, praises, news about team members and the next gathering
• remember birthdays, anniversaries, and other important high points in the lives of your team members
• bring in a cake, send a card, allow time for people to talk to each other about their other interests
• celebrate the "wins" of the task
• acknowledge that the team accomplished "x", celebrate stories you've heard from guests and members to mark the effectiveness of the team

What else are you doing to balance the tension between task and team?

Guest Services Best Practice #21: Hang a Sign

Self-disclosure: Pretty much any building I enter - restaurant, airport, mall, church, museum, store, your house - I'm looking for a restroom. There aren't too many homes with signage for bathrooms, but, then again, I generally know the host, so I can ask.

When a new guest comes to your church, they're likely to look for one of three things (maybe all three):

• restroom
• children's center
• auditorium or worship center

Self-disclosure #2: When we opened our new auditorium at Granger Community a few years ago, we were strategic and careful about where signage was placed and just what it communicated. However, I recently toured our building with my guest services coaches and we made some disappointing discoveries. Some signage is too busy with font that's too small to read without standing still. Some signage has been added in recent months and secondary bulkhead hides it. Other signage uses our in-house language that may not be all that helpful to our guests (thanks, Kem Meyer for the eye-opener). 

So, when hanging signage, ask:

• What are guests really looking for? Is a sign with an arrow to the recycle bin really all that helpful or necessary?
• If this sign were hanging in an airport would guests see it as they rush to catch a plane? If not, make the sign bigger (if your church is smaller, think smaller airport... but think about people reading signage as they move).
• Will people understand what "churchutopia" means? Or would it be better to simply say, "Kids' Center"?

Hang a sign. And hang it effectively.

Wondering. What goofy signs have you seen in churches - or elsewhere?

Guest Services Best Practices #22: Everyone Can Greet

At first the notion that everyone can greet flies in the face of what I train and coach – with our own people and leaders of other churches. A warm body, even a warm smiling body, just isn’t enough. There’s a unique wiring that people-people, wow-makers possess. Make no compromises.

However, here’s what’s true. The only people greeting guests should not be limited to your greeters or other guest services team members. Your guests may see the occasional “official” nametag on an usher or hospitality host or greeter, however, those volunteers and staff aren’t the only people your guests will see – or interact with.

Nor do they care if someone is wearing a label or not. A warm, inclusive, accepting greeting is a warm, inclusive, accepting greeting regardless who’s doing the greeting.

Consider Ruth Saratore from Granger Community.

I attended Ruth’s funeral on Monday of this week. She was 88 years old. Always sat on the second row, left side of the center aisle, every Sunday. Ruth wasn’t one of those people who felt she owned that seat. In fact, she was constantly inviting people to sit with her.

Matt spoke at Ruth’s funeral. His story? Five years ago he entered Granger Community for the first time. Alone, tentative, looking for a seat. He made it down front early one Sunday and heard the sweetest sound. It was Ruth. “Are you alone young man? Sit right here with me.” No, Ruth wasn’t hitting on him. She was in her eighties. He was barely 30. At the end of the service, she told him, “I’ll be here next week. I hope you come back. I’ll be saving a seat for you.”

That was enough for Matt. Granger was his home. His church.

Several more people revealed the same “sit with me”  story. Stories that continued beyond the weekend service. Phone calls. Visits. Ruth extending herself to serve and love others.

She never wore a nametag. She wasn’t a greeter (although she could have been). She didn’t volunteer at guest relations.

But she greeted. Warmly, inclusively, and unconditionally accepting.

Guests don’t really care who warmly receives them. You don’t need a label or a tag. They don’t really care.

What’s your church culture like? What culture are you creating?

Everyone can greet.

What’s your story of an authentic, caring culture?

Guest Services Best Practices - You Decide What's Next

Okay, we have 22 more Guest Services Best Practices to go in this ongoing Top 47 list. Tomorrow's post is in the works, but I'm wondering what you'd like to read about over the next week? Comment here. Send me a tweet (MarkLWaltz):

• Team is More than Task
• Hang a Sign
• Get Dressed!
• Plan the Understated
• Follow-up
• Surprise Your Guests
  
• Listen to Complaints
• Collaborate
• Value Your Volunteers
• Tell Stories
• Don’t Just Fix It
• Think “One Chance”
• Diversify
  

Okay. Fire away.

Guest Services Best Practice #23: Stock Toilet Paper

Okay, this post is not for the faint of heart. It's rated PG-13. Read on at your own risk.

Ever gone into your own bathroom at home, sat down... only to discover someone didn't restock the toilet paper? Crap. (That was bad, huh?) The tissue is in the hall closet. So, you do the only thing you can do: you yell for someone to bring you a roll of toilet paper. Simple. You're home. With people you love. It happens.

Now, consider the same scenario with a guest at your church. Holy crap. (Even worse, huh?)

Go ahead. Play this out. Your guest is in the restroom stall. There is no toilet paper. This isn't home. He or she doesn't know where the stock is. They're not going to yell for help. They're stuck. They're just stuck. If they do find a way out of the restroom, they may never come back. Not to the restroom - to your church.

First impressions are lasting impressions.

Stock toilet paper. 2-ply. Don't go with the 1-ply cheap stuff. That's about as bad.

Guest Services Best Practice #24: Answer the Phone

This was almost laughable when we finally discovered it several years ago. We had answered the phone throughout the week, addressing questions about service times and location frequently. Then, on the weekends - the time when many calls come in asking about service times and location - we had all our calls going to voicemail. Sure the caller could listen to a 47-option menu and find the recorded address and service time, but, really... a recording when we had 150 guest services volunteers in the building?

Our phones are answered during all services on the weekend by a competent, gregarious, helpful volunteer. Simple. Make a great first impression - on the phone.

What other "duh" steps have you taken to improve your serve to your guests?