Business guru Verne Harnish has researched the same phenomenon in the business world. He noticed that rapidly rising companies often kill themselves at the same time they are growing like crazy. In fact, it’s because they are growing like crazy, says Harnish. 

In his book, “Scaling Up” Harnish identifies four things that sabotage growing organizations. Then he tells you how to identify which ones are about to knock you out. Or if you’re in the early stages of ramping up, this book tells you the four things to pay attention to as you grow.

The four words start with S, P, E, and C, so I’ve been telling people these are the SPECs for successfully growing any organization.

Strategy

Is your plan clear to you and to everyone on your team? And is it any good? “You don’t have a real strategy if it doesn’t pass two tests,” writes Harnish. “First, does what you’re planning to do really matter to enough people; and second, does it differentiate you from your competition?” 

If you do have a good, clear strategy, make sure you share it clearly with your team. If we’re successful in reaching more students, we eventually get to “the size at which senior leaders no longer know everyone’s name” and we can’t be at every event to set the tone. If we haven’t articulated clear “values, purpose and core competencies,” the culture will start to unravel as we grow.

People

Do you have enough people to support your growth? Are they a great fit and have you bothered to train them? If not, the growing enterprise will collapse. Harnish offers this clear test: “Would you enthusiastically rehire (or recruit) everyone, knowing what you know today? … It’s a painful question that requires one to face the brutal facts and make changes. If you fail to address these relational issues head on, they will continue to drain your emotional energy.” 

For tips on how to deal with your most difficult people, check out “Crucial Conversations” by Kerry Patterson. In youth ministry, sometimes the biggest “people” problem is the youth pastor. We love being the genius who makes everything work, but you’ll kill a growing ministry if you insist on controlling it all. “The bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle.”

Execution

“Along the journey, there is a set of habits – routines – that will make your climb easier. The routines set you free,” Harnish advises. “Set a handful of priorities,” he writes. What will you excel at, no matter what? What two or three things will you measure – Event attendance? Conversions? Volunteer-to-student ratio? And what habits will keep your team on track? An annual calendar? A curriculum plan? Excellent communication? In youth ministry, nothing kills a youth group faster than a super charming quarterback who has no playbook and no idea what he wants the rest of the team to do. Check out our website for some free tools that will help you execute better. 

Cash

Harnish’s advice here is pretty straight-forward: “Don’t run out of it. This means … paying attention.”  A youth leader who lives outside her budget – or doesn’t keep a cushion for the unexpected storm – won’t be a youth leader for very long.

It’s a great irony.  Some companies and organizations are so good at what they do that they start adding on raving fans every ten seconds. It looks like nothing can stop them.  But the very growth that’s thrilling them is also the growth that’s killing them.

Jeff Dunn-Rankin is Vice President of Consulting for Ministry Architects. To ask follow up questions, email him: jeff.dunn-rankin@ministryarchitects.com

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We just hate lousy church meetings.

At least that’s the contention of Patrick Lencioni, author of “Death By Meeting.”

When a fellow youth pastor recommended Lencioni’s book, I assumed the author was handing out tips on how to have shorter meetings and to have fewer of them.

Nope. Lencioni argues that meetings aren’t inherently boring and unproductive.  We just make them that way. 

In fact, Leoncioni says, “there is simply no substitute for a good meeting – a dynamic, passionate and focused engagement – when it comes to extracting the collective wisdom of a team.”

In “Death By Meeting,” this business guru, who also happens to be a Christian, spells out two simple principles, in a way that makes for easy reading. He calls his book “a leadership fable.” The lesson unfolds within the story of a software company that makes video games. They hit a crisis or two, and the lessons on how to run a good meeting bubble up from the plot.  He’s not a threat to John Grisham, but Lencioni’s books are always a painless way to learn how healthy organizations function.

Lencioni focuses on two main problems with most meetings: They are dull-dull-dull, and their structure is random and unfocused. Not just in church. Schools, businesses, and non-profits have the same problem.

Here are his solutions:

Healthy Conflict

Nobody has trouble sitting through a 100-minute movie, but a 100-minute meeting? Forget about it. The difference, says Lencioni, is that movies have a gripping story, which almost always involves conflict.

During the first few minutes of any meeting, the leader needs to “hook” the participant’s interest by revealing the compelling plotline – how our Fall Festival ties back to the Great Commission or the impact this budget meeting can have on real lives. Then, leaders need to “mine for conflict” – draw out the natural passions of the group of the intelligent, experienced people gathered around the table.  The leader’s job is not to squelch disagreements. It’s to encourage differences, as they lead to solving real problems.

Structure and Purpose

To stick with the movie analogy, imagine if you tried to combine a sit-com, with CNN Headline News and Braveheart. The result would be a frustrating mish-mash of conflicting styles and purposes.  But that’s what most people do with their meetings.

Instead, there should be different meetings for different purposes. Yep, you might actually have more meetings, but Lencioni contends that “when properly utilized, meetings are actually time savers” because we reach solutions sooner and rehash things less often.  He recommends four kinds of meetings.

§  Daily Check-in: Five minutes to share daily schedule and information you would have tracked each other down for anyway. Tips: Don’t sit down. Tackle administrative issues only.

§  Weekly Tactical: 45-90 minutes to review this week’s activities, any key measurements, and deal with tactical obstacles and issues that impact the near future. Tip: Postpone big-picture strategic issues.

§  Monthly Strategic: 2-4 hours to discuss, analyze, brainstorm and make decisions about critical issues affecting long-term success. Tips: Limit to one or two topics, prepare and research ahead of time. Mine for healthy conflict.

§  Quarterly Off-site Review: 1-2 days to review core strategy and team development, plus (in business land) industry trends and the competitive landscape. Tip: Don’t over-structure.

Lencioni gives more details throughout the story and in the executive summary at the back of the book. You can read it over two or three lunch hours – about as long as it takes to sit through a typically painful staff meeting.

It’s a great book to read together as a team, but not a smart gift to slip your boss. Before you decide to remove the splinter from your pastor’s meeting table, better to remove the beam from your own.

This material appeared originally in Group Magazine.

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But church people are still people, and when the stakes are high and emotions are higher, most of us do a lousy job at holding a constructive conversation.

The authors of “Crucial Conversations” say that you can trace it back to biology. When things get scary, your glands start pumping adrenaline. That tells the animal part of your brain that danger is approaching and that you only have three primitive choices: punch something, freeze, or run away. In third grade science class, they called it “fight, flight, or freeze.”

To make matters worse, your fearful reaction borrows blood from your brain, which is now nearly incapable of rational thought. No wonder we don’t handle crucial conversations well. “We’re doped up and dumbed down.”

But you probably know a handful of people who are astoundingly great these tough conversations. How do they do it? Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, and Switzler studied those rare people and discovered that they have a few skills in common. And they are teachable to the rest of us.

The Safe Zone

The reason people resort to fight or flight is that they don’t feel safe. The people who are great at tough conversations have learned how to create safety, so emotions can settle down.

The authors suggest that “you start with the person you have the most influence over – yourself.”  When you feel the adrenaline building, ask yourself: “What do I really want?”

Just asking this question moves us to the deeper, calmer parts of our brain. As you start to contemplate what you really want – for me, for them, for us – your brain re-engages, and you start to wonder: “How do I need to behave in order to get those results?”

Once you’ve calmed your own nerves, you can start to create a safe, non-adrenaline zone for the people around you.

The “Crucial Conversations” researchers said we have to “step out of the conversation” for a moment, so we can also determine what the other person thinks is at risk. Typically, they think you don’t respect them, or they think you don’t have the same goals.

Mutual Respect

The people who are great at crucial conversations have learned how to examine their own behavior. If they’ve accidentally caused someone to feel disrespected or unsafe, they don’t return to the issue until they have offered a sincere apology.

Of course, sometimes people feel disrespected even when you’ve done nothing disrespectful. That’s when you offer a “contrasting statement” to let them know that your criticism doesn’t define the totality of how you feel about them. It’s usually a combination of do and don’t: “I don’t want to give the impression that I do not value your work. I do value your work. I think it is spectacular. My concern is that you often run late, and the parents are getting frustrated.”

Mutual Purpose

Safety can only be established if you first commit to seeking a mutual purpose. Agree to agree: “We will stay in conversation until we come up with a solution that achieves a purpose we both can share.”

It helps to look for the real “purpose” behind someone’s “strategy.” For example, “I want you to go to ‘X-Men’ with me” is your husband’s strategy. But you hate comic book movies. So it’s time to find his real purpose, which might be: “I need to get out of the house and forget about my day.” If we name the real purpose, we can come brainstorm new strategies that will work for everyone involved.

The authors are quick to point out that these techniques don’t always work the first time. You might have to “step out and return” several times. But if we don’t, then we stay trapped in the fight or flight or freeze syndrome. As Dr. Phil would ask, “How’s that working for you?”

This book summary originally appeared in Group magazine. Check out their website www.youthministry.com

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You want to make sure she feels welcome, so you greet her at the door with, “Ich bin sehr froh dass du hier bist.”

She gives you the blank stare.

“Bona sera principessa,” says someone passing by.

Kaylee is not impressed, so you guide her to a group of middle schoolers. One of them looks up and says, “Hey! I’m really glad you came.”

Now, Kaylee smiles and relaxes a little. Someone is speaking her language.

Of course, we’re not greeting kids at the door in German or Italian, but are we saying “Welcome” in a way they immediately understand?

Gary Chapman has written a wide array of books, based on his original, “The Five Love Languages.” There are Love Language books “of teenagers,” “of children,” “of singles,” and more. The core premise of Chapman’s books is that people “hear” love in different ways, and if we want to communicate love clearly, it helps to speak each individual’s language.

One of our goals as youth pastors is to communicate God’s deep and abundant love to every youth we see.  Imagine how much better we’d do, if we learned each student’s specific love language.  See if you can recognize your own love language, and, conversely, the languages you rarely use to communicate with your youth.

Quality time –  A quick “how ya doin?” doesn’t cut it with these kids. They need to spend some time with an adult who cares.  Letting them know that you’re listening, inviting them to visit you after school, and showing up for games can go a long way.

Gifts – A little goody bag for visitors will speak volumes to these youth.  Lessons that include a take-home reminder – even a paper clip or a paper bookmark – will stay in their desk drawers and memories for years.

Physical touch –This is a tricky one in today’s youth ministry world, but we have to find creative, safe ways to speak love in these students’ primary language. Whether it’s high-fives, fist bumps, appropriate hugs or pats on the back, we need to find a dialect that works for us.

Words of Affirmation – “Love your shoes.” “You have a great laugh.”  “Nice pass.” They all say “I love you” to people who speak this language.  The flip side is that these kids are particularly sensitive to the “just kidding” put-downs that some of us youth pastors are famous for.

Acts of Service – Don’t just say it – do it. Rides to and from youth group, taking their empty plate to the trash, offering homework help – that’s what tells these youth that you really mean it when you say that you care about them.

For youth workers, the “Five Love Languages of Teenagers” is probably the best place to start. But if you read any of Chapman’s books, you walk away with the desire and the tools to speak all five languages or at least to have all five represented on your team of youth leaders. A hugger is communicating with some of her kids, but not all. An affirmer is filling up the “love tank” of some of his youth, but others just aren’t hearing it.

Maybe a good exercise would be to examine the ways we welcome newcomers. We should be saying “we care about you” in a variety of ways, to make sure we are speaking each student’s primary language – instead of insisting that they learn ours.

This blog originally appeared as a column in Group Magazine. Visit them at www.YouthMinistry.com

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I think when you tell a story, pray a fervent prayer or throw any sort of ministry into God’s waters, you never know where the ripples are going to travel.

Just now, I was praying after reading a passage in Matthew, and I was contemplating the moment where Jesus says to Peter, “Flesh and blood didn’t reveal that to you. It was my father in heaven.” As I was praying, a song called “Be Still” became part of my prayer. It just sort of slipped in, as a natural part of the conversation.

The song was written by Joshua Price, a super-gifted guy who came to our youth group when he was younger. Now he’s a worship leader whose music is sold in itunes.  Josh had no idea his ministry was at work in my life this morning.  But it was.

I think that must happen every day, all over the country – someone starts singing a song; or a kid in crisis remembers that God is still good. Meanwhile, the songwriter or the youth pastor is stopping at Starbucks or trying to find a Sunday school teacher or sleeping.  Completely unaware that God is using our work to change somebody’s world.

Today, I want you to be aware.

What we do – it matters.

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Jeff Dunn-Rankin has been Director of Youth at Christ United Methodist Church in Venice, FL since 1998. He has consulted with large and small youth and children’s ministries from California to Florida and is a frequent speaker at events from the Group/Simply Convention to KidMin.

He is a regular columnist for Group Magazine, and In 2011, Jeff wrote two books,  Before You Hire a Youth Pastor and The Indispensable Youth Pastor (Group Publishing), both co-authored with YMA President & Founder, Mark DeVries.

Before beginning church ministry, Jeff was managing editor of the Charlotte Sun newspaper. Jeff is a graduate of the Sewanee: The University of the South and has a Masters in Business Administration from Vanderbilt University. He currently lives in Venice, Florida, with his wife Mary Lou, and two children, Matthew and Katie.

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