MinistryCOM 2007 | Session 4 | Kem Meyer

Everybody Doesn’t Hate You…it just feels like it

There are people on your staff that don’t get (and really don’t like) the “communications dept.” You can and SHOULD do something about it.

The chief marketing director was named the most dangerous position by Fast Company.

All the graphics and tools you want to bring will be useless if people on your staff think you’re an idiot, or controlling or a bully.

Everything you say is muted if your team feels that way about you.

We’re all under pressure to demonstrate results quickly. Sometimes we skip the crucial soft skills of our job.

We under-estimate the difficulty of driving people out of their comfort zone.

3 Principles
Get an image consultant
- Do you have any idea how you come across to others?
- They’ll see you blind spots
- You need to care a little bit what people think about you. These people are on your team.
- These people will offer accountability and advocacy. They’ll help you anticipate problems.
- They’ll save you from you.

Check your ego
- What really is your motive? Are you taking yourself too seriously?
- Sometimes if I peel back the layers it’s about me being right
- Is it about your control over things or are you looking for ways to bring relief to your staff?
- Is your frame of reference about helping people do what they want to do or getting people to do what you want them to do?
- Pursuing people comes first. How you make them feel comes before the rest.
- Are you asking questions or making statements?
- Try to ask questions 90% of the time and give orders 10%.

Kem showed a video and this quote jumped out:
“What turned me off to the church was my preconceived idea about ‘we have the answers and you don’t’.”

- The parking team let someone “break the rules” or not “follow the policy” to win someone’s heart.

Find Common Ground
- if you’re passionate about your job then it’s safe to assume your co-workers are too.
- We are called to keep our own emotions in check so we can help care for the people we work with.
- The heart of change is how you make people feel.
- A lot of days I like computers more than I like people.
- When is the last time you showed up at youth group just to show support? Or the women’s ministry just to get a feel for what’s going on?
- You might find out that you’re using words that only mean something to you
- Can you show up at an event for a ministry leader that you’re not on the same page with and expect nothing in return?
- If we’re leaning on our own experience then we’re not leaning on God. If we’re forced out of our comfort zone, that’s a really good place to be.

You’ll always be a barriar to someone and it takes a while to soften that barrier.

Even when you start to have progress there will be periods when you lose ground. Some days you feel strong and some days you feel defeated.

The more tense we get, the harder things get for us.

If your job has anything to do with communications, how much time do you leave in your schedule for communication?

In the end it all boils down to our perspective.

~ by Dave on September 14, 2007.