Chuck Scoggins | Web + Print + Video Design

I was given the amazing opportunity to read an advance copy of Outspoken, the new book by Tim Schraeder and the folks at the Center for Church Communication. The list of contributors is a “who’s who” from the world of church communications, so I was excited to get my hands on a copy. I’m about half way through and so far, it has not disappointed. Thoughts presented in the book have frustrated, educated, and motivated me to be the best communications director that I can be…”to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus.”

Here are a few of my favorite thoughts from the book (so far…I’m sure as I finish reading it in the next day or two I will uncover many more highlighted sections):

Tim Schraeder
• Christianity is fundamentally a communication event.
• Today we stand on the forefront of a new cultural revolution. The ways we interact and communicate are changing literally every day.

Jeremy Sexton
• Every time you communicate anything in any medium as a church, it is preaching.
• We must ask ourselves…whether or not we are treating what we do with the level of reverence that it deserves.

Jay Argaet
• Communication is the tool into which we can breathe life, stir a thought, bring inspiration and make something that is otherwise difficult to understand, clear and relevant.

Cleve Persinger
• We’re fast to discredit the weird and out-of-the-box ideas that come to us in the shower, our drive home from work, etc., but God speaks in those moments. Don’t ignore them.
• What “ask” is holding your God-sized idea back from reality?

Stephen Proctor
• The truth is, we are communicating even when we are not “communicating.”
• I want to shift my approach away from “communicating at” my people and toward “communicating with or among” my people.

Michael Forsberg
• Some churches are slim – some churches are husky. [I'm paraphrasing here] The communications team has the responsibility to select its church’s wardrobe so it looks like something out of a men’s fashion magazine [end paraphrase].

Kevin D. Hendricks
• Often we’re not suffering from a failure to communicate, but a failure to connect.
• What a tragedy it would be if the church had perfect communication but failed to connect with people’s hearts.

Lori Bailey
• It’s impossible to control/review all of the communication that happens on multiple sites.
• The rest of Lori’s chapter was also highlighted.

Phil Bowdle
• When it comes to communication: Make excellence a value, make authenticity a mandate.

Cheryl Marting
• Clarity emerges by removing everything that is non-essential. By doing so, you create greater accessibility.
• The competing messages actually become roadblocks to our messages being received. Essentially, the complexity tunes people out.

Scott Hodge
• Most lead pastors aren’t nearly as consistent or clear in casting vision as they should be. Most communications directors aren’t nearly as patient in waiting for good vision to be formulated as they need to be. Pastors and communications directors need each other.
(Note: This chapter alone might be worth communications directors and pastors reading this book…together.)

We, as communications professionals have a very important job and we serve ourselves well when we learn from the collective wisdom of others in the field. The brilliance with which Outspoken brings together so many voices from the church communications community is a much needed voice and breath of fresh air in my daily grind. Thanks to Tim (and to many of my friends who contributed) for your gift to us!

Outspoken is officially available today on Outspokenbook.com

I had the privilege of reading an advanced copy of Blaine Hogan’s new book, Untitled, this past week while on vacation. In the book, Blaine walks us through the creative process based on his years of experience as an actor, writer, producer, etc. He discusses how doing creative endeavors with excellence involves hard work – the type of work that most people are never able to overcome the natural and internal resistance to do. Here are a few of my favorite quotes (with some thoughts following them):

• It is the artist’s job to accept that the work will be very, very hard; to understand the importance of deep reflection, and to fight the forces of fear and resistance, all in the name of filling blank pages and creating beauty.

  I think most people aren’t willing to do the hard work; particularly the hard work of reflecting, scratching when things don’t itch, and  cultivating a culture of creativity. As a result, very few people end up creating beauty.

• No one cares about your ideas. The people who pay your salaries or buy your art really only care about one thing. They only care about what you make.

  I appreciate how Blaine discusses the nitty gritty of making things and is blunt about how little most people appreciate the creative process. Sure, people appreciate art (in that, they want the product you create for them to look aesthetically pleasing), but they don’t care much about the process to get there.

• No one cares about your ideas or how great a pitch-person you are if you can’t execute your vision.
• Your vision casting must be in direct proportion to the work you are willing to do to make your vision come to life.
• Vision is easy. Ideas are even easier. It’s execution that separates the amateurs from the pros.

  I often have grand visions, big plans, cool ideas, etc. However, when it comes time to execute that vision I often don’t want to deliver.

• You must always have something more for them to see. Always. Always. Always. The discipline of cultivating ideas is a difficult one, believe me. Who has the time to think up new ideas just to hide them in our back pocket. But if you plan on creating for a living, there is no other way.

  I think a lot of creatives (myself included) feel that we should be given an assignment and – poof – inspiration should come out of thin air. However, for those who create for a living and are often asked to be creative on demand, there must be a constant cultivating (or “scratching” as it’s called in the book) of ideas and inspiration. As I think back on my dry periods (and what creative person hasn’t gone through droughts), it has been during times when I’ve neglected to scratch when I don’t itch.

• Our tendency when trying to explain ourselves (through words or art) is to add instead of subtract.Less is almost always more. Better should come before bigger.

  I’m constantly reminding myself to reduce (images, lines, verses, words, etc). Tear away all that is unnecessary. What I’m left with is almost always clearer and better.

• Creativity (in art making or relationships, even) only really happens in the tension and tension is created when we give ourselves something to push against, even if it’s something seemingly benign as a deadline. 

  I think a lot of us (creative types) often feel that boundaries, such as deadlines, are restrictive and reduce the amount of creativity we can produce. However, as Blaine points out, the best creativity happens in response or in the midst of tension. And, deadlines and boundaries are some of the best tension-producing devices. We ought to welcome boundaries. Think of them as challenges.

• This is the creative process – stop complaining! It’s messy! It’s rarely mappable! It is always dynamic and ever-changing! It will always be hard, but it should also be fun. Every landed plane deserves some kind of celebration.
• In the end, the effectiveness of our creative process comes down to whether or not we’re going to whine or do the work.
• The [young / inexperienced / student] filmmaker doesn’t present you with an alternative way to view things, instead she tellsyou how it is. Sadly, many of us don’t outgrow this phase.  

  The point I appreciate here is how subtly presenting people with alternate realities is almost always better than screaming your point about how you think their reality should be viewed. However, the maturity required to do this is difficult to obtain. It requires us to do a lot of inward work. It requires us to be willing to give up our view of how things should be in order to make room for someone to view the art differently. I honestly wish I could do a little less “shouting” in my art and invite others into the creative conversation.

• Execution isn’t sexy. Execution is hard. And it’s always harder than the pitch. 

  I agree with this principle. It’s always easier to propose an idea than to execute it. However, I often find that executing is not nearly as hard as I imagine it to be. When I ‘ve done the hard work beforehand, and when I break the process down into smaller steps the execution usually takes care of itself. The hardest part for me is usually taking the first step in the execution because of the resistance I’ve built up in my own mind.

I finished up reading Rework last night. It has some really great principles like

• ASAP Is Poison
• Meetings Are Toxic
• Emulate Drug Dealers
• Planning Is Guessing

And many more.

I was going to write a full review, but then I remembered that Tim Schraeder has already done that – so instead, I’ll just invite you to go read his blog. Or, even better, go buy the book and read it yourself.

I’m beginning to wonder if I’m a reductionist. I’ve become a full believer in the concept that less is more. Between reading Kem Meyer’s book, Less Clutter Less Noise, and  Barry Schwartz’s book, The Paradox of Choice – I truly believe with all my heart that communication in general, and church communications in specific, should be reduced down to the bare minimum. Throw in some Seth Godin and his notions of under promise and over- deliver, and Rainer and Geiger’s book, Simple Church, and I think I have a new philosophy for life.

The problem is that in today’s American culture, we’re inundated with so many messages, choices, and decisions that it’s paralyzing for most people. We’re adding anxiety and burden to people when we add noise and clutter to their lives.

I firmly believe as a church or organization we should seek out that one thing (or a couple of things at most) that we’re really good at and go wholeheartedly after it. The notion of trying to be all things to all people is simply no longer effective. The difficulty, for our organization at least, is deciding what one thing makes us unique. What is it that we’re the absolute best at? What makes us remarkable? What is our Purple Cow? Of course, implied in that decision is the question, “What are we going to say ‘No!’ to?” Or, even harder, “Who are we going to say ‘No!’ to?”

There are many worthwhile causes out there. They are all competing for attention, promotion, publicity, and budget. We need to aggressively push through the dross and find our focus.

Dictionary.com defines a reductionist as:

The practice of simplifying a complex idea, issue, condition, or the like, esp. to the point of minimizing, obscuring, or distorting it.

The paradox for communicators is that reducing our messages, ideas, offerings, etc. to the point of simplicity does not push it into obscurity, but rather, enhances it to the point of digestibility. It is by becoming a communications reductionist that we keep our message from being lost, minimized, obscure, distorted.

I love paradoxes…and I love my new vision as a neo-reductionist.

PS Check out this new resource: Shrink The Church (this link alone might be worth the time you spent reading this blog post).

I’m currently re-reading Kem Meyer’s book, Less Clutter. Less Noise. This is probably my 5th time reading it (I feel like a stalker) and it has dynamically changed the way I think about church communications. If you do anything church-related, go get it. Now. Don’t finish this post. Go! Are you still here?

There is a passage that I keep getting stuck on, and I thought I’d share it with you.

People are busy and life is hard. They have too much information bombarding them from everywhere (not just one hour on Sunday) and never enough time. But, they’re still looking for answers that make a real difference in their lives. Being part of something bigger than you makes a difference. And, people experience that life change one step at a time. The value we provide grows in direct proportion to how easily people can find and say yest to their next step.

And the opposite is true: the value we provide decreases in direct proportion to how hard we make it for people to do what they’re trying to do.

The minimalist approach here is all about breaking a big leap into smaller, incremental steps. A person’s journey away from God does not happen in one step, but rather in a series of steps and decisions that seemed otherwise perfectly rational at the time. One day, he wakes up and realizes just how far he traveled as a result of the sum of steps in the wrong direction. And, what about when he’s ready to start taking steps back? How hard are we making it for him?

This certainly makes me re-think the way I do a lot of things.

Kem Meyer has published a list of Communication Paradoxes on her blog that she’s found in the book, Management of the Absurd. I haven’t read the book (though, I just ordered it added it to my reading list), but I am really intrigued by her list. My favorite is:

The more we communicate the less we communicate. Most organizations OVERcommunicate believing everybody should be in on everything.

I completely agree with the philosophy behind that statement.

What about you? Head on over to Kem’s blog and check out the paradoxes. Leave me and her a comment about the one that resonates the most with you.

I recently finished reading Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies From A Life At Disney by Lee Cockerell. A friend purchased the book for me and I was really excited to read it because I’ve always been intrigued by the success of Disney. Anyone who has ever been to one of the Disney theme parks or resorts knows that the strategies employed by Disney really does make for a magical experience.

A few quotes and my take-aways from the book:

• In the first few chapters, Cockerell explains how he came to be VP of Disney and some of the overarching lessons he’s learned. One that really jumped out to me as a “second-chair” leader is that it doesn’t matter what your title is or where you fall in the chain of command, you can be an inflencer over all the levels of your organization (those above and those below you) where you are if you remember that it’s all about people. If you treat people respectfully, and taken a step further, make them feel unique and special, you’ll be able to influence them.
• On organizational structure, Cockerell writes, “Break the mold…hire the best people, inspire them, and pay them every sent they’re worth, but if you don’t give them the right frame work in which to operate, they can’t perform at their best.” “Our primary objective was to empower all Cast Members [Disney employees are known as Cast Members within the organization] and make the most of their talents, and we saw that making the lines of responsibility, authority, and accountability sharper would greatly improve our chances of succeeding.” One of the biggest problems that I see in organizational leadership is the failure to give people authority with their responsibility and to unleash people within the boundaries of that authority.

  “Every individual in your organization should clearly and completely understand what he or she is responsible for, what level of authority he or she has, and how he or she will be held accountable.”

  “If you give people responsibility without giving them the necessary authority to carry out those responsibilities, you are setting them up for failure.”
  Responsibility without authority is one of the leading causes of stress.

• “A great leader never settles for good enough.”
• The better your direct reports, the more of them you can have because they will need very little supervision. Seth Godin says it a lot and Cockerell agrees: Your people are your brand.
• Great leaders are always in a learning mode. Learning about their people, their organization, and their customers. They ask, “What happens on your job that makes you want to quit?” and “What do you most want for your department right now?”

  “The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”

  “Those who create magic are constantly on the lookout for tricks that can give them an edge. Remember, the most important skills are hard before they become easy, so don’t shy away from a challenge.”

• ARE: Appreciation, Recognition, and Encouragement are the key.
• Key Communication Take-away: Don’t give speeches, tell stories.

Creating Magic covers a wide-range of organizational and leadership principles, and is in my top 5 most beneficial leadership books of all time.