“You can be serious without a suit” appears as number nine on Google’s 10 Things We Know to Be True. And where did my mind immediately wander when I saw that? Clergy collars, something about which I’ve had some thoughts.

But then a more careful reading revealed that this Google truism is not about clothing, but company culture.* Here are highlights from thing #9:

 Our founders built Google around the idea that work should be challenging, and the challenge should be fun. We believe that great, creative things are more likely to happen with the right company culture…. an emphasis on team achievements and pride in individual accomplishments… put great stock in our employees….Our atmosphere may be casual, but as new ideas emerge [anywhere]… traded, tested and put into practice with dizzying speed….

To consider how these principles might apply to the world of church, we’ll need to swap out some words. Please replace:

• founders with church leaders;
• company culture with church culture;
• team with committee, and
• employees with congregants.

Now let’s focus on three principles that Google holds dear and ask, “How might we be and do church better if we…”

1) Encourage creativity and new ideas.
Google’s company culture is structured to generate, incubate, and launch new ideas. At Google, new ideas are “put into practice with dizzying speed.”

What happens in the world of church? Most denominational expressions of Christianity are structured to uphold and sustain traditions. Most churches at both the local and judicatory levels wait until circumstances become dire before even considering doing anything new and different. But it’s one thing to venerate tradition, quite another to use it to discourage or mute the creativity that galvanizes change.

And so…

• How might we foster a church culture that encourages creativity and welcomes new ideas?
• How might we support church leaders who wish to honor church traditions in new ways?
• Where might you seek and find support for your own creativity in the world of church?

2) Emphasize committee achievement.
Google is keen on creating teams, building teams, and rewarding teams for achieving goals through…wait for it…teamwork! Teamwork involves working collaboratively and synergistically. The whole of what any team creates is acknowledged as greater than any single contribution and that’s just fine with everyone.

What happens in the world of church? For one thing, we generally avoid the words “team” and “achievement” because they tend to imply competition and, gee, where’s the Christian love in that? (Setting aside Philippians 3:14, of course.**) Instead, we form committees to meet – not achieve – goals. Any “dying to self” tends be tolerated as “redemptive suffering” rather than a way to find new life with right company.

And so…

• How might we foster authentic collaboration and cooperation within – and between – church committees?
• How might we better gather people with complementary gifts and skills?
• How might you encourage individual congregants to delight in working with others for a greater good?

3) Put great stock in congregants.
Google hires the best and the brightest, and then supports excellence and creativity. No employees = No products and services.

What happens in the world of church? Ok, so we don’t hire congregants but we do, in fact, recruit them. Depending on the church culture, recruitment efforts are characterized as “evangelism” or “mission development” or “church planting.” And after they join?

Again, depending on the church culture, new and even not-so-new members are pretty much ignored after the first flurry of welcome. Or, they’re tapped for their “time, talent, and treasure” and then, well, reread my previous points. Maybe eventually they’ll be voted or appointed to a council or vestry or other advisory group – if they distinguish themselves from other congregants.

And so…

• How might we authentically convey appreciation for every congregant’s potential participation in all aspects of church?
• How might we breakdown systems and structures that tend to relegate congregants to a lower caste?
• What will help you remember that by virtue of your baptism, you belong to the “priesthood of all believers”?

Closing Thoughts
Churches differ from for-profit corporations in several significant ways, but that needn’t stop us from studying those secular organizations. Google is only one company from which we might adopt then adapt structures and processes for every purpose under heaven.

My translation for “You can be serious without a suit” is this: You can share Gospel values with joy and gladness without being ordained, appointed to a committee, or elected to church leadership. Seriously.

Notes:
*Had #9 been about work-related clothing, I would have happily trotted out all my never-lukewarm opinions about clerical collars and added some about vestments. More specifically, what I call the Chasuble Wars. FWIW, my husband (@RevWeb) refuses to wear one – in any style.

** ICYF: I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (NIV) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (NRSV)

Meredith Gould

Meredith Gould is a sociologist and long-time communications pro smitten by the power and glory of digital technology. Founder of the weekly Twitter-based church social media (#chsocm) chat, she has written nine published books, including The Word Made Fresh: Communicating Church and Faith Today (Morehouse) and The Social Media Gospel: Sharing the Good News in New Ways (Liturgical Press). Twitter: @meredithgould | @chsocm. Website: http://www.meredithgould.com

meredithgould.com

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We were on the phone, but I could hear the pastor physically recoil. And maybe I was being harshly dramatic and not very pastoral care-like. Pastoral care? Oh yes! Not only is communications ministry a ministry, but pastoral care is often in the mix. This is especially true when church staff flip out (not in a good way) about digital technology.

In my own defense, it was the end of a long week (n.b., it was Wednesday) and I’d already listened to reps from two parishes and one judicatory trying to avoid the necessary work of crafting strategy.

Creating a communications strategy is a lot of work, especially in the absence of experience and training in that aspect of marketing communications. It’s much more fun to skip directly to playing with tools (i.e., platforms).

More fun…but not very effective.

Strategy development is a key component of marketing communications and more straightforward than you might suspect it to be. In this post, I’ll zip through why you should create a strategic plan for your church’s communication efforts and how to craft one.

Why create communications strategy
A carefully crafted written plan for your church communications provides a framework for choosing tools as well as knowing when and how to use them. Without this framework you risk wasting time, treasure, and talent; an already serious issue that becomes even more critical when volunteers are involved. Also, when it comes to social media, having a written strategic plan should help prevent naysayers from declaring, “social media doesn’t work.”

And have I mentioned the plan should be written?  It must be written, not tucked away in someone’s skull mush.

How to craft communications strategy
Because your strategic plan will provide both framework and roadmap for communications, you’ll need to know your:

Audience, identified by asking: Who do we currently reach? Who do we want to reach moving forward? Is there an audience we no longer want to reach? And then relative to audience(s): What are their demographic characteristics? What do we know about their learning styles? What do we know about their computer literacy and access to digital technologies?

Goal(s), clarified by asking: What do we want to happen as a result of our church communications? What do we want them to learn? What do we want them to do? How do we rank order these goals? Why do we have these goals? Are there any goals that are so unrealistic we should ditch them?!?

Message(s), developed by asking: What do we want to convey? What do we want them to know about our church? How would we convey our message in ten words or less without using churchy-church jargon?

How long should this strategic planning process take? I’ve been doing this work 20+ years, so please trust me when I say strategy development can be accomplished in three-to-four hours if:

• you have all the data you need about your audience;
• a skilled professional shepherding the process;
• everyone involved committed to getting this accomplished; and
• fabulous refreshments are provided.

Add another four hours to create the written plan that will make it possible to develop tactics and choose tools. In the world of marketing communications, tactics generally refer to the “when” and “how” to reach your audience. Tools are “what” you use to reach them.

You really cannot – and should not – develop tactics and choose tools without a strategic plan. What’s that? You already have tactics and tools in place? Do not add, subtract, multiply, or divide anything until you hunker down to do the work of strategy. You just might discover that you’ve been heading somewhere you don’t want to go with transportation that can’t get you there anyway.

________________________________________

Still confusing strategy with tactics and tools?
Please use this cheat sheet!

Strategy = Who and Why
Tactics = When and How
Tools = What to use

_______________________________________

Does this help you better distinguish between strategy and tactics? If it’s still fuzzy, what questions do you have?

Meredith Gould

Meredith Gould is a sociologist and long-time communications pro smitten by the power and glory of digital technology. Founder of the weekly Twitter-based church social media (#chsocm) chat, she has written nine published books, including The Word Made Fresh: Communicating Church and Faith Today (Morehouse) and The Social Media Gospel: Sharing the Good News in New Ways (Liturgical Press). Twitter: @meredithgould | @chsocm. Website: http://www.meredithgould.com

meredithgould.com

The post Strategy is Essential for Effective Church Communications. Why and How to Create It! appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.