Overboard on the Mouse? Or …?

Posted on by

For the last 10 days, I have gone into a little detail about what I considered the Top Ten Takeaways from a recent family trip to Disney World. Of course, there was also the Top Ten List itself. And the five posts while actually at Disney World. That’s sixteen posts in less than a month! You probably think I’ve gone overboard on Disney! After all, it’s only a Mouse…

No, I don’t think so – it’s much more than that.

My passion is to energize leaders so that they help their organizations thrive by turning challenges into opportunities.

And no one provides a better model for that than Disney.

So I’m going to keep coming back to the “magic” of Disney – because I know I’m learning a lot, and I’ve got a hunch you can too!

Still More Disney Secret Words…

Posted on by

Anticipation

Steve Jobs didn’t believe in market research or focus groups. He instilled the idea that Apple would create products that people hadn’t dreamed of yet. Jobs’ genius was to create experiences that people didn’t even know they needed.

Walt Disney had that idea before Jobs was even born.

Disney took the images, speech, and music from his film and created them in 3D at Disneyland in 1955. Ten years later he first imagined, then began to create, Disney World.

Though Walt Disney died before Disney World opened in 1971, his vision lives on 40 years later.

Even more remarkable, his team of Imagineers continue to anticipate – and deliver – remarkable experiences.

Walking around the Magic Kingdom at 2 AM this morning, there were continued signs of expansion. A cast member said that Disney World is “always being built”.

That’s anticipation.

The Disney Job Description

Posted on by

It began with the opening of Disneyland in 1955, and has only been modified slightly in all the years since then.

All Disney cast members adhere to it, whether they are in a very visible role in a production – or in a just-as-important support role like maintenance.

What is that all-encompassing job description at Disney?

“Create happiness”

Does your organization have job descriptions with a common – even unwritten – role that everyone lives out?

More Disney Secret Words…

Posted on by

Quality.

From the online experience setting up the trip, to the friendly check-in greeting by Tricia, to the cast members all wearing smiles, to …

I could go on all day but Indiana Jones is getting to make his appearance – and my daughter was picked out of the audience to be an “extra” for the filming!

There’s too much to go into now, but EVERYTHING Disney does is done with quality.

What about your organization-do you provide QUALITY in all you do?

Understanding Guests

Posted on by

Disney doesn’t have visitors, or customers – they have Guests.

One word, powerful difference.

It’s always capitalized and treated as a formal noun.

What’s the difference between treating someone like a visitor, and treating someone like a Guest?

The obvious reason is in our mindset: we do things differently when we bring Guests into our homes. We clean up, fix up, and straighten up our house. We clean up and dress up. We prepare something special to eat – something we know our Guests will like. We host them. We take care of their real needs.

According to J. Jeff Kober, former Disney Institute instructor, Guests have five underlying needs:

  1. Be Heard and Understood
  2. Belong and Contribute
  3. Feel Stable and In Control
  4. Feel Significant and Special
  5. Grow and Reach Potential

I’ll break these down in future posts – now it’s time to head out to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and be treated like a Guest!

By the way – how are you going to treat those coming your way for worship this weekend? Like Guests?

Or …?

The Secret of Disney World…

Posted on by

There’s undoubtably a lot of secrets to Disney World, but for me, it is simple:

Disney expects guests

I’ll be breaking this down over the next few days (and probably beyond), but a quick observation tells it all:

My wife, 23 year-old daughter, and I are visiting Disney World for the first time. Our daughter graduated from college in 3 years, so this trip is our gift to her (we’re having a lot of fun too!). Our first day at Disney World has been a blast: spending a lot of time in the Magic Kingdom, hopping on the monorail over to Epcot for a wonderful relaxing supper at the San Angel Inn at the Mexico pavilion, then back to our wonderful room at the Port Orleans Resort – Riverside.

It’s a typical Florida day – sun, clouds, and a few rain showers in-between. During one of those rainstorms, my wife and daughter were riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while I was waiting on them outside. A sudden rainstorm came up, pouring down rain. In a few minutes, it stopped. Within 1 minute of that, a Disney cast member walked by my vantage post, using a squeegee to wipe the rain off of the trash cans.

That simple action speaks to the lengths Disney goes because they expect guests.

What do you do in your church to expect guests?

An Idea Everyone Will Like

Posted on by
There’s no such thing as a truly original idea.
I don’t know who said it first, but it’s something I really believe! I’ve found a fascinating book by creativity expert David Kord Murray that takes that saying to the outer limits.
Over the last month I’ve been working on a project related to innovation and design in ChurchWorld, and this line of thought resonated a lot with me.
Borrowing Brilliance will challenge you as it examines the evolution of a creative idea. It also offers practical advice, taking the reader step-by-step through Murry’s unique thought process. Here are the six steps:
  1. Defining – define the problem you’re trying to solve
  2. Borrowing – Borrow ideas from places with a similar problem
  3. Combining – Connect and combine these borrowed ideas
  4. Incubating – Allow the combinations to incubate into a solution
  5. Judging – Identify the strength and weakness of the solution
  6. Enhancing – Eliminate the weak points while enhancing the strong ones

Read a quick summary of the six steps here. You can also get more information at this website. But don’t stop there – by all means pick up a copy of the book and explore it deeper – and you will find yourself looking at creativity in a whole new light.

Got a challenge staring you in the face, and looking for a solution. Why not follow the steps above by “borrowing some brilliance” and formulate your own unique solution?

Looking Sharp in a Leisure Suit…

Posted on by

… too bad they went out of style 30 years ago.

That’s not just a fashion statement – it also applies to ChurchWorld. Yesterday thousands of churches across America and the world met and did things the way they’ve always done them, expecting new results.

That is a classic pop definition of insanity.

Tony Morgan, in his latest free eBook “Hanging Up the Leisure Suit” offers a brief but informative view on how to take the steps to become unstuck from your present situation and get new results.

In his typical easy-to-read style, Morgan (veteran pastor and church consultant) offers the following six steps to help your church get unstuck:

  • Making the necessary changes to bring different results
  • Bridging the space between strategies and systems
  • Following God’s blueprint for accomplishing His purposes
  • Building a solid foundation
  • Avoiding an over-reliance on teaching
  • Creating a healthy system in your church

“Hanging Up the Leisure Suit” serves its purpose well – helping church leaders begin to ask the tough questions about the organization they serve. As a matter of fact, while the six sections mentioned above will certainly help you begin to understand how you need to get unstuck, Morgan’s discussion questions at the end provide the most helpful “fashion guide” to actually make it happen.

Isn’t it time for a new wardrobe at your church?

Download your free copy of “Hanging Up the Leisure Suit” today and take a look at yourself – and your church – in the mirror!

 

Deep and Wide

Posted on by

93 years ago today humorist Will Rogers appeared in his first movie. As a salute to one of the greatest observers of his culture, here are two favorite Rogers’ quotes:

 A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.

Things ain’t what they used to be – and probably never were.

27gen is an invitation to a regular conversation about all things connected with what I call ChurchWorld and its attempts to interact with the culture around us. We all can certainly learn by reading; I’m a huge propoent of that! But we can all learn more by our “associations” with other people. I’ll start the conversation by tossing out a thought or two – why don’t you join in?

My background is from a church associate pastor role of over 23 years. For the past seven years, I have served as a church development consultant with JH Batten, a church design-build company. My current role allows me the wonderful opportunity to explore what churches are doing today to grow and be healthy, and to help them achieve their vision.

I’m a student of history, but I view it as a bridge to our future rather than a rock to cling to. Let’s celebrate the past and learn from it, but let’s not get stuck there. As Rogers observed, our view of history grows dimmer the longer we move away from an event in time.

My formal theological training came at a time when churches were expected to provide programs for everything and to involve members in hours of meetings and activities. I bought into that model full steam ahead – but to what result? Churches with all heat and no light? I’ve come full circle now, and am growing restless with the complexity and ineffectiveness of church today.

A former editor used the following Scripture passage from Proverbs 25.to describe my mindset. I think it’s an appropriate challenge for all leaders in ChurchWorld.

2 God delights in concealing things;
   scientists delight in discovering things.
 3 Like the horizons for breadth and the ocean for depth,
   the understanding of a good leader is broad and deep.

                                                                                                                The Message

I’m certainly no scientist, but I have a burning passion to discover things that will help the church, the Body of Christ, grow spiritually and numerically.

You know – deep and wide.

 

The Bell Curve is Flattening…

Posted on by

Seth Godin is at it again.

Godin’s latest book “We Are All Weird” was just released last week. As one of the most influential thinkers of today, I always eagerly anticipate a new work by him – and I was definitely not disappointed. Here’s a sample:

The distribution of a population is often shaped like a bell curve. For example, if you asked all the kids in a school to line up in order of height, the graph of how many kids were of each height would be shaped like the classic bell – you’d have as many 4 foot kids as 6 foot kids, and a whole bunch more in the middle at 5 feet.

Not surprisingly, this curve is called a normal distribution. It’s incredibly common in almost any phenomenon you look at (Internet usage, miles commuted to work, length of hair).

Something surprising is happening, though: the defenders of mass and normalcy and compliance are discovering that many of the bell curves that describe our behavior are flattening out.

 

Distributions of behavior remain, but as the anchors holding that behavior in place have loosened, the bells have spread, like a thawing ice sculpture.

There are now many bell curves, not just one. We don’t care so much about everyone; we care about us – where us is our people,  our tribe, our interest group, our weirdness – not the anonymous masses.

If you persist in trying to be all things to all people, you will fail. The only alternative then, is to be something important to a few people.

 

 

 

 

If you cater to the normal, you will disappoint the weird. And as the world gets weirder, that’s a dumb strategy.