Multisite Tools of the Trade

Tag Archive - solution

Multisite Tools of the Trade

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

I work with two mobile teams. The church I serve at, Sun Valley Community Church, is a multisite church with staff that are distanced by up to 45 minutes. The consulting firm I’m a part of, The Unstuck Group, has consultants literally all over the country. Both of these organizations have high performing teams and produce great results. But in order to do that with mobile teams you need great mobile solutions. I know the market has become flooded with mobile solutions but here are 9 that I’ve used that really work. What experience do you have with mobile solutions? What would you add to the list? Leave a comment!

1. Zoom

When it comes to video meetings (and I do a bunch of them) I love Zoom. You can have multiple users in multiple locations on one call and whoever is speaking is “zoomed” in on. You can record videos to share with people who missed the meeting. It integrates both online meeting and group messaging. And there is a free version. Oh, and please don’t ever use Skype again…Zoom kills Skype.

2. Cam Scanner

CamScanner turns your smartphone into a scanner! You can easily send document scans to team members via email or the cloud and say goodbye to running between your desk and the printer. Allow team members to share comments, turns pics into .pdf’s. If you do work on charts or whiteboards, you’re probably going to want to download this app.

3. Trip It

If you do any traveling then TripIt is for you! I love this app! TripIt automatically creates a master itinerary for every trip for instant access to all your travel plans—anytime, on any device. In other words my flight, car rental, hotel are all in one place and it’s fully integrated with Google Maps. Love it!

4. Develop.me

A free human resources tool that helps your church promote a staff-wide culture of growth through goal-setting and performance reviews. 100% web based and supervisors and team members can make comments and stay on the same page regarding goals, job performance, and reviews.

5. Periscope

I actually did a post the other day about 10 Ways Your Church can Leverage Periscope so I won’t rehash that here, but I will encourage you to click the link. I think there are some intriguing ways to stay connected to team members in a mobile setting through Periscope. It’s worth checking out.

6. Planning Center

An industry standard go to tool for worship service planning. Schedule volunteers, manage music, and schedule worship services. Share music with band members, put rehearsal files online, add songs, media and other items to your services so your whole team is in the know. Track timing before and during your services, and get organized.

7. Expensify

Stop filling out expense reports and trying to find those receipts you lost to turn in, and simplify your expense reporting. Streamline the way your employees report expenses, the way expenses are approved, and the way you export that information to your accounting package. Quickly add cash expenses, automatically import all card transactions. Capture mileage, time, and other reimbursable/billable expenses. Code expenses to GL accounts, clients/projects, and custom fields.

8. Asana

Get out of email and into Asana. A great project management tool that puts communications and tasks all in one place instead of spread out over email and various notes. A great dashboard feature, easy team organization, and it’s even broken down into check lists with due dates and reminders!

9. Slack

Get rid of email and group texting and start using this messaging app for teams. Organize by projects, teams, campuses, or anything you’d like. Sharing files is easy as it integrates with apps like Google Drive and Dropbox. Oh, and it integrates with just about everything (including social media) so all your notifications come to one place. And it’s searchable. Smile.

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

Why Bringing Problems to a Leader is a Problem

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Leaders aren’t looking for problems. They’re looking for solutions. That’s one of things that make leaders…well, leaders. They find solutions, not problems. They lean into the future, not the past. Leaders naturally create chaos and tension in an organization they don’t resolve it. Because they know that every organization needs a certain amount of chaos or it stagnates and dies. And that’s why consistently bringing problems to a leader is a sure way to get your leader frustrated with you.

How to approach problems with your leader:

1. Seek Coaching: Seek out your leader early and often. Especially when you sense a problem is coming your way. If you are working with a good leader they’ll be happy to coach you…but don’t expect them to make the play for you.

2. Provide Solutions: If you are facing a problem that you feel like you need your leaders input on, then bring a couple of viable solutions with you.

3. Don’t Ask Them to Solve It: Don’t ask your leader to do your job for you. Your leader trusts you to execute the vision of the organization within the scope of influence you’ve been given or you wouldn’t be in the seat you’re in.

You know you have a problem with your team when:

1. Repetitive Problems: When you’ve got a staff member that has a problem that comes up over and over again, you’ve got a problem.

2. When you have to Point it Out: When your staff member is facing a problem, and they don’t recognize that they are facing a problem…especially if it’s a trend, you’ve got a problem with that team member.

Photo Credit: woodleywonderworks via Compfight cc

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

Helping Your Church Get Unstuck

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Churches get stuck for all kinds of reasons. It’s okay to get stuck, it’s just not okay to stay that way. There’s too much Kingdom potential on the line. That’s why 2014 needs to be the year that your church finally gets unstuck! At the Unstuck Group we help churches grow their impact through church consulting and coaching experiences designed to focus vision, strategy, and action.

At the Unstuck Group we don’t just offer consulting solutions. We help churches get unstuck!

Check out this infographic to discover more about how we help churches get unstuck!

unstuckinfographic

Consulting Services:

Ministry Health Assessment Complete a comprehensive assessment of your ministry and identify opportunities for next steps.

Strategic Operating Plan Clarify your mission, vision, and core strategies – and then realize it through prioritized action initiatives.

Staffing & Structure Review Determine the best organizational structure for future growth and get the right people in the right roles.

Communications Review communications systems, staffing, websites, graphic design, branding, social media and messaging to develop a communications strategy.

Training Join one of our leadership coaching experiences for pastors and other ministry leaders. We’ll equip and train you to have a bigger impact.

Speaking We’re available to speak at your conference, leadership or staff gathering on a variety of leadership and ministry topics.

Ready to move forward? Our team is prepared to help you have a bigger impact! We’d like to get to know you, talk through options and design solutions that work for you. Let’s start the conversation! Follow this link to get started today!

The Unstuck Group isn’t just the Consulting Group that I’m a part of. It’s the Consulting Group that I believe in – because I trust the team, I trust the process, and I trust the results.

Posted in Leadership

How to Lead Through Crisis

Sunday, February 9, 2014

If you lead long enough eventually you’re going to find yourself leading through a crisis, and it’s at this moment that leadership is needed most. Even an average leader looks great when momentum is on their side and things are going well. But a crisis or downturn has a way of revealing the true identity of a leader. Great leaders lean into crisis because they intuitively understand that crisis is an opportunity for change and could be their greatest leadership moment. In the consulting work I do with The UnStuck Group often times it’s the pain of a crisis or downturn that helps churches realize that they’re stuck and motivates them to seek help. Pain often times can be a great motivator for change. While crisis is a window of opportunity for incredible leadership moments, the approach you take to leading through crisis matters.

Lean into Who You Already Are

I can’t stress this enough. The most important question to ask during a crisis is, “Who has God called us to be?” Too often churches search for a silver bullet tactic that will solve their pain. It doesn’t exist. Instead of searching for an easy way out, press into who God has uniquely called your church to be and your core identity. Then begin making every day decisions filtered through that identity and what it will take to be more of who you already are.

Take on a Posture of Humility

You know who listens to a know-it-all? No one. If you want to be heard in a crisis then take on a posture of humility and lead with questions, not answers.

Listen first Speak Second

Many churches begin implementing too quickly in a crisis due to their desire to move past or away from pain as fast as they possibly can. Unfortunately without first having a clear understanding of where you are and an accurate picture of your current reality your next step will most likely be a misstep. Often times it’s impossible to get a clear picture of reality because you’re in it – and you need someone from the outside to help you who has “fresh eyes.”

Outlast your Critics

Perseverance is a highly underrated leadership tactic. It may not be sexy, but it is necessary. Everyone has fans and everyone has critics. You need to learn to listen to the right people. Otherwise you’ll drift towards people pleasing and the church will suffer from mission creep.

Don’t Mistake Kindness for Weakness

Often kindness is confused for weakness in church leaders. In the middle of crisis, kindness is needed but so is clear, strong, consistent leadership. Don’t confuse kindness & weakness.

Posted in Leadership

Taming the Ministry Dragon

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Everyone has problems. If your church is in decline you’ve got problems. If your church is growing, you’ve got problems. If your church is plateaued, you’ve got problems. Everyone’s got problems. If you think the guy on the other side of the fence doesn’t have problems, you’re mistaken; he’s just shoveling more…well…fertilizer. The real difference rests in how you respond to those problems. Respond poorly and it will eat you alive. Respond well and you just may be a leader. Here are three memorable ways people respond to problems:

Feed a Dragon and it will Eat You

Identifying a problem is not the same thing as solving it. Complaining about a problem is not the same thing as solving it. Doing the same thing you’ve always done and expecting different results is obviously not the same thing as solving it. You have to shift your behaviors to get different results. And while an inspirational speech or new information may shift thinking, systems shift behaviors.

Fight a Dragon and it will Kill You

When you focus on every problem that comes along and try to respond to them all it will kill you. And it will deflate your team at the same time. Instead, addressing problems early on and solving patterns of problems will help you change your systems, which drive behaviors. Reoccurring problems are typically an indicator of a system problem. Stop working on the problem and start working on the system and the culture that is allowing the problem to exist.

Ride a Dragon and it will Take You Places

Learn to lead through a problem, be solution oriented and you’ll be identified as someone who gets things done. Problems and crisis are moments where leaders are identified. Because leaders are at their best when they’re needed, and leaders are needed most in the middle of a problem.

Posted in Leadership

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