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1 Word that can Unleash Creativity: Guest Post on ThatCC.com

Our team has a lot of creative conversations. Some are organized, some are on-the-spot. We love to creatively propose solutions from building systems, following up with first-time guests, tracking the health of our volunteers. In my world, almost everything can become a creative discussion.

Since discussions are based on the ideas we think and the way we communicate those ideas, we choose to be specific with the words we use.

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Build a Team Marketing

Decide or Discover

Some things are decided (like what time your service will start) and some things are discovered (like how many people are actually interested in coming to a potluck.)

Deciding is when the ball is in your court.  Discovering is when it’s in their court.

magnifyingglassDecide how many time you’re going to try posting on your church’s Facebook page.  Discover if that’s how many times people want to hear from you.  Then decide how you’ll adjust your Facebook frequency, and discover if that shows an improvement.

If you just decide and execute, you may never hit your sweet spot.

Decide when your service starts. It would be a poor choice to say “We’re having service on Sunday” and wait to discover what time people show up to start service.

Decide or Discover:

  • easelDecide what your values are.  Discover how you can live those out so people will be receptive to them.
  • Decide what time you will start service.  Discover what can be done to encourage people to be there on time.
  • Decide your office hours. Discover when you people are trying to connect with you.
  • Decide what events to promote. Discover what events people actually want to hear about.
  • Decide you’ll send out a regular email newsletter.  Discover the frequency people would like to be sent emails and what they would like to see included.
  • Decide how you’ll ask people to volunteer.  Discover which methods work best.

Have you ever been a situation where you got these backwards?  A time when you made a decision when you needed to make a discovery?  I’d like to hear what you learned in the comments:

 

 

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Build a Team Tools

How to create a Church Communications Job Description

Every church has unique qualities, requirements, and assignments.  Even though some churches may share similarities (like location, attendance, budget or staff size) it’s clear that each is unique, which means your job description will probably be unique to your church.

I’ve been asked by a few people if they can see my job description and I intentionally decline because I don’t want to create an opportunity for them to think this is the “right way” to operate in a marketing and communications position. There’s no right or wrong, but a job description is important so everyone involved is clear on the expectations.

Whether you’re a Pastor wanting to create a Communications position at your church, or you’re considering taking a paid position and want to be sure you’ve got all of the bases covered or a volunteer who would like to start the conversation on how to help your church, here are some ideas of what a job description could include.

 

Will your responsibilities include Social Media?

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If so, here are 10 questions to ask leadership specifically about launching your Social Media.

 

Who will you report to, how often will you report to them?

What kinds of questions will they ask, and what kind of information do you need to bring to the table when you connect with them.  What do you need from them?

 

Creative vs Execution Balance:

Is your position in place to be creative and think outside the box, or a matter of executing directives from leadership, or a combination of both?

 

Your Weekly Schedule:

Discuss your daily schedule (do you start the same time every day, how long is your lunch break, etc.) vacation time, sick days, how many hours per week is your position? Is that flexible on a daily or weekly basis? If you work extra hours this week, do you get compensation hours next week, or do you earn overtime?  Are weekend services part of your job requirement, and how does attending or missing those affect your allowed vacation time?

 

documents_256pxWhat is your pay?

Think this is an obvious question? Think again, and get it in writing… not because you don’t trust the person bringing you on staff, but it’s possible they’ve had a different conversation with the accounting department or meant to say “Around this and that”- and you get paid this, thinking you might be getting that. Is your pay hourly or salary, and how much flexibility exists?

 

What conversations do you get input on?

Do you get the final say in design work, outgoing newsletters, mail, email content, Public Relations releases, naming groups and events in the church, or does that fall to someone else? Is that each department’s decision and they can ask your input or do you approve what goes out to maintain consistency?

 

Do you need to build a volunteer team?

Are you expected to take the responsibilities yourself for all of your projects based on your schedule, or will you build a volunteer team and delegate? Is that a hope, or an expectation for leadership?

 

What are your key performance indicators (KPIs)?

This has to be quantifiable and measurable: a yes or no decision about if you’ve hit these requirements and in what time frame – yearly, quarterly, weekly, daily: This could include:

  • # of likes on Facebook in 12 months
  • # of podcast subscribers in the next quarter
  • # of email newsletter subscribers
  • # of people on your volunteer team
  • # of attendees at a certain yearly event
  • $ total given online
  • # of daily posts on Facebook / twitter / Instagram / snapchat / etc.

 

List your recurring tasks:

You task list may include social media posting and interaction, live announcements, video announcements, bulletin, graphic design, print material, video projects, event promotion, weekly email newsletter, logo design, ghostwriting blog posts, sitting in staff meeting, leading creative meetings, building and communicating with volunteer teams, one-on-one meetings with leadership, mentoring and coaching other departments, overseeing brand consistency, website modifications,and edits… etc.

 

Outline expectations for ongoing improvement:

Will you be expected to travel for a yearly conference, take online training, listen to podcasts to develop yourself, or none at all? Do you need to read a certain number of books for personal development, and do you choose those titles, or how are those titles approved?

 

documents_256pxWhat is the big picture?

What does leadership see for you and your position 1-year, 5 years and 10 years from now? How can you take steps each day to get from here to there?

 

Taking time to discuss these concepts is going to help you set clear expectations to give your best to the opportunity in front of you.  The conversations may not be easy to have while you’re excited about taking a new position, but they will be more difficult after you’ve crossed your start date.  Don’t wait until after you’ve started the race to find out if you’re running a 100m dash or a marathon.

 

Did I leave something out? Would love to hear what other high-level ideas are included in your job description:

 

 

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Build a Team Marketing

9 rules for effective creative meetings

Remember when you were little and playing a game with the neighbour kids, then they change the rules and say “oh yeah, I forgot to tell about…” or if you’re learning a new game with some friends and they say “I’ll start with the basic rules so we can get the game going, and I’ll fill you in as we go on the details.”

Thumbs-Up-Guy-facing-leftI get frustrated in a situation when I can’t contribute my best because the parameters aren’t clear, and when it comes to our creative meetings, our team has found some really effective ways to maximize our productivity and effectiveness in a short amount of time – the reason: we’ve all agree to play by the rules.

These rules are not meant to limit participation (like saying you can’t touch the soccer ball with your hands) but are rather to give us a clear playing field so we can get to (in my opinion) the fun part of brainstorming and creating an execution strategy.

This list is not the 9 ways to have a perfect meeting, or 9 ways your team has to do it.  Each team is different, has different players and is playing a different game (if I may continue that analogy).  Take these ideas and figure out what they look like for your team, how they get applied and what your team needs to add to be most effective.

You may be asking “Adam, what does this have to do with marketing?” My answer would be that effective meetings will help you achieve results. Not sure what I mean? Try these on with your team…

I’d love to hear how you’ve implemented these or what you’ve added.  Comment in our Church Marketing Ideas Facebook group!

1. Invite only the relevant players

If you’re playing football, and it’s the offensive line on the field, don’t invite the defence to the party. If your conversation requires one person, have a one-on-one meeting.  If your conversation requires everyone on your team except one person, honor that persons time and let them know why you’re not bringing them in if necessary, but don’t bring them in to sit in an irrelevant meeting. If you have a set meeting where everyone on your team comes together, then only discuss issues relevant to everyone, and save the others for later.

 

2. Have an Agenda

Be clear about what you want to discuss and who needs to be in the discussion about those topics.  Be clear about the order. Decide that information before you call the meeting.  Sometimes you may want to share that agenda before the meeting, and sometimes it’s relevant to get everyones initial reactions at the same time.  Whether you share it ahead or not, have an agenda.

 

3. Start on Time and End on Time

Happy-with-Wordpress-Mainenance-ServiceI find it odd that we used to talk about when the meeting would start, but not have a clear plan about when the meeting would end.  Based on inviting the right people and having an agenda, take a guess at how long the meeting will be and set an end time… this way people can schedule their next appointment or goals and tasks for the day after that meeting.

When that time arrives, END ON TIME!  If there is more discussion to be had, book a follow up meeting with some or all of the relevant people.

 

4. Everybody contributes

If you’ve hand-picked who will be in the meeting, they’re here for a reason. Everybody contributes.  We have some people on our team who are louder and some quieter. Some who process out loud and some who sit and think.  Some people who want their opinion to be considered, and others who are happy to find a way to support whatever decision is made.  Regardless of those factors, everybody contributes.  After discussion and when a decision has to be made, go around the table and ask everyone what they’re suggestion is.

If you have a team member who likes to process, ask them last, once they’ve heard everyone else’s input.  “Whatever the team decides” is not contributing, because if that’s your answer, you didn’t need to be in the decision meeting.

You could help that person by asking “If the decision was yours, what would you choose?” or if they say “I pretty much agree with everyone” then ask “How do you see yourself participating in implementing.” or “What would it look like if we made a different decision?”  Learn to hear what’s not being said and draw the input out of that person.  They have a unique perspective that is valuable to the team.

 

5. Leave with an action plan

Your meeting has a purpose. It is probably meant to change something or cause an action.  Write down what your action is, who is responsible for completing what portions and by when they will have it completed.  Have everyone articulate back to you what their action is so that you’re clear.

 

6. Review the last meeting’s action plan

There’s no point in making an action plan in this meeting if we’re not going to be sure those actions got completed.  This isn’t an opportunity to come down on someone who hasn’t completed their task, but an opportunity to celebrate the completed tasks, help overcome hurdles that could have prevented previous tasks and be clear on what now needs to be achieved to move forward.

 

7. Nobody leaves confused

DIY-GuyIf you’re not sure of what the play is, don’t leave the huddle.  This is each team member’s opportunity to clarify the action, the responsibility and the “by when”.  If anyone is unsure on the motive, the big picture, the small details, the timeline, the key players or what’s expected of them, this is the time to ask.

Being sure doesn’t mean that everyone is on the same page… I could be 100% sure I heard something that you didn’t say, and you could be 100% sure I heard what you said.  Being sure isn’t being clear.

Ask you team to summarize their understanding of the action plan and listen for hints that someone isn’t entirely clear.

 

8. What happens in the room stays in the room

Sometimes conversations go beyond the topic and sometimes they become emotional.  We’ve agreed that we won’t hold someone’s actions or opinions for ammunition at a future time and we won’t undermine the public conversation with private conversations later.  This trust allows us to be honest, admit our flaws, come up with genuine raw ideas and create an opportunity to be ourselves.

 

9. Get clear with everyone before the meeting

If someone said or did something in the meeting, at the water cooler or in an email or text message that didn’t sit right with you, ask them to clarify, get on the same page with them and come to the meeting clear.  The last thing we need in our discussion about a website overhaul is to have a couple of people on about last Friday’s “Photocopier incident” or that they needed an elastic and someone had taken the last one in the drawer, or worse yet is having 2 people silently fuming toward each other and not able to draw them in to contribute to the conversation.  You don’t have to go look for problems and then create resolves, but if there’s an unmet expectation of someone else on the team, we get that cleared up with them privately so we can contribute our best to the group.

 

I would love to hear what else you have setup for your meeting, how you live by or reiterate your meeting rules, or by when you’ll choose to explore and implement meeting rules for your team!  Leave a comment below, or track me down on twitter @Adam_McLaughlin