Monday, December 31, 2018

The 3 Assassins

The 3 assassins:

There are three huge stumbling blocks or hindrances to growth, which will stagnate and eventually kill any church or organization.

1)   Status quote- “this is just how we do it here.”
2)   Sacred cows- “We have always done it that way.”
3)   Comfort zone- “if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.”   

These three things keep the members of the organization from truly seeking the problems. They will blame the economy, finances, culture, and markets, anything but the real problems with the organization because they are unwilling to tackle these three things.

1) Status quote- “this is just how we do it here.” Or “If it worked for those guys it will work for us.”
It is much more comfortable to follow than to lead. To take our cues from those that we perceive are doing well at the same game we are playing. We establish heroes and idols that we strive to emulate thinking that if it worked for them it will work for everybody. This could not be further from the truth.
This can kill growth, ideas, teams and moral faster than almost anything. In order to grow, an organization must be willing to put every system and practice and program on the chopping block of the whiteboard, and evaluate if it is really working or necessary. Evaluate not just if it works, but does it work for us?

2) Sacred cows- “We have always done it that way.”
A sacred cow is any system, idea, practice, persona, image, methodology, or hierarchy, that is simply off limits to change or discussion simply because it is the way that it has always been or currently the way an organization operates. 
“If we canceled that program or changed that system it would just confuse everybody, even though it’s losing money we would have some really mad customers who are used to it that way.” Sacred cows kill growth.
-They create walls to creativity.
-They create Glass ceilings.
-They create unfair bias.
-They create unreal expectations of productivity and results.
They will create Invisible boundaries that your organization will bang its head against and wonder why they are not growing in that direction.
Organizations may or may not be aware of the sacred cows. They may be intentionally established thru bias and preference, or simply have been established thru handed down systems that once may have served a purpose, but no longer work.
Either way, they are the walls that must be toppled, to conquer the city.        


3) Comfort zone- “if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.”  
Do you have a junk closet? You know that closet that is piled high with all of the projects, old papers,  hastily taken down Christmas décor, things you meant to return but forgot, and stuff you plan to sell someday?  Everyone has one. We know it’s there, just waiting to be tackled. And we know how great it would be to have that closet space back… but it would take a lot of work. We would have to cancel a few plans, put on some gloves, and maybe buy some extra garbage bags, it's just Inconvenient.
Also, it is unpredictable. There’s no telling what we may find in the closet. Spiders. Expired gift cards to our favorite store. Pictures of old loves that would be too painful to remember. It almost becomes a comfort knowing the closet is full and will remain that way until you decide to change it. You have the power, you have the key, and are exercising that power by deciding to do nothing, and not open the door.
At its root, it is really based on fear.
Fear of change, the unpredictable, and unintended consequences both good and difficult keep the closet door closed.

This is one of the hardest to deal with and often must be the first, to be a catalyst of change before addressing the other two. Humans like predictability, and hate change by nature. We like knowing what to expect. We like having everything neatly penciled on our weekly calendar and nothing ever rocks the boat.

However, we can get so locked into our comfort zone that we may go down with a sinking ship simply because it was too uncomfortable to acknowledge we hit an iceberg, standup, and put on a life jacket.

First Steps

FIRST STEPS:

Usually, when someone knows something very well, they are not the best to introduce someone new, to it.
Because they have already been through the complexities and layers of the thing, and have forgotten what it feels like to take the first step.

It takes a lot of work to remember the first steps.
Often, beginners find things that experts have long since forgotten with familiarity.

When we have spent many hours inside of a room it becomes familiar. We know where all the light switches are. We know all of the sharp corners to be avoided in the dark. We forget what it was like to turn the worn brass latch, give the door a push and peek inside for the first time, not knowing what we would find there.

This is the curse of assumed knowledge. We assume that because we know, everyone else must know.

One of the most powerful things you can do in your writing and marketing communication is trying to remember what it feels like to experience something new. Write to that. Give words to the world from that point of view. Stand in the doorway again, peer thru it, and tell us what you see. And since you have already braved the leap across the threshold into the unknown world beyond, you can offer a glimpse to the newcomer of the mysteries to be found there.
Be careful though to not give away to many of the secrets or too many spoilers of the journey ahead. Remember, that you got where you are by discovery along the way. The journey itself is what makes the destination worth getting to. Offer each new pilgrim enough landmarks to start the journey, but not so many that they might overlook new discoveries.



“Write drunk, edit sober” was Ernest Hemingway’s decree. Setting aside the fact that Hemingway was a raging alcoholic, this pillar of his creative theology it very true, If not in practicality, but in it’s intent. What Hemmingway was getting at was that when we seek to communicate, we have to momentarily forget what we know, or hold to be universally experienced by all. Assumed knowledge. We must set aside what we hold to be obvious and understood about a thing, and look at it again through the eyes of first discovery.

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