Design Thinking
For several months now I have been on a quest to pull the best information together on the topic of Design Thinking. I was first introduced to the concept through a Nightline story on IDEO, an Industrial Design and Engineering company in California. As I watched to story almost 10 years ago, I was fascinated with the ability that this company had to create very cool and effective products. They were on to something that could change the way companies developed products.
Over the years, I have followed IDEO as they have moved from creating products to teaching other companies how to create. The success they have had has opened the doors to an international audience that is hungry to find new ways to do things. Eventually, the big focus was on HOW they did things, not WHAT they did. The IDEO process became known as Design Thinking and is now hitting the business world as a new way of getting results.
So is Design Thinking just another business fad…the lasted “flavor of the month”? Maybe. But it is also one of the most legitimate shifts in thinking over the past 20 years.
We as humans seem to have this odd desire to look for extreme solutions to the problems that we face. For a generation, the solutions came from our ability to dream and create. Then for a generation, it was our ability to analyze and engineer. For a new generation, it is about personal experience. So which of these extremes is correct? D. All of the above.
Over the next several posts we will explore this new concept and how it can have a positive impact for the church.
Leading versus Managing
OK - this is not a new topic by any stretch of the imagination. If you Google the topic, you will get a bajillion results. Ultimatley it comes down to how you relate to the people that are in your area of influence. I had a great conversation with a church leader the other day on this topic. We talked about people that think they are Leaders, but are really Managers. And of course, there are people who think they are Managers, but they really are Leaders. So what makes the differnce and does it really matter?
Yes.
It matters because some of the people that you are leading/managing can work for one, but not the other. Here is what I mean.
There are people that need a large vision cast that captures their attention and motivates them to look for ways to make that vision into a reality. They will ask general questions to see what the boundaries are for the task, and then make things happen. They need to be checked on through out the project but given lots of room to make it happen.
There are also people who really don’t care about the big picture, but simply want to know exactly “what” it is that you want them to do. They want very specific instruction with a list if possible. They want feedback on each and every step.
This first person needs a leader.
The second needs a manager.
Look at the people that work for you and seem to be very content with how you lead/manage them. If they are in the first group—congratualtions, you are a leader. If they fall into the second group — congratulations, you are a manager.
So which is more important to a church or organization? The one that is effective.
