Hello to the office

Seth Godin has a post today called "Goodbye to the office". I want to share more thoughts about that in the future (it is questioning the need for offices at all), but it served as a spark to share some thoughts as I transition to our regional office:

Organization: How will we arrange people and space for productivity, collaboration, momentum, efficiency, and community? When there are trade-offs, how will we decide which value wins?

Systems: How can we set things up so our desired outcomes happen as automatically as possible? Everything from having the needed office supplies and ministry resources on hand to making sure our conference planning deadlines are met.


Technology: We've got office technology that is sufficient, but quickly becoming dated. Do we continue on with a physical server or go cloud based? Do we use regional funds to buy computers for our office staff? If so, what kind? Would investing in higher speed internet save us in travel costs (video/web conference) and efficiency? What would make the most sense in helping us serve the field? For communicating and collaborating across our ten national regions?


Communication: How are we going to communicate with each other? With our field staff? Who should be communicating what? How much should we respond to the field (use methods they are comfortable with), and how much should we lead the field (help them get better at embracing new/better communication channels)?


Field support: What are the best things we could do as an operations (and office) team to help our field staff better win, build, and send? What operational issues can we help them with or even take off their plate? What training should we give, and in what format (face to face, online, etc.)?


Environment: How can we create an environment in our office where people want to come in each day? And by environment, I am speaking comprehensively: physical (office decor and feel), emotional (a place that is relationally safe and where friendships flourish), and spiritual (deepening connection with the Lord and the body of believers that is stationed in our office).


Finance: How much money do we have to work with? What investments would provide the most benefit to our field ministries?


Change: Some things will need to change just because of the number of people coming in the office (seven new in the fall joining a current office of nine). But some things might need to change that will be difficult for our current office. How fast do we change? What is the best process? Who needs to be involved in the decisions?

Lots of questions (and that is certainly not a comprehensive list), especially for a guy that hasn't been based in an office since a college summer job.

So back to Godin's post. It is thought-provoking. But I think a well-led regional headquarters can be a very powerful force for accelerating the spread of the gospel to students in the Northwest. The above list is just the foundation. After you take the time to lay a solid foundation, then you really get to start building and seeing results. That's (part of) why I'm saying "hello", rather than "goodbye", to our regional office.

My context, your context - sharing "across"

Here are some questions I've asked during my time on staff:

- What do the other Winter Conferences do for their day of outreach?
- How do the other campuses in my region structure their small groups and leadership team?
- What discipleship tools are people using on my staff team?
- How do the other regional offices structure their office space?
- How are other campuses creating a culture of evangelism among their students?
- What are the other teams in my region doing for personal development?
- How are other summer projects connecting with their alumni?
- What do other campuses do for their weekly meeting?

The list could go on and on. What I've come to realize is that I'm always wanting to know what is going on "across" from me. It's often interesting to know what is going on "up" from me, with those leading me organizationally, as well as "down", with those I am coaching and leading. However, it seems the greatest benefit often comes from sharing and collaborating with those in my same place organizationally. Yet, our systems and communication channels seemingly have difficulty carrying information horizontally - between those that are working on the same projects and within the same contexts.

Not that it doesn't happen. It does. We have New Staff training trips, Missional Team Leaders conferences, Regional Director "Verticals", conference guilds, etc. All help facilitate communication and collaboration. And relationships always exist across campuses and regions that lead to ideas being shared.

But what if we could do this in "real-time"? And in a manner that doesn't mean sending group emails and involve lots of "reply-alls" or one-to-one phone calls or (often) expensive face time (travel)? There are lots of software products that could help us do this using the internet, but I remain convinced that, as a campus ministry, Facebook might the best choice to facilitate this process. Our staff are already on it, our students are definitely on it, and the lost people we are trying to reach with the gospel are certainly on there, too. Did you know Facebook is actually designed to do this sort of thing? Fb recently articulated their mission statement:

“Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers. The company develops technologies that facilitate the sharing of information through the social graph, the digital mapping of people’s real-world social connections."

The emphases were mine.

So what would it look like? I'm not sure, but hopefully I'll be developing a few test cases in the coming months that I can share.

What about you? Do you feel this need, too? What do you think about Facebook helping us do this?

(Note: No, we can't spend all our time communicating and collaborating. We've got to get our respective jobs done, living and working in our context. But...as my friend Russ writes, we can have a broader impact by tithing our time.)