How many times has someone pitched an idea to you that starts like this:
“It’s like X, but better!”
The idea being X (a variable, not the social network) is some idea for a restaurant, business, platform, or event.
The phrase “but better” is doing a lot of work in that statement. We all know it, so we all kinda roll our eyes and move on, never giving it much thought.
This experience happens in subtler ways inside businesses and community groups. “Such-n-such has an X, we should have an X!” And the part left unsaid is, “And X will be better!”
Again, “but better” is doing a lot of work.
For most businesses and communities, you don’t even have to think about how to make something better than someone or someplace else. What you really need is to just execute anything at all.
Do you know how to make a movie?
Back in 2021, I had the unmistakable and rare moment of clarity that I was going to make a movie. Not just that I was going to, but that I had to. For me, it was a clear message from God that I had to make what turned into The Addict’s Wake, a documentary film about opioid addiction and recovery in the Midwest.
I had some experience with theatre and knew some people who could handle technical matters (like how to operate a camera!), but I had no clue how to make a movie. Distribution, licensing, contracts — all of those things were beyond my comprehension. I’d never made a movie, so a lot of it was good old-fashioned “figuring it out” as I went along.
You probably have a similar experience with a hefty project you’ve worked on. Maybe it was a book, starting a business, organizing a youth group, a retreat, or some other event.
We don’t think about it much, but if you break the process down for any big project there are two main parts:
- Engaging other people in the endeavor (even if that’s just customers, attendees, coworkers, or whoever)
- Having some process for keeping it all going
How interested people never get engaged
When people get interested in an idea, they’re almost never asked to *do* something. And they would if only they were asked.
I see this a lot in churches where a general call for volunteers struggles to capture any action. It requires church leaders to walk up to someone, look them in the eyes, and ask them to their face if they want to help. This is a lot harder to say no to, but most people don’t want to say no. In fact, most people — claims of “busyness” notwithstanding – *want* to do more for and in their community. It’a also easier to say “yes” when people know they have an established process or system to lean into.
It’s a little different in business, where employment and a paycheck makes the relationship different. But failures abound when the request is opaque, lacks a process, or lacks buy-in.
Consider a committee
It sounds boring, but there’s a reason committees run the world. They provide instant structure for any large community project. Committees come pre-packaged with notions about regular meeting times and how to make decisions. It also creates buy-in from a group of people rather than relying on the force of just one or two people.
Don’t just favor “the young”
Walk into any Rotary or Kiwanis Club and they’ll tell you their number one problem is “engaging young people”. I hear this in churches, too. The notion being that there’s something wrong with being a group composed of retirees and older people.
What’s wrong with that? Of course they’re mostly comprised of retirees! They meet at noon on a Tuesday. Of course younger people can’t make it to the meetings! That doesn’t mean there aren’t more people retiring every day who are looking for impactful ways to engage their community.
Write it all down and have a system
Having a written process, even if it’s just a couple of pages of well-thought-out notes, can make future endeavors easier to repeat and for new people to join. When a church asks people to lead a Sunday School class, most people know there’s a process for time, place, duration, topic, and lessons.
If I asked you to “Start a new youth camp in the summer”, that’s a whole new set of open-ended questions and a much bigger ask. But even if it’s new, a few well-placed questions oriented on a task list can help direct some energy.
Set deadlines
Deadlines and due dates have a way of clarifying what needs done when. And it has a way of ensuring some accountability in a group. No one wants to be the person who didn’t do their job.
Be prepared to be the person who asks
Engaging a group of people into a common mission takes leadership. You can’t just rely on a committee or sub-committee to magically lead things forward. Someone has to take on the job of managing a budget, ordering Port-a-Potties, handling food, getting equipment, and knowing who to ask for help.
Be prepared to be the person who asks people directly what you need them to do. What their community needs them to do.
Want to hear more strategic ways to orient your company, church or group?
Talk to Lisa Hall about consulting in your organization.
