Multi-Site Kids

Hull House

I'm a bit of a history buff.  Not the kind of person that could answer a lot of questions on Jeopardy, but the kind that likes to read or watch programs about historical things and visit historical places.  I just finished a photographic book on Hull House, the famous settlement house started in the late 1800s here in Chicago (remember your high school history class?).  Hull House residents sought to address the needs of the urban poor by living among them and offering services and opportunities that could transform the neighborhood. It was started by two upper middle-class women, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr although it is clear that Addams quickly became the leader of the settlement.  At its height, Hull House's complex filled up an entire city block on the West side of Chicago.  Now all that remains are two buildings...the original residence that Addams and Starr occupied and the staff dining hall.

I went there on Sunday.  There is a small museum housed in these two buildings and I thought it would be interesting to go see it.

Just in case you are wondering if I forgot the topic of this blog, let me tell you why I'm bringing all this up.  Hull House became quite a large endeavor in its heyday.  But one thing struck me as I read about its historical path.  When Jane Addams died in 1935, the settlement was thrown into a leadership crisis.  Leadership bounced between a couple of people but from the accounts I read it sounds like no one really knew how to head into the future after Addams was gone.

Now I am certainly not criticizing a historical figure who made an incredible impact on both the national and international stage, but it did strike me as odd that there was no succession plan.  No one was prepared with a clear understanding of what was to come next.  Addams was 75 years old when she died.  And I think she died of cancer so my guess is there was some length to her illness.  Had no one thought to make a plan?

Every once in a while I wonder what would happen if I were hit by a bus.  What would happen to Kids' City?  Who have I prepared to step up and take the reins?  I think multi-site has both advantages and disadvantages for the senior leader in creating succession plans.

Advantage: Multi-site forces you to learn how to create a leadership development culture.  Every time you start a site, there is an entire new leadership vacuum that needs to be filled.  We must always be about the business of raising up new leaders to send out to these new campuses or churches because we can't be everywhere at once.  Hopefully in this process of raising up and sending out, we are developing someone who could step into our place should the unfortunately bus accident occur.

Disadvantage: Our teams are spread out and focused on their individual pieces of the missional puzzle.  By nature my role is to oversee the whole and make sure all these individual pieces are aligned and all the systems are working correctly.  Every year we go through a talent review process and one of the questions that gets asked is, "Who is your apprentice?"  It troubles me that I don't have a real answer to that question.  So many on our Kids' City staff are in part time roles (anywhere from 5 hours/wk to 20 hours/wk).  I struggle with figuring out how to bring someone alongside me in my Director role to work on the "big picture" with me.  Especially because it seems their part-time hours need to be focused on their particular campus location.

Sometimes this leaves me feeling like the bottle neck for the bigger picture.  I'm feeling the limits of this in communication, decision making, capacity for initiatives...

But what scares me about it is the succession plan.  I have no plans to go anywhere and prayerfully God will keep me from stepping off the curb in front of a moving vehicle until we figure this out, but who am I preparing to replace me when I'm gone?  What is my succession plan?

Do you have one?  Would love to hear any thoughts that you have on this topic especially if you are the senior leader of your kids' ministry and your multi-site church has spread to at least 4 or 5 sites.

Great Teams

I LOVE (emphasize the word LOVE loud and slow) playing on great teams.  Community and chemistry in a workplace are so important to me.  That's why I've been on a buzz for the past couple weeks over this team.  This is the newly formed Kids' City staff at our Naperville Yellow Box location.  We still have a couple more people to add to this picture, but I'm already so excited about what God is going to do through this team.  I had dinner with one of them last week and as we parted she said, "This was meant to be."  I couldn't agree more.  I truly believe God's hand has been at work bringing this specific combination of people together...and it's going to be a fun ride.

A great team changes everything.  It makes work feel like play.  It makes the load seem light when it is carried on so many capable shoulders.  A great team attracts gifted players.  It changes the dynamic of a space giving it a magnetic pull.  It is full of inside jokes and the kind of sarcasm and teasing that makes every person feel they belong. 

Great teams leave you feeling energized when you go home for the night.

Great teams can't wait to be together again the next time.

Great teams accomplish great things.  That's why I'm so excited about playing on this one.  I hope you get to play on one too.

Filling Buckets: Vision and Strategy

Let's continue the Leadership Buckets discussion.  In the comments on my last post on this topic, a suggestion was made to share ideas on how to increase the water level in each of the Leadership Buckets (thanks, Rob, for the idea!).  I'll share some of my thoughts and then feel free to chime in with your leadership development suggestions.  So let's start off with the first bucket: Vision and Strategy.  How does a person grow in this important aspect of leadership?

My first thought...READ! READ! READ!  Vision is at first a process in your mind so I think it is important to stimulate your thinking with a regular dose of new ideas.  Of course you can gain the same kind of inspiration from conferences or sometimes conversations, but through books you have ready access to some of the best leadership and ministry minds in the world.  If you need a place to start, I think Andy Stanley's 7 Practices for Effective Ministry can be a great tool for sparking children's ministry vision.  Marcus Buckingham's First, Break All the Rules can help you think through how you develop and care for volunteers even giving you some clear strategic things to measure.  Erwin McManus' An Unstoppable Force will challenge you to dream about what your church could become.  If you are serious about growing as a visionary leader, you have to read.

Second, create spaces that give God a chance to whisper his vision into your heart and mind.  Now I know this practice is harder for some than for others.  I tend to be a contemplative at heart so having a whole day to sit in a park with my Bible, a book, and a journal is heaven to me.  For me, vision and strategy come in these quite spaces.  It's getting away from the urgency and noise of the everyday environment to hear from God.  I make it a regular practice to take one work day every 6 weeks as a retreat day.  During this time I get away for a half or whole day to re-center.  Sure I need regular, daily time with God...but I find I need an extensive time with him every 6 weeks to stay on course.  On my retreat days I usually spend the first hour or two journaling on "How are you and I doing, God?"  After that, I ask him to guide my thoughts on the big picture.  Often this is the place where ministry vision and strategy is birthed in my heart and mind.  I feel these retreat days are critical to Spirit-led leadership.

This last one might sound strange, but if you don't come by this naturally, force yourself to be discontented.  Look for things that are not what they should be in your ministry.  Important things.  If you have a low level in the Vision and Strategy bucket, chances are you might be too satisfied with the way things are.  I think visionary leaders are never content with the status quo.  Once one piece of vision and strategy is ticking, something else will start bugging them until they have to dream a dream and devise a plan to get there.  Let yourself get critical for a day and list all the things that are not what they should be.  Then pick the most important one and begin dreaming what it could be and outline steps that will lead to that future.

So there are a few thoughts.  What do you think?  How do you fill your Vision and Strategy bucket? 

Leadership Buckets Observations

Time for a few observations on the 5 Leadership Buckets describing the Core Functions of a Kids' City Campus Director.  Here are the 5 Buckets in review:

#1 - Vision and Strategy

#2 - Leadership Development

#3 - Relational Authenticity

#4 - Administration

#5 - Upfront Magnetism

Now I mentioned from the beginning of these posts that most people do not have a "full bucket" in all 5 of these areas.  So considering that, here are some thoughts I have about the 5 Buckets.

Thought #1 - The most important bucket is "Leadership Development."  If a Campus Director does not have the ability to identify and develop leaders, the growth or health of the campus will suffer.  A wise Campus Director will look for people with "full buckets" in areas where he is less gifted and figure out ways to use their giftedness in the leadership of the ministry. 

Thought #2 - At smaller to medium sized campuses, a low-level in the "Upfront Magnetism" bucket can be compensated for by a high-level in the "Relational Authenticity" bucket.  If the campus is at a size where the Director has the ability to cast-vision and make connections with a wide range of people on a personal, 1-to-1 basis, then she can get away with not being a dynamic upfront presence.  But as the campus grows, the need for "Upfront Magnetism" will increase.

Thought #3 - Understanding the 5 Buckets can help you make wise decisions in complementary staff hires.  For example, we currently have a staff opening at our largest campus.  This campus is large enough to necessitate both a Campus Director and an Associate Director.  Now everyone on our staff has to have a full or rising bucket in "Leadership Development," but the Associate Director we have also excels in the "Relational Authenticity" and "Administration" buckets.  She is off the charts in these two areas.  So I know the Campus Director we need will be someone whose "Vision and Strategy" and "Upfront Magnetism" buckets are overflowing.

So what are your thoughts?  Anything else you see with the 5 Leadership Buckets?  Do you agree or do you see things differently? 

5 Leadership Buckets: #5 Upfront Magnetism

At last we've reached the fifth Core Leadership Function of a Kids' City Campus Director.  I'm not really sure what to call this so I'm going with Upfront Magnetism and defining it as the ability to speak in public in a way that impacts people and attracts them to a cause and community.  It's different than the Relational Authenticity bucket in that Magnetism can influence and attract people even without a personal interaction. 

A Campus Director with a high level in their Upfront Magnetism bucket will get up on stage during a large group service or gathering and just by being themselves and describing the ministry they lead will gain a huge amount of influence over the crowd.  People are drawn to relationship with this Magnetic personality.  His passions begin to transfer to others who join the cause and become dedicated contributors to the mission.

Now it is very important that this Magnetism has substance because Magnetism without substance will soon be found out and its effectiveness will wither.  We've all known larger-than-life personalities who made a big splash but then failed to back up their image with strong, consistent, Spirit-led leadership.  People will line up behind this leader at first, but in time many will grow discouraged or disillusioned and wander way.

Upfront Magnetism isn't defined by one personality type or style.  I've known calm, soft-spoken people who have it.  I've known loud, comedic people who have it.  And others who don't.  It's not really something you can precisely define, but it seems to be something we all can recognize. 

The hard thing is I'm not sure there is much we can intentionally do to develop it.  I'm not sure those who have it even are intentionally doing anything to have it.  It's more of a gift.  Though at times I have wondered if it might be one of the by-products of a Spirit-surrendered life (I think we can be attracted to the Holy Spirit inside of a person).

But before anyone becomes discouraged thinking a low-level in this bucket (or any of the others) automatically excludes someone from a high-level position of leadership such as a staff Campus Director, let me remind you at the beginning of these posts I acknowledged that it is rare for a person to have a "full bucket" in all 5 areas.  I promised after describing all 5 Buckets I'd share some thoughts on how understanding these 5 functions might be helpful in staffing decisions, team building, and development plans.  Those posts are to come... 

5 Leadership Buckets: #4 Administration

The fourth core leadership function of a Kids' City Campus Director may not be glorious, but it is so important to the functioning of the ministry.  The fourth bucket is Administration.

I've been involved in a variety of ministry areas through the years, and I believe I can say with conviction that no area of ministry has as many administrative nuances as children's ministry.  I like administrative tasks, but I was quite overwhelmed with the details when I first entered this arena.  Background checks, bathroom policies, curriculum supplies, leader to child ratios, evacuation plans, check-in systems, sublists, security checkpoints, allergy alerts...YIKES!  It can be overwhelming to think of how many cracks there are that things could fall through.

A Campus Director has to manage a complex web of details and administrative functions.  Oversights can be costly.  Failure to manage the details can lead to confusion, demotivated contributors, anxious parents, sloppy systems, and worst of all...unsecure environments for children.

The majority of the Campus Director's administrative task takes place during the week.  When the details are attended to, the communications are clear and precise, and the systems are in place...the weekend goes smooth.  OK, well, that's not always true.  Of course all the admin in the world won't make up for Contributors who call off at the last minute or the kid who ate 5 donuts before dropping into your ministry, but a strong Administrator will make sure that everything that could have been done to set the weekend up for success was done in preparation.

So the fourth bucket is taken care of...only one remains.  It's perhaps the hardest one to define...

5 Leadership Buckets: #3 Relational Authenticity

So the first core leadership function of Kids' City Campus Director is Vision and Strategy and the second is Leadership Development.  I'm going to call the third Relational Authenticity.  This is a powerful quality that enables a Director to provide genuine, meaningful care and encouragement to a wide variety of contributors.  How do you know when a Director has it?  A great indicator is a sense of loyalty within the ministry.  Leaders and contributors speak with affinity for their Director.  They respond to personal asks the Director makes that extend above and beyond their normal responsibilities.  And they continue to do this over and over and over again.  When a Campus Director possesses Relational Authenticity, you'll most likely find contributors who have been serving for many years.  Less people slip out the back door because they want to stay in a place where they feel valued and known.

Now of course as the ministry and number of contributors grows, the Campus Director's time for each individual person becomes limited.  It is important to add coaches or "leaders of leaders" into the mix to make sure every contributor is well taken care of.  But somehow a Campus Director with Relational Authenticity is able to continue to make people feel valued even if the interactions happen in 3-minute segments.  It is amazing how connected people can feel through a 3-5 minute conversation.  It's the "Fellowship of the Mat" idea I wrote about in a previous post.

How do you develop Relational Authenticity?  Well, you have to really care about the people serving in your ministry.  Really care.  You have to value who they are and be interested in their journey in addition to appreciating the value they bring to the ministry.  One of the things I've prayed for most in my life is for a "love for people."  I figured if Jesus said it was the 2nd greatest command it is worth praying that I will do a better job living it out.  Pray that your heart for people will grow bigger every day.

And look for small ways to show care and appreciation to your contributors.  When someone shares a prayer request, drop them a note or e-mail reminding them you are praying (and then pray...that's the authenticity part!).  Drop in a room to be an extra pair of hands at craft time.  Give genuine praise to a contributor in front of other people.

Relational Authenticity (or its absence) sets the tone for your team's experience.  It is a core leadership function.  But relational harmony alone won't make everything run smoothly.  The fourth leadership function can be the difference between progress and chaos...   

5 Leadership Buckets: #2 Leadership Development

The second core leadership function of a Kids' City Campus Director is Leadership Development.  If a Campus Director possesses the ability to empower and equip others for ministry they will thrive in their position.  If they don't, well, they probably aren't in the right seat on the bus.

When I was the Campus Director at our Romeoville location, one of my personal goals was to be in the adult service lobby greeting and meeting people before and after every service.  Now you don't have to be in children's ministry long before you realize that the most chaotic and crucial leadership time is the 15 minutes before a service.  That's when you have to make sure all volunteers have arrived, systems are working correctly, everyone has the supplies they need, new families are helped, the ratios in each room are within limits, etc.  So why did I want to be in the lobby?  No, it wasn't so that I could avoid the chaos, but I felt I was being successful when the ministry could run without me.  My goal was to raise up leaders and leaders of leaders who would own greater and greater amounts of responsibility and make the ministry happen without me.  Yes, I think the goal of every Campus Director should be to become expendable on the weekends.  In fact, I think equipping others to do the work of the ministry is actually the Biblical plan for leadership in the church.

So a Campus Director can't be a "do it all myself" kind of person.  Instead, they constantly have their leadership potential radar scanning the church to identify people with leadership gifts who could be challenged to greater and greater amounts of responsibility.  They invite these emerging leaders into their inner circle of community and ministry and begin to pour into them.  They equip them with practical skills but even more they transfer leadership DNA to their followers through modeling, story-telling, and shared decision-making.  They make a significant investment in the lives of the most promising leaders in their care.  This investment extends beyond the task of the ministry to the emerging leader's personal, spiritual, and intellectual life.

In fact, the ability to give care is so important, it gets its own bucket...

5 Leadership Buckets: #1 Vision and Strategy

I've spent a lot of time the past month or so thinking about the core leadership functions of a Kids' City Campus Director here at CCC.  If you haven't read previous posts describing the difference between our Campus and Catalyst staff roles, you may want to read this before continuing...

I think I've settled on 5 core functions that I'd like to tell you about in a series of posts.  After I've explained all 5 I'd like to share some thoughts on how understanding these 5 functions might be helpful in staffing decisions, team building, and development plans.  I'm calling them "Leadership Buckets" because I think we need to think about these core functions as leadership skills or qualities that people possess in differing measures.  Rarely will a person have a "full bucket" in all 5 areas.  The amount in some buckets can increase through development and experience.  Others might remain fixed.

So the first bucket?  I think it is Vision and Strategy.  I think of Vision as the ability to see what God is desiring us to become.  In The One Thing You Need to Know, Marcus Buckingham says that a leader is preoccupied with the future.  "In his head he carries a vivid image of what the future could be and this image drives him on."  Leaders are fascinated by the future, restless for change, impatient for progress.  They can't help but see beyond where we are today to what we could become.  They are always dreaming, always scheming, always looking beyond the "what is" to the "what could be."

A leader knows where the ministry is going...or at least is constantly thinking about it in search of the future God desires.

But coupled with vision is the ability to develop a Strategy leading to that future.  This strategy includes many things but starts with casting the vision to others.  Leaders paint a picture of the future that others embrace.  But vision casting is just the starting point of strategic thinking.  Once a Campus Director sees the vision, her mind begins to flood with thoughts of how to get from point A to point B.  She begins to think in steps.  These steps provide focus and a way to measure progress towards the future.  The strategy is the roadmap to the future.  It will need to be tweaked along the way, but a leader doesn't mind these revisions.  Thinking, talking, executing, and evaluating strategy is the leader's hobby.

So the first leadership bucket for a Campus Director is Vision and Strategy.  The second bucket is essential to the first.  Without the second, the strategy won't be executed and the vision won't be realized.  Stay tuned...

Dream Teams

I had dinner with one of our Kids' City Campus Directors and her husband on Saturday night.  I came away from that time so encouraged about the team I get to work with.  Shannon has been through a lot this past year topped off by an auto accident a month ago that's left her with severe headaches and has limited her ability to work.  Her expressions of gratitude over how patient everyone on the staff has been with her slow recovery led into a conversation about how grateful we both are to be a part of this team and this staff culture.  As I drove away, I thought about how important being on a great team is to me.  In fact, next to the mission, I think it is the most important thing to me about a job.  Here's what I need in a team...

Chemistry.  I need to work with people I love being around.  Our lead pastor, Dave, told me once that he would never hire anyone who doesn't pass the "Parking Lot Test."  What is the parking lot test, you might ask?  If you pull into the parking lot and see someone's car and feel glad that they are there...they pass the parking lot test.  Chemistry is so important because it keeps my heart encouraged even when things get difficult.  I love knowing the office is full of people I'm excited to see.

Common Values.  Of course there are the big moral and theological values...but that's not what I'm talking about here.  I think great teams value the same things.  As I talked to Shannon, I heard what she values.  Teamwork.  Friendship.  The mission.  Unity.  The freedom to dream about the future.  Those are the things I value most too.

The Loss of "I".  I love playing on a team where no one cares about the "I."  I love walking out of meetings with a handful of plans and no one can remember whose idea was whose.  Everyone on the team contributes but there is no need for individual credit.  The team wins or the team loses and goes back to the drawing board together.  A team can really begin to sprint forward when everyone is learning to die to the "I."

Growing Intimacy.  Maybe this is just part of being a girl, but I need to feel like I am growing closer to the people in my inner circle at work.  I need to feel like we are learning more and more about one another and are becoming more honest and authentic with one another.  I think that's what excited me most about this dinner with Shannon.  I felt like it was a milestone of sorts in our relationship.  I think we're becoming closer friends.

So what's important to you about a team?  Do you know?  Whether you have the opportunity to add staff around you or whether your team is made up of the key volunteers in your ministry, make sure you surround yourself with the kind of team you need.  It will leave you driving away from dinners excited too.