leanimpact - "stealing from startups: a church goes lean" (audio link:
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5 min. pitch on applying Lean principles in a faith community. Won "People's Choice" award at the DC Lean for Social Good summit. Click here for audio: http://bit.ly/leanchurchTRANSCRIPT
Stealing from Startups
A Church Goes Leanby
Ken HowardSt. Nicholas Episcopal Church
#leanimpact @paradoxy101
Lean goes to church? Who knew?(I didn’t)
6 months ago, I didn’t know from “Lean.”
My son, the CEO of a Tech Startup (@EmissaryMed),was attending a “Lean Startup” program.
A participant asked,“I wonder if anyone has ever tried this in churches?
Son replied, “I don’t know if he’s read the book,
but my dad’s been doing this for the last 18 years.”
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Lean before lean was cool
20 years agoLeft successful consulting practice
Became Episcopal priest1st solo call – start new church
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Lean before lean was cool
1st in D.C. diocese in decadesNo experts
Didn’t know what we were doingPlethora of Assumptions
Paucity of knowledge
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To Boldly Go…
Blessing of our diocese (sort of).
Enough funding to hang ourselves.
Enough freedom to do it.
So Naïve…which turned out to be a good thing.
“Anything is possible when you don’t know what you’re taking about!”
Set us on the path to creative thievery.
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Stealing from Startups
Appropriate → Apply ↑ (repeat as needed) ↓
Adapt ← Assess
Realized we were a startupStarted acting like one
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Stealing from Startups
Six StrategiesMinimum Viable Product
Creating an Entrepreneurial CultureTesting Assumptions
Rapid PrototypingEliminating Waste
Measuring What Matters
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MVP=Minimum Viable Belief?
"Eleven o'clock on Sunday morning is the mostsegregated hour of America.“ – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Not just race, but ethnicity, culture, politics, theology(unity in uniformity )
The broader the set of beliefs required for membership, the more like a church is to splinter.
People faced with false choice: Community vs. Integrity.
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MVP=Minimum Viable Belief?Back to Basics: a Minimum Viable Belief.
God’s love is transformative.
The only sufficient grounds for Christian unity is the love of Christ
(everything else is secondary)
A Simple VisionTo be a place where people can experience God’s love
and be transformed by it.
“A Place to Belong! A Place to Become!”#leanimpact @paradoxy101
Entrepreneurial Culture
How many church leaders
does it take to change a light bulb?
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Entrepreneurial Culture
Tradition vs. TraditionalismTradition Respects Time-Tested Learning
(don’t re-invent the shoe lace every morning)
Traditionalism Worships Traditions(failure to learn/adapt death/extinction)
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Entrepreneurial CultureCouldn’t afford traditionalism
Vision-driven culture
Experiments within Tradition
Failure is not an option!(It’s standard equipment)
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Testing Assumptions
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Inscription at the entrance to the Bishop Payne LibraryVirginia Theological Seminary
Testing Assumptions
What?(our ministries and programs)
How?(our organization and process)
Why?(our reason to exist)
If we don’t know why, it’s okay to let it die…
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Testing AssumptionsEspecially
WHO
Getting Outside the Building#leanimpact @paradoxy101
Rapid Iteration Prototyping
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ADAPTor Create
or Creatively Steal
APPLYSeasonal
Experiment
ASSESSOur Assumptions
Small Scale
Trial
Feedback
Tweak or
Toss
Eliminating Waste
Stewarding Our Human Assets
Time Reducing Permissions(green light bulbs)
Energy Seeking Synergies(ministries-teams-programs-populations)
Effort Stop Pursuing Perfection(80% & leave the rest for God)
Gifts/SkillsPositions for People(don’t square the circle)
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Measuring What Matters
Quantifying Increasing Engagement#leanimpact @paradoxy101
Leader
Community
Guest
Inquirer
RegularEngaged
Startups Steal from Churches?Churches are great at creating community. How?
Vision• Clear, positive, aspirational message inspires diverse individuals to
work together to achieve complex foals for $0 salary. • How might we inspire that in employees?
Leadership • Seeker-friendly worship guides | Sermons that engage.• Product roadmap | All-hands meetings with engaging pitches.
Recruitment/Retention• Celtic Christians drew people with love-service-radical welcome.• Build in explicit welcome & opportunities for community.
~ Jon Howard, CEO–Emissary Medical Travel
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Watch This Space
www.PracticingParadoxy.comfor
What a Church Stole from Startupsand What Startups Could Steal from Churches
by
Ken Howard Jon HowardFounder–@SaintNicksComFounder–@EmissaryMed
#leanimpact @paradoxy101