| | | | | | | | | | | | PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Growing up a fan of the Florida Gators in the 1990s, I had a front row seat to watch "the Head Ball Coach," Steve Spurrier. Of course, we all loved the fact that he had an exciting offense and knew how to win, but he was entertaining as well. While his barbs aimed at your team might sting, it was usually pretty easy to laugh too.
Recently, while at ESPN to promote his new book, some college football journalists asked him about some of his funniest lines. My personal favorite was following a fire at an Auburn University library. Coach Spurrier said the real tragedy was that 15 of the books hadn't been colored in yet.
A few years into his term as coach at South Carolina, their game against Georgia was moved from the second week of the season to the fourth week of the season. When asked what he thought of the change, he said he didn't like it. Why not? Because Georgia usually had two or three key players suspended during the first two games of the season.
Every college football team, Spurrier's included, always has a few players suspended early in the year due to off-season incidents. So, when the Athletic Director at Georgia was asked what he thought about the comments, he reportedly said, "Well, it's true. How can I be mad at him if it's true?"
What took this interview from something that I was enjoying on a walk with my dog to something I wanted to share with you was what came a few minutes later. The reporter who had asked the question about Georgia said that, after having a good laugh, he asked Spurrier, "Do you really want me to use that [in the article]?" and Spurrier said to put it in. The reporter went onto to say that he could never recall a time when Spurrier ever asked for something to be off the record. Spurrier responded: "I learned a long time ago, there's no such thing as 'off the record.' So, anything I say, I think you ought to be able to repeat."
As more and more of our communication becomes digital - and especially as it passes through apps, servers, and devices over which we have little to no control - this is a reality for anyone involved in church communication.
Everything is on the record. And just about anything digital is on a permanent record. Once things are on the web or in the cloud, it is hard to ever fully remove them. Even things sent via a private message can be stored, screenshotted, printed, or forwarded somehow.
Read more from Dan Wunderlich »
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| IDEAS THAT IMPACT: PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS
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An effective communications strategy begins with knowing your audience -- its demographics, needs and habits -- before figuring out what and how you want to communicate, writes the executive director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.
Read more from David L. Odom »
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We are awash in words. Never before in the history of the human race have so many words been so widely thrown about and with such remarkable reach. The advent of the digital age began the age of words, words, words. Of the making of books there has always been no end, but never before have we had the chance -- and burden -- of words 24/7/365. Email, text, Twitter, TV and everything else. Words are always with us. What should leaders do with words?
Read more from C. Kavin Rowe » |
Christian leaders today have to grapple with one of the most profoundly disruptive trends in the world: the digital revolution. Faith & Leadership offers resources to help with communications -- online, in traditional media, in marketing, and within organizations.
Explore the resources »
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Healthy Disclosure: Solving Communications Quandaries in Congregations by Kibbie Simmons Ruth and Karen A. McClintock
Knowledge is power, and the way knowledge is shared in a congregation can build up or break down community. When congregational leaders are sensitive to the ways that information should be shared, the congregation can become safe and strong. Unfortunately, congregations can easily fall into patterns of communication that lead to disastrous interpersonal and organizational outcomes. Even in times of crisis, however, congregations can learn and practice new skills and healthy communication management.
Congregational consultants Kibbie Ruth and Karen McClintock show clergy and laity how to appropriately handle information. From proper ways to respond to rumors to relating information about a staff firing to the congregation, Healthy Disclosure is filled with step-by-step ideas for handling different types of sensitive material. It helps clergy and other congregational leaders understand levels of disclosure, including how and when to reveal information, the difference between privacy and secrecy, legal issues related to public knowledge, and the power of secrets from a congregation's past. What we don't know can hurt us. The more conscious congregational leaders are of the information they have and how they pass it along to others, the better off the congregation will be. Information management is both a technical process and a spiritual undertaking. Leaders need the ability to spiritually discern, not just intellectually decide, the solutions to congregational dilemmas. Ruth and McClintock guide readers in developing the skills needed to create a congregational environment of healthy disclosure.
Learn more and order the book » |
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