The Brainstorm Bergschrund

by Eddie Pipkin

Ministry leadership groups love to brainstorm ideas. One of the most popular activities among those who are sketching out their vision for the coming year is to get a bunch of people together in a room with a big whiteboard or a bunch of newsprint and start writing down concepts, pie-in-the-sky notions of big plans and bold dreams. But if you’ve worked in ministry leadership for any length of time, you know the bitter truth that there is a serious gap between the words written down on whiteboards and newsprint and the ideas that make it to execution in the real world. One of the best podcasts I’ve heard lately explores the reasons that this gap exists and what groups can do to overcome the odds and to propel more great ideas from drawing board to reality.

I dropped a little unexpected German on you, but it’s such a fun word to explore the idea of a gap, a crevasse, a chasm of undetermined depths from which one might not ever be rescued – that’s what the word clouds and bullet pointed lists of brainstorming can become, a beautiful chasm in of possibilities in which we are trapped if we don’t have a definitive plan about what comes next. Beware the bergschrund!

There are plenty of great systems that can move a team from brainstorming sessions and lists of ideas to completed tasks. Find the one that is the best fit for your team, and work the strategy with diligence. Don’t forget that the critical first step is to clearly have someone who is in charge of managing the project, whatever the project is. Without an impassioned, dedicated chief cheerleader and taskmaster who has real authority to move the project forward, it will die on the vine.

But even when there is a good idea on the whiteboard, a good established process for moving it to fruition, and a strong leader to carry it forward, things can still go awry. That’s what I found so interesting about the Hidden Brain podcast, “Innovation 2.0: Shortcuts and Speed Bumps.” I am a big fan of the Hidden Brain collection of podcasts which explore the intricate and surprising ways that our minds work and how our behaviors and relationships are affected because of thought patterns, habits, and the underlying biology that drives our decision making. The “Innovation 2.0” series explores ways we can work together better as teams. Here’s their own synopsis of the episode:

Most of us love to brainstorm with colleagues. But so often, our idea-generating sessions don’t lead to anything tangible. Teams fill up walls with sticky notes about creative possibilities and suggestions for improvement, but nothing actually gets implemented. Some researchers even have a name for it: “innovation theater.” This week, we explore the science of execution. Psychologist Bob Sutton tells us how to move from innovation theater . . . to actual innovation.

“Innovation Theater!” I love that! And we’ve all been there. I confess that I am usually a grumpy participant whenever this process kicks off in all its performative glory. But listening to this Hidden Brain episode gave me a little more empathy for how the many ways this well-meaning process can go wrong (and if you don’t like listening to podcasts, you can also get a written transcript at their website).

The insights kept coming fast and furious, and I’m just going to catalog some of my favorite observations, with a little additional ministry-related context here:

One reason companies and organizations drop the ball on execution is that leaders are too far removed from the experiences of customers. Corporate examples were offered: higher ups have no idea what is actually going on for frontline employees or for people utilizing their services.

Ministries, too, suffer from this disconnect. Key leaders, especially pastors, may be too isolated from frontline ministry. They should do everything in their power to connect with folks doing the day-to-day work, even serving in those posts on a regular basis. They should have open and honest conversations with people on the receiving end of the ministry.

Some organizations are so complex that getting different silos to talk to each other is next to impossible.

Silos can be a big problem in ministry operations, even in smaller churches! Everyone has a deep interest in their own ministry areas, and there is often a sense of competing for attention and resources. Leaders should promote interaction and cooperation between the silos and help them work together to support one another, not think of themselves as separate entities.

The problem of “executive magnification.” Everyone focuses on the key people in power “because they can give us rewards and punishments of all kinds.”

The preferences of key leaders get magnified in the organization, and this can lead to stagnation and disconnects. As leaders, it’s tempting to make sure that our preferred flavor of ice cream (or ministry or study style or worship style or means of service) is always the featured flavor of ice cream, but if we insist on everything at all times reflecting our preferences, we could very well find ourselves eating alone. Better to set policies in place that value and honor other preferences, too.

Jerks on the team do not make the team more effective. (Bosses say they spend 90% of their time dealing with the 10% who are most difficult.) Even talent and a high skill set is not worth the damage done by a truly unpleasant person.

In ministry, we sometimes fall victim to the “superstar” fallacy, that a person is so talented or so gifted that glaring flaws in morals, personality, or leadership style can be overlooked. The evidence is clear, however, that no matter how talented a person may be, if their presence is toxic to the community, they will have a negative impact over time as they damage the morale of the rest of the team.

The people who should advance / get ahead are the people who “do good work and help others along rather than stomp on them on the way to the top.”

Although in ministry we sometimes toss around phrases like “you have to break some eggs to make an omelet” and “move fast and break things” and “someone needs to speak the hard truth,” we build the most productive and healthy cultures not by rewarding the noisemakers and disruptors, but by honoring the work of those who empower and encourage others, leading positively by example.

The right amount of FRICTION is important in any organization. (They use the example of a steering wheel in a car to make this point — you need some friction or it won’t work, but not too much friction, because then things grind to a halt).

This is an important consideration for ministry, because we can become obsessed with the fantasy that blessed ministry should mean everything is running so smoothly that there is no friction at all – we generally think of friction as “drama” in this context. But if there is no friction at all, we are not trying new things or pushing the boundaries on what might be accomplished or expanding our territory. All of those “stretches” will inevitably lead to some friction. On the other hand, we are all instantly familiar with environments in which there is so much friction that nothing gets done. Balance is the key. (The excellent book recommendation they share for those who are more interested in this topic is The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and Wrong Things Harder.)

The reason that people at companies fall down when it comes to executing on their dreams is that they have too much friction in places that need to run smoothly and too little friction in places that need to move slowly.

This turns out to also be a reason that people in ministry “fall down.” The works are gummed up in leadership structures in which complaining and back-biting undermine every attempted step towards progress. Or some wild idea that ended in eventual disaster should have been shut down early in the brainstorming process but was allowed to proceed full steam ahead because there was no good process for people to say “no.”

A good way to get paid more is to build a larger and larger organization.

Also true at churches! People build their personal ministry empires and become “too big to fail.” We should have a model of ministry that is lean and hungry and on the prowl for innovation, not beholden to “how we’ve always done it.”

Jargon Monoxide! They describe examples of this as the use of “hollow and confusing language, ‘convoluted crap,’ and ‘jargon mishmash syndrome.’”

Okay, I’m an English major from way back, so I loved this critique. I’ve written more than once about the danger of obtuse, confusing, or less than informative language to turn people off to local church participation. Church-y language and insider jargon do not make people feel special and “in the club.” It makes them feel isolated and unwelcome.

When people reach consensus too early and too often, you can end up with “everybody thinks the same, so nobody thinks very much” scenario. This can be an argument for keeping teams separate and competing.

This was an interesting and perhaps counterintuitive observation. On the one hand, we have talked about how independent silos can keep teams isolated and working at cross purposes. The goal has been to get as many voices in the room as possible and get people working together. But sometimes this can backfire, if we fall into “groupthink.” In that scenario, innovation is stifled. The lesson to be taken to heart is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. For different teams, different contexts, and different projects, different approaches will be appropriate. The key is to assess which is right for each scenario.

Leaders have identified their “most creative teams” as teams that ‘fight’ with an atmosphere of mutual respect. “Your job is to be critical but not cruel.”

Just as we stated in the discussion on friction, teams that are so supportive of one another that they never challenge and never question are never going to produce their best work. True collaboration balances encouragement and pushback. Iron sharpens iron.

If you pour your heart and soul into something, it becomes valuable to you, independent of its actual value.

We see this on a regular basis in ministry: We attach meaning to projects based on how much we have personally invested in them, regardless of their actual value or impact. We should surround ourselves with people (and metrics) who can help us move beyond our emotional attachments to a clear analysis of what is effective and worth continuing.

Fast and slow thinking. Sometimes it’s better to come to a full stop, look around and figure out what is happening, rather than just rushing ahead. Things can backfire if you haven’t prepared people or laid the groundwork for change.

Amen, said every local church leader everywhere, most of whom have personally made this mistake of moving ahead too fast for their own good at some point in their careers. On the other hand, most of us have also squandered opportunities by sitting on them when we should have been moving ahead. Balance!

“Throwing sand in the gears” can be a way to promote change. They use the example of the civil rights movement as a time when people were no longer content to let the existing systems continue to function without challenge.

This would be a difficult principle to embrace in practical settings in the local church, although we understand and value it philosophically. Let us keep in mind, with humility as our guide, that people who challenge us and the status quo are not just making trouble. They have identified a problem that they think needs a righteous fix. We should honor that impulse even when we disagree.

All organizations should have a triage station for navigating those organizations. Tour guides to the system! This is a role best filled by generalists, not specialists.

If local churches could do this with consistency and excellence, it could be a game changer. Even when we have invested in hospitality tables and welcome stations, they are too often staffed by people who are friendly but not very helpful. We need great systems in place for answering people’s questions and connecting them to where they need to be and whom they need to be talking to.

Rule of Halves! What would happen if you cut what you’re doing by half (meetings, emails, to-do list items, all reduced by 50%)? All teams should try this at least as a thought experiment. They might also try a “team reset” (where they get rid of stuff like meetings for a brief period, then have to consciously add them back in).

This is a great strategy for establishing what has real value. Do we need every meeting? Do we need all these emails? One of the best ways to find the truth would be to simply cut them out for a brief interval. What was lost? What was gained?

Addition Sickness.

This is why we have all those meetings and emails in the first place. Are you familiar with this wonderfully descriptive term? It identifies the malady by which in order to feel like we are being productive and accomplishing things, we just keep adding and adding and adding more tasks to our plate. Almost never do we subtract things, and we certainly don’t think of subtracting things as being more productive! But what if we did?

Good leaders make clear, decisive decisions, but they do so after listening to everybody.

Input from all. Decisiveness for all. It’s a good model that makes people feel valued (even when they disagree with the decision) and moves things forward.

Difficult, complex problems go better when addressed by teams that have a prior history of working together.

We shouldn’t become ossified in what teams get to do what work, but sometimes, when something very important is at hand and it needs to happen efficiently and with the perfect balance of friction, you can’t beat getting the band back together.

There are multitudes contained in the previous bullet-pointed passages. What is your chief takeaway? What stood out to you as most helpful to think about in your own local context? What do you take issue with? What’s a great podcast or book you’d recommend on these same topics. Share your thoughts, save the world.