Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

adaptability

Pivoting and Planning in a New Day of Mission

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When we moved back to Canada last year, one of the first things that I did with my wife was sign up for a gym membership. When Christina and I were figuring out which gym to join, one of the sales associates decided to go with the “personalized” approach to try to “tailor” what his gym offered to our needs.

Anyway, he started with Christina and asked her what her goals were and why she wanted to join the gym. She said things like, “I’m thinking about doing a marathon,” “I want to stay healthy,” and other reasons along those lines. With quite the approving head nod, he wrote down her answers, made a few encouraging comments, and then turned to me. How about you Daniel?

I still remember his reaction to this day. When he heard my answer, it was utter shock. In fact, he stumbled over his words—not quite as long as Prime Minister Trudeau did when he was asked about President Trump’s response regarding the protests—but it was something like that.

“Chips. I love eating chips. I also love smoking meat on my BBQ. I just love eating. That’s pretty much the only reason I’m working out.”

Alright, so what’s the point?

We ended up joining the gym that day, and for several months, I made the commitment to not go into work until I first went to the gym—even if it was for only 30 minutes.

While I didn’t hit that goal 100% of the time, I actually did quite well.

For the first time in my life, I was working out more than once a week! My body, my health, and how I physically, mentally, and emotionally felt was the best it had ever been. And then COVID-19 hit. And then the gyms closed. And then grocery shopping got a little more complicated. (But, fear not, I still had my chips!)

In that moment, instead of hunkering down and just waiting for things to go back to normal, Christina and I decided to pivot and figure out a new rhythm and routine for exercise.

Pivot. Doesn’t it seem like the word of the year?

Although it seems like everyone and their mom are using this word, it really does encapsulate what we’ve had to do over these past few months. It’s either pivot or die.

Pivot or Die.
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There’s no going back to pre-COVID days. Yes, COVID-19 will eventually fade away, but it’s so deeply changed the fabric of our society and the way “church” looks, that even when we’re gathered together again it will be different.

It’s kind of like how Jesus interacted and ministered with his disciples pre-resurrection versus post-resurrection.

Let’s think about that for a moment.

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Adaptive Decision Making, Change, and Leadership – Part 2

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Let’s pick up from where we left on in Part 1 of this series of articles on adaptive decision making, change, and leadership. Be sure to start by reading Part 1 if you haven’t yet done so.

Over the last century, here’s the reason most churches and organizations have been able to scale and support the growth that they’ve experienced.

It’s because of the modern day “scientific management model,” which rests primarily upon two elements:

  1. “Absolutely rigid and inflexible standards throughout your establishment.”
  2. “That each employee of your establishment should receive every day clear-cut, definite instructions as to just what he is to do and how he is to do it, and these instructions should be exactly carried out, whether they are right or wrong.”[1]

I’m not saying that these two elements run the shop in every church and organization today. I’m just saying that they are the foundation that modern day management theory—both inside and outside the church—has been built upon, and it doesn’t work anymore because…

  • You can’t just set it and forget it
  • You can’t just keep your head down, do your work, and expect to succeed and hit your goals
  • Your success isn’t wholly dependent on you
  • If the only time you talk about development is the annual performance review, you won’t grow
  • If the only time you connect with your volunteers and leaders are on Sunday or in formal training environments, they won’t feel connected
  • If the only things you do are the things on your job description, your team won’t win
  • In fact, if you’re not revisiting your job description multiple times a year, it will become outdated quick
  • And if the only time you talk with your team members is during official team meetings, your team will move too slow
  • And if you’re not changing your website every 2-3 years, watch out…irrelevancy is just around the corner
You can’t just set it and forget it anymore.

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