Adaptation vs Innovation

Dear Pastors

These ideas are not the same. As I reflect on what has transpired in the NZ Church (and indeed much of the world) over the last 3 months I would by and large categorise as Adaptation sometimes referred to as a ‘pivot’. And quite frankly it has been a stunning effort over all. Almost everywhere you look churches have adapted to a whole new environment. In this sense they have flexed and acclimatised and changed to the new context, namely a COVID-19 context. That’s not saying everyone was or is happy with the current state of affairs. But there is no going back.

What we now need, therefore, in a post COVID-19 world, I propose, is a phase(s) of ‘innovation’ similar to what many companies are doing.

Innovation is the successful exploitation of new ideas. Innovation is the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market (read felt) needs. Innovation is pro-active in nature not reactive. Innovation is transformative leadership rather than transactional leadership.

So how can we foster true innovation in our churches?

1. Encourage to all leaders in your church to think like innovators. And changing the menu at the cafeteria doesn’t really qualify.
2. Innovators have an inclination and a capacity to examine what others often leave unexamined. Innovators are relentlessly curious. Innovators are willing and ‘brave’ enough to ask questions, lots of them. Innovators have a very low tolerance to, ‘this is the way we have always done this around here’.
3. Challenge invisible orthodoxies. Within any sector, mental models tend to converge over time. Let’s be honest Pastors read the same magazines and go to the same conferences. After a while, they all think alike. Innovators, by contrast, are contrarians. In their quest to upend traditional ways and means they learn how to distinguish “immutable laws” from “ingrained beliefs.” Ingrained beliefs should be constantly challenged.
4. Harness underappreciated trends. Innova­tors don’t spend much time speculating about what might Instead, they pay a lot of attention to the little things that are already changing, and that are gathering speed. To be an innovator, you don’t need a crystal ball: you need a wide-angle lens. You have to be tracking trends others haven’t yet noticed, then figuring out ways to improve and create new ways and new models.
5. Leverage embedded competencies and assets. Innovation gets stymied when an organisation defines itself by what it does rather than by what it knows or owns—when its “concept of self” is built around services (ministries) in the case of churches rather than around core competencies and strate­gic assets. Innovators see their organisation, and the world around it, as a portfolio of skills and assets that can be endlessly recombined to form new processes that result in new outcomes. They are masters of recombination.

Source: Adapted from Harvard Business Review Article, “The 5 Requirements of a Truly Innovative Company”

So Pastor, why not give this a go? Why not invite the dreamers and schemers to dinner, pull out a massive sheet of clean paper and dream the night away? Might be the best money and time you have spent in a long time. And please make sure there is a good cross section of your church in the room.

Blessings

Alan

Announcement

My wife, Jeanette has just published her first book. It has a long title, ”An Ordinary Life Lived in a Moment of Time Loving an Extraordinary God”. It is her story in a beautiful little book of 90 pages and includes some of her poetry and a photo gallery. It took me 75 minutes to read (I wasn’t allowed to see it until finished!). 😊

It’s a moving story of a young kiwi girl growing up in heartland NZ, a mentally unwell father and all the pain associated with that, Christ’s redeeming power, the tragic loss of her first husband at age 25 and so much more. Jeanette has worked as a Nurse, A Baptist Pastor, A Spiritual Director, a Mother (and foster mother) and now a ‘hands on’ Gran to 11 grandkids.

If you would like a copy of her book please email her at jeanette.vink1@gmail.com and include your postal address, or call her on 021 265 3683. The book costs $20.00 (includes postage anywhere in NZ) or $15.00 hand delivered. She is happy to provide an invoice or receipt. Bank Account 02-0316-0507529-00.

Alan Vink is currently the Executive Director for LeadershipWorx. Prior to this role he has been the Executive Director of Willow Creek Association NZ (WillowNZ), a Baptist pastor (23 years), Bible College teacher, and church consultant.