New Communication Leaders
Kathy Chapman-Sharp
Kathy Sharp is the Director of Communications for Saddleback Church and the Purpose Driven Network. Her expertise in magazine publishing and marketing have been developed against the backdrop of service on local church staffs, as an international missionary, and while working with LifeWay Christian Resources and the International Missions Board. A popular international conference leader, she has published more than 75 articles in several different languages.
Saddleback's website.
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Every moment counts in the life of a communication director. We need to never stop learning. We need to never stop learning. We need to master the ABCs… we need to Assess Build and Connect.
We need to discover our SHAPE… our Spiritual gifts, Heart (passion), Abilities, Personality and Experiences.
What are our strengths? We need to study our gifts.
Passion is what wakes us up in the morning. If you feel overwhelmed or tired, you need to evaluate and adjust our everyday activities to hit our ‘passion button.’
Abilities are just what come to your naturally. Our personality is how we approach life. Our experiences in life our story.
In establishing a communications team, we need people with different abilities, passions and personalities and experiences.
We need to assess our situation. We need to take stock of our situation, where we’ve arrived and where we are going.
We need to do things more efficiently, not quickly.
The 90 Day Theory – you have 90 days from the time you start to effectively finish a new project.
Our job as communications leaders is to make people the best they can be. We need to give reassurance.
We aren’t just creatives, we also need to be administrative. If we’re not, we’re not building on a good foundation.
Priorities for Communication Leaders
- our core messages
- our function
- our staff
Our core messages are what is most important to our church. We need to help people understand how important it is that we speak in the same voice and communicate the same messages. Not just communication leaders, but also the entire staff.
The priorities of our function must match up with our core message. Our end goals should always drive our priorities. And our end goal must result in building the Kingdom.
Example: Saddleback’s PEACE Project: Planting churches, Equipping Leaders, Aiding the poor, Caring for the sick and Educating for the future. The PEACE Plan aims to get 10 million churches reaching 100,000 people groups resulting in 1 billion people by the year 2020.
What’s our mosaic? What is the ‘big picture’ that we are contributing to?
Build on the right foundations.
Some of Saddlebacks core values: volunteering, servant-heartedness, diversity, authenticity, informality, simplicity, flexibility, team work, continual learning, margin, humor and risk taking.
Simplicity will win the world for Christ. We need to be fluid.
Some core beliefs of Saddleback: God-focus, about relationship, Biblical, about changing lives, growth, generosity, simple and easy, catalytic, built on integrity, model good stewardship.
Once you have the right foundation, you can build the appropriate functionality and methodology to get the job done.
What do we want to communicate? How do we deploy it?
Communicate internally and externally. Consistency reflects a mission core – it combines service with a compelling story. It converges forms, media, and technology.
Priorities
Remember the big picture. Let your end result determine your priorities. Realize you can’t do everything. Focus on 5-6 projects at a time.
In all we do, we must be building for the future and constantly thinking ahead. We need to constantly consider new readers and new target groups.
Build influential support coalitions
- understand desperate partnerships
- build internal and external partnerships
- look for low-handed fruit
- only make promises you can keep
Don’t have a policy manual, but do establish processes.
Processes build a capacity for function within a chaotic environment.
Processes increase productivity.
Processes enable execution.
Execution establishes credibility and results. Execution is the discipline of getting something done, it’s not just details, it’s closing the loop, finishing the project.
Connect
- Connect by communicating your core message
- Communicate for impact, not for information.
Employ service journalism (‘how to’writing) and narrative journalism that models the master Teacher, Jesus.
Connect by building a world class team.
Build a team you trust.
Never, never, never accept mediocrity.
Ask the right questions.
If you don’t trust you don’t have to micromanage.
Be sensitive and be firm.
Team members deserve a clear mission, support, encouragement and awards, trust, clearly defined roles, mentoring, win win cooperation, individual competency, empowered communication, a winning attitude and a sense of family.
The leader must model a trusting relationship. We have to genuinely love them and set personal and professional goals. We must model our competency.
Understand your strengths and weaknesses, function from your strengths, correct weaknesses, build a mentality of change, evaluate, allow for failure, invest in the right technology, partner with technology, say yes often as you can, do have a style guide, do customize and do lead with a servant’s heart. When you’re failing, you know you are trying new things.
Identify, differentiate, interact, customize.
Own the mission. Build processes around yourself to allow you to function. Model the way. Build paradigms. Jump off mountains!
We may be standing on the mountain, we’re doing great things but we need to do greater. Jump. Take in all who God is and let Him carry you.
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