John Darnell. I reside in Jacksonville, FL with my lovely bride, three remarkable kids, and one amazingly low key dog.
I serve as Lead Pastor of Vivid Church. Our purpose is simple - we exist to encourage people in their pursuit of God. We believe that the future of the church is to be found in vital, authentic relationships rather than traditions and institutions.
I generally write about personal and ministry development, but if you come by often, you'll hear a lot about my life, family, and other randomness.
I also love to hear your thoughts. Agree or disagree, leave a comment and let's talk.
You can find me via the link above, friend me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
First off, I think it was brilliant and bold. (BTW, that sounds like a soap opera featuring MIT students…) A simple and effective way to make a statement and generate buzz. On one hand, you could develop a set of guidelines and standards from the corporate level and work internally to retrain your staff. Once that was in place, you would then have to begin marketing the changes and trying to regain those who may have left you. OR make it public and let it be treated as “news”. Chances are there has been more conversation about Starbucks in the last two days than in a long time.
Standard. Once you begin allowing compromise to creep into your standards, you begin losing what it is that makes you unique. You cannot be over zealous enough in upholding your standards. This move states that they are working to eliminate chinks in their corporate armor.
Put your team on the stage. The new initiative from Starbucks means that there is now expectation on the part of the newly trained baristas. Yes. The next time my Venti White Mocha is watery I will ask for a new one. But I like knowing that they have initiated the exchange by making me a promise. We must invest in your people properly then put them in a place to perform. If we want to truly be the best, we must be able to acknowledge and quickly correct things that aren’t up to standard. And trust in our teams ability to produce better results.
Make that change. Acknowledging the need to take the steps necessary for change is vital to the viability of any organization. However, too often, we are simply content to let mistakes, missteps, or ideas that have run their course continue. It is like slowly bleeding the air from your tires. You know something isn’t quite right, but it is gradual enough that you don’t notice until there is a blowout. There are vast differences between caretakers and leaders. If we want to lead, we must provide the necessary direction and energy to affect change. This may mean cutting off a slowly dying program that has ceased to be fruitful. It may mean streamlining product offerings. It may mean eliminating a church service that you’ve always had and only keep out of tradition. It could be launching something you’ve never seen anywhere else. Whatever it is, in the words of the King of Pop, we have to make that change.
Those are some of my thoughts. I’d love to hear yours.
Can you identify standards that have become compromised? Have you trained your team to the level you think they need to be at to really shine? Would you be willing to shut down your operation to make these things happen?
We have all grown increasingly skeptical of mass marketing and big budget ad campaigns. Whatever trust existed has been eroded by time after time of over-promising and under-delivering.
Fans can produce results that organizations only wish they could purchase.
Because they believe in the organization, product or idea and have nothing to gain, fans are more believable and credible. And in an age of YouTube and social media, impact is not limited to co-workers and friends. One voice can quickly reach multitudes of like-minded individuals.
And the bonus: it costs nothing to you!
Check out this great example from the recent campaigns. (Don’t read into it. No political message here….) In less than one month, the video has already been viewed over 5,000,000 times. This doesn’t count the numerous mentions from other sites and broadcast news. That kind of exposure is invaluable.
Now, your fans might not be members of a well known musical act, but they do have the same global forum for expressing themselves. The challenge is to let them. Without putting your hands on it.
Fans are the one of the most sought after elements of every sports team. They buy tickets and fill stadiums. They cheer victories and mourn defeats. They so closely associate themselves with their teams that joy and heartache can be found in every snap, every pitch, and every shot.
Fans create culture. From specific cheers to tailgating traditions, fans are able to make the game time experience more than what takes place on the field.
Fans create community. Complete strangers will instantly connect simply by the colors they wear. Clear lines are drawn between friends and foe.
The catch? Teams cannot create fans. They can market. They can win. But they cannot create the emotional bond that takes place in the hearts of fans. It’s that bond that keeps people coming back even in the longest of droughts. That’s what makes true fans so valuable.
Can you identify the fans in your ministry, church, or organization? What can you do to reflect their value?
UPFRONT with John Darnell 