We are living in exponential times:
There are 540,000 words in the English language. About 5x as many as during Shakespeare's lifetime. It is estimated that a week's worth of the New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century. The amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years. For students starting a 4 year technical degree this means that half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study. (Did you Know?, Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Brenman)What does this mean? For starters, it means this: You (and the organization you care about) need to learn more than facts these days.
You need to learn how to learn.
The renewable process strategies we're developing at ARE are designed to help people learn how to learn - in life and at work. The PAWN process, for example, teaches you how to pay attention to what is and what is emerging in your context so that you can do what matters.
PAWN <=> P.urpose, A.ssets, W.ows, N.eeds
We use the PAWN process to help organizations develop an umbrella strategy (i.e., purpose, principles, direction). Then we help their people learn to use the same process to make responsive, dynamic, short-term plans. Maybe most importantly, we help them learn to use a developmental approach to evaluate their progress. That means, instead of obsessing about questions like "how much money did we bring in?" or "how many new people did we attract?" or "did we reach our BHAG yet?!", you're asking questions like:
- What have we learned?
- What has changed in our context (i.e., community, client-base, market, etc.) and in the lives of people as a result of what we've done?
- How have WE been changed, as people and as an organization?
- What new things seem to be emerging?
- What are we going to do about that?
Whatever your business is, you're going to have to learn to function this way. You're going to need to be more adaptable in order to be more resilient. But it's remarkable how many leaders still scratch their heads and say,
"well, yeah, but when are you going to help us put together the binder with 10-year's worth of goals and objectives?"
They don't get it when we say,
"we're not."
This is what it means to take place seriously. The world is changing so fast that you can't possibly know what your goal ought to be 10 years from now. You might not even know what your goal ought to be for one year from now. You don't have enough facts. And the facts you do have will change before you know it, anyway. Learn to pay attention to what is happening right here, right now. And do what matters.
Watch:
HOW you do things has officially become more important than WHAT you do. Make the shift.
Hey church leaders!
Click here to get an advance copy of our newest book, Seeing Through New Eyes: Using The PAWN Process with Faith-Based Groups.
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