Stealing from Startups

A Church Goes Leanby

Ken HowardSt. Nicholas Episcopal Church

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Lean goes to church? Who knew?(I didn’t)

6 months ago, I didn’t know from “Lean.”

My son, the CEO of a Tech Startup (@EmissaryMed),was attending a “Lean Startup” program.

A participant asked,“I wonder if anyone has ever tried this in churches?

Son replied, “I don’t know if he’s read the book,

but my dad’s been doing this for the last 18 years.”

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Lean before lean was cool

20 years agoLeft successful consulting practice

Became Episcopal priest1st solo call – start new church

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Lean before lean was cool

1st in D.C. diocese in decadesNo experts

Didn’t know what we were doingPlethora of Assumptions

Paucity of knowledge

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To Boldly Go…

Blessing of our diocese (sort of).

Enough funding to hang ourselves.

Enough freedom to do it.

So Naïve…which turned out to be a good thing.

“Anything is possible when you don’t know what you’re taking about!”

Set us on the path to creative thievery.

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Stealing from Startups

Appropriate → Apply ↑ (repeat as needed) ↓

Adapt ← Assess

Realized we were a startupStarted acting like one

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Stealing from Startups

Six StrategiesMinimum Viable Product

Creating an Entrepreneurial CultureTesting Assumptions

Rapid PrototypingEliminating Waste

Measuring What Matters

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MVP=Minimum Viable Belief?

"Eleven o'clock on Sunday morning is the mostsegregated hour of America.“ – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Not just race, but ethnicity, culture, politics, theology(unity in uniformity )

The broader the set of beliefs required for membership, the more like a church is to splinter.

People faced with false choice: Community vs. Integrity.

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MVP=Minimum Viable Belief?Back to Basics: a Minimum Viable Belief.

God’s love is transformative.

The only sufficient grounds for Christian unity is the love of Christ

(everything else is secondary)

A Simple VisionTo be a place where people can experience God’s love

and be transformed by it.

“A Place to Belong! A Place to Become!”#leanimpact @paradoxy101

Entrepreneurial Culture

How many church leaders

does it take to change a light bulb?

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Entrepreneurial Culture

Tradition vs. TraditionalismTradition Respects Time-Tested Learning

(don’t re-invent the shoe lace every morning)

Traditionalism Worships Traditions(failure to learn/adapt death/extinction)

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Entrepreneurial CultureCouldn’t afford traditionalism

Vision-driven culture

Experiments within Tradition

Failure is not an option!(It’s standard equipment)

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Testing Assumptions

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Inscription at the entrance to the Bishop Payne LibraryVirginia Theological Seminary

Testing Assumptions

What?(our ministries and programs)

How?(our organization and process)

Why?(our reason to exist)

If we don’t know why, it’s okay to let it die…

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Testing AssumptionsEspecially

WHO

Getting Outside the Building#leanimpact @paradoxy101

Rapid Iteration Prototyping

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ADAPTor Create

or Creatively Steal

APPLYSeasonal

Experiment

ASSESSOur Assumptions

Small Scale

Trial

Feedback

Tweak or

Toss

Eliminating Waste

Stewarding Our Human Assets

Time Reducing Permissions(green light bulbs)

Energy Seeking Synergies(ministries-teams-programs-populations)

Effort Stop Pursuing Perfection(80% & leave the rest for God)

Gifts/SkillsPositions for People(don’t square the circle)

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Measuring What Matters

Quantifying Increasing Engagement#leanimpact @paradoxy101

Leader

Community

Guest

Inquirer

RegularEngaged

Startups Steal from Churches?Churches are great at creating community. How?

Vision• Clear, positive, aspirational message inspires diverse individuals to

work together to achieve complex foals for $0 salary. • How might we inspire that in employees?

Leadership • Seeker-friendly worship guides | Sermons that engage.• Product roadmap | All-hands meetings with engaging pitches.

Recruitment/Retention• Celtic Christians drew people with love-service-radical welcome.• Build in explicit welcome & opportunities for community.

~ Jon Howard, CEO–Emissary Medical Travel

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Watch This Space

www.PracticingParadoxy.comfor

What a Church Stole from Startupsand What Startups Could Steal from Churches

by

Ken Howard Jon HowardFounder–@SaintNicksComFounder–@EmissaryMed

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