When I receive a document at a meeting, I carry it to my desk and place it on a stack. I am usually unsure whether I will need the information again. The paper sits for months as the pile grows higher.
All of us have stuff that is of uncertain importance. We are not ready to trash it, but we don't know how or when we will use it. Such stuff fills overflowing storage units and inboxes.I recently borrowed the office of a faculty member who is on leave for a year. The beautiful view was obstructed by boxes stacked floor to ceiling. Our school never has enough storage, and apparently any unused room is at risk of becoming a closet. I wondered, What is this stuff? Why is it here? Why do any of us keep stuff? How do we decide whether to keep or to trash?
Keeping is different from storing; keeping is more about preserving. Preserving requires reviewing and discerning whether something has historical, legal or emotional importance or the potential to be used again. A document that has been preserved can be retrieved.When I have a sense of what is important and the organization's priorities are clear, I take time every few months to work through the stacks of paper and determine next steps. Some information is out-of-date and can be recycled; some documents need to be filed. Others are unclear, so they return to the stack to be reviewed later.
I do something similar with the notes I take in meetings. Once a week, I review them to determine key points that require action or documentation. This is part of the process I use to plan the coming week.
Read more from Dave Odom » |
| | IDEAS THAT IMPACT: NEW YEAR'S PRIORITIES |
Congregations, like individuals, often make resolutions for the new year. If your congregation still is mulling over possibilities for the year, former Alban senior consultant Alice Mann offers some suggestions from her book Raising the Roof in this Alban story from 2007.
Read more from Alice Mann » |
Two strategies -- seeking solitude with God and companionship in stewarding one's vision -- will help good intentions become realities in the new year, writes a spiritual director.
Read more from Samuel Rahberg » |
Raising the Roof: The Pastoral-to-Program Size Transition by Alice Mann
Pastoral-to-program size change is frequently described as the most challenging of growth transitions for congregations. In this classic Alban book, former Alban senior consultant Alice Mann addresses the difficulties of that transition in this resource designed specifically for a congregational learning team. Conceptualized and developed by Mann for an Alban on-line seminar program test event conducted with 12 congregations in transition, her newest book features a five-step process enabling the learning team to engage a wider circle of congregational leaders and members in study, discernment, and planning. Never-before published resources include discussion of a major new concept-passive barriers to growth-plus Mann's "System Change Index" tool to help congregations measure their progress from pastoral-size to program-size ways of operating. From preparing the congregation's board and members, selecting the person to guide the learning process, and recruiting the learning team, to creating and celebrating a plan for congregational learning and action, Mann provides all the resources a congregation needs to address this significant size transition period.
Learn more and order the book » |
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