One of the crucial components about being able to lead in this new social and technological economy is being able to admit that you’ll actually never really “land the plane” in terms of your execution and strategy.
In other words, you must come to grips that you’ll be constantly changing, adapting, turning back, starting, stopping, and persevering.
You are in a state of Constant BETA.
Making It Human
One of the classic mistakes of the old guard media outlets and businesses that began diving into the social web is that they maintained their “institutional-ethos” and utilized sterile institutional tactics.
Big mistake.
Attempting to control the conversation is impossible. Expecting people to come to them because of their large ready-made presence is false. The fact is that speaking with an “institutional” voice is something that the online segment doesn’t trust. It isn’t authentic and it isn’t human.
We can often times make the same mistake from a ministry perspective as we keep all the cards in the deck and become so unwilling to show our paltry hand. Robert Scoble is such a household name now because he made Microsoft “more human.” Lionel Menchaca, the lead blogger for Dell, did the same. You see, even the old giants of “button up” can become more real with the right perspective and strategy.
In addition, you must be willing to make mistake and admit them to the public.
Making mistakes shows that we are human and can be the solvent for many of our problems in the Church, even outside of the technological realm. We all see this as work when we hear of people finally admitting wrong, even from the pulpit, and the blinders come off and we see that our “perfect pastor” is truly just like us.
Being in Constant BETA makes this part almost impossible to avoid because a product in BETA suggests to the public intrinsically things like “we’re not there yet,” and “we’re not finished,” and “it’s not perfect,” and “we need your help to make it better.”
All of those are wonderful ways to engage with your audience and/or congregation. By admitting what is already naturally true you empower them to speak into the product, the strategy, the implementation, and execution, and this doesn’t undermine your leadership or ability to lead; it in fact makes it better.
Don’t be scared to be “more human.” Don’t be afraid of failure. You, your ministry, and your product, is in Constant BETA, and people are far more generous and forgiving than you probably imagine.
The myth of perfection is over. Time to jump on the BETA bandwagon.
[Image from Meredith, Kwerfeldein]