The old sayings “two are better than one” and “many hands make light work” were tossed around long before we had any scientific data that supported the benefits of true collaboration.
Whether you are a bi-vocational pastor, staff pastor or maybe in a support role, you can find yourself running short on collaborative spaces when it comes to the marketing and promotion of your church.
Many of us were educated in schools where textbooks gave us information that we were required to internalize and then reproduce on exams or projects. That formed your relationship with content, but that’s about it. I want you to start to take in content as a collaborator instead of a consumer.
You need to poke holes in content suggestions, tweak them and think about why they will or won’t work in your context. In that collaborative process, let your problem-solving and creative juices begin to flow.
Articles, videos, clips and Pinterest projects are all waiting for you to add the secret sauce that only you can bring to their neatly organized three-step how-to process for any given topic. Don’t treat the content like a high-performance race car meant for a specific track. Instead, let this become something more akin to an off-road army tank that you can hop in and begin to explore the terrain. You have innovation that lives inside you!
Yes, I admit it, I love ideas and totally nerd out with whiteboards and problem-solving. I understand that you may not share that enthusiasm. What you have that I can’t compete with is the ability to put your flavor on suggested content. You know the little nuances of your team or congregation, and with that knowledge, you are equipped to customize it.
Here are a few specific ways that you can begin to collaborate with the content around you instead of just consuming it:
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Ask questions
What would you ask the author? Don’t worry about answering it or even about the fact that the author can’t hear you. Write it down and then keep reading.
This is the beginning stage of taking the content off the intended path and using it to explore. Let the content lead you down a rabbit trail of information.
Fill the holes
Take a few minutes to disagree with the author. Poke holes at the premise that is being suggested. That doesn’t mean you get to discredit the author. This is the moment you become a collaborator.
What changes need to be made for this to work for you? This is where we decide not to just poke holes but to fill them. Take the ideas and customize them to fit your church or ministry.
Share your findings
Bring this content into the real world. Consume the content enough so you can summarize and share. Do this at your staff meetings. Before you jump into a coffee counseling session, hit them with this summary. Ask them the questions you would have asked the author. See if your customizations of the ideas would fit your context.
Here are several tools that you can use to organize your collaborations with the content you consume:
Evernote scores super high on versatility for taking notes across lots of devices. This plays with lots of media and can incorporate schedules and lists very well. It is not the most user-friendly but offers plenty of features.
Apple Notes is very easy and accessible to anyone with an Apple device. Use your Apple pen or keyboard to jot down notes. The title of each note will be the first word on your page. The search bar makes finding content easy. This is one of my favorite tools.
Notion is similar to Evernote while offering more flexibility and collaborative resources. Paid plans offer integration with AI.
Google Keep is like Google Docs’ little brother. It offers a simplified note-taking and list-making option.
Avoid the tech and grab a pen and paper and jot down notes while watching that YouTube video.