In the early 1990’s, Dr. Michael Hammer touched off an entire wave of reengineering work with his July 1990 Harvard Business Review article titled: Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate. There were many, many consulting practices in the private and public sectors built on the concepts Dr. Hammer wrote about. However, as I get further and further into the church market, I am beginning to think that the reengineering wave that hit the commercial industry passed over the churches.
Too often, as we learn more about a church during a systems implementation and we ask why a church staff person does a particular process, the response is, “because we have always done it that way.” Or, when we ask why a church wants to create a new process, the logic is simply, “that’s the way I think it should be done” without looking at the implications to the congregation or volunteer that may be affected most. Hammer’s contention is that we should eliminate unnecessary processes or steps if what they accomplish is redundant, burdensome or immaterial.
I believe that a common example is (I am stepping out on a limb here not to offend, but to prompt discussion) when a children’s pastor believes an automated check-out process is required for the Children’s service on Sunday. I always like to ask, “Do you ever have children left over after the service?” And “If you do, will ‘automated check out’ eliminate those children left behind?” ;-) Or “Is it important to know exactly when a child checked out?” And if so, “What will be done with that information?” Other questions might be, “Do the parents think it is essential to have ‘the system’ check out the kids?” or "Is the time stamp valuable?”.
What must be taken into account is the time (inconvenience to parents – stewardship of time) and equipment (costs - stewardship of money) required to efficiently and effectively provide an automated ‘check-out’ process for children. For a church with multiple services, is the equipment for check-in and check-out the same? Are the parents checking in for the next service colliding with the parents checking out from the previous service because they are trying to use the same kiosks? Are we contributing to the chaos of the situation? For what purpose?
Checking out children for a “play school”, where the billing of time is important, is a must. Checking out volunteers so that the actual time contributed as service can also be helpful, if that is reported and is part of the “thank you” for tracking volunteers. So do not mistake my comments to think that all automated check out is unnecessary. Sometimes, it can be useful, but each situation must be examined for its own merit.
The overall point is to examine your processes. Take a whole new look at the “whys” and “hows” something is done and try to eliminate all that is unnecessary. What is left should definitely be automated, but first ask what value the deliverable really provides.
Grace to you as you obliterate,
jhook
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