TonyMorganLive.com

During Kem Meyer’s main session at MinistryCOM this afternoon, she shared eight guiding principles for reaching your internal audience. They included:

1. Know your audience. The people who are serving with you are your audience in addition to the people your ministry is trying to reach. We need to get in touch with their emotions. It’s not just about giving them our information.
2. Redefine your job. Our job is not about what people can and cannot do. Our job is about harnessing a message and determining how to extend it. We remove barriers and we extend the life of certain messages. How do we help ministry leaders do what they love doing and keep them centered on what they’re good at? Help people do what’s best without telling them what to do. Ask people:
   • Is it a tool or just cool?
   • What problem is this solving?
   • What is the return on ministry? What’s going to happen if we do this?
3. You are not in control. And you don’t create the message–we just protect it and extend it. We’re also not in control over how people receive it.
4. Ask don’t tell. Content and information don’t create conversation. Don’t shove information and policies at people. Instead, ask how can we help? Start slow. Start conversations. Build trust. Get some wins. Develop cheerleaders. Then those people will help you accomplish the goals. Help people release the right response rather than trying to send the right message. [This principle goes beyond communications strategy.]
5. Create less to do more. You will lose credibility if you commit to doing too many things and don’t deliver. You’re going to have to say no to some things. We say no to individual ministry logos and brochures. Instead we drive people to our website. We say no to ministry specific platform announcements.
6. Find the yes behind the no. If you talk down to people, they’ll either ignore you or find a way to work around you. Whenever possible, allow people to do what they want to do without going through you. Don’t take anything away without giving something back. Rather than saying no, say, "Here’s what we can do."
7. Give them tools to keep them connected with the vision. Have conversations with people. You can’t talk to everyone. Focus on the leaders. Share what you’re learning. Share stories and measures to demonstrate what’s working or not working.
8. Lead up. You don’t need a title to be a leader. You are not charged with changing your senior leaders. Instead determine how you can serve them. Share your knowledge to make others look good. It’s not us versus them. If that’s what you feel, that’s your problem not their problem.

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