Several weeks ago I was reading the 37Signals blog, and I came across this thought regarding paths versus hierarchies:
Instead of thinking in terms of hierarchy or up-front structure, I think it’s better to work with paths. A path is a line that goes from a starting point A to an accomplishment B. Each customer who comes to the site doesn’t care about the overall structure. They care about getting from A to B. That’s a path.
Now, here’s the deal. They were writing about web navigation. I believe the same principle applies to how people connect to our churches. We need to apply this principle when people hit our home page, but we also need to think about the paths people take when they walk through our front doors.
- In hierarchy-thinking, we’re concerned about telling people about our men’s ministry or women’s ministry or small group ministry. We’re in promotions mode. We’re trying to promote programs rather than addressing the question people are asking. The person that comes through the front door just wants to know how can I meet other people?
- In hierarchy-thinking, we want to tell people about our Bible studies and discipleship classes. The person that comes through the front door just wants to know is Jesus who he says he is and why does that matter to my life?
- In hierarchy-thinking, we think people want to know our agenda and how we’re set up (leadership, denominations, structure, etc.) to fulfill that agenda. The person who walks through the front door just wants to figure out do I fit here, and, if so, what’s my next step?
OK, I think you get the picture. The discipleship process is more about a journey, a path that we help people navigate, rather than a hierarchy of programs and ministries. Look at church websites and bulletins, though. The church in America is set up to force people into a hierarchy rather than to help people navigate a path.
Here’s the big question: Are we helping people get from point A to point B?
Hey Tony! Like where you’re going on this one! You’re dead on. Taking it a little further, doing some reading the last few days and came across a C.K. Prahalad idea that success today depends on giving “unique, personalized experiences of consumers,” read: a personalized path. Not sure yet how this lands in light of simple church, but it is a very important understanding that has everything to do with “pathways.”
You can check out my post on the idea right here.
Thanks, Tony. That makes a lot of sense — from the web site to connecting people. I often get caught up in the “behind the scenes” stuff and want to explain the system, but most people don’t care how the system works, just that it does work.
Plus, this makes us focus on people and not our strategies. The systems exist for the people, not the people for the systems. If it’s not working, the people aren’t broken — the system is.
Tony, I actually think this is pretty profound.
Wow, this articulates some of the things we have been trying to get our heads wrapped around. Thanks! We sure do have a lot of work to do!
Good stuff!!
Tony, you’re a genius! Thanks for writing this post. I agree, it’s so so so easy to ignore your “customer’s” perspective, but it’s essential to connecting with them and helping them to “buy-in.”
Very insightful. What do you think are one of the practical applications here?
The more complex a system, or the more elements it has, the more likely we are to understand or conceptualize it by categorizing the elements and imposing an intellectual structure on them, i.e. we create information hierarchies. The obvious solution is to avoid complex systems- KISS.
[...] that the common person would need. Tony Morgan just talked about this in a post he titled “Hierarchies Versus Paths” (an idea he saw here at [...]
Great post. I just experienced a little of this firsthand from what is typically an overinflated response to registration email. I found a document I was looking for at Scribd.com, and had to make an account. The email I got started with “Hi, I’m Jason, the community guy at Scribd…” and continued with a few helpful hints as I got started. It totally reminded me of the personal, helpful hand that guides along the ways that people are intuitively looking to go. Thanks for the lens’ to help see stuff like that!
Dead on true. How do we change this kind of thinking in our churches?
Catchers control the game more than Pitchers.
Catch a fish for someone and feed him for a meal. Teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime. He doesn’t care about fishing rod specifics or lure specifics. He just cares about the basics to lead to results. Excellent point.
[...] A leadership look at hierarchies versus paths… [...]
[...] how to get “from point A to point B.” Check out the full post on Tony’s blog here – it’s definitely worth the time, and he’s a better communicator than I [...]