This past weekend I attended the state-wide annual meeting of my church denomination. Several of the ideas presented by the keynote speaker, Rob Voyle, (www.clergyleadership.com) were particularly powerful for me. And don’t be put off by the fact that this was a ‘church’ function. What I learned could be applied to many areas of life.
Here, I unpack one of those ideas. The speaker said that much of what we are trying to do in organizations today is not working. I can think of a variety of groups and organizations that are having difficulty finding members and maintaining activities and vitality. This is happening in volunteer fire departments, social clubs, and churches. Many non-profit boards struggle to find members and volunteers. Paraphrasing Rev. Voyle, many of the ways we have done things, or how we have done things, don’t work anymore in our present circumstances. That is not news, but his diagnosis is. He claims that we are confusing temporal events and timeless reality.
Voyle defines temporal events as conducting activities in the way we are used to and familiar with. The problem is, we are also unable to recognize that these familiar forms are the difficulty. For example, a group I am part of always meets once a month in the early evening at a restaurant. We enjoy dinner, a business meeting, and a program. We have done it this way for years! But our membership is eroding. Assuming that we find value in membership in our club and want it to continue, what should we do? What should we change? How do we know what to change? How many times have I heard a version of this phrase, ‘we’ve always done it that way,’ as if that were a reason to continue in the same way. I confess, I am old enough to understand the pull of doing things that old, familiar way. But if we don’t do something differently, our club will cease to exist in the rather near future.
The challenge, according to Voyle, is to first recognize that there is a difference between the temporal or the container for the activity (the way we do it,) and the timeless quality of the activity, the essence of its meaning. Our task is then to disentangle the temporal and the timeless quality in our endeavors. To discern the timeless, he gave this task to demonstrate how to find the timeless quality of an activity. Think of things you really enjoy doing. For example, cooking, hiking, quilting, painting, or reading. Then think about why you enjoy them, reflect on the qualities of the experience that are meaningful. Let’s say you picked hiking. The attributes of hiking that you enjoy are, getting out in nature, getting exercise, enjoying the beauty of the natural world, sharing the pleasure with others. Distilling this further, enjoying one’s senses, appreciating the natural world, sharing the experience. These are the timeless qualities, an embodied sense of self, oneness with beauty, connections with others.
Back to my club. Our task is to reflect together on what is meaningful for us about membership in the club. For example, it might be these qualities, connections with others who share similar circumstances and interests, supporting each other, and service to others. The next step, brainstorm how to continue to offer these qualities, but in new forms. This requires understanding the current life circumstances of the people we want to attract. When do they have time? How much? What supports do they need? Probably meeting for dinner once a month will have to change!
Yes, this is a lot work. But our culture is in the midst of much change now. This simple, yet profound exercise can aid in salvaging meaningful, valuable qualities as we navigate the currents of change. Thank you, Rob Voyle!