Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Google Analytics

So I have Google Analytics track my blog to see who's reading this thing and where they're coming from. Ironically enough, more people are coming to my blog through my two sister-in-laws' blogs. How little I knew that their friends could be so interested in me. So Johnna and Sara, you get props today, and thank you both for the 28 people that visited me from your sites in the last month. (And I'm adding you both to my sidebar!)

Oh, and I should also give the runners up their credit due:

3rd place - The Ousdahls
4th place - Nathan Pearsey
5th place - Nole Lilley

Saturday, November 22, 2008

A Little Revolution


First... for my faithful one person that subscribes to this blog... Thank you for your loyalty. I'm sorry I only post once every 2 months. Now on to the good stuff.

At the end of the movie The Hunt for Red October, as the Red October is being taken up a quiet, moonlit river on the eastern seaboard for permanent hiding, Jack Ryan looks to Captain Ramius and says, "You know there will be hell to pay for this?" Ramius returns with, "A little revolution every now and then is a healthy thing."

We are in the midst of a litle revolution of sorts up here at HLCC... perhaps the biggest shakeup we've seen since 1996. On Thursday our executive director rolled out a massive leadership change that moved 5 long-standing "directors" to the level of "manager," and moved many others to areas of new responsibility. Perhaps the boldest move I've ever see Jeff make in his 8 or 9 years as Executive Director. He confronted the "elephant in the room" that has frustrated most of our staff... that being that we were too top heavy. We actually had 12 Directors leading 7 Managers who led the rest of the staff. With those numbers now flipflopped, we head into a new era up here of working to be more efficient, being help more accountable, and setting clear expectations for those we lead.

For the last 3 years as a Manager, I have never had more than one person that's reported to me at any given time... with the last 2 years having no one. With the changes, I now am manager over the Program Operations, basically anything that is subservient to the general program (Activities, Sound, Budgets), while I still get to do Church Relations and Recruiting. Effective immediately there are 5 1/2 guys on my team (Dont' ask) that I'm looking forward to leading from here on out.

The cool part of the reorg is that no one is simply leading a group of people. Many are carrying certain primary responsibilities while now also having a staff to lead. I'm sure there's a lot more to come, but for now it's served to reinvigorate my confidence in the direction this ministry is heading. More to come...