tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37407586415009135982011-07-31T02:48:47.407-05:00Cathy Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04872851267543694433noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-18899819631049348122010-03-26T10:12:00.001-05:002010-03-26T10:15:28.335-05:002010-03-26T10:15:28.335-05:00

Gallup reports that in 2008, 50% of the US workforce was made up of the Boomer generation. In 2018, the dominant group (43%) will be Millennials. Keep that statistic in mind for a moment... We were at meetings of the Global Design Alliance recently where Rex Miller made a stunning statement:  "For the first time in history the young generation knows more about the way things work than those in

Cathy Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04872851267543694433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-63537125601757328022010-01-14T15:54:00.004-06:002010-01-14T16:05:27.475-06:002010-01-14T16:05:27.475-06:00

What pops into your mind when someone invites you to join a committee? If you are like most people, probably a list of reasons why you shouldn't rated according to plausibility.Committees move slowly. They often require a lot of energy for very little result. Which begs the question....why? If we believe that groups of people collaborating together produce the best results, then why are

Cathy Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04872851267543694433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-51508459157523823252009-10-13T10:06:00.008-05:002010-03-26T09:42:27.202-05:002010-03-26T09:42:27.202-05:00

Just like we help the organizations we work with pull away to look at their organization and facilities from the 40,000 foot birdseye view, occasionally we do that for ourselves. We wanted to share some snapshots of our white board that captured some key points in our thinking. Taking a long time to make a decision, doesn't necessarily result in a better decision. When dealing with the large

Cathy Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04872851267543694433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-10560607631885893782009-09-22T11:34:00.004-05:002009-09-22T11:39:34.618-05:002009-09-22T11:39:34.618-05:00

In a planning meeting once I heard the question: If you had $200,000 dollars right now to solve this problem, what would you do? The "unlimited resources" question can get to the heart of your dreams. In fact, in this particular planning session, the $200k question allowed most of us to figure out where to pour our energies and brought up some really good ideas. The question reveals how much we

Cathy Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04872851267543694433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-35480972025713400522009-05-11T10:20:00.010-05:002009-10-13T10:46:06.566-05:002009-10-13T10:46:06.566-05:00

Let's begin by reviewing the made-up "verse" with which I ended last week's post (inspired by Romans 10:14-15): How then will you make good decisions without proper analysis? And how are you to properly analyze information you do not have? And how are you do have that information without effective reporting? And how can you effectively report what you do not track? As it is [not] written, "How

Jeff Oterohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18412150831614778999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-75613225337673520522009-05-04T10:48:00.012-05:002009-10-13T10:44:49.392-05:002009-10-13T10:44:49.392-05:00

In my first post of this series, I said the first topic would address the question, "Why incorporate effective reporting methods into a church's practices?To begin with, I think it is currently difficult to use information reporting in churches to gauge the effectiveness of our ministries. Many churches have traditionally used a small number of easily gathered statistics to measure their success

Jeff Oterohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18412150831614778999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-32305933901809345272009-04-24T08:43:00.013-05:002009-10-13T09:54:47.453-05:002009-10-13T09:54:47.453-05:00

I wanted to share some thoughts about reporting for churches. By reporting I'm referring to management reporting, or business intelligence. By using such terms I do not imply that churches are businesses or should operate as such. I have worked in both environments and know firsthand how different they are...or should be. But the business world has adopted certain practices that churches can

Jeff Oterohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18412150831614778999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-19398505890321863592009-04-09T20:11:00.007-05:002009-04-09T20:38:08.449-05:002009-04-09T20:38:08.449-05:00

Jim Sheppard, CEO of Generis, was in our offices the other day for coffee. As we sat together discussing current trends, Jim made an incredible statement: Scarcity clarifies everything.Jim is one of those rare people who can articulate things in a way that resonates. Scarcity clarifies everything.When you lack time, minutes become precious. (Ask the people who are sliding into the post office

Cathy Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04872851267543694433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-13094369053086403712009-01-21T10:59:00.006-06:002009-01-21T11:15:03.291-06:002009-01-21T11:15:03.291-06:00

For the past few months, all of the members of our team have been pursuing LEED accreditation. So, since mid-November much of our conversation has centered around energy usage, daylighting strategies and FSC Certified Wood.LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a program of the US Green Building Council. Certification of buildings measures five major areas,

Cathy Hnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-63766881069410677692008-09-16T15:37:00.009-05:002009-01-21T11:17:02.291-06:002009-01-21T11:17:02.291-06:00

We find ourselves living in a context of change. In fact, this photo was taken when Jeff Otero first got his new iPhone. (His father-in-law stood in line for hours for the gift.) Now fast forward two years later and many of our team have them with more capability and at half the price. (Sorry, Jeff.)And that's a zoomed in look at one little change. Think back twelve years. When I first started

Cathy Hnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-71931015018206535502008-07-21T10:00:00.000-05:002008-07-20T17:35:36.358-05:002008-07-20T17:35:36.358-05:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about clarity...or more specifically, the lack of clarity in our everyday lives.  How many times each week do we have the opportunity (or burden) of trying to figure something out—whether it's assembling a box-full of parts into a single piece of Swedish furniture, figuring out how to navigate a web site, or finding our way around a new place?Whenever we interact

Jeff Oterohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18412150831614778999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3740758641500913598.post-18607508365667348302008-07-07T13:32:00.001-05:002009-01-21T11:31:19.614-06:002009-01-21T11:31:19.614-06:00

One of the best parts of the digital world is that the user is in control. Don't want to sit through the flash movie at the beginning of someone's website? Click "skip intro." Website difficult to navigate? Go back to your search engine and find a better one. Social networking site doesn't have the features you want? Switch.The digital world is all about making choices with a mouse. The

Cathy Hnoreply@blogger.com0