ConvoLIFE

In this episode we tackle some big questions about the future. What is it? How do we think about it? How do I get a job as a "futurist"? As leaders for change, how do we orient ourselves towards it? And if you're wondering why the image for this post is a piece of repaired pottery, you'll need to listen to the episode. Kintsugi, Centuries Old Japanese Method of Repairing Pottery with Gold Translated to “golden joinery,” Kintsugi (or Kintsukuroi, which means “golden repair”) is the centuries-old Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with a special lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Beautiful seams of gold glint in the cracks of ceramic ware, giving a unique appearance to the piece. https://mymodernmet.com/kintsugi-kintsukuroi/ “As you imagine the consequences of peripheral trends in the future, go beyond the first-degree impact. For example, consider the driverless cars that Google, BMW, and others are working on. Obviously ca...

After a longer than expected hiatus over the summer, ConvoLIFE will be back with a new episode released each Monday in March. There's more about the future, making with words, vision and an interview with a church planter. Check your podcast feed next week!

Dr Grant Bickerton is a counselling psychologist who also has 15 years experience as a missionary in Australia and overseas. Grant’s research expertise concerns the psychological and spiritual variables that reduce work stress and promote well-being among Christian missionaries. He conducts psychological assessments for missionary candidates and personal counselling therapy. He is also familiar in the Middle Eastern and South East Asian culture. Join Dr Grant Bickerton in conversation about building resilience and longevity in ministry. Quotes Coming Soon References Heart and soul: The pressure and privilege of ministry You can read an overview of Grant Bickerton’s research, Wellbeing in Ministry, by visiting http://www.missionsinterlink.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Well-Being-in-Ministry-Study-overiew-and-results1.pdf Listen here

Our whiteboard for Episode 6. David and Dave talk about the particular characteristics of a whiteboard make it a vital tool for conversations that hope to lead to innovation. Quotes  Stone tablets are for recording things that don't change. Early over-legitimization of ideas by PowerPoint is completely disastrous in innovation. Text on pieces of paper travels well through space, not time. Whereas rocks travel well through time but not space. The medium that we choose to record our messages has a lot to do with how they function in our societies. Things written on papyrus or on a little piece of clay were really basic to trading in the ancient world -you could take them with you as a promissory note. Jesus leant over and drew in the sand. I have no idea what he wrote or sketched but the interesting thing is the symbolic impermanence (despite this being the finger of God), and giving time to somebody else. These are all suitable ways for God to choose to speak....

When it comes to moving into the build space, the challenges of implementing change come to the fore - and potentially, the forces of resistance move into gear for some rear-guard action. David and Dave discuss types of Change Resistance, and how to overcome them. Quotes "We can't end up in a place of mediocrity because we do change badly." References Hidden Figures  (2016) Listen Here . Find the podcast on  itunes  here.

How do we take our intent forward? Charting the way forward, idea generation, leaving your ego at the door, protoyping and more. Quotes The outcome of this first piece of work when we're going to make change is getting the scope and clarity and the intent shared. If you're on the receiving end of an initiative which somebody else thought up, then this is the time you really need to drill into what it is they think they want you to do. Pushing for clarity is not an accusation  about anything having been sloppy or lazy. It's about the fact that now that you're looking at a specific context with a specific bunch of resources. Clarifying the intent is the first stage of moving in to change making. The next stage is a discovery. We actually need to understand more about the specific context that we're going to change. Make life easier for yourself by bringing some of that research back inside and start putting photos of successful initiatives up on the wa...

How do we coalesce towards sharing a purpose together that will shape the way we work together? Quotes Change is actually continuous, but our response to it is not always to do something. Sometimes it confirms us more in the way we are. It can make us more comfortable to hold things that are more predictable - like a marble rolling to the bottom of a basin. On any given day we can imagine or see more things that we could throw ourselves at and change than can ever be addressed. So even at the very front end there is the question of choice, of prayerful consideration of what you're being called to do. Crisis is a serious unravelling, and if we've left things until we're desperate, we're probably in that unravelling situation. And I don't think that's uncommon in this phase of history we're in because so many conversations of leadership have been caught flat footed by the pace of change. Churches in particular are flat footed because of not seein...