Being an artist or creative person can be SO frustrating.

We’re asked to create things that matter, connect, and are cool – but not too cool. We live our lives in the open and we have the things we make critiqued and picked apart. All of this supposedly making us better.

If we artists would embrace one small truth early in our lives, it will make navigating our emotional life much easier.

“We Can Only Control What We Can Control”.

That’s it. No more, no less.

We rarely get to control:

• Parts of the process
• Unclear expectations
• Timelines / Deadlines
• When information changes
• That there’s more work than time
• That art is subjective

But we ALWAYS get to control:

• Our attitude
• How we approach our work
• How much passion we share
• How much we care
• If we’re going to go the extra mile
• How we respond

You are an artist. Your art matters. It’s not an addition to the vision of your organization, it’s the vehicle that organizations use to share who they are, what they do, and what they’re about. We need you and your absolute best art.

You matter. What you do matters. Most importantly, how you do what you do matters.

Every day we are faced with a choice RESPOND or REACT. The choice is yours.

When we are looking to add to our teams, we always need to be aware of  the necessary flavors that create great teams, but when we are in the hiring process, how do we know that we are building great, quality teams?

Here are a few clues:

1. Surround yourself with people you like to work with. There is nothing worse than being in a high stress situation and not enjoying the team that you are doing life with.

2. Find people who care passionately. If members are renters and not owners, it will breed frustration.

3. Respect the unique. Each person brings a different and unique tool box to the job each day. Respect the difference. Diversity creates better creative concepts.

4. Individuals united under one vision. Know where we are going, make it clear, repeat it often, and make sure everyone can buy into that direction. If not, they should move on.

5. Be clear. Define roles and expectations so everyone knows exactly what’s expected of them.

6. Trust Matters. If we can’t trust each other we will always start to wonder if intentions and motivations are pure.

7. People who can talk. We have to have teammates who can communicate, be clear, and be willing to have real and sometimes uncomfortable conversations without it becoming personal, unless it’s personal.

8. Identify people who understand the opportunity in front of us and have a sense of urgency without having a sense of panic.

9. Learners. People who desire to learn. Learners find out what is coming, better ways of doing what we do, and make creative teams much more creative.

10. Talent matters too. You can have all nine of the above traits, but without talent, everyone will become frustrated.

11. Look for people who are result oriented not excuses oriented.

What are some of the clues you look for when creating a team.

Photo Props

It is wise to direct your anger towards problems – not people; to focus your energies on answers – not excuses. – William Arthur Ward

William Ward was right. When our energy is not focused on solutions, excuses – regardless of how valid – will overtake our ability to be productive. As creative people, we are always fighting the invisible force that is on a mission to keep us from doing our best work. “The resistance” lives inside of excuses and the minute we give in is the minute we stop being effective.

In order to create amazing stuff, we have to learn to live a little counter-culturally. Doing so requires us to look at things differently. One would think that would be easy for people who fancy themselves as creative. Sadly enough, some of the best artists in the world succumb to the beat down of excuses and resistance every single day. So here’s how we can start living counter-culturally.

• Be Comfortable with Messy – Refuse the habit of editing. Messy minds often create the best art. Throughout life, we’re always collecting; we’re gathering ideas, experiences, feelings, and emotions – all of which become tools for our creative work. When we edit or attempt to remove or replace the mess, we actually start to throw away the paint that our canvases will need to create our next masterpiece.
• Embrace Constraints – Constraints instantly get pinned as negative. The truth is identifying what we “can’t do” helps us clearly identify what we should do! Constraints also help us understand where the canvas ends. Masterpieces never get painted if we don’t know the limits of the canvas.
• Welcome criticism – Criticism, when processed correctly, is an amazing teacher and can become our best friend. Learning through our mistakes, or even just the opinion of others, helps us be better. It’s very dangerous when creative people stop embracing criticism because the minute we do we start to limit our ability to grow. Welcoming criticism isn’t easy. It’s scary and will hurt but, when we do it, we position ourselves to become amazing.
• Understand the fable of margin – There is no margin. Ever. Deal with it. There will never be enough time. We will never have enough money, staff, or resource. If there was enough margin, we wouldn’t feel the pressure necessary to ship our art. Early in my creative career, I learned that “the song is never done.” Well neither is the design, the edit, the screenplay or the novel. Margin is a cheap excuse to keep us from doing what we know needs to be done.

I know these four points to be true because I’ve failed in all of these areas. When we learn to live counter-culturally, we position ourselves to be part of some amazing things. Are you ready to be amazing?

Sometimes I think the pace of creating robs some of the joy of the work we get to do. It can be really healthy to slow down and remember why we do what we do, and reflect on the opportunity we have. Another overlooked step in creating is the actual creative process. In the haste of chasing Sunday we can often lose sight of what a healthy creative plan looks like. In a recent article on the development of creative plans, the Harvard Business Review developed the “Essential Five-Step Processes For Creativity”:

1. Identification -
What is the problem?
How do we define the problem?
What is the data that surrounds this problem that will allow us to be our creative best?
Are there alternative methods, messages, or ideas around this problem?
In the identification stage, creative people thrive because we’re able to move more nimbly through the data, collect better data – due to the approaches and lens from which we view the issues. We offer uncommon and not normal view points of the problem and approach the issues far different than those who are more rationally wired.

2. Mapping -

The process of consciously and unconsciously connecting thoughts, related or otherwise. This is where our ideas are born. We pull on experience, history, imagery, and imagination to attempt to find commonality and connections between things that may not naturally connect. The more obscure these things are, the more creative we become.

3. Connecting -

The moment where the connections begin to galvanize. This is where the equation begins to make sense and the pieces of our creative plan start to come together.

4. Evaluation -

The attempt to grade and prioritize the ideas. Will these ideas work? Are they good enough to solve the problem? Do they have holes or potential error zones that will cause new problems?

5. Improvement -

This stage separates the professionals from the weekend warriors. The more creative, innovative, or inventive the artist, the more time they spend in this stage. Repeating, editing, refining, and sometimes scrapping and returning to stage 1 in order to ensure the best idea – the idea that uniquely solves our problem, when possible, like no one else has thought of before and without imitation.

Once we have mapped how we actually come up with ideas, it can help us become better at being our creative best.

Have you recently taken the time to develop a creative plan?

I believe that “creative ministry” is a unique type of creativity. Having worked both in the corporate world and in the church, I have found some very special nuances that I think are important to identify and explore. Obviously, there are probably hundreds of things that are different and unique. But these six are the ones I think creative people need to pay close attention to every day. Some of these are special situations about working in a church and others are values that we must confront in order to succeed:

• Ministry is the job and the fuel. – This job requires we get our hands dirty. It’s not a 9-5 job…it will consume us. Ministry is hard and fulfilling all in the same second. Creativity inside our ministry looks different. It’s not about making stuff that moves units, but rather stuff that connects content to context to theology to hearts to vision to mission. Passion and calling are as vital as creative experience and ROI. When we see someone walk in the door and look in their eyes to see that cold, blank stare – the look of hunger and desperation – only to see the same eyes emerge from a service full of hope, grace, and possibility…that is what makes a Tuesday argument over creative direction worth it. The data may often be invisible, but it is told in stories of life change.
• The work is done in foreign languages. – The people wired for ministry speak one language. The folks who come from a corporate background speak a different language. Creative people speak one dialect while doers are translating in a different tongue. Being willing to take the time to not only hear, but to understand the people who work or volunteer inside of our churches. This is very unique to ministry environments.
• There will never be enough resource. So creativity is the premium. “Throwing money at a problem” is not going to happen, so ingenuity and innovation are at a premium. Rarely will anyone be able to focus on just one thing, on occasion there will be enough budget to do things the easy way, but consistently we will be blown away with how God takes our loaves and fish to turn them into meals. This will provide the opportunity to be massively frustrated or amazingly reliant on God to do “more with less.” He kind of specializes in this.
• Leadership requires multiple faces. – We can’t lead just to accomplish goals. We have to lead compartment-ally and holistically all at the same time. Spiritual health, team chemistry, staff members, volunteers, all dynamics that require different faces of leadership. Multi-faceted leadership requires a different skill.
• Accept or stunt. – We won’t have enough margin. We won’t have the space we think we need. Yet repeatedly, we will be confronted with the opportunity to accept a new challenge. Most of the time when we accept this challenge we will produce content that moves momentum forward. If we don’t accept the challenge we will risk the stunting of momentum. The truth is, God chooses his favorite tools and people to do His favorite work – changing lives. We have to remember that every piece of art, every video, every song, every practice, every website represents a chance to touch someone who is far from grace and life God intended for them.
• The win is very different. – The win is about how lives are changed. Wins aren’t defined in monetary goals being met or placement and advancement of products. Rather, wins are defined by community, life change, development of people – all stuff that is way more important and much harder to quantify.

What is your background? Where do you come from and what toolbox do you bring to the table? What differences do you see from your previous experience and how does that relate to your position in ministry?

Faith and creativity have a lot more in common than most would think.
Both are important to how we live. Both require are core to the soul of who we are…

Faith is the evidence of things unseen.
Creativity is uncovering the unseen.

Faith grows with work and is dead without it.
Creativity gets better when it’s worked and shrivels when it’s not exercised.

Faith strengthens with experience.
Creativity strengthens with experience.

The more we’re exposed to faith, the more faith we have.
The more we’re exposed to in life, the more creative we can be.

Faith is broad and can be expressed in many ways
Creativity is best when expressed in multiple ways.

Faith is intangible, but can be felt.
Creativity is elusive, but also is felt.

Faith is built on a foundation based on the Creator.
Creativity is expressed through creators.

Faith causes change as it seeks a greater understanding of God.
Creativity causes change as we get a better understanding of the elements around us.

Faith has a conviction of truth.
Creativity has a conviction to share truth.

Our creativity only gets better when we focus on the Creator as much as His creation – or the manifestation of His creation through our creations.

What other connections do you see between Faith & Creativity?

There are a few traits that the best creative people share:

• They’re never satisfied – The thought that they’ve “made it” scares them. They understand the reality that there’s always more, always something new that can be uncovered, and always something better that can be achieved. They refuse to accept that today is as good as it gets.
• They see possibility – Obstacles excite them. Challenges drive them to new heights.
• They understand change – Not only do they understand it, they thrive in the currents of change. They don’t allow it to sidetrack them because they expect change around every corner.
• They steal stuff – Constantly. They’re always seeking new ideas. Their antenna is up and they’re consistently adding ideas and tools to their toolboxes. They know inspiration lives everywhere, so they steal daily to be ready.
• They laugh – Often. At themselves, others, and situations.
• They cry – Because good only feels good when we know what bad feels like.
• They make lists – because lists help move creativity forward and bring ideas to life.
• They embrace their weaknesses – In order to be secure in their strengths, they’re honest about their weaknesses.
• They clarify expectations – The ones laid out for them and the ones they have for others.
• They stay coachable – Because they know they can always get better.
• They surf on time – They know inspiration can strike at any point, so they respond when they are most creative, even if it’s not during their 9 to 5.
• They learn discipline – They choose to battle the status quo the same way they battle stereotypes. They understand that by feeding the stereotype, they’re destroying the equity they’re trying to build.
• They love the start – But equally love the finish. The greatest creative people refuse to quit until they have completed.
• They ask – Questions. And lots of them. They know it helps and they know it’s vital to success.
• They battle – for the best. At any cost.
• They champion others – because they know creativity is best in community.
• They celebrate – Success and Failure. They know that you can’t have one without the other.

What traits are we missing?

Once upon a time, there was a world where good ideas excelled. “Creative” people would sit around and come up with ideas that would spread easily and fluently. When you had a good idea, it would catch someone’s attention and, before you knew it, success followed. It was a fairy tale world where “bubbles” and “technology” ruled and being first was all that mattered.

The hey day for good ideas has passed.

Today things are very different. The volume of our lives is louder than ever. Social media is everywhere. Everyone is writing a book or blogging. Freelancers are the new sales people and the economy of creativity has changed drastically. No longer will a good idea on its own breed success. The equation has changed.

A million dollar idea without a plan, execution, and hard work is not worth a dollar. However, a dollar idea with a plan, execution, and hard work exercised a million times can create a million dollars.

This is even true in our churches or organizations. So often we have an idea and we rush it into action before we’ve given it the time or space to mature and ripen into something that’s ready to be consumed. As a community of creative people, we love to be first and we love new things. A valuable lesson for us is the discipline of pausing to make sure we’re giving these amazing ideas every ounce of opportunity they deserve.

So what do we do?

• Vet the Idea – It will always start with the idea. If the idea isn’t strong enough, there’s no way to succeed. We have to be brave enough to vet our ideas. Seek honest, unbiased feedback. A few people should love your idea and a few people better hate it. Don’t play to the middle. Learn from the haters. Listen closely to what they’re saying. Evaluate their “hate” and see if there’s validity in what they’re saying. The hate they spit may just be what you need to be successful. Also, balance the love. Look for honesty, not fans.
• Create a plan – How do we get this idea to life? What will it take? Who needs to be involved? What questions do we need to ask that we’ve avoided? Who is the end user? What do they want? How do we get this to them? How valuable is this to them? How do we talk to them? The list goes on and on, but answering these questions changes the approach to how we share our ideas and, ultimately, how successful they will be.
• Make the plan actionable and fit on a calendar – Every idea needs action. When making a plan, we have to create measurable steps for success. Create a calendar. Schedule everything. Action steps on a calendar create accountability for success. Without metrics, data, and actionable quantitative steps, our ideas will never move from dreams to reality.
• Work the plan – Really. Work it. Work every detail you put in the plan. Don’t cut corners. Don’t get discouraged. Never give up. Be persistent and filled with passion. Show up every day like it’s our first day on the job. The fairy tale of overnight success is actually created through hours and hours of painful, sweaty, dirty WORK.
• Respond don’t react – Never react. Always respond. Reactions are littered with emotions. Responses are built on data, strategy, and intuition. Be willing to pause. Look at the big picture. As artists, this can often be the hardest for us. Learning to be balanced in decision making helps avoid costly decisions.
• Scale with wisdom – Patience is the lost art of an idea. In our microwavable society, everyone wants results in minutes that take years to come by. Scaling too fast can cost you everything, as can scaling too slow. Be wise. Pray. Seek counsel.
• Repeat – Now do it again, and again, and again.

So give your ideas a chance. We need them and they can be great. Without them the status quo is going to destroy creativity for ever…and who wants that?