{"id":15454,"date":"2017-11-16T23:59:19","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T07:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=15454"},"modified":"2017-11-16T23:59:19","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T07:59:19","slug":"who-plays-in-my-sandbox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/who-plays-in-my-sandbox\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Plays in My Sandbox?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe fundamental rules that have governed how relationships work are being rewritten, because of easy, no-cost information sharing.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Charlene Li[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Relationships are changing as quickly as technology is evolving. In the past decade, the meaning of the word \u201cfriend\u201d has shifted, \u201cmessaging\u201d now means several different things, and no one could ever have predicted the change in what a \u201cplatform\u201d holds. We have to clarify if our friends are \u201cIRL\u201d (in real life) or online. Every facet of our society is becoming more open. If you need an example of this, try following a high school student on SnapChat for just a couple of days. You will know so much more about their life than you EVER wanted to know. Or follow someone on Instagram whom you have never met for a month and notice how you begin to feel as if you really know<\/em> them.<\/p>\n

These free social media platforms are the stuff of 1950s sci-fi, and the stuff of our lives in 2017. As Li says, they are rewriting the rules which we have followed in terms of relationships for a long, long time. Li\u2019s book, Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead<\/em>, specifically addresses the way social media is changing relationships centered around organizations. The bottom line, according to Li, is that organizations must figure out ways to be more open and engaging in line with society, or risk being left behind.<\/p>\n

What does it mean to be open? Does it mean that businesses and organizations must put all of their information \u201cout there\u201d on social media? Maybe. But not without first carefully defining the relationships they are engaging in and putting in place boundaries and processes that help everyone participate safely and effectively. Li calls these structures \u201cSandbox Covenants.\u201d[2]<\/a> I love that she calls them covenants, because right off the bat it implies a relationship rather than an effort at control. Ironically, relinquishing control takes more work than hoarding it, because of the necessity of these types of parameters. Opening an organization up to public and employee involvement can\u2019t be done well if it is a free-for-all, or the relationships within the system will implode. Boarders, boundaries, and covenants of engagement become the structure on which some pretty amazing new creations can be built.<\/p>\n

In Li\u2019s book, there is no specific mention of churches or denominational organizations, but I can\u2019t help but thinking that every pastor, board member, and bishop or superintendent needs to read this book and think about the ways this information will translate to their own organization. For some reason, churches (in my experience and from stories I\u2019ve been told of others\u2019) tend to be almost secretive with important information and then are genuinely bewildered when people get frustrated and leave. Is it enough to print the budget vs. giving information in the bulletin? What does that say about the relationship that has been built? Are congregations included in the visioning process, or are they \u201cgiven\u201d the vision and simply asked to get on board? How does the church engage on social media? Who gets involved? Has the church developed a carefully thought-out social media presence that welcomes engagement and interaction? Does as much time, money, and effort go into building that presence as does decorating the sanctuary?<\/p>\n

On the back cover of the book, Guy Kawasaki writes, \u201cCharlene makes it clear: Open up or die.\u201d That\u2019s a blunt and somewhat terrifying statement, especially for churches who are struggling just to keep doors open, but those are the times we live in. Li\u2019s book offers step-by-step guidelines for opening up, even in small ways, and growing in that openness. Her tools and advice have helped corporations, banks, and even government agencies change direction and engage with the greater community. I think it\u2019s worth our time as church leaders to hear her out and apply some of these to our own organizations.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [1]. Charlene Li, Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead<\/em>, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010), xiv.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [2]. Li, 105.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe fundamental rules that have governed how relationships work are being rewritten, because of easy, no-cost information sharing.\u201d \u2013 Charlene Li[1] Relationships are changing as quickly as technology is evolving. In the past decade, the meaning of the word \u201cfriend\u201d has shifted, \u201cmessaging\u201d now means several different things, and no one could ever have predicted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[708,707],"class_list":["post-15454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-charlene-li","tag-open-leadership","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15455,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15454\/revisions\/15455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}