{"id":870,"date":"2011-02-11T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2011-02-11T06:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=862"},"modified":"2011-03-22T03:27:04","modified_gmt":"2011-03-22T03:27:04","slug":"how-to-speed-up-information-flow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2011\/02\/11\/how-to-speed-up-information-flow\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Speed Up Information Flow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s true what they say; \u201cGood news travels fast\u201d and will always reach you quickly, from anywhere in your church, ministry, or organization.<\/p>\n<p>But bad news, no matter how important, moves like it\u2019s swimming in peanut butter. And that can cost you precious time.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-863\" src=\"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/ears_plugged.gif\" alt=\"Information Flow\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" \/>This is exactly what happened in Jesus\u2019 parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30). When the master returned from his trip and asked his servants to account for how they had invested his money, the first two servants, with good news to report, answered immediately.<\/p>\n<p>But notice how long it took to get a report from the third servant.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cMaster,\u201d he said, \u201cI knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. <\/strong><strong><sup>25<\/sup><\/strong><strong> So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.\u201d (Matt 25:24-25)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d bet that even if the master had not called this \u201cstaff meeting\u201d, the first two servants would have burst into his office anyways to report on their 100% investment return. The third servant? I wonder if that report would have <em>ever<\/em> found its way to the master\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n<p>As a leader, you need to get <em>all <\/em>the information in a timely manner. So, how can you speed up the flow of even the worst news?<\/p>\n<p>Effective leaders I\u2019ve known have done this by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Creating a safe culture<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Create a culture that minimizes fear and maximizes safe conversations.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Being clear on timelines<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cI need this information by Thursday\u201d is much better than \u201cI need this information as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Creating multiple information channels<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Maintain various information streams to accelerate communication.<\/p>\n<p>Bill Hybels\u2019 axiom is, \u201cFacts are your friends\u201d. Getting all of your facts in a timely manner is critical to effective leadership.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you get the information you need in the time you need it?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s true what they say; \u201cGood news travels fast\u201d and will always reach you quickly, from anywhere in your church, ministry, or organization. But bad news, no matter how important, moves like it\u2019s swimming in peanut butter. And that can cost you precious time. This is exactly what happened in Jesus\u2019 parable of the talents&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,86,7],"tags":[586,590,23,598,601,603,609,616,617,631,637,641,657],"class_list":["post-870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-action","category-development","category-leadership","tag-all-the-information","tag-being-clear-on-timelines","tag-communication","tag-creating-a-safe-culture","tag-effective-leaders","tag-facts-are-your-friends","tag-good-news-travels-fast","tag-information-flow","tag-information-streams","tag-matthew-2514-30","tag-multiple-information-channels","tag-parable-of-the-talents","tag-timely-manner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":969,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions\/969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}