Becoming a
Connected Congregation
Presented by Lisa Colton
lisa@see3.com @lisacolton
#connectedcongs
February 22, 2015
Adapted from work with Connected Congregations:
A UJA-Federation of New York Initiative with Darim Online

Our Plan Today
• Introductions – me & you
• Exploring what it means to be a “connected
congregation”
• Values, DNA and Expression
• What is “Engagement”?
• Examples of Designing for Social
• Transparency
• Adaptive Leadership
• Reflections & Wrap Up

A Little About Me
Lisa Colton
Chief Learning Officer, See3 Communications
Founder and President, Darim Online
lisa@see3.com
@lisacolton @darimonline
434.260.0177

Now it’s about YOU
BRIEFLY with the
person next to you:
•Share your name,
•Your congregation and role,
•One of your earliest childhood
memories about money.

TODAY… Think Connected.
• Think big
• Take risks, push yourself
• Challenge each other (and me!)
• Be ACTIVE!
• Question your assumptions
• Yes, AND… (not yes, but…)

I ndividual Relationships
Small Group I dentity
Community
Congregation
Synagogue
SYNAGOGUE STRENGTH & SUSTAI NABI LI TY
To strengthen the synagogue, we must invest in individual relationships, support
collective identity and responsibility, grounded in Jewish values and action.
The foundation of this is designing for social engagement with each other.
Congregation Beth Israel, San Diego
Lisa Colton, August 2014

Traditional Mindset: Hub & Spokes

Connected Mindset: Social & Networked

I ndividual Relationships
Small Group I dentity
Community
Congregation
Synagogue
SYNAGOGUE STRENGTH & SUSTAI NABI LI TY
To strengthen the synagogue, we must invest in individual relationships, support
collective identity and responsibility, grounded in Jewish values and action.
The foundation of this is designing for social engagement with each other.
Congregation Beth Israel, San Diego
Lisa Colton, August 2014

What is a Connected Congregation?
A connected congregation is one that deeply understands the
meaning of community, and works explicitly to build a strong,
meaningful and engaged Jewish community.
Connected congregations prioritize relationships and shared
values, and align all aspects of institutional management in
service of the community.
Those within connected congregations feel a sense of shared
ownership and responsibility for each other and the
collective, and are empowered to contribute their ideas,
energy and resources.

What is “Community”?
Text Study

VALUES
ARE YOUR
CONGREGATIONAL
DNA
They are
expressed
everywhere

VALUES ARE YOUR DNA
MOVING FROM
TRANSACTIONAL TO RELATIONAL
Temple Beth Abraham, Tarrytown, NY:
“Our board had to discuss our approach to financial relief. The question
posed was this: When families ask for special relief are we having a
conversation about the pain that family is in or the state of their
finances? In other words, are we acting as agents of Acts of Loving
Kindness or the IRS?”
-From “Tilling the Soil”, a case study on the Darim Online blog
By Allison Fine, Immediate Synagogue Past President

Where are you now, and where do you want to be?
Complete on your own, then you might want to compare later with
others from your congregation.
You can download the blank worksheet for your own use at
http://connectedcongregations.org/organizational-values-worksheet/
Organizational Values Worksheet

DEEP UNDERSTANDING
OF “COMMUNITY”
A connected congregation is one that deeply
understands the meaning of community, and
works explicitly to build a strong, meaningful
and engaged Jewish community.

What does your
Community
Look Like?

“Engagement” is the Process of
Evolving the Network Map
• What IS engagement?
• What’s the goal of engagement?
• Who or what are we designing for?
• What does it feel like to be engaged?
• Whose job is engagement?
• What kinds of cultural, programmatic or other
shifts are needed to enrich a culture of
engagement?

At each step of design and decision making,
we can ask ourselves
“is this in service of the community or the institution?”

OPERATIONALIZING
CONNECTEDNESS

Areas for Tilling Your Soil
1. Clarification of
organizational values
2. Leadership alignment
of vision
3. Deep understanding
‘community’
4. Transparency and
openness
5. Comfort with risk
6. Psychology of money
7. Meaningful spaces
8. Communications and
social media
9. Designing for social
10. Staffing, job
descriptions and
expertise

WALK THE WALK
Culture
Process
Program
Measurement
Resource Allocation

Be Social.
Personally and
Organizationally.

Process: Engage the community in the process to find the answers.

• Values based
• Nuanced protocols
• Personal touch
• Infused the DNA
• Paying it forward
CARING
COMMUNITY

Mike Moxness with Debbie Echt-Moxness
On Living On After a Diagnosis of Cancer

TRANSPARENCY
“Like authenticity, transparency is not defined by
you as a leaders, but by the people you want to
trust you and your organization. How much
information do they need in order to follow you,
trust you with their money or business?”
- Charlene Li
Open Leadership (pg. 193)
How does this relate to the culture and function of your
congregation and its leaders today and in the past?
What does it mean for you as a connected congregation?

“Our surveys of 20,000 synagogue members have shown that
the key driver of synagogue membership is the perceived
value for the dollar of membership. What most strongly
correlates to perceived value for the dollar?
Budget transparency.
When leadership doesn’t share the true cost of programs, and
uses funds to subsidize programs as it sees fit, not only do
recipients undervalue the program, but they also feel a
disconnect with the synagogue that ultimately causes them to
the congregation. Including members in the conversation
about budget priorities and explaining the rationale behind
expenses is a great step to retaining members and ensuring
financial sustainability.
-Sacha Litman, Measuring Success
“Show Them What You’re Working with:
How Transparency Leads to Sustainability”

Organizational Transparency
What is today’s version
of an annual report,
congregational meeting,
or a state of the union?
What kind of
transparency, in what
formats, helps
stakeholders feel like
insiders?

Informational -> Relational
Technical -> Adaptive

Adaptive Challenges & Leadership
32
TECHNICAL CHALLENGES ADAPTIVE CHALLENGES
• Clear cut need
• Can be fixed or addressed
• Can apply current experience
or skills (or find it)
• Developmental change
e.g. building a new website
• Complex issues, dilemmas
• No set procedures or
policies
• No analogous past
experience
• No expertise
• Issue is transitional or
transformational for the
organization.
e.g. move to a new revenue/
membership model

Adaptive Challenges & Leadership
33
• People – skills, experience, roles
• Process – culture, communication, risk
• Pipeline – what you need to add, how you
onboard and evolve
USE THE PERSONALITY QUIZ
AS A PLANNING TOOL!

Matterness
Turn to the person next to you (other side from
your money sharing from the beginning!)
Share a time when you felt like you really
mattered.

REFLECTIONS
(If you’re staying for the cohort meeting
after, please save your reflection sheet for
the end of that meeting. Feel free to jot
down ideas now, but don’t turn it in.)