…and religious educators and lay leaders and parishioners. Jackie Huba at Church of the Customer Blog recently blogged about Capt. Denny Flanagan, a United Airlines “rogue pilot” who has developed quite a “word of mouth” following.
- He mingles with passengers in the gate area
- He makes gate announcements himself, updating passengers about weather conditions and sets realistic expectations for delays
- He uses his cellphone to call United operations to ask about connections for passengers
- He passes out information cards to passengers with fun facts about the plane; he signs two of them, whose owners will win a bottle of wine
- He snaps pictures of animals in the cargo hold to show owners their pets are safely on board
- He writes notes to first-class passengers and elite frequent fliers on the back of his business cards, addressing them by name and thanking them for their business
- He personally calls parents of unaccompanied children to give them updates
- He instructs flight attendants to pass out napkins asking passengers to write notes about experiences on United, good or bad
- He orders 200 McDonald’s hamburgers for passengers if his flight is delayed or diverted
The motivation behind Flanagan’s actions is simple,”‘I just treat everyone like it’s the first flight they’ve ever flown,’ the very smart captain told the WSJ in a highly valuable front-page story. ‘The customer deserves a good travel experience.'” Of course this immediately got me thinking of what a similarly motivated minister might do, things like:
- Mingle with parishioners in the foyer before the service
- Let folks know about exciting opportunities for faith development and spiritual growth from the pulpit
- Pass out information cards to visitors with fun facts about the congregation
- Personally call parents of new children in the religious education program
- Visit each of the religious education classes at least once a year
You know, little things like that. I know that some of our ministers already are doing these and similar sort of things. But I also know of ministers who are so busy on Sunday mornings with the work of the church that they don’t have a lot of time left over for personal touches like these. I heard once, however, that Sunday morning was for visitors. And if all the leaders in our congregations (lay and ordained, volunteer and professional) were to treat everyone as if this were the first time they visited a congregation (including the children), then we’d probably be generating more positive “word of mouth” about our congregations. Just a thought.
Phil's Little Blog on the Prairie 
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September 11, 2007 at 12:37 am
hafidha sofia
Wow, that sounds pretty radical! Which is sad … it probably shouldn’t sound so radical.
September 11, 2007 at 12:38 am
Ms. Theologian
These are great work tips!
I had sort of a rogue oral surgeon who made tons of follow-up calls and referrals. He didn’t pass out fun oral surgery facts, but the personal attention was really nice.
September 11, 2007 at 12:59 am
jacqueline
My vet’s assistant is a rouge employee… funny how we call them rouge when really they are just being thoughtful.
September 11, 2007 at 1:19 am
psdlund
These are great, radical tips, aren’t they? And it if funny that they’re considered “rogue” when it is just doing what the golden rule suggests, treating others as we would like to be treated. Thanks for your comments!
September 15, 2007 at 1:24 am
Dan
What a great list for ministers. I actually do some of these — and I think I’ll steal the idea of information cards (but can’t give out bottles of wine, our insurance company would have a fit).
Random thought — I used to work in sales, where there is a direct feedback loop between how you perform on the job, and your paycheck. Ministers don’t get such direct feedback loops, nor do DREs and other religious professionals. Yes, our salaries are tied to a certain extent to whether the church grows or declines, but there’s a lag time of months or years before we get that feedback — when I was in sales, I got that feedback every two weeks when I got my check.
September 18, 2007 at 9:31 am
psdlund
Interesting point about the feedback loop, Dan. I do wonder what a loop with less lag time would look like for religious professionals….
October 9, 2007 at 6:20 am
Carol, DRE
I appreciate your recommendations regarding Rogue ministers (and DREs I presume).
Last week we had six new teens check out our youth group (all non Unitarians). I asked that each provide a phone number. I called and checked in with those parents and have since sent out six general information sheets regarding our uncommon denomination. Several seemed generally open, one mother in particular, did not.
Question: do you (or anyone) have a suggestion on what might be said to a parent who says ” I don’t mind my kid exploring other faiths, but we’re Christians and I don’t want my kid associating with kids who don’t believe in Jesus…”
I think I navigated it pretty well, but I’m curious what others suggest.
October 10, 2007 at 10:15 pm
psdlund
Yes, rogue DREs, too! As far as your question goes, I first I want to commend you for following up on the youth who visited your congregation. Now about the parent who doesn’t want his or her kid associating with kids who don’t believe in Jesus, I’m not sure what I’d say. I guess I’d start with something like, “Actually, Unitarian Universalists do believe in Jesus, for the most part. We just don’t require that everyone believe the exact same thing about Jesus.” If the conversation went any further, I’d offer to send some pamphlets about UUs beliefs about Jesus and Christianity.