Category: Tool Box

Posted in Tool Box

Small Group Tool Box: Presentation

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

Today we come to the final tool in the Small Group Tool Box: Presentation!

This is one of those tools that’s going to look different for every type of small group. If your small group centers around crafting or projects, this tool will require skills and resources that allow the projects to be completed. Book clubs will require knowing how to lead in discussion on a fixed topic. The same is true of Bible studies.

Even so, there are three things that will be true of the presentation tool, no matter what type of small group you are leading.

1. Ability to Learn

We like to feel fully confident in an area before we share anything with others, leading from our own knowledge instead of from a place of growth. But, in all honesty, the most effective leadership comes from those who are learning along with their group.

Now, don’t misunderstand me here. I don’t mean that the leader starts at the same level as their learners. At bare minimum, a leader needs to be a step ahead. In reality, though, if you’re going to teach or lead in an area, you do need to have a relatively firm grasp on what you’re leading.

For example, if you’re going to teach a beginner’s crochet class, you need to have done more than a couple of rows of crochet yourself. But, you also need to be okay with having to look up a stitch now and then! Lately, I’ve been having fun watching a crocheter film progress on a chaos blanket she’s making. She’s been crocheting for decades, but she has no qualms about sharing her blunders, being honest when she doesn’t know how to do a stitch (including messing up a very common and basic stitch), and confessing all that she has learned while making this blanket. That is the mark of a solid teacher.

2. Preparation

I had a math professor in college who didn’t particularly enjoy teaching the more basic level math classes. But, because it was a small school, all of the professors shared the load of both basic and advanced classes. So, there she was, teaching a pre-calculus course to a group of students not quite ready for Calculus 1. She walked into class with a brand new textbook she’d never cracked open before. By her own admission, she never looked at the lesson ahead of time. She just skimmed the chapter we were on as she began each class session, then pulled a lecture out of thin air.

I’m not great at math. And that semester didn’t help. Because she stumbled and stuttered through every class session, giving her prep time instead to the upper level courses, I never really understood what was going on. I managed to scrape by with a C — and then never took another math course again.

The professor understood the subject matter well. But she did not prepare to communicate that subject matter to her class. And her class suffered because of it. Even those who had pretty good minds for math struggled to follow her instruction.

Presenting well in a small group requires being prepared to present well. If you’re teaching a skill or concept, have an outline of how you’re going to present it. If you’re discussing a chapter in a book, make notes on how you’re going to keep the discussion on track. If you’re leading a Bible study, have ideas about how to clarify questions or encourage engagement. Whatever the case, don’t walk in assuming it will all fall into place simply because you’re familiar with the subject at hand. Be specifically prepared!

3. Flexibility

Having led a number of small groups, I can say this without hesitation: sessions rarely go 100% according to plan! The best discussion starters fall flat. The mix of attendees is different than expected. Responses are far outside what was predicted.

This is actually why preparation is simultaneously incredibly important and incredibly frustrating. You put so much effort into learning and preparing, only to see the plan go out the window in the first ten minutes. Even so, the person who is most prepared is also often the one most able to make quick and easy adjustments when the plan doesn’t quite work.

And those adjustments are so necessary! A willingness to “read the room” and flexibly adjust to meet needs can make all the difference in a successful small group.

Obviously, there are many variables when it comes to leading a small group, and four simple blog posts can’t cover all of those variables — especially considering the variety in types of small groups! But, hopefully this allows you to see ways that your gifts and talents that, especially when combined with the gifts and talents of others, can help get a successful small group off the ground.

Posted in Tool Box

Small Group Tool Box: Planning

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

In my last post about the Small Group Tool Box, we discussed the first tool, parameters, and how to use it to lay the ground work for any type of small group.

I opened with a heads up for those (probably a majority, to be honest!) who don’t intend to ever lead a small group. Guess what? You might have greater need of this tool box than you think! Even if you never lead a small group, you may still be a very integral part of getting a small group going.

One person may be excellent at setting parameters while another is skilled with our next tool: planning. Neither one may actually want or have the skills to lead the group, but they can definitely play a part.

Planning: Setting the Details

Planning fits hand-in-hand with setting parameters, but it steps up on the specifics. Once you have the parameters set, you can begin to lay down the details of what your small group will look like session after session.

A small group planner will have a handful of skills that help them rise above the chatter of ten gazillion preferences (an especially mind-boggling reality when you’re only dealing with a small group of people!) and find a solid, consistent format for the small group. Here are those skills:

1. Ability to see big but plan small

This skill comes in handy when trying to evaluate all sorts of things, from the specific resources being used to the meeting schedule.

“Seeing big” means that a planner is able to to recognize that this is just one small group. There will be other small groups. That means that other time frames can be available another time, as can other resources and plans. This understanding enables a planner to accomplish things like picking a meeting date and time or selecting a specific resource knowing that this is simply one opportunity out of many.

2. Ability to communicate a plan

Great ideas often fall apart due to lack of communication. A small group planner is able to recognize when approval is needed for material, when and how to reserve meeting space, how to communicate information to attendees or to anyone responsible for the organizational system.

Sometimes the communication needs are very simple. One person can set a time and place, pick a resource, and openly invite. But, more often than not, there are more people who need to be involved. Many small groups are subsets of a larger organization. This is true whether it’s a group of students (high school, college, whatever) meeting on a school campus, a Bible study group utilizing church resources, or even a small group of friends regularly meeting at a local coffee shop. Other people and organizations are involved, and sometimes making assumptions about availability can lead to unnecessary chaos.

A planner learns the skills necessary to communicate with all of them rather than simply throwing a group together and assuming that everything is going to fall into place around them.

3. Ability to communicate and work within the parameters

A small group planner cannot work outside of the overall concept. The planner is simply implementing the answers to the parameter questions. If the same person sets the parameters and makes the plans, that works beautifully. But if it’s two (or more) different people, there can be situations of disagreement.

The reality is that the planner is not there to assess the validity of a small group choice. The planner’s job is to take the ideas set by the parameter questions and turn them into a workable plan. Will some shifts have to take place to hash out details? Yes, without a doubt. But, ultimately, the planner is working out existing details and communicating the specifics of those details to all involved.

There are many people beautifully skilled at taking ideas and turning them into reality. If that’s you, this is your ideal Small Group Tool Box compartment! It may not sound glamorous or feel particularly fun and exciting (although it can be so incredibly satisfying to see a plan come together), but having the ability to hash out a plan is essential for taking an idea and turning it into a reality.

Next time we’ll get to the final tool in the box: presentation. Stay tuned!

Posted in Tool Box

Small Group Tool Box: Parameters

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

A couple of weeks ago, I shared Part 1 of the Small Group Tool Box thoughts. I mentioned that even if you never intend to lead a small group, this is still a great tool box to have on hand. The first couple of tools are a good example of why this is true. Even if you never teach or lead, you can be an integral part of building the framework.

Let’s take a look at our first tool.

Parameters: The Questions to Ask

Any small group must start with parameters, what you want your small group to look like. It’s a bit like laying a foundation for a house or building; this tool provides a picture or framework for what you want your small group to look like. This tool is essentially a list of parameter-setting questions you’ll ask yourself each time you want to start (or help someone else start) a small group. The answers will change and may vary widely from one opportunity to the next, but, the questions themselves are very stable.

1. What will the focus of the small group be?

While some small group types can overlap, ultimately you need to pick one primary focus. Perhaps you’re discussing starting a Bible study. That’s the foundational parameter. From there you can decide if you’re going to just look at a book of the Bible or find some kind of guide to use. The same would be true if we chose a book club or a hobby group.

2. What will the group composition look like?

Will there be a limit to the group size, or is it open to as many as our interested? While the term is technically “small group,” the concept of small can vary widely.

You will also need to consider if there is any exclusivity to your group. Will it be open to anyone? A mixed group or gender based? Targeted at a certain age group or a certain demographic such as parents of little ones?

This question also encompasses whether your group will be open or closed. That simply means addressing how easily someone can join a group after it has started. For instance, in certain book clubs or Bible studies, it can be hard for someone to jump in after the group has started because they will lack necessary context. And some groups, like mentoring groups, are always closed by nature. There is no other way to truly accomplish the purpose of the group.

Other groups have sessions that are a little more open. While there are advantages to being involved the whole time, new members can still join halfway through and not feel lost.

3. What is the scheduling capacity?

Is it a weekly meeting? Bimonthly? Monthly? This is less about looking at a calendar for availability and more about knowing the capacity of whoever will actually be leading the group, whether yourself or someone else. The details — what day of the week or time of day — will come later. You need to determine early on, though, what general scheduling will allow maximum investment in this group.

This applies both to the ability to consistently dedicate time for the meeting itself, but it also relates to the ability to invest and prepare. It might be that you know you can easily handle having a weekly book club because you can definitely read and be prepared to discuss a chapter each week. (Unless, of course, you’re tempted to devour the whole book in three days; in that case, a chapter a week seems to be terribly cruelty!) When it comes to leading Bible study, however, you may be processing that you’re also responsible for Sunday school lessons or other such responsibilities. So, in order to devote good preparation time, you might want to meet every two weeks.

4. What will the duration of this particular group be?

Some groups naturally lend themselves to long duration. For instance, if you have a hobby or book club, you can rotate through projects and just keep going as long as you can continue to coordinate the scheduling. Members can come and go depending on their personally availability or interest in the hobby or book.

Other groups, however, need to have very definite start and end points. For mentoring groups, an end point is a very important necessity. It doesn’t mean it has to be a short length of time. Eighteen to twenty-four months is not an unusual duration for a mentoring group. But, there must be an end date and a point where the mentees are then pushed to the next step of mentoring others, even if it’s an in-between step of being a co-mentor with someone more experienced.

Any closed group, by nature, should have an end point. This provides opportunities for rotation, letting current members interact with new concepts or people while also allowing new people to participate in a new rotation of the closed group.

Posted in Tool Box

Small Group Tool Box: Overview

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared the idea of a tool box with you. How about I share one of my favorite personal tool boxes this week?

Many tool boxes are very personal. For instance, I have hobby tool boxes, but other people share the same hobby yet have very different tool boxes. So, I can share an example, but ultimately each person has to build their own hobby tool boxes.

Others, though, are rather universal, especially at the basic level. My tool box for building a small group is one of those more universal tool boxes because the same basic concepts work for almost any group you want to build, whether it’s a Bible study, book study, book club, hobby club, prayer group, support or mentoring group — anything. Obviously, there are specialized tools that you’ll add to the basics, but the foundational tool box is always going to be pretty much the same.

Now, let me stop you before you check out and say, “Oh, but I’ll never lead a small group!” That’s very true. You may not. But, there are many facets to putting together a solid small group, and leading or teaching it is only one small part! While a single individual can do it all, and often does, it’s even more amazing when several people put their talents, skills, gifts, and abilities together to make a small group happen well.

You may be one of those people whose participation is useful long before the small group ever actually meets for the first time! By getting to know the fullness of the small group tool box, you can more easily see how your expertise with one tool can help those who are more capable with the other tools.

Of course, you might, at some point, be stretched beyond your comfort zone and need to utilize all of the tools. So, getting to know them now will give you a head start!

So, what does a small group tool box include? Well, even though it’s a relatively simple tool box, explaining the components can get a bit, well, wordy. So, we’re going to break this down into multiple parts. Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at three primary tools and what they do. The three tools are Parameters, Preparation, and Presentation. (I even managed to get alliteration in there! Go me!)

Meanwhile, I’m curious…what would one of your favorite tool boxes be, and what would be in it?

Posted in Tool Box

Storage

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

I have so many thoughts today.

Some of them almost popped into my brain fully fleshed out, which is weird and uncommon. But, they’re there, and I want to type them up before they run away.

Others are not fleshed out — they’re just starters. But they are very promising starters that I feel like I can easily bring to fullness if I can just sit down and start writing.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time for all of them. I can’t write five things at once, and because I have jobs, my unpaid writing time each day is limited. (The mental battle there — convincing myself that it’s okay to devote time to it at all — is a whole other topic!) Does that mean I have to pick and choose? To let some just go?

Well, possibly, yes. But, not automatically. Because I have something in my writing tool box that helps tremendously in times like this. I have storage!

The program I use for writing, Scrivener, lets me organize and store to my heart’s content. I can tap out an idea using as many or as few words as needed, then color-code it and pop it into a folder to let me know everything from the general category of the thought to how well fleshed out it is. I can add notes and keywords to help me search for it later. And I can easily mark it when I’ve revisited it and fleshed it out more.

The same is true for other tool boxes I have built. I have music repositories with notes for use in my role as music minister. I have digital folders on my computer to help me organize various craft patterns. I have dozens of folders in Google Drive and on my computer to organize what I need for my other job. I have tabs in my internet browser. Color-coding, bookmarks, and special project pages in my planner. A journal with various project ideas.

Admittedly, my storage isn’t always the best organized. Sometimes I store things in the wrong tool box. Or I jam something into a generic storage spot that’s not attached to any specific tool box, requiring me to occasionally sift through and sort the ideas stored there. And many times I neglect to store a thought, idea, pattern, song, or whatever, assuring myself that I’ll remember.

This will probably come as a shock to you, but I rarely do remember.

Ultimately, though, the point is to just have a spot to store resources that aren’t regularly needed but still good to have on hand. They don’t have to be as easily accessible in the tool box as your regular tools, but they can be in that nifty compartment that’s a little harder to get to but always nice to have.

As I talk more about tool boxes, you might start to recognize some of your own. That’s kind of the point (and we’ll chat more in the future about how to recognize your existing tool boxes). So, your challenge for the next week is to contemplate your own tool box storage. What do you store for later? What storage method naturally works for you? And now that you’re recognizing your storage, what can you do to make it more effective?

Posted in Tool Box

The Tool for All Tool Boxes

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

I must admit to a bit of a chuckle as I start this thought.

I don’t know of a single person who likes to be called a “tool” or relegated to the idea of simply being a resource or a useful thing.

And yet, when it comes to building tool boxes to fit current needs or prepare for something we desire to do — any hobby, habit, journey, adventure, activity, job, task, or any other noun we can think of — the people around us truly are our greatest resource. If we have nothing else, we should grab onto people!

First, people provide real experience.

Even if we’re trailblazing and doing something no one else has technically ever done before, we’re blazing those trails because of the experience of people who have accomplished much before us. They’ve laid groundwork, created the resources we use, or simply lived an example of what it means to blaze those new trails.

How much more should we lean on that experience when we are carrying on a torch, continuing the work of those who have been doing it for generations?

Wisdom based on the experience of others can come in many forms. It can be found in books written across the centuries. In information shared through our many avenues of modern media (yes, even social media can have good uses!). In products and resources created by others to equip our journey. In personal relationships with those who share our interests.

Sifting through the experience of others will require patience and wisdom, but it’s an invaluable resource when it comes to building your own tool box.

People understand resources.

In my homeschooling years, one of the most common and important, yet also most problematic, questions fellow homeschoolers asked was, “What curriculum should I use?” Let me tell you, homeschoolers are very ready to let you know what their favorite homeschool curriculum is and why it’s absolutely perfect!

But, that was never the best advice. The best advice came from those who stopped to say, “Tell me about your family.” Before offering a single suggestion, they wanted to understand the needs of each child and the dynamics of the homeschool family. Then and only then would they offer suggestions about resources.

That’s the kind of people you want to lean on as you build your tool box. The ones who will understand who and where you are. The ones who will share with you as you experiment. The ones who aren’t offended if you choose a resource or path that’s different from their own because they know you have different needs.

Again, some of these people will be those you know personally. Others will be people who share information through websites, podcasts, books, or other resources. Whoever they are, look for those who understand what it means to match people to resources, not just promote a “one-size fits-all” solution. (That’s as much of a myth in filling your tool box as it is in shopping for clothes, by the way.)

Finally, people offer community.

This is truly the most important one. You want to gather people who stand beside you. Provide encouragement. Offer guardrails to keep you from going too crazy. But also provides safe space to let you get a little crazy (because that’s a necessity for any growth).

They might not actually share your new adventure. And that’s okay. If they’re willing to walk beside you, that’s incredibly valuable.

Adjacency is a popular concept these days. Adjacent play. Adjacent work. People each doing their own thing, but together. Consider how much easier it can be to do certain tasks, even distasteful ones, if you simply have someone nearby. It’s always easier for me to focus on work when my husband is working from home and sitting at the desk next to mine. It’s easier for my daughter to tackle housework if she has someone there to jabber at, even if they aren’t actually helping with the work.

People.

If you don’t gather anything else, gather your people. It’s the one tool you’ll never regret having.