Yesterday, when I posted about being "wired to fix", I made the following statement:

Become a solutionist and bring comprehensive options to your leadership. It won't get fixed on its own; you need to be the catalyst as a solutionist!

The post had several comments, including one by long-time contributor to this Blog, 'Sound Doctrine'.

Sound Doctrine wrote: "You're preachin' to the choir. The problem is that you can provide solutions over and over again and people are content to let you do that instead of jumping onboard to facilitate solutions as well. I guess I need to learn how to cast the vision."

Interesting point, Sound Doctrine. However, I think there are two approaches to this:

1) Take solutions to leadership that are irresistible.
2) Take solutions to your people (and from your people) so that they can be hands-on in the process.

I gave the examples of techies seeing typos in the bulletin, or finding outdated information on the pages of the church website as hot buttons that drive us crazy. If you're just going nuts about one of the problems with your church that is correctable, bringing it to the attention of the church leadership isn't enough. As I said yesterday, we must come with at least one (or more than one if possible) solution in hand, ready to execute when we talk with the leadership.

Take solutions to leadership that are irresistible
When possible, go with the plan that's easiest (usually read: least expensive) to implement. One of the common perceptions pastor have of us techies is that our solutions seem to always come with a hefty price tag. Certainly, if a room needs massive acoustical treatments, that's not a low-budget solution. But when it's possible, we should lead off with the simple solution first. Let them know you've got both the issue at hand in control and that you're wanting to be financially responsible. Then, once you've shown that you can fix the problem, go ahead and let them know a couple of other options - maybe even upgrades - so that the issue happens less frequently or (best case) never again.

When talking to your leadership, don't use any technical terms. I'm not saying treat them like idiots, but at the same time, speak "pastor language" (layman's terms) so that they understand both the problem and the solution from their perspective.

Take solutions to (and from) your people
Don't be the Lone Ranger. If there's an issue, let your fellow techies know that you see a problem and want their insight into how they think it might best be solved. Never underestimate the brilliance of a volunteer! Some of your best solutions might be so simple and obvious to a "novice" that us "experts" are left thinking, 'how come I didn't think of that!?' Your job is to lead, not be the end-all-be-all-expert. I think we often forget to leverage the amazing talents within our volunteer ministries when we try to take on all the problems by ourselves!

As you can tell, what I'm describing is nothing more than open, honest communication without pretense. Hearing me say it is one thing: living it out is another!

So how are you creating irresistible options for your church leadership? How have you found fantastic solutions that the experts missed bbut that the volunteer nailed? And what are you going to do about it?