Current Challenge

Synagogue Futures: Disrupting the Narrative

The synagogue as the new center of Jewish life: Refocusing its role as the agency for Jewish attraction, retention, and identity of Jewish American generations.

Leading innovation and change to reframing synagogues to stimulate and sustain vital, energized relationships with their active, passive, and uninvolved members and their families and to engage unaffiliated Jews to rediscover their Jewish heritage.

Models for Transformational Change

Over the years, the years, I conducted numerous student focus groups and individual interviews to fully understand the student experience and the reasons for higher education’s massive failure in retaining students. My deep understanding of the forces shaping student enrollment patterns grew out of his work with international students and undergraduate students at the University of Buffalo, with undergraduate and graduate students of color, who were most students at Chicago State University and with the wide range of students attending Eastern Michigan University, as well as students at client colleges and universities.

Parallel focus groups and interviews with Jewish and Christian faith-based leaders and their member groups also provided significant insights and guidance that resulted in the creation and implementation of the assessment and change models for organization-based transformation.

Research shows that viability of faith-based organizations depends upon a deep analysis of what is changing and how it will impact success. At its core, we need to understand how those we exist to serve are also changing. Doing this requires a new approach if there is a desire to survive the current turbulence and prosper.

Leading innovation and change to reframing synagogues to stimulate and sustain vital, energized relationships with their active, passive, and uninvolved members and their families and to engage unaffiliated Jews to rediscover their Jewish heritage.

Recent in-depth interviews confirm that sustaining Jewish identity especially requires a new approach. It also confirms that the synagogue is at the core for leading innovation and change to make this happen. It is becoming more and more apparent that synagogues who want to retain their focus on the present to sustain themselves, will be replaced by newly created synagogues designed to thrive in the future.

Subsequent research identified five innovation strategies for shifting culture and performance to flourish: Performance Management; Decision Support Information; and an Attraction/Retention Focused Culture. It also emphasized that the member’s experience is a responsibility of the total organization, which includes the need for its members to also own responsibility for their personal success.

To stimulate discussion the attached document provides a sample of a few models that will be helpful to launch an effective foundation for a major transformation. Generational Analysis, A6Q persistence:analytics identifies the most important elements for attracting and retaining constituents: Approachability, Accessibility, Affordability, Associability, Applicability, Attainability and Quality. They provide the building blocks for engaging the PNEEO model (Pride, Network, Experience, Education and Observance). These models will provide the foundation for implementing the Attraction-Affiliation-Holding Model that will be instrumental to shape the synagogue as home-central for its Jewish community.

Two concepts have guided my success over the years:“People support what they help to create” and “The ultimate test of our effectiveness is the positive difference we make in the lives of others.”

Initial Steps for Creating and Mobilizing an Inspiring Action Plan

Inspiring lives and healing the world through powerful Jewish experiences. Soul, Heart, and Mind are powerful values to embrace. For planning purposes, they need to be explored and defined for aligning results-oriented efforts, roles, and outcomes that will help shape synagogues action for creating a vibrant, thriving future.

Introduction

Building on current efforts, using the information and insights derived from the attached models, and current data, and newly generated new data and insights, will provide the foundation for maintaining focus on the future. It will inspire and activate the different generations comprising the current and future synagogue community by creating initiatives that will insure highly valued Jewish experiences.

Management Guru Peter Drucker noted that “culture eats strategy for breakfast” He elaborated that institutional culture is the enemy of strategy and change. Changing culture requires changing behavior.

Changing behavior to create culture-shift requires novel approaches for leading, innovating and finding new initiatives to stabilize the present and thriving in the future.

This document is based on material from a new book in progress on how synagogues can change to play the critical expanded role as the central force in their community for preserving Jewish identity, culture, and continuity.

This Abstract is based on tested material drawn from a book-in-progress that incorporates findings from my deep involvement in creating Thriving Jewish Community based on research studies, hundreds of Insight (Focus) groups, interviews with Jewish and other faith leaders and their members, consulting and workshops with major Jewish communities and national organizations. The sections on leading innovation and change include my experience as cofounder of New Campus Dynamics, 40 years as a senior university administrator, founder and chair of the NASPA National Academy for Leadership and Executive Effectiveness. As an author and co-author of books, manuals, and articles, I have drawn on these publications for the book-in-progress and this abstract.

Creating a Preferred Future

Visioning an innovative future is a process that also arouses emotions, involving engaged members as well as disengaged members, and being willing to let go of, or transform, programs, activities, and functions that have or will soon outlive their significance.

“Different strokes for difference folks” require that each generational group needs to be involved in the futuring process. Designing the futuring process requires training and planning with a Leadership Team to conduct the process.

Pascal was correct in noting that you cannot step into the same stream twice and so is the observation that not only does the stream change but the person stepping into does as well. This concept serves as a metonym for our individual lives, our society, and the world around us changes and we also change. What is even more important is to consider is how both individuals and generations change as they interpret, believe, and respond to the dramatic impact emanating from the intricate social, political, intellectual, aesthetic, scientific and technical, as well as religious forces that impact a global platform.

Phase 1 creates the foundation for determining what the synagogue’s efforts should be to best understand what and how it needs to change to thrive in the future. It is to use this information to determine what changes need to occur and how they will need to reshape its values orientation, mission, vision, goals, and resource allocations. It is not the call to action, but the information and insights to define what the call to action might and should be.

Phase 1 is extremely important for several reasons. The most important reason is most organizations’ decisions are made by its leaders assuming they know more and best what needs to be done, how to do it, and what resources can be committed to support it. This puts the organization in position of “selling” a new idea to drive support for it. The voice of the organization’s community is not heard but interpreted. Phase 1 allows for the voice of the community to emerge and inform the leadership as to what will attract and sustain member and others interest, participation, and funding.

Using the four instruments (Generational Analysis, PNEEO, A6Q, and Attraction-Holding-Communications models) will lead to a deep understanding for leaders and members about what their community needs, wants, and will enthusiastically support.

The Paradigms, Guiding Principles, and Killer Phrases are to stimulate the (formal and informal) organization leadership to take a strong look in the mirror about how they see moving in a community-based effort to ensure its thriving future. The HUB is a way for successfully organizing the effort to maximize impact.

Phase 2 is the bridge to action. It is the plan to mobilize the synagogue’s community for change that will create the action plan based on hard information that stimulates its members to enthusiastically think in the future and support the change initiatives that emerge.