let’s get started by Gregg Hunter
Less Is More
If I were to ask you how you could make the camper or guest experience better on your property, what comes to mind first? Adding a new facility, a new program, new staff members or some other new features? According to one expert, the best question to ask is not always what we can add, but what we could take away to make it better. In his book Subtract: Te Untapped Science
of Less, Dr. Leidy Klotz discusses the human tendency to improve something by adding to it, rarely by taking away. Klotz conducted a study on a college campus,
asking students to approach a table with a Lego structure on it. When they were asked to make changes to improve the structure, only one of 60 participants took away bricks; the other 59 added bricks to it, giving Klotz the idea that perhaps most people have a “subtraction bias.” How could this apply to you? It may be that
your ministry could improve by subtracting a program element that’s part of the experience especially if the only apologetic for keeping it is, “because it’s always been there.” Is it still mean- ingful? Does it pack the same power to change lives that it did in decades past? Or does it cost more time, effort and money than it’s worth? Do you require parents or guest groups to jump
through hoops that they consider tiresome? Unnecessary? Would you be willing to subtract them to make the process smoother, faster or more pleasant for those registering at camp? (Of course, there are some cumbersome requirements that are unavoidable, as they are established through laws and regulations.) My encouragement today is that you work sub-
traction thinking into your evaluation process for the past summer. And for those areas receiving less-than-perfect scores on camper evaluations, rather than considering what you can add to make it better, think about what you can subtract first. Ask God for wisdom in deciphering what can be pruned so your ministry can flourish. Change the plus sign to a minus and see if you
can create space that allows you to improve the area that you’re considering without adding one more thing, but by subtracting instead.
Rather than
considering what you can add to make it better, think
about what you can subtract first.
Why subtraction is sometimes better than addition
In this issue of InSite, you’ll find a practical
feature focused on recruitment and retention, because we all know that one area where addition is a good thing is in your hiring of the right peo- ple for the right job! You’ll find features to help you think about how data analysis can drive deci- sion-making, how you can engage in government relations to benefit your ministry and Christian camping and how to lead well through conflict. I invite you to consider this quote from
Leonardo da Vinci, referenced in Dr. Klotz’s book, “A poet knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
Gregg Hunter is the president/CEO of CCCA. He and his wife, Penny, live in Colorado and have two sons, two daughters-in-law and one granddaughter. Check out Gregg’s blog at
www.gregghunterblog.com. Email him at
gahunter@ccca.org.
September/October 2024
www.ccca.org 3
Photo courtesy of Cascades Camp and Conference Center
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