Have you ever left your boss’ office knowing you weren’t on the same page? There isn’t much more demoralizing than that for a creative.

And from the other side, your boss feels it too. Communicating effectively with creatives can be tricky–especially if you aren’t a creative yourself.

Getting on the same page feels impossible.

On the surface it may not seem like a big deal.

“So my boss says he wants a font with “flim-flams” instead of calling them serifs. Does that really matter?”

From what I’ve seen over 20 years in creative ministry, yes.

It actually matters a lot.

Because language is the key to growth.

Sure, non-creatives can deliver feedback on projects. Edits like “I want a different color”, or “I like this font better”.

But it’s rare that a non-creative can go deeper than that… which means it’s really hard for non-creatives to develop the creatives they manage.

Obviously it doesn’t make sense for the creatives in your organization to get an MBA just like it doesn’t make sense for your Executive Pastor or Business Administrator to get an art degree.

That just isn’t a practical way to bridge the gap between creatives and non-creatives.

And this is where the tension lies. If making your non-creatives more creative isn’t the answer, what is?

Better language is the answer.

Specifically, the Four Creative Cores.

Below you’ll find more information about each of the Four Creative Cores (Imagination, Skills, Heart, and Systems).

In order to grow, creatives need to have balance across all four cores. This common language helps non-creatives point out opportunities to grow in a way that creatives can understand.

It looks something like this in action:

Boss: “It seems like we’ve been missing deadlines lately. Do you think there is a problem with our Systems?”

Creative: “You know what, I think the issue is actually in Skills. I’ve been trying to stretch myself quite a bit on the last few projects and it’s caused them to be late.”

Boss: “Great observation. Lets reign in stretching our skills right now so we can get back to hitting our deadlines.”

Most non-creative bosses wouldn't be able to identify the actual problem in a situation like this. Let alone in a few sentences.

Instead, there would be frustration about missed deadlines, and the creative would leave the office understanding that there is a problem, but not quite sure what to do to solve it.

Here’s the win: when we have common language, we can start talking about growth in meaningful ways.

And when creatives are growing, they last in ministry.

And when creatives last in ministry, they help move the mission of your church forward.

When a creative ministry excels in the area of imagination, new projects are exciting. You'll hear things like, "I wonder how much we can pull off". Not every idea is a good one and sometimes the ideas get a little crazy. For example, in college I suggested having a live-animal stampede during a missions conference. Shockingly we didn't implement the idea, but dreaming sure is fun.

While every idea that comes from the Imagination-strong creative ministry won't get executed on, a ministry like this brings a lot of fun and excitement to every project they are involved in.

Beyond wild and exciting brainstorming sessions, the Imagination-strong creative ministry functions a lot like a creative conductor. While they do need to execute on the ideas (your Skills result sheds light on if that is a weak spot or not), they are gifted in elevating the creative ideas coming from across your ministry teams.

When a creative ministry excels in the area of Skills, every project is an opportunity to go big. Ideas aren't limited by "can we pull this off", they are limited by "how far do we choose to go". When everything is running smoothly, projects move quickly. Mistakes are uncommon.

You can usually tell when a Skills-strong creative ministry is at work. The look and feel of everything in a church is cohesive across ministries and communication channels.

While Skills is sometimes seen as a collection of abilities contained in a single person, a Skills-strong creative ministry could also be made up of an army of people good at one or two things. Ultimately the goal of a creative ministry is to find solutions to the common ministry problems in your organization. If you can do that with one or two staff people, great. If you can do that with 50 volunteers, great. And the Skills-strong creative ministry knows that.

When a creative ministry is strong in Heart, their highest priority is the ministry they are serving. Rather than walking in the door declaring that the creative talent has arrived, the goal is to deeply understand the needs of each ministry. Only then can they begin to build solutions based on their expertise. The goal isn't to flex how capable they are, it's to help ministry be successful.

This often looks like proactivity from the creative ministry. They aren't sitting around waiting for ministry leaders to approach them with changes. Rather, they are going to ministry leaders and asking how their creative horsepower can be leveraged toward the ministry objectives in front of them.

One tell that a your creative ministry is Heart-strong shows up when mistakes are made. A Heart-strong creative ministry focuses on identifying the root cause of the mistake so they can avoid it in the future. Placing blame isn't a priority at all. I like to describe it this way: the ministry leader and the creative ministry aren't battling each other, they are allies. When issues come up, allies team up and work to solve the problem together.

When a creative ministry is strong in Systems, everything gets done. Actually, more than done. Ministry leaders have clear visibility into where their project is in the process, most ministry leaders understand how to get a project started (there's always that one team, right?), and there is a high level of confidence that projects will be delivered according to the project brief, on budget, and on time. It's almost like the giant Krispy Kreme conveyer belt where you can watch your doughnuts get made...but with creative projects.

The Systems-strong creative ministry has mastery of project management tools, loves intake forms, and can build out a project workflow with the best of 'em. When everything is working right, the rest of the church benefits from your organizational prowess. Major projects, even ones that live outside of the creative ministry, benefit when you are Systems-strong.