We said a bit of something on Twitter in the past week which may have come across as prideful and arrogant:

Am at the point of instituting a policy: we don’t train you on items located in your user manual/user guide for your mobile… If you want to know how to use your mobile for specific roles, we got you. That’s *using* your mobile.

This came after a semi-heated exchange with one of our clients where we declined taking on a training opportunity for a product where the persons asking for training were asking for items that were clearly stated (a) in the user manual and (b) in the help section of specific applications. Our position was if you cannot be bothered to do your part on knowing the basics of a product you’ve purchased/been tasked to work on, why should we be bothered with taking the time to develop training/workshop materials on the items that are right there in the box?

I’ll speak to the reciprocal of this with a conversation we had with an educational facility in the same week where our focus wasn’t on “training the tool” but on “training the role.” In that conversation, we were again adamant about not teaching the tool. In a context such as that educational facility, it doesn’t help people to simply learn a tool, especially when its software and constantly changing. On the other hand, if they know how that and similar tools function towards specific roles of work, then you can not only speak towards the tool, but also give a wider and deeper grounding towards the activity.

And so that brings us towards mobile devices used in ministry settings: are you trying to utilize mobile (in any form) in a ministry setting, but you have little to know knowledge of mobile? What are you doing to get “up-skilled” in mobile to alleviate that weakness? Are you even interested in increasing your knowledge and understanding of mobile and the facilities that spoke from it (software, psychology, history, etc.) so that when you do utilize mobile that you aren’t teaching the tool, but are teaching towards a sustainable activity?

We prefer to do role-based teaching. For example, the upcoming iPad Session for Digital Disciples Charlotte and iPad for Minister’s Workshop speak specifically towards using tools in a specific context, grounded not in preferred applications, but behaviors that can usually translate across applications (and even devices). Yes, the name of the class prefers a single device, but this could qualify for any tablet or connected computer, and as such the lessons speak towards behaviors which ask that the attendees need to know may of the basic functions of their devices.

Is it true that some people don’t like, can’t read/understand, or don’t have time for the manuals that come with devices or the help features? Yes. Is it also true that in such a position that we are demanding a point of base accountability? Yes. To have a tool and not take the time to get associated with it before requesting specialized help demonstrates a kind of wisdom and understanding that makes for a more fertile ground to build sustainable behaviors from.

We write this to encourage you to consider carefully your approach to mobile. You can’t minister with something you don’t know. Take the time to purchase the device, use the application, and then investigate the resources already produced for it when you come to those harder-to-understand moments. That way, built yourself up towards the knowledge of what you are trying to do. And then when you do ask for assistance, time can be taken in shaping the point of what you’ve got already, not putting into the fire a point that’s not existing (starting from scratch). It takes longer, and you don’t always get the desired result, but you end up with a body of knowledge that’s more ready to turn into the work of the ministry, rather than be mired in a series of behaviors that don’t efficiently move you forward.