Tag: Leadership

3

Big shoes to fill

Joshua 1:2-3

Verse 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them."

I read this the other day and instantly felt unworthy.  Not the kind of unworthy where you beat yourself up about all those things about yourself that aren't perfect but unworthy in the sense that there are some tasks in life that are HUGE and that cause you to rely on a strength/power completely other than your own the whole time you engage it.  That's what I felt Then God makes this sweet promise!

Verse 3 "I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you"

It seems that often all we see is the task before us rather than combining that with the promises God has already given us.  Verse 2 in isolation seems undoable until verse 3 rolls around and reminds us how Moses was operating  all along (Under the umbrella of a strength/vision/power that is beyond himself and under the provision of God!). I wonder how many of us need the reminder daily that we have the opportunity to operate with the provision of God for our lives...doesn't mean it'll be easy but it does mean our steps are blessed when they're ordered by God! This reminder is helpful for me daily when I look at the things God's allowed me to be apart of! If Verse 3 isn't enough to get Joshua fired up and ready to go check out verse 5.

Verse 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

BOOYAH! Hows that's God saying "I gotcha back!"  What would this mean for us if we believed God was "For us" like this? I'm not saying that God is saying to us what he said to Joshua in the same way that he said it to Joshua...BUT check out what Jesus says to us in John 14:12,

"Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

2

Don't get burned by serving

I'm about tired of talking to people who sign up for serving opportunities with organizations (Churches, non-profits, clubs, etc.) and they end up getting "burned" and give up on serving all together.  Ok now that I got that out of the way.

How do you avoid getting burned by a serving opportunity?

1. Look at what you're signing up for - don't just go off someones recommendation of x,y,or z opportunity.  YOU go look at what you're signing up for!
2. Get specific - ask all the questions you really want to know like "do you really expect me to be here early or is showing up when we start fine?" or "so what I hear you saying is you want me to do all of that as part of this serving opportunity?"  There is NOTHING wrong with asking a bunch of specific questions about what you're getting yourself in to, that's not rude or inconsiderate...it's smart and healthy.
3. Trust your gut - there are times when your nervous uncomfortable gut reaction to an opportunity is to be trusted.  Then there are times when you're just being a little scary-cat afraid to come out of your comfort zone.  Figure out which one you're feeling and then execute the appropriate response.
4. Choose wisely - there are all sorts of things you could give your time, talent, energy, & resources to.  Choose the wisest places to invest those.

What responsibility does the organization have?

1. Tell people what they're looking into - Be honest
2. Tell people what they're signing up for - Be honest
3. Then tell them again! - Make sure it's clear and their questions are answered.
4. ...and again! (Sometimes we can be so eager to fill a serving roll that we don't want to "scare" people off by telling them WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO FIND OUT ANYWAY...be honest with people!)

NOTE:

• This doesn't protect people from figuring out a given serving opportunity is not for them or that it's just not a good fit....but it DOES protect people from feeling like they were "tricked" into believing what they were signing up for was NOT AT ALL what they actually signed up for.
• If people know all the details and still sign-up let them be grown-ups and live with that decision.  (Sometimes the tendency can be to try to protect people SO MUCH that we don't "let them get their lumps" (that's what we called it in my hood growing up) and that's not healthy in the long-run.

0

Whatever it takes

One of the most unspoken truths on most teams is that there are times when it doesn't matter what your job description is, the team needs you, and you should be available to help the team do whatever the team needs done. In most 'corporate america' jobs the vibe is "you do your job & I'll do mine" and most of the time that's ok but we all know there are seasons in every area of employment where you need help and you wish there was more of a "lets do whatever it takes to get the job done right" attitude. I think one of the most important functions of a team is having a "whatever it takes" attitude!  This doesn't mean that you do other peoples job but it does mean you'll be willing to help out if necessary.

This attitude does a handful of things:

1. Pushes everyone to keep the over-arching vision in front of them.
2. Helps force silos out of the organization and prevents them from starting.
3. Helps cover gaps if people can't be around. (This is sustaining my staff at this current time as I've been out of the office for a bit with my fathers health issues.)
4. Building overall organizational camaraderie.

If we/you fail to have this attitude these things could creep in:

1. Guarding of territory - I don't have to help you with yours as long as "mine" is right.
2. Not playing well in the sandbox - Somebody or some department is going to get the leftovers (staff, facility, budget)
3. Negative attitudes towards collaborators
4. Some people get consistently overworked - It's usually the hardest workers

I'm sure there are lots more on both sides.  Feel free to add them in the comments.

0

If you never failed...

2

Great advice on gaining RESPECT from a young leader

This is from John Maxwells blog as he wrote about a 23 year old Senior Pastor trying to find a way to earn RESPECT from people a lot older than him in his congregation. I found these great principles for any place of leadership in any organization!

Here are this young leaders rules:

1. If you have a problem with me, come to me (privately).
2. If I have a problem with you, I’ll come to you (privately).
3. If someone has a problem with me and comes to you, send them to me. (I’ll do the same for you.)
4. If someone consistently will not come to me, say, “Let’s go see him together.” (I’ll do the same for you.)
5. Be careful how you interpret me. On matters that are unclear, do not feel pressured to interpret my feelings or thoughts. It is easy to misinterpret intentions.
6. I will be careful how I interpret you.
7. If it’s confidential, don’t tell. If anyone comes to me in confidence, I won’t tell unless (a) the person is going to harm him/herself; (b) the person is going to physically harm someone else; (c) a child has been physically or sexually abused. I expect the same from you.
8. I do not read unsigned letters or notes.
9. I do not manipulate; I will not be manipulated. Do not let others manipulate you; do not let others try to manipulate me through you.
10. When in doubt, just say it. If I can answer without misrepresenting something or breaking a confidence, I will.

Original post HERE.

4

How to keep your edge in Student Ministry

I had 4 conversations last week that got me thinking about how to encourage Student Ministry leaders who are caught in the middle of the "I want to see results" & the "but we can't compete with Pop Culture" battle.  All of these conversations made my mind instantly reflect on the uphill battle we fight against Youth Culture at times.  Seems like the Church is always BEHIND/FOLLOWING Youth Culture rather than creating Youth Culture that students can adopt.  And at times, that has proven discouraging for some.  (Personally, it is for me at times)

Here are some ways you can keep an edge in this profession known as Student Ministry:

1. Always be Learning something new! This is more than "being current" on what's going on around you.  What new technology, skill, principle can you be sharpening that God can bless.  What passage of Scripture have you heard 10,000 times that God wants to make new TODAY?!!
2. Work harder than everyone else. When you're working...WORK HARD!  I'm all in favor of a good "brain-break", "vacation", "day-off", "Sabbath" but when you're in the office, GET IT DONE!!!
3. Find some finishers. Seek out people who are willing to go the extra mile NOT just "get it done".  Personally those people make me want to...........on to the next bullet.
4. Harness a nothing to lose attitude. Sounds reckless huh?  Well in nature it is, but in principle it's exactly what's needed to keep the edge on emerging culture.
5. Put up OR .......... (You probably know the rest).  Either start producing/creating or rest in the sweet fate that you'll be what you've always been...You have to judge whether that's good or bad.
6. Do the hard work of follow-up. I'm as guilty as any in this field but follow up on everything!  If you want something done, see to it that it gets done, even if it's "handed off".  Especially if it's mission critical.

Here are some ways I do these around GSM (Granger Student Ministry):

1. I read a BOAT LOAD of youth culture blogs, articles, ebooks, psychology.
2. Making sure that I'm the hardest worker on the team. I'm constantly keeping the vision of what I'm processing out in front of my team so they know where I'm at.  Speed of the leader speed of the team!
3. I built a team of finishers along the way. Hiring some and retraining/re-calibrating others.
4. I "go for broke". I was hired to do anything short of sin to reach this generation for Christ...and that's exactly what I do! There's no need to hold anything back.  I have an "all-in" attitude.
5. Start GETTING STUFF DONE! We made lots of foundation, structural, and organizational changes that started instantly produces the kind of fruit we were looking for.
6. I have help with this one. I have some people specially gifted in this area to help me push along any of the things that have to come from me that I can't get done on my own.  Katie, my assistant, is the primary player in this role...she can flat out get stuff done!

Lastly, I do all of that while maintaining that people matter more than job descriptions, functions, and roles.  If you're so focussed on "keeping your edge" that you lose your team or lose the trust of your supervisors or volunteers...YOU'VE FAILED!

0

Leadership growth follow-up

I wrote about leadership growth HERE and figured I'd follow that post up with these thoughts that I try to remember. Things for leaders to remember:

1. great leaders continue to grow - whether you're making your strong skills even stronger or developing new underdeveloped skills, as a leader you should be growing.
2. we learn through practical experience - we learn when our jobs/roles/functions requires it. (this is just good to know, especially if you're saying "I haven't learned anything new in a while...it's most likely because your routine doesn't demand it.)  We're creatures of habit so doing the same thing 50 different ways never doesn't seem normal, efficient, or 'worth it' especially if we found 1 way to do it that works.  (Note that some of the best inventions have been made by people who did the same thing as someone else...they just did it differently AND BETTER!  (EXAMPLE: the Snuggie is just a backwards robe or a thicker hospital gown...yet it sold over 40 million 2 years go - couldn't find a current figure.)
3. varied experiences, in general, make for a broader range of leaderships skills - Not always, but usually.  If you're a 'laser-focused leadership model', then "focussed" skills are great, but if you're a 'utility player', a more diverse palette is usually better.  I don't personally believe that "broader is better" but I do know that varied experiences produces broader skill sets.  (In this economic market, broader may be better for the job hunt, but excellence becomes more of a challenge the broader you get)
4. Leadership implies followership - if no one is following you're not leading.  (I think John Maxwell might have said that first...or at least more recently)

Definitions for my made-up phrases: "Loser-focussed leadership model - you have one function and in your role all you do is that one function...nothing more, nothing less. "utility player" - you have a specific role but in reality your role requires that you do much more than what's in that one niche area.

0

Shouldn't take a new endeavors to grow

If you've seen ANY of my recent posts you know that I LOT has changed in my life over the last few days.  All of it has been amazing and definitely a pressure cooker for learning and growing. Brooke and I rolled into this whole 'having a child' thing not having ANY idea what it meant to be pregnant, have a child, or how to be parents...but that didn't stop us.

Sometimes it's great to just dive into new endeavors without having to have everything figured out!  We grew as a couple and had a ton of fun along the way!

With that said, I've had a few moments in the last few days to reflect on some leadership stuff.

One of things I've really learned from this all is that although new endeavors put a pressure cooker on learning and growing there are equally powerful learning experience in our current environments if we chose to see them.

There are ways to expand our leadership knowledge and skills right where we are.  It's easy to get bored and want to head off into a new adventure to learn, but if we desire to be a long-term, non-transient leader it would be great if we could constantly learn without having to jump ship completely to do it. This stuff applies in the workforce but also at home in our families.

Here's a few things you could do to jumpstart growth/learning in your current situation:

1. Reshape your current role - add new responsiblities, trade tasks with someone in your shoes, redo your "I'm the only person that can do this" list and see what can be added or removed.  If you love the vision but you're just stuck a little bit, ask your supervisor if you could "reshape your role a little bit" to help you maintain your growth pattern.   (He/she may find it hard because they hired you to do what you're doing, but a good supervisor who has the latitude will find a way to help you be the best you can be.)
2. Is there any short-term assignments you could take- what's a temporary task you could own/manage/lead that would allow you to stay connected to the vision that got your there in the first place, WHILE allowing you space to explore new stuff and recharge.  This allows you to sill fuel the vision but through another short-term function outside your department/area.
3. Seek challenges outside of normal environment - Maybe the role/position you're currently in can't change (for whatever reason) but think outside of that role to things like what volunteer role could you take, who could you partner with that working on a project you could assist with.  Again, this allows you to stay tied to the organization/family that you're apart of but will give you some new freedom to find what you're missing or lacking in your current situation.

When I was at Notre Dame studying business these were called "Development Assignments". (FYI: I wrote these pretty generic so they could apply to any home/work environment.

0

Leadership DNA

I was reading this article in Forbes this morning and loved this thought from Daniel Coyle's book, The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How.

Coyle looks at three basic elements of the development of talent: "ignition," which basically means motivation, "deep practice" and "master coaching."

Here's what I feel is the strongest key in this thought:  "Each is valuable on its own, but their convergence is the key to developing skill."

In his book, he offers practical real-life examples. For example, for deep practice, he writes about how Brazil emerged as a world hotbed for football even though until the 1950s it was nowhere on the world football map. He credits deep practice as developed by Brazilian youth when they indulged in a sport called "futsal"--football in a room, played with a ball half the size but twice the weight of an ordinary soccer ball. Futsal gave Brazilians deep practice and increased myelin effects to directly strengthen their skills on the football field.

Deep practice is a conscious activity, involving a cycle of distinct actions. Ignition is a hot, mysterious burst of passion, an awakening, and it is indispensible for firing up a person's motivation. Master coaching means guidance and feedback from a disciplined, committed coach. The development of great skill relies on the help of teachers who have the ability to nurture talent.

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Consistency Counts

Just saw a commercial that asked a great question for us to think about.

"Anyone can prove they're strong once, but can they prove it over and over again? ...CONSISTENCY COUNTS"

This is great reminder for us leaders!