Things to Check Out

Here’s the weekly sampling of some great content:

Ben Arment – had two interesting posts about leading others.  The first, People are Committed Right Up Until the Moment They Leave, reminds us to check in with those we lead and make sure they’re still on track.  Just because they show up and seem committed doesn’t mean everything is okay.  The second, Connectors, invites us to think strategically when building a movement about how to grow that movement.  Providing resources and time to influence influencers might be more effective that the shotgun approach.

Carey Nieuwhof – wrote a series of posts on building margin into your life and living out of the overflow.  As we spend out time more strategically, then we can actually accomplish more by doing less.  Check out Less is More, Moving to Less for More, and Making Margin – those you lead and those you love will benefit greatly.

Brad Lomenick – wrote about Sideways Energy in your life and in your organization - at the end he gives a few tips to help deal with the problem.

Casey Ross is continuing the customer service conversation with a list of what customers wantand some questions you should ask about your organizations/environments.  He also had the latest installment in a series of posts about the difference HOW can make.

Bobby Gruenewald – posted What the Church can Learn from Google Pt. 2 – incremental improvements matter.

Leaders as DNA

I read an interesting post from Ben Arment on Monday – Pastor as DNA.  The premise is that organizations reflect the strengths and weaknesses of their leaders.  Here’s part of what Ben had to say:

“our churches end up looking just like us. It just happens. Our passions turn into vision. Our blind-spots become the church’s neglect. Because vision is not just what we say… but what we fail to talk about. If we’re not into small groups, neither will our churches. If we’re not generous, our leaders will be hoarders.”

You reproduce yourself in the environments you lead.  If there are things that aren’t going well and you just can’t seem to put your finger on it - take look at yourself.  If your kids have a quick temper – chances are they got it from mom or dad.  If your employees aren’t trusting and don’t give the benefit of the doubt, but they weren’t that way when they came to work for you.  Hmm…?  I’m not saying it’s all you, because everyone you lead is exposed to multiple influences every day; however, you might consider examining the influence of your leadership earlier in the process instead of making it a last resort.

The good things is, now you know.  “And knowing is half the battle!”  Now we all have the opportunity to think hard about what we want to reproduce in others and in our organizations/environments as a whole.  There’s a chance to be more intentional.  The big question is, “What about all those things you don’t want to reproduce?”  I don’t have a lot of answers, but try looking for others in your organization/environments that counter the negatives.  One possibility is to bring people on board as part of your leadership team that have the qualities you want to pass on to your team, but lack yourself.

What are some areas where you’re proud to reproduce in others?  What are a few things that you hope others don’t pick up from you?

Things to Check Out

Here are some interesting finds from the last week:

Pastor Steven Furtick had a great reminder about empowerment – if you’re going to accomplish great things, you can’t do it all yourself.  You must empower others to get things done.

Bobby Gruenewald spoke about Idea Persistence at Swerve and the concept that people initially buy-in to you (i.e. relationship) more than the idea.  Later in the week it was followed up with a post entitled, What the Church Should Learn from Google,” about making your “interface” simple.  Definitely worth the read, especially for those who love to think about systems.

Jenni Catron is the executive director of Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN.  I’ve been reading her blog for a few weeks.  She had a great post about the myth of the phrase, “everyone’s replaceable.”

Seth Godin wrote about Breakage – how far are you stretching your relationships with customers, family, friends, co-workers, employees?

Katya offered a good reminder about listening.  This was great for me, because I often get distracted when a lot of things are going on around me.  Check the post out, here.

Leadership is Stewardship

“…it’s temporary and you’re accountable.” So says Andy Stanley.  This line has been repeated many times, and chances are you’ve heard it at one point or another.  It serves as the tag line on the intro to the Catalyst Podcast, and spoke about this recently in the Letters to the Next President series – you can watch the messages from that series, here

If you like to think about things, like I do, then after you’ve heard this for a while you might ask, “Stewards of what?”  While there are many things that leaders are entrusted to steward, here are two of the most important.  A leader is a Steward of Vision, and a Steward of People.  I wish I could take credit for the idea, but it came from a friend of my who used to be a consultant. 

Steward of Vision – As a leader you’re entrusted with communicating and advancing the vision of the organization.  If you’re the top leader, you may also be responsible for formulating the vision.  Any leader in an organization is charged with protecting the integrity of the vision, which means ensuring that it is communicated clearly and consistently from the top to the bottom.  This idea also means guarding against vision leaks, attempts by others (intentional or unintentional) to hijack the vision, and fighting for the vision.  Rest assured, there are fun parts too – like celebrating wins, honoring those who help you advance your vision, constantly engaging in something that you deeply believe in, and the sense of satisfaction when you see others ”get it.”   

Steward of People- As a leader, you’ve been entrusted with the organization’s most important resource – people.  This is a huge responsibility and privilege.  You get to bring people along with you. For those inside your organization it means caring for them, developing them as leaders, leaving them better than you found them, and helping them to succeed.  It can mean caring more about them than the work they do for you (work matters, but not at the expense of the relationship).  For those outside your organization, it can mean designing the systems that are the means of interacting with your organization with them in mind.  You’re a steward of the interactions you have, because they can speak volumes about your organization and it’s vision.

How have you been a steward of vision lately?  How are you stewarding the people and relationships in your life?

Things to Check Out

This week’s installments of things that I found helpful or interesting:

Seth Godin – had a great post about time stewardship.  If you’re clamoring for my attention, then please respect my time.  Read more here.

Carey Nieuwhof – offered an important reminder about the people that you interact with every day.  They all have Stories.  You never know what someone is bringing with them in your interaction or is going to face after they leave your presence.  You get to interact with them for a short time – are you ready to engage their story?

Tony Morgan- posted a quote by Erwin McManus from a recent article about the role of pastors as “curators of human talent.”  Go here to read the full quote.

Jud Wilhite wrote on the Deadly Viper Blog about not underestimating the process.  Lots of success stories don’t even involve launches. 

My friend, Ryan W. Fitzgerald unveiled the newly redesigned Fitzblog.net, and had a strong post about getting what you pay for.  Decisions you make early on in the life of an organization can set precedents and have an impact on your organization in the future.

Are You In? or Out?

I read a post by Ben Arment this week the made me think back to a post I wrote a few weeks ago.  I related my struggle with being too critical and easily turning into The Jerk!  My encouragement to myself and others like me was to “jump in anyway and try to make a difference.  Get on board.”  The gist of Ben’s post - What Complaining Says About You – is that if you’re a leader, instead of complaining you should lead through the problem.  This line towards the end really caught my attention:

History in the Making: What Complaining Says About You via kwout

In the next sentence he says about complaining, “It’s admitting that you’re a follower and not a leader.”  While I’m not sure I agree with this statement.  I definitely agree with the previous sentence.  Complaining is a sign of giving up.  Sure, you may not have quit yet and you may not leave your job, organization, leadership post, et. al. for months or even years; but, if you find yourself spending more time complaining about a situation or relationship or system than you do investing time in solutions - you’ve probably already given up.  Even if you would never say you’ve given up yet – you probably have. 

Here’s the good news – there are two choices.  One is to quit.  If possible, stop investing time in something that you’ve already given up on.  Use your resources elsewhere.  You’ll be happier and it’s quite possible that everyone else will be as well.  The second choice is to re-engage.  It’s possible that you’re still needed to transform and lead through the situation – you’ve just become soft or lazy or distracted.  In fact, you may be one of the only people that can lead your organization, family, volunteer team up, around, through or out of this situation.

I’m still working through what both of these options look like for me.  Either way – I agree with Ben – stop complaining and start doing something.  What do you need to quit?  Where do you need to re-engage? 

I’d love to hear your thoughts…

Things to Check Out

Below is this week’s list of things that caught my eye:

The Amp- is designed for next generation worship leaders (13-22 year olds).  This idea has the potential to substantially impact the next generation of the Church as a whole.  Carlos wrote about The Amp this week on his blog, check it out, here.  If you are a next gen worship leader or you know one then sign up/get them signed up now for the September 20th Amp Saturday at www.youaretheamp.com!  Hurry, registration ends Sept. 8th!

Craig had a series of 3 posts on the blog about questions.  These were really enjoyable to me, because I’m a question asker.  I love questions.  Things would be good in life if I had a job where I got paid to ask questions a lot of the time.  Asking these questions and seeking the answers will transform your organization.  General Questions, Staffing Questions, Peer to Peer Questions.

Seth Godin – I know, I know, a lot of his posts are great.  This one is really important though – Fixing the One Big Thing.  What would it take to dramatically improve someone’s perception of your or your organization – it may be easier than you think.  What if you just had to fix one thing – one big thing.

Casey Ross- had a thought-provoking post on environments.  I’m sure this is not the last you’ll hear from him about this concept, and it’s possible that some future posts on this blog will be inspired by it as well.  Bottom line – if you have ANYTHING to do with systems in your organization(s), the list of questions at the bottom of his post are crucial for you to interact with.  Check out, Systems Can Be Environments: Part Two.

Brad Lomenick - great post about how NASCAR has created Raving Fans.  If you’re at all interested in Customer Service, you should also read the book Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles

Andy’s leadership podcast – my first response is – this is exciting.  My second response – it’s about time.  Go here to subscribe – now

Review – The Faith of Barack Obama

I’ve had the chance to read The Faith of Barack Obama, by Stephen Mansfield over the past couple of weeks.  At the time I hadn’t begun diving into all the information that’s scattered across the political landscape this election year, so I thought this would be as good a place as any to start.

The information in this book is important to understand, not only for the purpose of being able to make informed decisions on election day, but also because of the rise of the role of faith in this election cycle.  It is crucial to understand, as much as one can, the faith of someone who could be leading our nation and have a role in the faith dialogue of our country over the next four years.  There are definite benefits to knowing someones history and journey, because one way or another their past impacts their present and future.  As I read there were encouraging ideas and concerning ideas.  Here are some items of interest from the book:

• The prominent role that faith is playing in the current election is a product of “three historic shifts:  the loss of the Religious Right’s national leadership, the drift of born again voters toward the Democratic Party, and the religiously liberal pro-Obama lean of young voters.”
• “For a Religious Left just reclaiming its political voice, the marketplace of religious ideas in American politics was more open than at any time in a generation.”
• Obama’s faith history is he result of an amalgamation of religious influences and ideas.  Speaking of his families time in Indonesia, the author writes, “His life was  religious swirl.  He lived in a largely Muslim country.  He prayed at the feet of a Catholic Jesus.  he attended a mosque with his stepfather and learned Islam in his public school.  At home, his mother taught him her atheistic optimism.”   
• Mansfield also speaks of Obama’s time at Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago, and his relationship with the controversial Jeremiah Wright.
• There are some concerning statements about Barack’s conversion experience.  “He does not use the language of the traditional convert to Christianity.  He is the product of a new, post-modern generation that picks and chooses its own truth from traditional faith, much as a man customizes his meal at a buffet…He says that he was seeking a ‘vessel’ for his values, a ‘community of shared traditions in which to ground my most deeply held beliefs.’”

One of the most interesting and beneficial chapters compared the faith journeys of John McCain, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.  Overall I’m glad I read it this book, because I feel more informed about one of the potential candidates.  Thanks again to the good people at Thomas Nelson.  I think this book provides good information about an issue not only important to this election, but also for years to come.  If you’d like to purchase a copy you can do so at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Borders.

Other resources:  See an interview here, with the author Stephen Mansfield about why he thinks this book is important.  Check out Letters to the Next President, where you have the opportunity to write a letter to the next President, read what others have written, and to listen to some ideas that are important concerning the qualities of a leader.

Connecting Leaders to Your Organization

Had a great conversation with a friend this weekend about high-capacity leaders in the church.  It was originally inspired by a set of posts from Ben Arment over a month ago.  We talked a lot about identifying and connecting high-capacity leaders to your organization.  Here are some statements/ideas I’m processing after our discussion:

•  When someone jumps into and even buys into what’s going on in your organization, they may not be as on-board as you think.  It’s quite possible that they’ve only bought-in at a surface level.  They’re excited and willing to give of their time, but it could just be that they want to be a part of the “something special” that’s going on in your organization.
• The most committed people will actually defend the vision when it’s under attack.  Their language changes from “a decision, the vision, that vision,” to “my decision, my/our vision, my                (insert organization type here).
• Some roles are standard, can be reproduced, and are almost “plug-and-play.”  However, it may be beneficial to craft other roles around the strengths and giftings of your high-capacity leaders.  So – if you don’t have a role that fits a high-capacity leader who’s ready to commit to your organization – Create One.
•  Use key, large events (1-3/yr) to connect leaders you want in your organization.  Ask them for a short-term commitment to help with one of these special events, and see if they’re a good fit.  If so, challenge them to a long-term commitment.  Give them an opportunity to be a part of seeing the vision in action.

What about you?  How are you connecting high-capacity leaders in your organization?  What’s your recruitment process?  How have you seen the benefits in your organization?