As I round out this list that I began the other day and reflect on it, I find myself thinking, “It just doesn’t seem that difficult to me.” After all these are things that any leader can do, right? But why do so few actually seem to employ such simple tactics? There’s probably a grocery list of reasons, including the excuse of simply being too busy. But at the foundation of it I believe lays an addiction to progress that is rooted in basic insecurities that are found in many leaders (and “regular” people too by the way). Often times as leaders we are so wound up in advancing the mission of the organization we're leading, that we forget the most important resource we have is our people. And the most important step you can take in advancing the mission of your organization is developing the people on your team.

#5 Personal Touch

Most Churches don’t employ hundreds of employees. In fact most Churches don’t employ more than 10 employees. As a result you’ve got something going for you that large Corporations don’t, the personal touch. You don’t have to plow through layers in a complex organization; people can have access to you (the leader). That’s a good thing, unless you don’t like people, and in that case you’re in the wrong business.

#6 On-going Education

One way that you can show value to your team and develop them is to provide them with the opportunity to advance their education. This can go as far as completely paying for their schooling, to subsidizing it, to simply giving them time to pursue another degree.

#7 Annual Retreats

This may seem like the ultimate no-brainer on the list. But you’d be surprised at how many teams that should be leading together never get away together. If you can’t afford a week do one night. If you can’t afford a night find someone in the Church who has a great place for the team to be together for a day. A change of environment and pace is absolutely necessary at moments to think and interact differently.

#8 Monthly Leadership Advances

One simple step that you can take this month is to get your Staff or Lay Team together at one meeting with the sole purpose of advancing the leadership of those in the room. Begin building this into a monthly habit and you’ll be surprised how this simple step will help change the culture of the organization.

#9 Take advantage Internal Resources

Believe it or not, you are sitting on a goldmine of leadership development resources in your congregation right now. There are many sharp godly business leaders sitting in your church every week. Most of these men and women would be happy to share their leadership knowledge and experience with you and your team. The problem? No one has ever asked them.

KEYWORDS: employee, staff, development, training, personal touch, education, retreat
CATEGORIES: Leadership • Pastoring •
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on Aug 24 10
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U.S. Companies invest 100’s of millions of dollars annually into the development and education of their employees in the hope that as their workforce grows, so will the company bottom line. Most Pastors however feel as though they can’t compete with the level of training that is done in Corporate America with both external and internal corporate trainers, massive learning institutes that are unique to their specific industry, and well funded and well tuned employee development plans. In fact, while a large majority of Pastors feel as though they have the responsibility to develop and train their Staff or their lay leaders, they are often left feeling discouraged, under resourced and poorly equipped to do so. So how can we in the Church World best create and leverage learning opportunities for our teams? While the list that follows may seem familiar, as you dig into it you'll find that this isn't as easy as it first may seem. After all, if developing people were so easy everyone would do it wouldn't they?

#1 Attend Conferences

There is no shortage of Church Leadership Conferences out there to pick and choose from. Why not create a group learning experience by going to one of these together with your team once a year. If you don’t have the resources to do that, then hit a satellite site of Willow’s Leadership Summit or the Chick-fil-A Leadercast. If you can’t do that then pick up the DVD’s of Summit or Catalyst and watch the best ones together with your team and debrief them.

#2 Bring in Local Church Leaders

You know that large church in town? Why not invite the Lead Pastor to come and spend some time with your Staff or Team? The majority of those guys would be happy to come and spend some time investing in your team, and while you’re at it take them to lunch or coffee and get some one on one time with them (soak up as much as you can). Sometimes it just takes someone else saying the same thing you’ve been saying a different way for it to catch on. Other times it’s helpful to have a set of experienced and fresh eyes to speak into things.

#3 Read Together

There is no shortage of books, magazines, and blogs that tackle the vast array of leadership struggles that the average Pastor and Church Leaders struggle with. Many even have curriculum that have been built around them for group interaction and debriefing, and application to your specific setting.

#4 Create and debrief secret shopper experiences

Identify a handful of local churches within an hour drive time that seem to be doing an effective job at reaching their community and send teams to visit them on the weekend. Yes, give your team a Sunday off and send them off at various times in groups of 3 or 4 with a prearranged set of items to pay attention to (parking, campus signage, overall guest service experience, check-in for kids, worship service, teaching style, use of technology, etc.). Have the group grab lunch afterwards to debrief and report to the overall team later.

KEYWORDS: employee, staff, development, training, conference, secret shopper, catalyst, summit, leadercast
CATEGORIES: Leadership • Pastoring • General •
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on Aug 22 10
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Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time at a satellite site taking in the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit with some of the best Team Members in the world. So I thought I’d drop a couple posts here this week with some of my notes, observations, and takeaways from spending a few days of learning with the North Metro Staff. The next post I’ll drop I’ll throw out there is a “Next Steps” list of how to take all this information and actually do something with it.

#5 Leaders help the organization navigate the Land Between “here, and there”

When you’re in the desert between, “here and there,” not much grows, but it is fertile ground for the following and it is the job of the leader to lead through these things: 1) Complaining 2) Emotional Melt Down 3) God’s Provision 4) God’s Discipline 5) Transformational Growth

#6 Leaders must nurture an organizational structure that moves the organization towards its mission

In a Lattice Structure the following are true: 1) Structure doesn’t means roles 2) Decision Making shifts based on knowledge base 3) Leadership is defined by followship 4) People get believed in 5) Leadership is acknowledged not given

#7 Leaders must keep their teams motivated

A larger reward leads to a better work performance when it comes to repetitive technical job skills, i.e. building a car on an assembly line. However a larger reward leads to a poorer performance when it comes to cognitive skilled jobs. There are three basic motivators to leverage: #1 Biological (basic physical drives and needs) #2 Economic (rewards & punishment) #3 Artistic (passions & interest).

#8 Leaders must excite and energize the people

Nobody grew up as a kid dreaming of working for GE in an office, where motivation is limited to only money and recognition. But they did grow up dreaming of working for a non-profit with a sense of calling or conviction that serves as a built in motivator.

#9 The goal of the Leader is not to retain people

Confidants: Those who are for you regardless of what you are for / Constituents: Those who are not for you but you are for / Comrades: Those who are not for you or for what you are for, but are against what you are against

Other compact thoughts that have great implications:

• Trust evicts complaints

• Time does not heal all things

• Innovation comes out of environments of collaboration

• The workplace is often the most feedback deprived place on the planet

• The #1 motivator at work is that people feel as though they are making progress

• Non Profit DOES NOT equal non performance

• You must have candor in your organization, hallway whispers are deadly

• Builders can take nothing and make something

• Bankers can’t build it but operate it and make it functional

KEYWORDS: leadership, summit, organization, land between, structure, motivation, energize, retention
CATEGORIES: Leadership • Pastoring • General •
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on Aug 12 10
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