I'm passing on to you something I'm going to share with our ministry collaboration team at church. It's from Patrick Lencioni. Five Dysfunctions of a Team Absence of Trust Trust is critical in building a high-performance team and lack of trust is very visible in a dysfunctional team. The most telltale sign of lack of trust is that no one would bring up any issue/problems which will show him/her weak or vulnerable. ‘Having the guard on all the time’ is a characteristic of a team member in a dysfunctional team. I remember my experience with a leadership team; even though the project was in very bad shape, the manager in charge would always talk about great things the team was accomplishing and any uttering by other team members to the contrary was termed by the leader as ‘lack of team work’! Needless to say, there was no trust in the…
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If you are a leader who believes in coaching, here are three quick tips to help you add value to the people you lead: Be Consistent. A good coach -- in baseball or in life -- knows that it takes multiple practices to master even the most basic skills. Even then, the skills must be taught in a consistent manner. A good coach values consistency and sticks to it. Make Relationships a Priority. We listen to those that we have relationships with. If the person being coached senses that you don't care about their needs, hopes, or dreams -- that it's only about your needs, hopes, and dreams -- then the relationship will break down. Ask Good Questions. When it comes to helping an employee master a new set of skills or walking your child through a difficult conflict, ask good questions. Help them clarify what is really happening. A…
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After being snowed out a few times, we finally had a softball tournament this past weekend. Hope played down in Castle Rock and did a great job. Here's a snapshot of an at-bat.
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It hit me about midway through our three Easter services that this morning was only the second time in 19 years I haven't preached on Easter. The only other time was in the months leading up to the grand opening of our church plant in San Diego -- when we didn't have any Sunday morning services. Truth be told, it felt a bit weird to not be preaching. I've always enjoyed the Easter crowd because it is so diverse in nature ... a challenge I find energizing and engaging. Plus, Easter lends itself to great themes which are fun to speak about: hope, redemption, transformation, and more. I'm learning to appreciate the different "angles" of worship. This morning, my view was from the side.
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Warning: a techie tip is about to follow. For the non-geeks in the crowd, feel free to play Solitaire for a few minutes. Actually ... even the non-geeks will appreciate this. Have you ever needed to edit a photo or image and not have Photoshop installed on your computer? It happens to me on my work laptop on a regular basis (I have Adobe C3 installed at home). Pixlr is a free online image editor that looks pretty slick. I took it for a test drive this afternoon and it will do two-thirds of what most people need to do (and maybe more). Check it out!
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