Leadership

"Starbucks is not a coffee company that serves people. It is a people company that serves coffee, and human behavior is much more challenging to change than any muffin recipe or marketing strategy." -- Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks, as quoted in BNET

For any church to remain healthy, grow, and expand, the leadership must be about duplication -- the art of equipping others to do the work of ministry as God has gifted them.  The temptation most ministers face is to be doers, not duplicators. It might stem from insecurity ("What if they do it better?") or pride ("I'm the only one who can do it right").  Either way, being a doer stunts the church by capping the growth at the ceiling of our individual abilities. Are you a duplicator or doer?

Here's a simple truth: if you're not doing what you love to do, you'll either burn out or rust. Does this mean we ALWAYS do what we love one hundred percent of the time?  Of course not.  It does mean you should be over the fifty percent point, and I would even suggest you should be tipping the two-thirds mark. Pursue your passion.

Marcus Buckingham says that the most ineffective staff people are like “sundials in the shade.”  It's not a matter of ability or talent or desire.  The real question is this: do we have them in the right role? As you lead teams of people -- be that at church, work, or home -- one of your primary tasks is to help place people in the right positions.  Whenever talent is misaligned, no one is happy.  In fact, misplaced talent will eventually erode if it's not being continually sharpened or utilized. Do you have any sundials in the shade?

If you are a visionary leader, you live to see the big picture.  While others are thinking about lunch, your mind is five years down the road.  And that's ok.  As long as you enable your team to fill in the picture.  Until the big picture gets filled in with color and details, it's not really a vision; it's a nice thought.