Leadership

As I grow and develop as a leader, I'm becoming more convinced than ever that there are certain core competencies every leader must have -- not that they are nice to have or should have ... but ones they must have.  So, with that in mind, here is the first in what may be a series of posts about core competencies. Core competency: Clarity.  A leader must be clear about multiple things: Why they lead Where they are leading Why others should follow them there What values they will refuse to violate What they expect from those they lead Clarity brings focus to situations that otherwise might get fuzzy.  Clarity itself is a form of discipline, pushing us to define what it is we're trying to do -- and what it is we're not trying to do.  Getting to the point of clarity is nearly as beneficial as reaching the…

The following is good advice from Tony Morgan about how to clearly communicate next steps.  In a church environment, next steps are those steps people need to take in order to mature in their faith.  Here are Tony's suggestions: ***************** How do we avoid noise? clarify the mission, vision and values develop a focused strategy consistency in your messages; branding/voice/personality (exercise with sample communications) prioritize messages (all-church vs. ministry-specific) eliminate competing messages (say "no")

After two weeks of a toothache getting progressively worse, I finally went to the dentist on Monday.  I'm thinking I'll probably get a filling and be back at work by noon.  Instead, two hours later I'm waiting to have an oral surgeon remove my upper two wisdom teeth.  Sedation in oral surgery is a wonderful thing.  The last thing I remember is asking the dentist where he went to school and then I went night-night. You might have played leap frog as a kid.  I wouldn't recommend it for those over forty; you might pull a muscle in the process.  Then again, it might just be the next big YouTube moment. As adults, we still play leap frog, only the jumps are different.  We start down one thought process only to have God point us in a different direction.  We leap frog over where we thought we would be to…

If you've read my blog before, you know that I'm a big believer in small changes.  A small change done consistently over time has the potential to bring about big results.  In that spirit, I'm passing on to you the following article about small changes. ****************** Smarter lunchrooms lead kids to eat more salad Laura Smith, a researcher at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, presented the findings of the study "Convenience Drives Choice in School Lunchrooms" at this week's Experimental Biology conference in Anaheim, Calif. In a year-long study in an upstate New York middle school, researchers examined the effect of moving the salad bar to a more prominent location in the cafeteria. Results show that sales of certain salad bar items increased by 250-300%. "It wasn't a big move," Smith explained. "From its original location against a wall, we moved the salad bar out about four feet, in…

This past weekend at Mountainview our message focused on finding strength in our weaknesses.  This blog post from Mac Lake is a great addition to the discussion. ***************** If we want to maximize the God given opportunities of our lives then it’s essential that we operate in our strengths.  Marcus Buckingham defines a strength as “consistent near perfect performance in an activity.” This is a simple but profound description of a strength.  When we operate in our strengths results come easy, our work is almost effortless and we experience a deep sense of satisfaction and joy. While I’m a big proponent of knowing and developing strengths, yesterday I sat down and did an inventory of my weaknesses.  It was a very insightful and helpful exercise to begin my week.  As leaders there are times we need to focus on our weaknesses…not to develop them but to design systems and structures…