Leadership

If you're not excited about where you're going, why would I want to follow you there? Certainly there are seasons when we just don't feel all that "rah-rah" about what we're doing.  I've had mornings when I really wanted to stay home, consume mass quantities of coffee, and then fix more coffee for the afternoon.  Dry spells come and go and it is the challenge of every leader to forge ahead. On the other hand, if we feel no passion about what we're doing -- or why we're doing it -- then the lack of passion will leak out into other areas.  We will tolerate mediocre when we should be shooting for excellent.  We'll be tempted to cut corners.  Our attitude will inspire no one, except those who get inspired by a lack of inspiration. An effective leader is one who has a sense of passion about what they're doing. …

One of the downsides to living in an age that prizes tolerance is that convictions are becoming harder to come by. An effective leader may lack many various things, but one thing he or she doesn't lack is convictions.  They come hard-wired with a set of values, principles, and beliefs that they refuse to compromise on.  It's what sets apart effective leaders from those that are just strolling in the park. For effective pastoral leaders, a key conviction is that people matter to God and therefore should matter to the church. For effective business leaders, a key conviction is that they will not cut corners when it comes to safety. For effective coaches, a key conviction is that every person has the potential to contribute and will contribute when given the tools to do so. In every leadership environment, convictions form the backbone of decisions.  They form the fodder for…

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…