Tweet I’ve meditated quite a bit on this question: What is a leader’s most important trait? Is it charisma? Is it intelligence? Is it wisdom? Is it people skills? Well,…
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Tweet I remember talking with a young hurting pastor just after he resigned from his church. For several years he had attempted to restore a dying church into a healthy…
Not everyone will agree with you and/or even like you. If you lead anything, someone will disagree with your decisions and you will divide people into different opinions. (There has never been a president with 100% approval ratings.) Leaders must be prepared to lead towards the vision of the organization, even when it means losing approval ratings.
Tweet Part of my job as a leader is helping people I lead get better at what they do – which can only happen if I’m continually improving myself. Continual…
Tweet I’ve worked with a lot of new leaders over the years. Even more so – I’ve been one. Numerous times throughout my more than 35 years leadership career I’ve…
The fact that an Introvert is in crowds of people does not mean he or she is any more comfortable beginning conversations. It also doesn’t mean the Introvert has no care or concern for the people in the room or that he or she doesn’t like being around people. It’s that an Introvert’s preferred interaction with people is often more of listening than it is of talking and more one-to-one than speaking in large groups at the same time.
Tweet You said this… They heard this… It meant this much to you… It meant this much to them…. Your words are powerful As a parent As a leader As…
I was helping someone think strategically recently. We were looking at this person’s ministry, trying to design a system, which would allow for continual growth and improvement. The ministry has grown rapidly and the leader barely feels she can keep up with the current demands. She recognizes the need to delegate, grow new leaders, and spread out responsibility and ownership, but she can’t seem to get past the current demands of details to develop a plan to do so.
Have you ever been there?
Tweet Whenever I post about the subject of introversion I hear from fellow introverts. Some of these are apparently even more introverted than me. And, that’s a lot of introversion….
Tweet I’m blessed with so many pastor friends. I have the opportunity, through my blog and personal ministry, to interact with hundreds of pastors every year. After hearing many of…
Tweet Do you want to be a part of a healthy team? Do you like simple? Maybe we’ve made this more complicated than it has to be. I think there…
I was talking with someone the other day about my experience with church planting. As I told my personal story, I kept using words such as “our” and “we”. Towards the middle of the conversation the person stopped me and asked, “Who’s ‘we’?” I was talking about me the whole time, but I confused him with my verbiage. I wasn’t trying to be confusing. It’s just a habit I’ve formed. I love teams and team-building and I’ve learned that developing a team vocabulary is a large part of encouraging healthy teams.
I cringe when I hear leaders use the words “I”, “me, and “my” when referring to their team, their church or organization. To me it always sounds so controlling, prideful, and arrogant. As an example, Ben Reed is our small groups pastor at Grace Community Church. He’s an amazing leader. I would give anything to have been where he is at his age when I was that same age. When I refer to him, I don’t say “He’s my small groups guy”. He’s not! He’s our small groups guy. I don’t want to portray to him or others that I control him. I would be limiting his potential if I refer to him in a possessive sense.
I understand it’s just semantics, but to me it’s an important one for leaders to think through. If we truly want to create a team environment, then we must have team vocabularies.
There are a few times when I use the personal words, such as:
Tweet I will never forget a sobering question I received a couple years ago. I was on my last day of vacation at the beach and had just finished my…
Tweet I am not sure why you would want to, but just in case you ever did, I know some keys to creating an unhealthy team. Seriously, I realize no…
Tweet Twenty things good dads do… They challenge. When the challenge comes from dad we listen seriously. We know its being said with a loving concern. They inspire. Great dads…