In my pursuit for consistent improvement in my own life I am opening myself up to new approach. I will attempt to ask more questions to keep people accountable. I will visit people’s offices more frequently. I will eat more lunches with my staff. I will do a better job of tracking individual progress. It is not a matter of trust but a matter of recognizing the responsibility that I have been given and the individuality of the people I lead.
One of the most damaging expressions in a team environment is the phrase “that’s not my job†or “that’s not my area of responsibilityâ€. Thankfully I have never heard that said at Grace Community Church. Sadly it is far too common in organizations that claim to be a team environment. I talk with people on staffs frequently who feel they are on an island by themselves within the organization and no one ever helps them think through a problem, recruit volunteers for their area, or lend a hand during crunch times.
I believe and practice the concept of team leadership. I want people in our organization that will assume ownership of an individual task and follow through with the responsibility of seeing projects completed well. We have a shared leadership philosophy at Grace Community Church and I have posted about the need for a leader to “give their vision away†to people he or she trust to make it better.
We are seeing good news about the economy this week. Here is a recap of some I found today:
If you are like me you want to see consistent improvement in your organization. Sometimes I can be overly critical because I have such high hopes and expectations for us as a church. At times I can become a bit overwhelmed with all the things I think need to be tweaked, completely overhauled or killed altogether.
Recently I delivered a message to our church about the type of work ethic Christians should have. You can watch that message HERE or listen to it HERE. There were thoughts in preparing to speak that I could not fit into my time allotted for the message, but I felt were important enough to share. This is one of those thoughts.
Shai Agassi is a 40 year old wildly successful founder of Better Place, a company deep into the green energy production boom. He left a very lucrative career with software giant SAP just before they were to name him CEO to take a giant leap towards his dream. Harvard Business Review recently interviewed him. Here is an excerpt from that interview.
I was talking with a friend recently who said one of his biggest turnoffs to Christianity, before he became a believer, was a Christian who freely talked about his faith, but had the worst work ethic in the company where both of them worked.
This is a re-post from November, but it is back by request. Several people have asked me lately how I accomplish as much as I do. Here’s my plan:
If you aren’t doing so already, I want to encourage you to plan your week for efficiency. Every Monday (or Sunday night if you prefer), as the first thing you do, consider the week ahead. Follow this formula:
The simple fact is that economies like this cause all companies (and churches) to get better, refine what they offer, or close. The organizations who survive will be stronger and better, creating real value to the economy through jobs, local investments, owner equity and long-term growth.
