Tweet I’m an idea guy. Ideas are plentiful, I know, but I tend to have more than average. As a leader in an organization, that means I throw out a…
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Tweet People follow the leader… Because… One of the key aspects of being a leader is leading… Leaders have a vision that includes other people… Leaders are typically the ones…
A couple of young guys made an appointment and came to my office recently to pitch me an idea for a new ministry they hope to start. They had been told I have a passion to empower people to follow their dreams and callings. I instantly loved their heart and the new ministry, but what intrigued me was how nervous they were making the presentation. I understand, because any kind of presentation like can be nerve-racking, and we are a large church, but I’m also their pastor. It made me wonder if I had ever done anything to make them nervous about approaching me. I concluded that it was just the situation, and not our relationship, but it caused a healthy reflection for me for other areas of my leadership.
It forced me to ask how the people on our staff…the people I work with everyday…the ones I call a “team” feel about approaching me with an idea, an issue, or even a criticism or concern. That’s one reason I periodically ask our team this question as part of an annual evaluation process. (Read about that HERE.)
In my opinion, if you are a leader, the way the people you lead approach you says much about the quality of that leadership.
Here are 7 questions to consider about the way people approach you as a leader:
As the organization grows, a leader’s role begins to change.
I have a friend who leads a growing organization. The speed of the growth could easily rouse my friend’s controlling nature, but he’s a good enough leader to recognize his weakness in this area. He knows that in order for the organization to continue to grow, he must resist the tendency to direct every decision.
How does a potential controlling leader handle a situation like this?
Tweet Some of the best leaders on your team… Have yet to be recruited… Will have to be asked… Are anxious to serve… Need this in their…
Tweet Recently I gave our staff this exercise. This is a preference assessment. Basically, if you could only choose one option, which would you choose from the four figures shown?…
Tweet (Update: You can read the results of this post HERE.) If you have read my blog for more than a year, then you know that one of the personal…
A team…at least a healthy team…is not just a group of people who perform a common task. That may be a group, but it shouldn’t be called a team. I’ve written on healthy teams before:
10 Characteristics of a Healthy Team
Signs of an Emotionally Healthy Team
You can tell a healthy team by how it responds to each other and how it performs as a team.
A healthy team:
We have a healthy team. It’s full of grace, which works well, since that word is in our name. We consistently laugh together. We encourage each other to accomplish our goals. As a leader, I solicit feedback consistently. (I even allow the staff to anonymously evaluate me each year. Read about that process HERE.) We are generally flexible and laid back as an organization, yet we accomplish much towards our mission. I’ve worked in lots of environments and this is a good one…a healthy place to work. I’ve written articles about healthy teams, many of them based on the team on which I serve. (Read some of them HERE, HERE, or HERE.) I think our team would agree.
Still, I’m not sure we have eliminated what I call organizational fear. I’m not sure there is 100% freedom to share what’s on a person’s heart. I consistently address this concern. I’ve even said that sometimes we are too “nice” as an organization. We need to challenge more, even enter into healthy conflict, but sometimes it seems we are timid towards sharing our true feelings; especially some on the team. Problems exist…people see them…they continue for months…everyone recognizes something is wrong….yet no ones brings them to the surface. This is not a huge problem, or we wouldn’t be as healthy or successful as we are, but for whatever reason, some I may not understand, team members at times shy away from sharing what’s really on their mind.
Why is that? ….
I love the Whiteboard application on my iPad. I find myself using it to teach, when sitting with someone, think in pictures, and recently, just to scribble out a quick thought. I decided to periodically share some of them with you here: