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Organizational Leadership

Positional Versus Relational Authority

By Business, Church Planting, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Team Leadership

I was sitting with a staff member recently who presented me an idea. I had reservations about the idea instantly. It was actually a “red flag” idea and I knew it. I love ideas, however, and I’m consistently encouraging our staff to dream, take risks, and improve upon what we are doing. So I listened intently and we discussed the pros and cons of the idea. The next day this staff member came back to tell me he had thought about our discussion and had changed his mind and was going a different direction. I was thrilled with “his” decision.

In that instance I used relational authority….

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The Posture of Leadership

By Business, Church Planting, Innovation, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Vision

It’s a strange phenomenon…I’ve seen people serve in leadership roles who I don’t even think are qualified to lead, yet they are leading and people are following. And, many times, they are achieving results…

The reason is not their abilities as much as the way they have positioned or presented themselves to a group of followers.

Here’s one principle of leadership:

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7 Ways to Prepare for More Effective Meetings

By Business, Church Planting, Encouragement, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Team Leadership

Successful projects and teams require meetings to accomplish goals and objectives of the organization. Busy leaders, however, are usually somewhat anti-meetings because of the interruption they appear to be in getting actual work done. I have found, however, that much of the frustration is found in the lack of proper preparation prior to the meeting. Although, when done well, the time spent in meetings can actually make projects better and strengthen the work of the organization. A large part of making meetings better is found in the preparation prior to the meeting.

Here are 7 ways to prepare for more effective meetings:

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10 Questions with Leader Brad Lomenick – Catalyst

By Business, Church, Church Planting, Interviews, Leadership, Organizational Leadership

Brad Lomenick leads the Catalyst Leader team that is helping to shape the leadership culture in many churches today. Before leading the charge on Catalyst, he helped lead a cool magazine called Life@Work and did consulting with lots of companies. Brad’s position with Catalyst gives him access to some great leaders. I thought it would be interesting to hear from his perspective on leadership. You can follow Brad on Twitter HERE.

Here are 10 questions with Brad Lomenick:

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An Interview about My Leadership Style

By Church Planting, Interviews, Leadership, Organizational Leadership

A young man who attends our church is seeking a leadership degree. Recently he interviewed me for a paper he was required to write. I ask his permission and decided to share my answers here.

What type of leadership do you mostly exhibit?

The leader should paint the vision, hire the right people, and then release them to do their job. I try to get out of the way of people who are doing good work.

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How is Your Organization Handling Conflict?

By Business, Change, Church Planting, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Team Leadership

Recently the staff at Grace Community Church talked through conflict and its benefit for us. Sometimes an organization can become too polite with each other and conflict is avoided or ignored in an effort to protect the relationship or to avoid the tension conflict creates. Other times one person tends to control a situation without allowing other people’s input, either for selfish reasons or to keep conflict from developing. The problem with these approaches is that some of the best ideas are never implemented because we don’t push through the messiness of conflict to get to the right answers.

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Inviting Evaluation from the People I Lead

By Church, Leadership, Organizational Leadership

Every year I allow the staff at Grace Community Church to evaluate me. I realize this works for some and not for others, but for me it is a part of my plan to continually evaluate and improve my leadership skills and success. I set up a system, this year it was Survey Monkey that allows them to remain anonymous in answering the questions. Hopefully, this helps them be more honest with me than if they had to sign their name. I tell them in advance that I’m looking to improve myself, not to feel bad about myself, so I ask them to be respectful in their response, but truthful.

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