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Organizational Leadership

Preparing to Recover in the Moment

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

Yesterday morning I was scheduled to do the welcome at Grace Community Church. After the first song, I was scheduled to come on stage, welcome people to the service, and we would continue worship. It was that simple. Before the second service, I was in a meeting in another part of the building. All of a sudden I thought to look at the time. The service had started and I was late. I jumped up and started running for the auditorium. I arrived just in time to hear one of our worship leaders covering for my absence. I was mortified. Thankfully, Dustin covered for me.

The incident, however, served a purpose, because I was reminded of an important principle

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November 1, 2010
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Iron Sharpens Iron – Learn From Your Team

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

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

This verse has inspired me over the years, but recently I saw it in a different context for my life. One of the biggest mistakes I see leaders make is failing to learn from the people on their team. We tend to think the best ideas are outside our organization, so we learn from many sources, but many times the best ideas for the organization are already with us. I love to attend conferences, I read tons of books, I follow numerous blogs of great leaders, but the fact is God has surrounded me with great leaders with whom I work. I need to make sure I’m learning from them.

Here’s a gentle reminder…

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October 18, 2010
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Organizational Tip: Give Permission to Be Spontaneous

By Business, Change, Innovation, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Team Leadership

Recently I attended the Story Conference in Chicago. It was a two day conference for the creative-minded packed full of the best ideas available to communicate our story to the world. It was a well-planned and scripted time and Ben Arment, the conference founder, is to be commended for the event.

The greatest moment for me, however, happened…

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October 12, 2010
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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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October 6, 2010
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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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September 27, 2010
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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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September 15, 2010
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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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June 29, 2010
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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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June 24, 2010
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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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June 14, 2010
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