Growing As A Leader: Thinking (and Writing)

February 21, 2012 Leave a Comment

photo by @boetter

The personal growth series continues (for a few more weeks on Tuesdays). We’ve talked about why personal growth is important, reading, and filing. Now it’s time to move to thinking.

Thinking. There’s a tough one. Don’t I think everyday? Biologically, yes. The question really is, am I thinking on the right things?

Our economy has moved from a world of skill knowledge to a world of intellectual knowledge. What I mean is that our economy used to be driven by what you know how to do. It was all about manufacturing. Can you build a car? Can you fix a computer? More and more, that’s not the case anymore. Business, industry, and, yes, ministry, is paying a premium on intellectual knowledge. This is about the ideas that one can create.

That’s where thinking and writing come into play.

Church is ever changing. To reach out to those that we serve, and to be effective at it, we need to be innovative in our thinking and ideas. The same old model of ministry and church does not always work. Yet, too many of us, me included, stick with the model we know, sometimes to the detriment of our ministry.

Spending intentional time thinking out ideas is really important to yours and my success in ministry. How do I do this?

All of us are struck with a good idea for our ministry. It happens quite often. That initial idea, though, needs some tweaking and massaging to make it a better idea. It is not a perfect thought when it comes out of your brain. It needs help.

When I have a good idea, here are some things I try to do with it:

  • Write if down: If I don’t write it down, I lose the thought. I think I’ve lost a ton of ideas that were really good because I never wrote it down. Write it down!
  • Spend 15-30 minutes with the thought: It’s amazing how some concentrated time on a single thought allows me to make a good idea even better. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time. Oh, and keep writing down what you are thinking.
  • Talk to others about the idea and get feedback: This is my favorite. My thoughts and ideas always get better when I talk them through with others. This does two things for me. One, it helps me articulate my thought better as I try to explain it. Two, feedback from other people helps me refine and rework the idea to make it even better! Oh, and keep writing down the ideas and feedback people offer you.

It’s amazing how doing these three things can allow me to expand my mind and ideas. The problem is that we are in a culture that is all about do, do, do! We have tasks galore! If we are to truly be effective leaders in ministry, then taking some time out to think these thoughts is essential.

What’s one good idea you’ve come up with in the past month? Have you spent any time thinking on it?

Filed Under: Attitude, Equipping, Leadership, Relationships Tagged With: ,

3 Warning Signs That Your Volunteer is a Wrong Fit

February 16, 2012 Leave a Comment

photo by TheBazile

I’m an optimistic person. In fact, I’ve let optimism blind me from realism. This has caused me trouble many times in the past. If you work in ministry, it is your tendency to be optimistic. Why? As Christians, we believe in a faith that brings us hope. Hope of salvation. Hope of peace. Hope.

I have had hopes that a volunteer was going to be a perfect fit in my ministry. They seemed to have all the right skills. They were committed, passionate, and loved their church and God. I can find a place for them in my ministry. Perfect.

Then reality sets in and my optimism is replaced with realism.

Soon after, I discover that the volunteer is not working out as well as I hoped. In fact, I have quickly discovered that this particular volunteer was a wrong fit.

The fact is that I often ignored the warning signs that a volunteer was a wrong fit. What are those warning signs?

1. The volunteer consistently arrives a couple minutes late.

On occasion, we all get in a bind and arrive late to a ministry event or program. That’s fine. The key word here is consistently. I reason with myself, “They were just a few minutes late. No big deal.” But it is. When a volunteer arrives consistently late, that is a warning sign that they are not committed to the ministry. Soon, they begin to arrive ten minutes late, then 15 minutes late. Then they don’t show up at all leaving you and the rest of your team in a bind.

2. The volunteer posts inappropriate comments on social media.

I never go trolling for information on my volunteers on social media sites, but I am connected with some of my volunteers, so naturally, our social media worlds collide. I’ve seen time and time again how people use social media to share with the world their shenanigans. I’m a big fan of social media, but some things should not be said. This is about boundaries. We need to always be aware of appropriate and inappropriate boundaries. I should be concerned if I see things on social media that indicates a lack of understanding on boundaries. We especially have to be careful of comments shared that are contrary to Christian teaching. Lack of boundaries on social media could indicate a lack of boundaries with face-to-face relationships.

3. The volunteer begins to badmouth others.

The moment we allow a culture of gossip is when the entire team of volunteers becomes ineffective. Gossip and badmouthing others should never be allowed. Don’t fool yourself in thinking that if you just address the problem with that volunteer it will go away. Gossips don’t stop gossiping because I confronted them once on the issue. This person is a wrong fit.

 

What are some warning signs that you would add to the list?

Filed Under: Equipping Tagged With: ,

Dancing and Leadership

February 15, 2012 Leave a Comment

There’s a trend on my Wednesday posts. Video.

Yup! Every Wednesday, I’m going to try and post some video that adds value to you and me as a leader.

This week: First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy.

What leadership lessons do you take away from this video that you can apply to your ministry?

For me, I need a team to create momentum. I can’t do it on my own.

 

Filed Under: Equipping, Leadership Tagged With: ,

Growing As a Leader: Filing

February 14, 2012 Leave a Comment

photo by Daveybot

Continuing to share about personal growth, this week, we’re going to talk about filing. I know what you’re thinking. “Great. Filing. Just what I need is to file more stuff.” Well, it’s not what you think.

If you’re like me, you have a terrible time retaining all the great stuff that you learned while reading. I highlight and highlight, and all too often, the book goes back on the shelf never to be opened again. Did a magically memorize everything I read or highlighted? No.

I created a filing system to help me remember the good stuff I’m learning. My system is quite simple: I create simple word documents by subject, like equipping, success, personal growth, youth ministry, etc… As I read more and more good stuff, I create more and more files. I wait until I have something to file under a certain category before I create a file. For instance, I didn’t create a “theology” file until I had some good content to put in that file.

Then whatever I highlight (or whatever I learn), I “file” away into the appropriate word document on the subject. Basically, I re-type stuff I’ve read or experiences I’ve had into the appropriate word document.

This does two things for me:

1. I’m forced to write out what I am learning, which helps me remember it.

2. I have great information filed away for when I need to go do research on the subject. For instance, when I’m asked to give a workshop on how best to recruit volunteers, I not only use my experience, but I go into my “recruit” file and my “volunteer” file to see what type of good content I can find that will help me build on my ideas and develop my workshop. It’s the same when I write on a certain subject.

What types of things do I file? Quotes, stories, strategies and processes, experiences I’ve had, etc… Almost anything!

A perfect example: the other day I was flying to an out of town meeting. I picked up the airlines magazine to browse through it. I found two great articles about Al Roker (the weatherman on the “Today” show), and Tom Shaw (a former NFL coach who runs some sports camps). As I read those articles, I immediately found value in the lessons they were talking about which I could apply to ministry. (Look for those blog posts later.) So what did I do? I took the magazine home and “filed “ those articles.

It’s a great way to retain great information that can help me in my leadership roles and in ministry. It works for me. Maybe it can work for you.

How do you retain lessons learned from books and other experiences you’ve had?

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Growing As a Leader: Reading

February 7, 2012 3 Comments

photo by Earl - What I Saw 2.0

Last week, I shared with you my personal belief that growing on purpose is such an important part of any leaders life. This week, I’m going to begin sharing with you how I do this. It’s not overly complicated. In fact, you might read this and say, “Really, that’s it?”

It should be easy. I don’t have to create a complicated plan for the sake of being complicated. I use what works… for me. The things I’m going to be sharing over the next couple weeks work for me. If it works for you, great! If it doesn’t, I encourage you to look for things that do.

This week, I’m going to write about the most important step in personal growth: reading.

Nothing raises my leadership ability more than reading.

On my to-do list, every day, without fail, are the words “read.” What does this mean? It means that every day, I schedule into my calendar 30 minutes of uninterrupted reading time. Sometimes I read at the office, at home, downtime waiting in line for the DMV, wherever. Since having a child (she’s just over a year old), I’ve had to get really disciplined and creative with the 30 minutes. It turns out that when I’m home, I find it very difficult to find 30 minutes, rightly so.

But 30 minutes is my goal. Am I able to accomplish it every day? Most of the time, yes, but sometimes life gets in the way. That’s okay. I just try to jump back on board the next day. The key is to always bring a book wherever I go. I never know when I’m going to have an extra 10-15 minutes as I go through my day.

What do I read? Non-fiction. Usually books on relationships, equipping, attitude, and leadership (REAL). Makes sense. Sometimes the books are about marriage and raising kids. We have some financial goals, so I’ve been reading some finance books also. Anything to help me in my ministry and life.

At this very moment, I’m rereading Jim Collins book, Good to Great. I don’t reread books very often, but this one has been worth it.

Take a look here at some books I’m planning to read this year.

What are you reading right now?

Is 30 minutes realistic in your life?

Filed Under: Attitude, Equipping, Leadership, Relationships Tagged With: ,

Equipping My Team: I Gotta Do It!

February 2, 2012 Leave a Comment

photo by OakleyOriginals

When I sat down for our 6-month review process, one of the things that I put on my list as a number one priority is to continue to mentor and develop my team. I realized that I hadn’t done that well over the past six months (and longer!), but I needed to. I have recognized that the best way to have a great impact in ministry is to spend time helping my team of leaders grow.

It’s not easy.

It is my job and responsibility to develop my team and help them improve as individuals. I not only want them to be rock star ministers, but I want them to be rock stars in all parts of their lives. I am to help them acquire personal qualities that will benefit them in many areas of life, not just their ministry life.

I’m lucky.

When I was in my early 20’s, people who were serious about growing as leaders surrounded me. They taught me a lot of skills, but more importantly, they taught me the attitude of always trying to grow AND to try and help others grow by equipping them.

I can’t expect my team to have been exposed to the same type of experience as I was. Therefore, I should expose them to it now.

This is at the heart of equipping.

Nothing pays bigger dividends than equipping your team. Here are some practical ways I am beginning to help equip my team:

  • Once a month, during our team meeting, we take 30-45 minutes and listen to an audio leadership lesson. Or, I teach a lesson that I’ve been learning recently. Each of these sessions ends with some questions about how to practically apply these lessons to our ministry and our life.
  • I encourage my team to attend a couple conferences or seminars a year. I’ll have some recommendations for them, but I want them to pick them for themselves. If I can, I’ll try to create a budget for this so that my team can go without worrying about the cost.
  • I recommend books for them to read (and sometimes I teach on books that I’ve read). Reading leads to growing. Leaders are readers. My goal would be to help them read at least one book a month that will help them grow.
  • Model personal and professional growth. All this is worthless if I don’t do it myself. I believe these things have helped me become the minister and leader I am today (and recognize that I still have a long way to go). I also believe that it can help my team, so I model it. If I don’t model these things, why would my team?

Developing and equipping my team is truly the most important thing I can do in my ministry.

What do you do to help develop and equip your team?

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Growing As a Leader: Intro

January 31, 2012 2 Comments

photo by abbyladybug

One of the topics that I am passionate about and have written on before is the importance of personal and professional growth. I am passionate about my personal growth because I know that my personal growth plan has had the greatest impact in my life in terms of “success” and adding value to the world through my gifts and strengths. (I put “success” in quotes, knowing full well that we all have a different definition of success. That will be another blog series itself.)

Today, I want to begin a series of blog articles that focus on personal and professional growth. This series will be posted once a week on Tuesday’s for the next few weeks.

When I graduated from college, I was, all of a sudden, on my own. I had no teachers or advisors telling me what to do next. I still had parents giving me “advice,” which I probably should have followed more, but I was free! Free to plan my life the way I wanted to plan it. For me, that meant going into full time ministry.

But it is interesting to note that after college, there is no set plan for the next steps on what to learn. For 22 years of life, my growth plan was clear. It was called elementary school, junior high school, high school, and then college. That was my growth plan. But now that I was 22, I had no growth plan.

And worse yet, I didn’t think I needed one. But I did need one.

I’ve heard numerous leaders and speakers say the following: “Leaders are learners. Leaders are readers. When a leader stops growing, that’s when they stop leading.”

The question that remained after hearing those statements over and over: how do I intentionally grow now that I am out of school?

I’ve been on a personal growth plan for about eight years now, and it has morphed and changed numerous times along the way. I want to share with you my plan in hopes that it might give you some ideas for yourself.

More importantly, I want to hear from you and have you share your ideas. Ideas that work. Maybe even ideas that don’t work.

Over the next few weeks, here are some of the ideas that we’ll be talking about:

  • Reading: why reading, what to read, etc…
  • Filing: Yes, filing. Stories, quotes, lessons. This is a way to save the stuff that has had an impact on my life.
  • Writing and Thinking: I sometimes have to stop doing all the time so I can start thinking. This is about hitting the pause button in life.
  • Conferences/Seminars: Great places to grow and learn.
  • Learning Lunch: Nothing is better than learning, except when there is food to go with it!
  • Reflection time: Experience is not the best teacher. Evaluated experience is. How do we reflect and evaluate our lives so that we can pan the nuggets of wisdom that come from our experience? This is also about hitting the pause button.
  • Growing with Others: It’s always easier when we create a plan with others.

I look forward to you joining me on this journey over the next few weeks. In the meantime, feel free to share with me some specific goals you might have for this series. What specifically are you hoping that I write about?

Filed Under: Attitude, Equipping, Leadership, Relationships Tagged With:

When Volunteers Fail

January 25, 2012 Leave a Comment

Have you ever had this experience: A great person becomes a volunteer in your ministry and then does not follow through. He misses meetings. She doesn’t complete the task that was given to her. He flakes out on a lot of things. In the end, you end up doing the things that were assigned to this person.

Frustrating.

So you think to yourself: why is it so hard to find good volunteers? Why can’t she just do what she said she was going to do? I always have to do everything!

Yup. Frustrating.

I can’t control people’s behavior. People will do what they do. But what I have discovered in situations like this is that it’s usually my fault. You heard me right. Someone else not fulfilling their obligations is my fault.

Here’s why:

  • I didn’t set clear expectations. I find that I often bring a volunteer into ministry with a high level of excitement and energy, but I don’t provide enough clarity. When people get excited about the vision of the ministry, it’s easy to get prospective volunteers to jump on board. What I have found helpful is a simple job description that describes the expectations. Time commitment, skills needed, and expected responsibilities. A half page to one page is enough.
  • I didn’t offer enough support. As a leader, I not only need to offer good direction, I need to offer ongoing support. I need to consistently check in with my volunteer team to see how they are doing and what they need from me. This is about servant leadership, which I think is the highest form of leadership. I need to do whatever I can to help my volunteers be successful in their ministry roles.
  • I didn’t offer enough praise. I once heard someone say that the last time most people received applause was at their high school graduation. This means praise and affirmation need to become a daily part of my ministry as a leader. I need to find creative and consistent ways to affirm those that work with me. One caveat: don’t fake the praise. It needs to be authentic.
  • I didn’t properly interview them. That means this volunteer was a wrong fit. These are the types of things that are good to know before I bring a volunteer team member on board, not after they are on board and make mistakes. Never underestimate the power of a simple interview with a volunteer to find out a little about them and see if they are a good fit. The other side of the stone is to invite the prospective volunteer to check out the ministry first before they say yes.

Okay, enough focusing on my mistakes.

What are some things you do to avoid these mistakes?

Filed Under: Equipping Tagged With:

What to Read???

January 23, 2012 2 Comments

Recently, Jon Acuff tweeted about a couple books he was reading this year. His goal is to read 12 non-fiction books by the end of the 2012 (one a month). I think that’s a great goal, and very realistic and manageable.

I make a concerted effort to read 30 minutes a day a book that will help me grow in my leadership and ministry. I’ve had that goal for about eight years now.

Jon Acuff sharing his reading list inspired me to share some of the books I’ve read or will read in 2012. This is obviously not a complete list, as I often find books along the way, but here are some that I think will help me in my ministry.

Quitter, by Jon Acuff (speaking of). This was a great book to read and provides a lot of motivation (no, I’m not going to quit my job in ministry).

Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation, by Andrew Root (youth ministry is a passion of mine and is still one of my primary ministries)

Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck–Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, by Jim Collins (I’ve read many of Collins’ books, and I’m looking forward to this one)

They Call Her Pastor: A New Role for Catholic Women, by Ruth Wallace (I’m studying leadership and organizational development for my doctorate program, so this should serve as an interesting read)

Leadership Without Easy Answers, by Ronald Heifetz (Heifitz has written some great books on adaptive leadership)

Mojo: How To Get It, How To Keep It, How To Get It Back If You Lost It, by Marshall Goldsmith (I read another books of his a couple years back, so I’m giving him another try)

 

Lasting Impressions: From Visiting to Belonging, by Mark Waltz (all about engaging people in to church)

 

Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood, by Christian Smith (he is the lead researcher of the longitudinal study on youth and religion, and is following these youth as they grow into young adults)

 

What are you reading this year?

Filed Under: Attitude, Equipping, Leadership, Relationships Tagged With:

Pass the Football

January 18, 2012 Leave a Comment

Well, it is NFL playoff time, and I feel that it is time to talk about football on my blog. And no, I’m not writing about Tim Tebow. But, I am super excited about the San Francisco 49ers! After all, I do live in the SF Bay Area.

I’ve discovered that as people look to you as a leader, they begin to bring more issues and concerns to you. It is part of being a leader. We have greater responsibility as our ministry grows and we train more team members and volunteers.

I heard one author describe this as being passed the football. Usually, when a running back is handed the football by their quarterback, they don’t give the ball back and tell the QB to run with it. Similarly, when a QB passes the ball to a wide receiver, you never see them pass the ball back to the QB (maybe on rare occasions. Those are always cool plays to see!)

In leadership, it happens… all the time! As a leader, you and I pass the ball to one of our team members to make something happen, whether that be to develop a youth ministry night, run a meeting, or create a marketing plan for your ministry. Sometimes, that team member passes the ball right back to you.

And what do you and I do when we get the ball back? We run with it!

STOP!

I’m suggesting that we don’t run with it. I’m suggesting that we need to pass it back to our team member. Why?

  • It equips the team member: They passed the ball back because they didn’t know how to do it or they lacked confidence in themselves. If we run with the ball, they won’t learn. We need to give them the skills and confidence they need to do it and do it right. This is about developing them as a leader. Give the ball back!
  • You don’t have the time: Okay, maybe you do. But the fact of the matter is that at some point, you want to move on to develop other projects and ideas. Passing the ball back to your team member frees you up to develop those areas. Give the ball back!
  • You’ll feel good: Just like a proud parent, when you see someone you trained and developed excel in their ministry, it makes us feel good, like we accomplished something cool. You did accomplish something cool! Keep doing it. Give the ball back!
  • They’ll feel good: They just did something cool. Their confidence will soar. They’ll want to do more because they know they can. Give the ball back!

As a quarterback, when you give the football to a team member, expect them to run with it and don’t take the ball back!

Share a time when you gave the ball back.

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