Blog-Generated | Coaching Churches

Three Steps To Fix A Broken Culture

Posted by on May 14, 2018

Organizational culture is near the top of every major companies list of priorities. It is a combination of how your people and process work together to produce the maximum productivity. If it is healthy, great things routinely happen but if is toxic you are on a fast track to the bottom. This Forbes post is one of the best I have read:

“According to Gallup, “The world’s best organizations don’t simply promise a great employee experience; they create a culture of engagement in which employees can continuously develop and thrive. Leaders at these world-class organizations treat their workplace culture as a powerful competitive differentiator.”

Categories: Leadership Development Organizational Culture | Comments Off on Three Steps To Fix A Broken Culture

Five Steps To Break Your Social Media Addiction

Posted by on May 9, 2018

This one is very hard for me to get to a good place and stay there. By the nature of my work in leadership development I am constantly searching and reading new content. I use social media to stay connected to some of the people in my network. However, there are times that I realize I am picking up the phone simply because its there, instead of doing something better. This Forbes Coaches Council post was great:

“It’s undeniable that people stare at their phone screens too much. In fact, a Nielsen study found that the average adult spends five and a half hours every week on social media. That’s nearly 12 full days every year. If that doesn’t scare you enough, a lot of us are now addicted to social media.”

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How To Ask Your Boss For Feedback

Posted by on May 7, 2018

When working with companies and especially leadership teams, the presence of healthy feedback systems in their culture is absolutely critical. The other two extremes are shooting the messenger and the loss of trust that leads to telling the boss what they want to hear instead of what they need to know. This Fast Company post is a best practice:

“I recently read an interesting stat from PwC that indicated nearly 60% of polled employees said they would like feedback from their bosses on a daily or weekly basis. More interesting than that, for employees under age 30, the desire for regular feedback flow jumped to 72%. Being a CEO for nearly 20 years, and having managed millennial workers for a good part of that time, I agree with these findings.”

Categories: Leadership Development Organizational Culture | Comments Off on How To Ask Your Boss For Feedback

How Humble Leadership Really Works

Posted by on May 4, 2018

When I started my corporate leadership journey the leaders were very directive and the results were the number one priority. The people in the organization were simply a means to that end. Today, results are still critical but the best approach is to value your people first and then they will deliver consistently great results. This HBR post is excellent:

“When you’re a leader — no matter how long you’ve been in your role or how hard the journey was to get there — you are merely overhead unless you’re bringing out the best in your employees. Unfortunately, many leaders lose sight of this.”

Categories: Leadership Development Servant Leader | Comments Off on How Humble Leadership Really Works

Work Life Integration

Posted by on May 2, 2018

This post by Kathy Lockwood perfectly sums up the critical issue on this subject. The normal work life balance rationale assumes a zero sum dynamic. If we are winning at work then we must be loosing at home. Yes, there is the reality of limited margin but that does not mean we can not use situational leadership to shift roles daily and maintain success:

“I often hear people talk about work-life balance. If we take the word balance literally, it would mean equal, and it would suggest equal time spent at work and in our personal activities. As work becomes less traditional and many offices even become virtual, I believe we are looking at work-life integration rather than balance.”

Categories: Margin Work Life Integration | Comments Off on Work Life Integration

7 Signs Great Leaders Can't Afford To Ignore

Posted by on April 30, 2018

Because we are so busy as leaders we can confuse activity with effectiveness. Sometimes it becomes critical to have an outside voice to help us regain perspective and create positive momentum. I have benefited greatly from having a coach and absolutely love helping others through my executive coaching. This Forbes post helps define the rational:

“All great athletes have coaches, so do most world-class executives. You are a leader. Growth is your job.Coaching is the most effective way to see into your blind spots, enhance your vision and reduce or remove challenging behaviors.”

Categories: Career Development Leadership Development | Comments Off on 7 Signs Great Leaders Can't Afford To Ignore

5 Ways To Prevent Decision Fatigue From Ruining Productivity

Posted by on April 27, 2018

Multi-tasking felt so good because we were almost always doing something. Eventually, when I evaluated all of the important work I actually did at the end of the day it was almost nothing. I now block time for deep important work so that I can stay focused long enough to make real progress. This Fast Company post is very helpful:

“More and more, our careers depend on making good choices. And by understanding decision fatigue and how we can counter it, we can make sure we’re operating at 100% all day long. Decision fatigue is the deterioration of our ability to make good decisions after a long session of decision making.”

Categories: Leadership Development Pastoral Leadership Productivity | Comments Off on 5 Ways To Prevent Decision Fatigue From Ruining Productivity

Controlling The Negative Noise In Your Life

Posted by on April 25, 2018

I have often said that if technology only helps you do the wrong things faster then it can become a very bad thing. Today we live with powerful micro-computers that can connect us to the world called smart phones. However, I am more concerned that with no boundaries established around content and time spent, I am in reality become more foolish than smart. Seth Godin is a thoughtful writer:

‘You open the door and the vacuum cleaner salesperson comes in, and dumps a bag of trash in your living room. Or a neighbor sneaks in the back door and uses a knife to put gouges on the kitchen table.

Or, through the window, someone starts spraying acid all over your bookshelf… Why are you letting these folks into your house?

Categories: Margin Personal Leadership | Comments Off on Controlling The Negative Noise In Your Life

The Essence Of Strategic Planning

Posted by on April 23, 2018

There is so much confusion today in corporate leadership around all of the commonly used terms of vision, purpose, mission and strategy. The most confusion surrounds a through understanding of what strategy really means and how you develop and sustain the best strategic position. This HBR post is excellent:

“It happens all the time: A group of managers get together at a resort for two days to hammer out a “strategic plan.” Done and dusted, they all head home. But have they produced a plan with a strategy? At the start of my public seminars on strategic planning I ask attendees, who rank from board members and CEOs to middle management, to write down an example of a strategy on a sheet of paper.”

Categories: Strategic Planning Strategy | Comments Off on The Essence Of Strategic Planning

6 Ways To Regain Control Of Your Schedule

Posted by on April 18, 2018

There is not a day that goes by that at least 20% of my time is spent dealing with new inputs or changing priorities. It has forced me to be almost brutal about blocking time and at the same time leaving open spots for the unknown. If I wire it up too tight it only blows up even more. Always looking for help and Avery Blank provided:

“Time is money. It is valuable to your career and well-being. If you want to advance, you have to identify your career priorities and move efficiently towards them. Stop valuing other people’s time more than yours. Here are six ways you can take control of your schedule”

Categories: Margin Personal Leadership Productivity | Comments Off on 6 Ways To Regain Control Of Your Schedule