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Category Archive: Leadership Development

10 Differences Between Management And Leadership

Posted by on April 3, 2017

The classic difference between management and leadership is that managers prioritize doing things right while leaders focus on doing the right things. The hard truth is that many times management falls into the trap of building a culture that prevents failure instead of ensuring success. This Liz Ryan post has some great insight:

“A simple way to answer the question “What’s the difference between managing and leading?” is this:

Managing people means watching them to make sure they do what they’re supposed to do. The concept of traditional supervision is rooted in the fear that working people will misbehave or make mistakes if someone isn’t watching them to make sure they don’t.

A manager marches backwards, watching their troops like a hawk in case somebody is marching incorrectly. They cannot look out over the horizon when they’re marching backwards!

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The 8 Laws Of Successful Leadership

Posted by on March 27, 2017

Leadership has never been more challenging. Learning to effectively lead multi-generational teams in the midst of a rapidly changing marketplace may be at the top of the list. The alignment of demand with capacity without sacrificing opportunity would be next in line for me. This Forbes post is helpful:

“There are certain laws that all successful leaders follow, whether they are conscious of it or not.

Over the years of working with incredibly successful people, I’ve found that to be successful at anything, you need to work on your internal beliefs in order to create your external reality. Success is about being your best in all areas of life, not just professionally.”

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Beyond The Walls

Posted by on March 21, 2017

The days of build it and they will come are over for churches. We may not want to admit it but for most Christians when they talk about church in their minds it’s about what happens at the buildings and not out in the community.

I recently met with a very successful committed Christian who is a pediatrician who wanted to grow more spiritually and get more involved in ministry. It was obvious to me from the very start of the conversation this meant to him taking on more responsibility at the church.

I began to share with him the vision that he could do more through his practice to reach young couples for Christ than we could ever do at the building. They would not even come to the building to hear Billy Graham but they were several new couples sitting in his waiting room every week expecting their first child.

In this postmodern age, we must never minimize the importance of the church gathered for worship and ministry but we must prioritize the church scattered for evangelism and missions. We must find new ways to take the gospel to where people live, work and play.

By the end of the conversation the light had come on for my friend because he no longer had a career but he now had a calling. That’s what happens when you change the definition of success from increasing profits to impacting people.

Categories: Church Scattered Contextualization Missional Living Pastoral Leadership Spiritual Growth Staff Development | Comments Off on Beyond The Walls

3 Strategies To Become A More Inspiring Leader

Posted by on March 20, 2017

Great leaders always give credit to others when things are going well and they assume responsibility when they fail. Leadership is about inspiring others and empowering them to reach their potential. It is also about becoming an example for everyone to see you own your part of the problem and commit to getting better. This post by Forbes helps in both areas:

“Are you getting the results that you want from your team? Do you blame them for not taking initiative, underperforming, or not completing projects quickly enough?

As you think about your complaints, think about what your part is in the results. You may be a partner, director, principal or founder, but you should strive to be an inspiring leader no matter what your title. Having that attitude can change what you say, how you say it, and how it impacts your team.”

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What To Do When You Are Stuck

Posted by on March 17, 2017

When some people face dramatic change, they choose to live in denial as if this is not really happening to me. On the other extreme, others know the change is real to the point of becoming emotionally depressed about their new state of life.

The common sometimes fatal result of both of these mindsets is the paralysis of inactivity. We don’t want to get out of bed, go to work or even talk with anyone.

We must, as Jim Collins said of effective leadership in Good to Great, be willing to confront the brutal facts that sometimes I cannot return to my life the way it used to be.

I must assume personal responsibility to change myself first and start leading myself by making good daily decisions before my life can begin to turn around in different direction. The only way to do that is to do what you can with what you have right where you are and do it today with all your heart.

Change always produces movement. If we let it, this movement can be downward and very destructive. The only way to stop this negative cycle is to start doing the simple things that you are able to do right now that will allow you to accomplish something good today.

You must get on offense and use the power of the momentum produced by activity to turn your life in a new positive direction. You must take some risk today by raising your sails and doing the clear things you know need to be done before you can ever feel the movement produced by the wind taking you to a better place.

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Law Of Harvest

Posted by on March 10, 2017

There are many biblical principles taught in scripture and this may be the most important one. It is foundational to understanding how the Christian life works on a very practical daily level.

The simplest way of stating this principle is that you will eventually reap what you sow . If you consistently fill your mind with the truth then you should reap all of the benefits of many good decisions.

On the other hand, if you fill your mind with other things then the result will be believing the wrong thing. Many times we act with even more passion when we believe a lie because the resulting behavior produces pain and rejection. At this point we really do not want to admit we were wrong.

Another important part of this principle is that we will also reap to the degree we sow. If we spend little time in God’s word then the result will be a double minded life that is constantly being tossed about with no clear direction.

The next major piece of this principle is that we have a responsibility for the maintenance of the soil where the seed will fall. If our minds are cluttered with many other things then the truth cannot be heard because all the other noise will drown it out.

Finally, I must go back and deal with that very important word eventually. Sometimes people are making bad decisions and yet see no immediate negative consequences. In sharp contrast many people are doing the right thing and have not seen the benefits of walking by faith in the truth.

God in His perfect timing will bring in the harvest. We all will reap what we have sown. No suffering for the present time is joyful but it will yield the peaceful fruit of a surrendered life.

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How To Thrive As A Leader In Uncertain Times

Posted by on March 10, 2017

When everything is going well most people really don’t pay that much attention to the overall attitude of their leaders. On the other hand, when things start falling apart that is the critical place they go to see how much trouble are we really in as an organization. This Forbes post gives leaders several practical tips:

“We human beings are wired for certainty. A lack of it tends to trigger anxiety that drives people to resist anything that may further threaten the status quo…regardless of the cost. Good leaders not only work to dial down fear but to tap the passion, ingenuity and innovation it too often stifles.”

Categories: Leadership Development Leading Change | Comments Off on How To Thrive As A Leader In Uncertain Times

Changing Role Of The Pastor

Posted by on March 5, 2017

In all of my years studying and leading churches the changing role of the pastor and the laity within the local church is probably one of the most misunderstood and potentially damaging issues facing the church. The biblical model is incredibly clear, the pastor is God’s gift to the church and his role is to lead the church by equipping the laity to do the work of the ministry.

Tragically in most small churches the laity hires a pastor to do the work of the ministry and they run the church. The pastor is to preach, visit, counsel, attend meetings, conduct funerals and weddings and the people once a month conduct the business of the church.

As the church starts to grow additional staff is hired and the old culture begins to be threatened. Now the pastor is expected to do everything he has always done and manage an ever growing staff and minister to an even larger number of people. New buildings are being built and the financial administration becomes complicated.

Many pastors hit the wall at this point because they are not gifted to make the transition from shepherd of the flock to leader of the people. The expectation level of the people has not changed and they are simply left with more work and all the issues that come with personnel problems.

The major reason though these changes do not occur is not because the pastor cannot change his leadership style but the people are not willing to delegate control to staff and lay leaders and assume their God given role of ministry responsibility.

When a church reaches over three hundred the pastor cannot continue to visit every member in the hospital and every member of the church does not need to be involved in picking the paint color for the kitchen renovation. These transitions of roles will continue to occur every time you reach an additional five hundred people or the church will simply stop growing.

There are a lot of legitimate and complicated reasons people are not being reached for Christ. This should not be one of them.

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Seven Leadership Insights From West Point

Posted by on February 28, 2017

If you are going to be a great leader you will become a life long learner. Daily, I get new insights into better ways of thinking or I am reminded of what I already know but need to practice more. This post on Forbes was excellent in both areas:

“What are the key characteristics of successful and charismatic leaders? I recently spoke at West Point with the Leadership Speaker’s Academy. Seeing 80 business and thought leaders all in one place highlighted their common traits and what has made them successful over time. Below are seven of those leadership characteristics I took away from the experience.”

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How To Reach Your Potential

Posted by on February 23, 2017

From a personal standpoint one of the things I love doing is hiking. A hiker is somewhere between a camper and an adventure racer.

One of the great advantages of living in the Atlanta area for ten years is the close proximity to the Appalachian trail in the north Georgia mountains.

My favorite hiking story is about a great one day hike in the Alps. If you start early in the morning you can reach the summit and get back to the car before dark.

About half way up the mountain is this incredibly beautiful rest house where everyone eats a great lunch. The owner of the rest house has noticed an interesting pattern over the years. When everyone reaches the rest house they are all excited about reaching their goal of the summit.

They warm themselves by the fire and about half way through lunch somebody inevitably speaks out what many people are thinking. Ii think I will just stay here while you finish the climb and you can pick me up on the way back down. At that moment everyone must the make decision to stay or go.

For all those who stay the first few hours are incredible. They sit by the fire and tell mountain climbing stories about other great mountain climbers from the past. They may even reminisce about some of their great climbing experiences in the past.

By early afternoon the mood dramatically changes in the room and everyone becomes silent. One by one they make their way over to this huge window in the back of the lodge and they stand there and stare at the summit.

For you see it is at this painful moment that they realize they have settled for second best in their lives.

Someone has well said, “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.”

Categories: Leadership Development Personal Leadership | Comments Off on How To Reach Your Potential