Leadership Development | Coaching Churches

Category Archive: Leadership Development

4 Things To Do Before A Tough Conversation

Posted by on January 23, 2019

One of the hardest things to do as a church leader is to talk to people when you have to deliver bad news. It could start out at the beginning as a quality of work issue that eventually leads to a chronic lack of performance. Eventually, you begin to ask yourself the real question, Does this person really belong on our team? This HBR post is very helpful:

I was in denial for about a year and a half before I admitted that I needed to fire Randy.

His work performance had made the conclusion inescapable for years, but he was so darned nice and likeable that I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Not only did I like him, I also knew his income was crucial to his family. Furthermore, over the nine years he worked for me, his income had grown to the point that he would find it difficult to get comparable compensation.

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It’s Time To Regain First Generation Faith

Posted by on January 8, 2019

Over the years I have served in many different churches. Some small and some very large. Some long term and a couple of church plants. As in any organization, the ability of leaders to maintain the vision and passion of the founders over time is an incredible challenge. This post by J.D. Greear is a must read for all church leaders:

“Many years ago at The Summit Church, there was a group of people who said, “Jesus and his mission will be first.” But here’s what happens: When churches like ours get big and “settled,” so to speak, they experience a natural inertia. Within a generation, they move from mission to maintenance. They go from being reckless in the mission to being comfortable in the institution.”

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5 Ways Smart People Sabotage Their Success

Posted by on November 29, 2018

The ability to process information quickly and come up with successful solutions is a tremendous asset. However, in this ever increasing collaborative work environment this strength can become a weakness. We must find a way as leaders to bring our best to the organization but make sure we are developing other leaders in the process. This HBR post was excellent:

“Raw intelligence is undoubtedly a huge asset, but it isn’t everything. And sometimes, when intellectually gifted people don’t achieve as much as they’d like to, it’s because they’re subtly undermining themselves. If you’re in this situation, the good news is that when you understand these foibles you can turn them around. Here are five I’ve seen smart people particularly struggle with:”

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Time Has Become The Enemy Of Good Leadership

Posted by on November 18, 2018

If I could change one word in the title of this great Forbes post it would be Activity has become the enemy instead of accomplishments instead of time. It goes all the way back to Quad III in Covey’s time matrix of everything that is urgent but not important. My two greatest weapons in this ongoing constant new inputs war are time blocking and closing inputs so that I can stay focused on the big rocks:

“The workplace has become a carnival of doing. Everyone is in a constant state of action. Look, over there! It’s people having a meeting to prepare for the meeting that is about a future meeting with a customer.

There is less and less time for reflection, pausing, ideation, or even good decision-making. Furthermore, this ‘always on’ mindset is affecting the manner in which we are leading people and initiatives.”

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The Fundamentals Of Leadership Still Haven't Changed

Posted by on November 7, 2018

As a follow-up to the previous post, I want to acknowledge the results of this HBR post are solid. The context of today’s work environment do require that leaders develop more strategic skills to navigate beyond heads down organizational efficiency. The one thing that never changes is your greatest challenge will always be to lead yourself first:

“Recently the Chief HR Officer for a healthcare firm asked us to identify the best new framework for leadership that she could use to train and develop a cadre of high potentials. The challenge, she said, was that these managers were highly proficient in their own disciplines such as finance, marketing, research, clinical care, and insurance reimbursement — and had demonstrated that they could manage people in these areas — but she needed them to be “bigger” leaders. What, she asked us, did the newest thinking about leadership development say they needed to learn to lead multiple functions, or influence whole segments of the organization, particularly in the rapidly changing world of healthcare?”

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The Top 5 Qualities Employees Want In A Leader

Posted by on November 5, 2018

Some things about leadership are dramatically changing and some never will. The external forces of disruption are forcing more strategic thinking than ever before just to survive. However, the basic character and competency qualities leaders must have actually become even more important. This Forbes post hits them all:

“The portrait of a great leader looks a little different to each of us. When we get down to it, though, many of the characteristics we expect of our leaders are fairly universal and timeless. When it comes to the employee-manager relationship, it turns out most of the workforce stands in agreement on some of the best qualities they want to see in the people they report to. Here are just a few of them.”

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The Role Of Management Has To Change In 5 Key Ways

Posted by on October 29, 2018

In the age of disruption we clearly don’t have the luxury of extra layers of management when we could simply empower front line staff more effectively. However, there is still a clear distinction between management and leadership within every organization. This HBR post to some degree blurs those lines but we must allow everyone on our teams to reach their potential:

“First, let’s fire all the managers” said Gary Hamel almost seven years ago in Harvard Business Review. “Think of the countless hours that team leaders, department heads, and vice presidents devote to supervising the work of others.”

Today, we believe that the problem in most organizations isn’t simply that management is inefficient, it’s that the role and purpose of a “manager” haven’t kept pace with what’s needed.

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The 6 Fundamental Skills Every Leader Should Practice

Posted by on October 24, 2018

I have been studying and practicing leadership principles for over 40 years. There have been many improvements and innovations recently to address the challenges of collaboration and disruption. However, the basics remain the same and you must practice and share them with your team:

There’s an old story about a tourist who asks a New Yorker how to get to the storied concert venue Carnegie Hall and is told, “Practice, practice, practice.” Obviously, this is good advice if you want to become a world-class performer — but it’s also good advice if you want to become a top-notch leader.

Over the past year we have been writing the HBR Leader’s Handbook — a primer for aspiring leaders who want to take their careers to the next level.

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Build Self-Awareness With Help From Your Team

Posted by on September 26, 2018

The whole concept of self-awareness lends itself to the idea that it is something we should and can know about ourselves from within. I have recently began to understand that the other critical piece to this concept is the awareness and alignment with how others see us as well. This HBR post was excellent:

‘There are lots of compelling reasons to build a better team. Great teams deliver stronger results, faster. They’re more innovative. They challenge you to learn more quickly and to be at your best. And, let’s face it — they’re simply more fun to work with.

Recently, I found a new reason to build a better team — to address the fact that most of us are surprisingly lacking in self-awareness. Researcher and author Tasha Eurich uncovered this disturbing statistic through her multi-year study on the topic of self-awareness: 95% of us think we are quite self-aware, but only about 10-15% of us actually are.’

Categories: Leadership Development Teamwork | Comments Off on Build Self-Awareness With Help From Your Team

Why Creating Instant Momentum Is Key To Reaching Goals

Posted by on September 24, 2018

I cannot begin to remember all of the times I have developed great ideas with clear direction only months later to realize nothing happened. Many other times, I have started but never seemed to be able to keep moving forward with clear progress. This Forbes Coaches Council post was very helpful:

“Dreams are very fragile things. When you’re inspired by the possibility of an idea, unless you take immediate action, your dream will fade, and you’ll regret it forever. On the contrary, if you overthink or over-plan something, inertia sets in, and you never get started. You talk yourself out of taking action.”

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