Category Archive: Pastoral Leadership

Termination

Posted by on December 5, 2008

This is not a pleasant subject either for the person who needs to go or for the person who made the wrong decision to bring them on the team.  It requires courage and it must be done well or the moral of the entire organization can suffer.

I always feel to some degree as a leader that I have failed when we finally get to this point.  I want to make absolutely sure that I have given this person the right amount of leadership, specific feedback and the necessary resources and training to be successful.

After this due process, how do you know the timing is right?  The two questions that are listed in Good to Great offer some incredible perspective.

 The first is would you hire this person again?  If the clear answer is no, then you know it is time to act.  The second is if they were to go on their own would you be disappointed or relieved?  If the answer is relieved, then you know what you need to do.

Leaders must have the character to act and make the hard calls.  There is clearly one thing worse than  having to deal with an appropriate termination.  The later realization that your entire team had reached this  same conclusion six months ago and were beginning  to wonder why you could not see it.

 

 

Categories: Career Development Pastoral Leadership Staff Development | Comments Off on Termination

The Power of Vision

Posted by on December 3, 2008

My home town for all practical purposes is Tuscumbia, Alabama.  Our number one and only claim to fame is we are the birthplace of Helen Keller.  On CNN web site recently there was a story about researchers who had uncovered this rare photograph of a young Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan, nearly 120 years after it was taken on Cape Cod.

Helen was born blind and had to overcome many difficult obstacles in her life.  In spite of all the hardship she lived and very meaningful and rewarding life that impacted a lot of other people in a very positive way.

Helen was once asked, can you think of anything worse than being born blind?  Her immediate answer was, to have sight and yet lack vision for your life.  The overwhelming majority of people you know have physical sight but do they clearly see all the things that are really important in life.

What vision do you have for your life?  Please tell me it is more than going to work, coming home and watching T.V. and then going to bed.  There are so many important things to be done and hurting people that need to be touched.

Can you see them?

 

 

Categories: Career Development Core Values Leading Change Pastoral Leadership | Comments Off on The Power of Vision

Marginless Living

Posted by on December 2, 2008

In yesterday’s blog I talked about the need to create margin in our lives.  Margin is the space that used to exist in all of our lives between all the physical, emotional and mental pressures of every day and our capacity to respond in a meaningful way to all of the people and circumstances that we must address.

The lack of margin is exactly the opposite when we have too many demands and not enough resources.  For most of us the public parts of our lives centered around our work life demands its percentage first.  I know people who can make million dollar decisions all day long at the office only to be so spent by the end of the day they can’t even decide if they want pizza or hamburgers for dinner.

They put other people first all day whether they are customers or co-workers only to come home with nothing left for a lonely spouse or stressed out children.  We may feel successful at times because of all the public praise that comes with making your numbers but at the end of the day we know something is terribly wrong.

Whatever it takes all of us must find the courage to stake out some core values that are non-negotiable.  This will allow us maybe for the first time in our lives to have the margin we need to live the life we want rather than the one someone else has scripted for us.

You have the capacity to write your own script, so take out your pen and start writing.

Categories: Marriage Pastoral Leadership Personal Leadership Servant Leader Work Life Integration | Comments Off on Marginless Living