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Category Archive: Storytelling

9 Reasons Our Families And Friends Don’t Believe The Gospel

Posted by on March 7, 2020

The gospel by its very nature is good news. Maybe we need to remind ourselves as Christian leaders why. What is the problem we are solving and the need we are meeting? Ultimately, security and significance can only come through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We must constantly be sharing with each person the right amount of grace and truth so they can see how much the Father loves them. This post by Chuck Lawless is a good reminder:

“Southeastern Seminary, where I teach, is emphasizing “Who’s Your One” this semester. We want all of our administration, faculty, staff, and students to seek to pray for and share the gospel with at least one person during the next couple of months. Based on my years of sharing Christ with family members and friends, here are my thoughts about why folks struggle with believing the gospel.”

Changing Company Culture Requires A Movement

Posted by on July 5, 2017

Every organization will encounter change in their markets and they will adjust with innovation. Sometimes, the change is so dramatic in scale that it qualifies as a disruption and that requires a total transformation. One of the major issues that must be at the top of the list is the changing of the company culture. This HBR post is very helpful :

“Culture is like the wind. It is invisible, yet its effect can be seen and felt. When it is blowing in your direction, it makes for smooth sailing. When it is blowing against you, everything is more difficult.

For organizations seeking to become more adaptive and innovative, culture change is often the most challenging part of the transformation. Innovation demands new behaviors from leaders and employees that are often antithetical to corporate cultures, which are historically focused on operational excellence and efficiency.”

The Role Of Storytelling In Creating Your Culture

Posted by on May 12, 2017

Every leader is constantly trying to find new and creative ways to communicate the culture of their organization both internally and externally. I have found no better way than storytelling.

The simplest definition of storytelling is when you can link existing personnel, ongoing priorities and outstanding performance then you have a story to tell. This will allow you to reinforce core values and celebrate success by acknowledging over and above situations that give credit to your people and remind everyone of what is really important.

In essence, if you have no stories to tell, then you are not performing in critical areas. The good news is that in most organizations there are character driven people that are doing an outstanding job. The bad news is their stories are not being told.

I have never seen this work informally by just asking people for outstanding results during a meeting or telling a few stories during annual meetings. This will probably require formalizing this entire process to create a system where stories can be routinely asked for and submitted to someone who can evaluate them and then find an appropriate platform for communication.

This must not though feel like a monthly performance review system where everyone is checked against their numbers. It needs to be like what happened great in your area this month that would encourage everyone in the organization to know.

The formula is simple existing personnel + ongoing priorities + outstanding performance = Success. The only missing piece is telling the story.

Categories: Organizational Culture Storytelling Strategic Planning | Comments Off on The Role Of Storytelling In Creating Your Culture

6 Characteristics Of An Effective Vision

Posted by on April 21, 2017

When we think of the word vision we are drawn to a picture of the future of how things can be better than they are in the present. Most vision casting does a good job of painting a hopeful image of the positive benefits involved but not a very realistic job of the costs involved to get there.

This is a major problem because when the negative forces and fears involved in the change process start to appear and people are not prepared they can give up very quickly resulting in the death of the vision. John Kotter in his book Leading Change lists all the characteristics that should be included in an effective vision:

Imaginable: Conveys a picture of what the future will look like
Desirable: Appeals to the long-term interests of employees, customers, stockholders, and others who have a stake in the enterprise
Feasible: Comprises realistic, attainable goals
Focused: Is clear enough to provide guidance in decision making
Flexible: Is general enough to allow individual initiative and alternative responses in light of changing conditions
Communicable: Is easy to communicate; can be successfully explained within five minutes

The change process for most people is extremely difficult because of the fear of the unknown. There are powerful forces involved that will try to maintain the status quo at all costs. The pain of the present must be contrasted with the pain of the change process so that the people will know that the option of no change is not realistic.

People also need to be told on the front end that sacrifices are probably going to need to be made and there will be discomfort involved during the transition. However, if the vision takes the group to a better and more viable place then all the costs involved will be worth it every time.

Categories: Leadership Development Leading Change Storytelling Strategic Planning | Comments Off on 6 Characteristics Of An Effective Vision

6 Roles Of Short Term Wins

Posted by on January 6, 2017

One of the major mistakes we make in major change initiatives is that we oversell the long term goal at the expense of dealing with the short term problems. People do want to know where they are going but they want to know even more what does all this mean for me right now?

Once the new change plan has been implemented it is critical for everyone involved to experience the benefits of short term wins so they can stay motivated for the future and the change that is yet to come. John Kotter list several roles that short term wins play:

Provide evidence that sacrifices are worth it: Wins greatly help justify the short term cost involved.
Reward change agents: After a lot of hard work, positive feedback builds morale and motivation.
Help fine-tune vision and strategies: Short term wins give the guiding coalition concrete data on the viability of their ideas.
Undermine cynics and self-serving resisters: Clear improvements in performance make it difficult for people to block needed change.
Keep bosses on board: Provides those higher in the hierarchy with evidence that the transformation is on track.
Build momentum: Turns neutrals into supporters, reluctant supporters into active helpers.

Therefore it becomes critical in any change planning to build into the strategy several things that can be done within the first six months that may be small in scale but clear wins that everyone can celebrate.

Categories: Leading Change Storytelling | Comments Off on 6 Roles Of Short Term Wins

The Power Of Storytelling

Posted by on January 19, 2016

Seth Godin has famously said that today with the rise of social media your customers are your sales force. There has never been a time if our customers were not satisfied that we could sustain the relationship. However, today by people talking to others about you in a positive way the message multiplies.

I just had a great experience last week speaking on character driven leadership for YP.com sales managers in Atlanta. They have effective leaders that are clearly in tune with the marketplace and are transforming a great organization.

Scott Hines one of their Regional Vice Presidents said: “Dan’s leadership presentation was right on target. His years of study and presenting leadership principles make him uniquely effective in influencing the audience.

He gets right to the key of leadership. His character driven leadership series is so relevant to today’s culture. Dan is a very effective presenter and leaves the audience with key takeaways to use to develop others.

Dan thanks for spending time with the team and we are already using the tools and putting the words into action.”

I love developing leaders and investing my life with people who want to do great things and really make a difference.

Categories: Storytelling Strategic Planning | Comments Off on The Power Of Storytelling

How To Use Social Media

Posted by on November 22, 2013

One of the great questions facing leaders today: Is the use of social media a waste of time and manpower or should it be a critical piece of todays marketing platform? The truth can lie somewhere in the middle and Carey Nieuwhof has some helpful guidelines for any organization:

Social media has changed the leadership landscape radically in the last few years.

The question is how do you use it optimally as a leader?

In my experience, social media is both about what you do on social media as well as how you do it. The what is your content. The how is your tone.

Both are critical.

Leaving Legacy

Posted by on October 12, 2010

The real question is not will you leave a legacy but what kind will it be? An even more important question is what do you want it to be?

It is amazing how proficient we have become in establishing clear and attainable goals in the business sector. We can break down our plans into daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, and beyond to ensure that we accomplish what we have determined is important.

I am convinced the reason we do not give the same amount of passion and excellence to our private lives is that we have never taken the time to define what is really important. This lack of prioritization leads to a hope it all works out mentality that would not last for one week in the hit your numbers or else corporate sector.

Most people I have talked with over the years will tell you that in the end the personal part of their life that includes family and friends is really more important to them than the public part. If so, then why this huge disconnect?

It all goes back to understanding Covey’s time matrix in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Almost everything in our public lives fits into the urgent category. They demand that we respond even though many of the things we do every day are not really important at all.

The people we care about the most fit into an important category that is not urgent. Ball games, piano recitals and dates with your spouse will not scream in your face but they are the things that make up your legacy.

Don’t wait for the heart attack or cancer, have the courage to take a major time out and define in very specific terms what really matters so that in the end you will leave this world a better place than you found it.

Categories: Church Scattered Marriage Personal Leadership Storytelling Work Life Integration | Comments Off on Leaving Legacy

The Leaders Legacy

Posted by on August 3, 2009

In a day when markets and shareholders demand short term rewards for their financial investment it is extremely difficult for leaders to have the courage to lead with the long term as a priority. The temptation to make easy decisions that will make the leaders bottom line look good today are setting up good companies for failure down the road.

This mentality usually results in a strong almost dictatorial leadership style that builds the business around the charisma and determination of the celebrity type leader. There is very little delegation and certainly no succession planning taking place because that does not serve the crisis of the moment mentality.

The real test of any leader’s success must not be simply measured by the timeframe when they are working but by what happens to the organization when they leave. If everything seems to fall apart and all positive momentum is lost then you cannot believe the leader set the team up for future success.

John Maxwell makes the point when he writes, “Achievement comes to someone when he is able to do great things for himself. Success comes when he empowers followers to do great things with him. Significance comes when he develops leaders to do great things for him. But a legacy is created only when a person puts his organization into a position to do great things without him.”

When we value the success of others over the long haul over any short term success we may have for ourselves then we are leading with integrity. Anything less than that is nothing more than selfish ambition and that is not true leadership.

Categories: Career Development Church Scattered Personal Leadership Servant Leader Spiritual Growth Storytelling | Comments Off on The Leaders Legacy

Lessons From Michael Jackson

Posted by on July 8, 2009

We have all been affected by the sudden death of Michael Jackson in different ways. Some of us feel compassion for the children who are left behind to grow up in the huge shadow of their father. Others are feeling regret for such a waste of a very talented person who lost so much of what really matters during his life.

Most of us will never have to deal with all of the things that Michael did that come with being a famous celebrity who earns millions of dollars in income. However we all have to deal with the life issues that he faced:

1. Resolve Past Hurts—if you do not deal with the pain from when people close to you have failed you when you were growing up then you will surely carry those open wounds into adulthood. The tragedy for all of us is when the core issues that we are dealing with as adults are really problems that surfaced many years ago but were never appropriately resolved.

2. Trust Right People—show me who your friends are and I can tell you a lot about your character. The temptation for all of us is to surround ourselves with people who tell us all that we want to hear but they really don’t care enough to tell us the truth. These people make us feel good for the moment but leave us eventually broken and empty when the fun runs out.

3. Develop Core Values—there is no doubt in my mind that many times Michael wanted to do the right thing and really wanted to help people. When you don’t have a solid foundation to build on you will consistently make very bad decisions that seem extremely inconsistent with whom you want to be as a person.

4. Decide How Much Is Enough—driven people are never satisfied because they are trying to satisfy their deepest needs with things that can never bring real peace and fulfillment in life. If you are not content with what you have now there is no reason to believe you will be in the future regardless of how much you get.

Michael Jackson’s legacy will be a hotly debated subject for years to come. Some only see the bad and others refuse to say anything was wrong at all. Will the people closest to you be debating your legacy when you are gone or will they all agree it was a life well spent.

Categories: Core Values Personal Leadership Spiritual Growth Storytelling Work Life Integration | Comments Off on Lessons From Michael Jackson