I am currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry at Southeastern University, and I am working on my dissertation titled “The Leadership and Organizational Traits of Healthy Church Cultures.” From research on the New Testament church, historical church, and modern-day church, I am identifying healthy leadership and organizational traits and their presence among church staff cultures .

If you’re willing, and if you’re currently a pastor or church staff member in the United States, I’d like to ask for your help by completing an online survey about staff culture. I am conducting the survey among local church pastors and staff members in the United States as part of my research on the topic noted above. 

The survey does NOT ask for your name, church name, or location. Therefore, any written results will discuss collective group findings and will NOT identify you, your staff, or your church by name or location. Furthermore, participants may skip any question that you do not wish to answer.  

The online survey takes about 12-15 minutes to complete and is anonymous and voluntary. 

If you are currently a pastor or church staff member in the United States, and if you’re 18 years old or older, would you be open to taking the survey? If so, CLICK HERE to get started. 

I would like the survey to be completed by Friday, August 29, 2025, if at all possible. 

Thank you so much for your consideration and help.

Stephen Blandino

In his book, Aspire, Kevin Hall provides some insightful backstory on the origin of the word coach. A village named “Kocs” in old Hungary produced horse drawn vehicles used to comfortably transport royalty between Budapest and Vienna. These carriages became known as “coaches,” borrowing their name from the township where they were designed. And their comfortable design made travel across the bumpy roads in fifteenth century Europe more bearable.

Over time, the term “coach” was applied to other modes of transportation such as the stagecoach, railway coach, and motorcoach. But I love something Kevin Hall observed about the word coach. He said “However far-reaching and prevalent the word has become since the first coach rolled out of production in Kocs, the meaning has not changed. A ‘coach’ remains something, or someone, who carries a valued person from where they are to where they want to be.” 

We’re used to seeing coaches in the arena of sports. But the truth is, leaders need coaches too. And not only do we need coaches, but we need to practice the skill of coaching when we’re investing in others. 

So, what does a leadership coach do? At the risk of sounding simplistic, I want to provide an insanely practical framework to help you develop your coaching skills. I call it AIM…A-I-M. Good leadership coaches take AIM at the potential in people. Simply put, they coach leaders toward Assessment, Insight, and Movement. 

“A” – “Assessment”

You can’t help someone remove barriers, increase their leadership capacity, or grow their organizational effectiveness unless you first assess where they are and what they need. After all, without assessment, you’ll risk prescribing solutions to problems that don’t exist.

First, Ask Questions. Coaching usually begins with some casual conversation. A simple question like, “How’s it going?” or “What’s new since we last talked?” is a great way to start. Your goal is to build rapport and express a genuine interest in them. Then, once you connect, shift the conversation by saying, “What do you hope to gain from our time together?” In other words, you want to identify their goal for the coaching conversation. 

The second way to practice Assessment is to Administer an Assessment Tool. For example, if the person you’re coaching wants to leverage their strengths for greater organizational impact, administer a tool like CliftonStrengths. If they want to improve their leadership skills, you might administer the Leadership Practices Inventory by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. Good assessment tools provide a base line for the coaching conversation.

As you practice assessment, your goal is two-fold: you want to connect with the individual, and you want to clarify their needs, struggles, and goals. 

“I” – “Insight”

Insight is where the person you’re coaching discovers perspective, wisdom, and ideas to take measurable steps forward in their leadership journey. This is where the majority of your coaching conversation will happen. And it’s where the person you’re coaching will discover answers to their biggest challenges. As a coach, you can facilitate this discovery process with two strategies.

First, pull the insight out of the person you’re coaching by asking good questions. For example, if a team member shares a specific struggle with you, you might ask, “How have you dealt with this struggle in the past?” or “What options do you have to move forward?” If they’re trying to get clear about a vision for the future, you might ask, “What have you been dreaming about lately?” or “What do you think is possible in the next 12 months?” And if they’re frustrated with a co-worker, ask, “Can you boil this frustration down to one or two sentences?” or “Have you talked to them about it?” or “What have you found to be the best way to approach them?”

As they answer your questions, dig deeper by asking them to tell you more. Every question puts you one step closer to pulling the solution out of the person you’re coaching. This is important because if they come up with the solution, they’re much more likely to own it.

The second way to gain insight is to pour into the person you’re coaching. Now, in these moments, you’ll temporarily remove your coaching hat and put on a mentoring hat. Coaches pull out, but mentors pour in. When you put the mentoring hat on, you’ll share a thought, an insight, an idea, or a perspective to help them get unstuck and move forward. 

Author and coaching expert Terry Walling refers to this method as “Breakthru Coaching.” He says, “Breakthrough results from the timely combination of coaching and mentoring.” He goes on to say, “The coach’s role is to facilitate discovery in the leader’s life. At strategic moments in the conversation, coaches need to dispense key leadership development insights to help facilitate the breakthrough that a leader is seeking.” 

This mixture of pulling out and pouring in will help the people you’re coaching discover the insights to improve and advance. And that brings us to the final coaching key. 

“M” – “Movement”

Your goal isn’t just to help the person you’re coaching come up with great ideas or fresh insights. You want them to chart a pathway to progress and take their first steps. Movement happens with two keys.

First, Identify Action Steps. You can do this by asking, “What do you think is the first step you should take between now and the next time we meet?” Or you might say, “You’ve offered some great insights in our time together. What action step do you want to tackle first?” The key is to ensure the action step is achievable before your next meeting. And if it’s not, help them break their goal into bite-sized steps that can be reached in a reasonable amount of time.

The second way to create movement is to Give Permission and Encouragement. A common roadblock people experience in the coaching process is a lack of confidence. That’s why good coaches give them permission to act. To be clear, they don’t technically need your permission to move forward. However, when they’re struggling with self-doubt, uncertainty, or imposter syndrome, a permission-giving statement can make all the difference. 

For example, you’ll bolster their confidence when you say, “You’ve got this inside of you. You can do this. I believe in you.” When they know you believe in them, it helps them believe in themselves. You can also speak words of encouragement by affirming their efforts, celebrating their progress, and encouraging them to keep going. 

As Mother Teresa once said, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless.” Your words of encouragement are the endless echoes that keep people moving after they leave the coaching session. 

So, there you have it—a simple way to develop coaching skills to help others succeed. Take AIM at a leader’s potential by coaching them toward Assessment, Insight, and Movement. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE. You can also order the book on Amazon, Kindle, and other retailers.

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Would you do me a favor and leave a rating or review on Amazon. It really makes a difference and helps get the word out.

In the session on, “How to Lead People,” I recounted the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his astonishing Antarctic journey. But what I didn’t tell you was how critical Captain Frank Worsley was to the expedition.

This was especially true when Shackleton assembled a small crew in a lifeboat for the journey to South Georgia. South Georgia was only 25 miles at its widest point, and 850 miles away. Finding this needle in the haystack of a vast ocean without Worsley’s navigation skills would be near impossible. 

So, the Captain gathered his navigational tools and tables, and then, despite the severity of the winds and the enormity of the waves, the crew set sail. 

After three barbaric days, Captain Worsley was finally able to use his sextant to get a rare glimpse of sun to determine how much progress they had made. In fact, in the span of 16 days, the captain got only four shadowy sightings of the sun. 

But thankfully, his ability for dead reckoning gave him the instincts to know his position, even without the help of navigational aids. And finally, on May 10, 1916, they reached South Georgia. 

The journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia is considered one of the most heroic ocean voyages of all time, and Captain Worsley’s navigation skills were indispensable to their success. So, why am I revisiting the story of Endurance and Captain Worsley’s extraordinary navigational skills? Because they powerfully resemble the navigational challenges you’ll face when you lead through conflict.

When you’re navigating conflict, it’s difficult to read what the parties in the conflict think, want, or expect. Opposition looms large like a giant iceberg, and unseen motives act like the undercurrent of an ocean, quickly changing the course of your direction. One wrong word, one mishap, one lapse in judgment can sink your efforts to resolve conflict and find a way forward. And here’s the harsh reality: If you can’t navigate conflict, you won’t be a successful leader. 

That sounds blunt—perhaps even unreasonable—but it’s true. Conflict is inevitable in leadership, and your ability to steer through it will determine how far you go. 

Here’s another sobering truth: how you deal with conflict reveals the level of your maturity. Let that sink in. The way in which you handle conflict provides an unfiltered view of your spiritual, emotional, and relational maturity. 

So, where do we begin? Effective conflict resolution requires six ingredients. 

1. Cultivate Trust

Trust doesn’t just play a role in conflict-resolution, it plays the central role. In other words, trust is the starting place and the driving force behind resolving conflict. 

To cultivate trust, begin with the right posture. In Matthew 5, Jesus said that if you come to your place of worship and realize you have a grudge against someone, you should, “leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right.”

In other words, Jesus doesn’t permit us to stew with anger or blast people on social media. Instead, He tells us to address conflict quickly, privately, and restoratively. He said, “Leave immediately”—that’s addressing conflict quickly. Then he said, “go to this friend,”—that’s addressing conflict privately. And finally he said, “make things right”—that’s addressing conflict restoratively. 

2. Choose Timing

Most people only address conflict in two scenarios: when it’s easy to resolve or too big to ignore. When conflict falls somewhere in the middle—when it’s not easy to resolve but it hasn’t turned into a full-blown crisis—we ignore the conflict or delay our response to it. 

In general, there are two good times to resolve conflict. First, deal with conflict quickly. In Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul said, “And ‘don’t sin by letting anger control you.’ Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.” Second, deal with conflict calmly. If you’re raging mad, take a few minutes—or even a few days—to cool down before you address the conflict. Carefully choose your timing to resolve conflict.

3. Clarify Tension

You can’t resolve conflict unless you clarify what’s causing it. That’s why I try to live by a simple rule of relationships: Ask questions before jumping to conclusions. Good questions and clarifying statements help you increase your understanding of the tension. For example, you might say:

• “I could be wrong, but I feel like there’s some underlying tension in our relationship. I wanted to take a moment to hear what might be bothering you.”
• “I feel like I may have done something to offend you, so I wanted to see if you would help me understand what I’ve done and how you’re feeling.” 

Again, your goal is to create understanding without making accusations. 

4. Communicate Truth

When you’re addressing conflict, don’t talk around the issue; speak directly to it. This is difficult, but half-truths and outright lies will only damage trust and prolong the conflict. So, to communicate truth, keep in mind the ABC’s: 

A – Articulate the Facts 

B – Balance Candor and Care 

C – Cultivate Dialogue 

When you can candidly articulate the facts, in a caring way, while cultivating dialogue rather than a monologue, you’re on the road to healing. Whatever you do, don’t use truth as a weapon to prove a point, get your way, or crush the other person. Furthermore, do your best to avoid exaggerations or play the blame game.

5. Control Tone

Two remarkable attributes of Jesus are grace and truth. Simply put, Jesus spoke truth in the tone of grace. 

We’ve already talked about communicating truth, but that truth must be spoken with grace. If your tone is one of correction, you’ll put others down. But if your tone is one of connection, you’ll lift others up. 

And think about it…which leader do you respect the most? The one who corrects you downward or coaches you upward? The answer is obvious. The tone of connection will always outpace the tone of correction. In fact, connection alleviates conflict while correction always amplifies it.

6. Collaborate Together

Just because you experience conflict with somebody doesn’t mean they’re your enemy. It usually means there’s a misunderstanding that requires an honest conversation. 

If you’ll have the honest conversation, collaboration toward a better future becomes possible. And when you have that conversation, focus on what unites you, make room for both parties to win, and identify clear next steps. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE. You can also order the book on Amazon, Kindle, and other retailers.

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Would you do me a favor and leave a rating or review at Amazon. Your support means the world and makes a difference.

On January 28, 1986, just 73 second after lifting off from Cape Canaveral, the space shuttle Challenger exploded above the Atlantic Ocean. The 6-day mission abruptly ended, killing seven crew members—including Christa McAuliffe, a middle school teacher from New Hampshire. 

As a result of the disaster, President Ronald Reagan established a commission chaired by former Secretary of state William P. Rogers. What came to be known as the Rogers Commission Report identified the cause of the explosion: an O-ring seal had failed.

But it turns out, the failure was much deeper. In addition to an equipment failure, the report revealed organizational communication failures. In fact, the night before the launch, Bob Ebeling and four other engineers from Morton Thiokol raised concerns about the forecast temperatures and the impact they could have on the O-rings. 

Alarmed over the risk, they recommended the launch be grounded if the temperature fell below 53 degrees. But senior management overruled the recommendation. That night Bob Ebeling told his wife Darlene, “It’s going to blow up.” And the next day, it did.

In an interview 30 years later, Ebeling said, “I was one of the few that was really close to the situation. Had they listened to me and wait[ed] for a weather change, it might have been a completely different outcome.” The Rogers Commission Report stated that “failures in communication” and “selective listening” resulted in the decision to launch. As a result, seven innocent lives were lost. 

In most cases, poor communication isn’t a matter of life and death. And yet, it is. Why do I say that? Because in Proverbs 18:21, King Solomon said, “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.”

So, as a leader, how do you effectively communicate with others? I believe it requires six essential communication skills. 

1. Life-Giving Content

Proverbs 10:11 says, “The words of the godly are a life-giving fountain; the words of the wicked conceal violent intentions.” So, what does a life-giving fountain sound like? The substance of your words must pass three tests to be life-giving.

First, are your words truthful? Ephesians 4:15 says, “speak the truth in love.” Second, are your words wise? While truthful words are facts, wise words are discerning and full of perspective. King Solomon said, “Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing” (Proverbs 12:18). And third, are your words helpful? The apostle Paul said, “Say only what helps, each word a gift” (Ephesians 4:29, MSG). 

2. Clear Speech 

Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” If people can’t understand what you’re saying, then everything you say will undermine your credibility. That’s why clear speech is marked by three qualities: clarity, conciseness, and pace. 

First, clear speech is obviously clear. If it lacks clarity, it will create frustration and confusion for the people who hear you. Second clear speech is concise. When we ramble on and on about a topic, it becomes an emotional drain on our hearers. And finally, clear speech is spoken at the right pace. The average pace for a conversation is 150 words per minute. If your pace is too quick, people won’t follow what you have to say, and if it’s too slow, people will disengage. 

3. Positive Tone

As a leader, you can communicate in a positive tone or a negative tone, an open tone or a defensive tone, a hopeful tone or a depressive tone. But whatever tone you choose will set the overall temperature for your team.

King Solomon offered some good tone-setting wisdom in Proverbs 15:1 when he said, “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.” So, whatever you do, be sure to choose a positive a tone.

4. Curious Questions 

Asking thoughtful questions invites others into the conversation. It helps you connect, invites feedback, and builds a bridge to active listening. And when you combine curiosity with your questions, you don’t just hear what others say, but you understand the heart behind the matter. Curiosity digs beneath the surface and helps you shift from being interesting to being interested.

5. Active Listening

Proverbs 18:2 says it like this: “Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.” Leading and listening are two different skills, but leading without listening will significantly handicap your leadership. So, if you want to avoid the path of the fool, practice active listening. Be interested without interrupting, and engage in the conversation with a listening posture.

In addition, to be an active listener, watch your body language, and pay attention to your eyes, facial expressions, and posture. Does your body language say, “I’m engaged” or “I’m bored”? Do you lean in with curiosity or are you distracted by what’s happening around you? 

6. Controlled Response

When our response is controlled, it’s a source of life. But when our response is uncontrolled, it unleashes devastation. That’s why it’s wise to heed the Apostle Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 4:2. He said, “Always be humble and gentle.”

Being a gentle leader might sound weak and wimpy, but the word “gentle” actually means power under control. A gentle response isn’t dependent on having power, but whether power has you. 

Each key plays an important role in communication, and each key helps you make healthy connections with others.

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE. You can also order the book on Amazon, Kindle, and other retailers.

LEAVE A RATING & REVIEW:

Would you do me a favor and leave a rating or review on this episode of the podcast. Your help in spreading the word is deeply appreciated

Booker T. Washington was the first principle of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he advocated for emancipated slaves and higher education for African Americans.  Well, shortly after stepping into his role, Washington was walking by the home of a wealthy family when the lady of the house came outside and asked him to chop some wood. So, Washington rolled up his sleeves, chopped the wood, brought it into the house, and stacked the logs by the fireplace.

Later that day, a young girl told the wealthy woman that Washington was the principle of the Tuskegee Institute. When the woman heard this, she was embarrassed by her request and went to see Washington in his office the next morning. When she walked into his office, the woman apologized profusely. But Washington simply replied “It’s perfectly all right, Madam. Occasionally I enjoy a little manual labor. Besides, it’s always a delight to do something for a friend.” 

The woman shook his hand and left his office, but she didn’t forget Washington’s gracious kindness. Instead, she persuaded her friends to join her in generously donating thousands of dollars to the Institute. 

Booker T. Washington could have reminded this wealthy woman of his title and position. Instead, he chose the high road of servant leadership. So, what does a servant leader look like? Well, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus contrasts the leadership of the Pharisees with that of servant leaders. And from his teaching, we discover seven choices we must make to become servant leaders. 

1. Choose INTEGRITY Over DUPLICITY

The Pharisees were a religious group of leaders who came up with 613 laws they expected everyone to follow. The problem was, the Pharisees didn’t practice what they preached. 

That’s why Jesus said, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach” (Matthew 23:2-3).

Simply put, these religious leaders were masters in duplicity, and as a result, leadership became nothing more than a stage to act like somebody they weren’t. A duplicitous leader is double-minded, but a servant leader leads with integrity.

2. Choose PEOPLE Over POWER

Jesus continued his description of the Pharisees in Matthew 23:4 when he said, “They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.” These leaders put power before people. They used their man-made rules like whips to beat people into submission.

But Jesus had a different approach. In fact, He once told his disciples, “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant” (Matthew 20:25-26 MSG) 

3. Choose SILENCE Over SHOW

The Pharisees constantly tried to project an image of importance. In Matthew 23:5, Jesus said, “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.” 

But instead of “Show,” Jesus chose “Silence.” In fact, when he healed a deaf man and a man with leprosy, he told both of them not to tell anyone. Why? Because at its core, choosing “silence over show” is all about motives. And for a servant leader, the motive is to serve people for their good and God’s glory. 

4. Choose GIVING Over GETTING

It’s always nice when you receive an unexpected perk or privilege, whether it’s an upgrade on a flight or a free dessert on your birthday at your favorite restaurant. But the Pharisees didn’t treat perks like unsought blessings. Instead, they expected preferential treatment. That’s why Jesus said, “And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues.” Perks were the Pharisees priority. 

Perks aren’t necessarily bad, unless of course we adopt an attitude that says, “I deserve the perks, and I’m entitled to the perks.” When that happens, we become consumed with GETTING OVER GIVING. But Jesus calls us to a different posture—one of GIVING OVER GETTING. 

5. Choose TOWELS Over TITLES 

In the Gospel of John chapter 13, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. What’s ironic about this act is that Jesus had the HIGHEST AUTHORITY, but He assumed the LOWEST POSITION. And then he told his disciples to do the same. 

But the Pharisees had a different approach. Jesus said, “They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’” The title “rabbi” means “my great one,” and the Pharisees savored their titles but shunned the towel. In other words, greatness—quite literally—was defined by the title these religious leaders held.  

6. Choose HUMILITY Over HUBRIS

Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 23:11-12, “The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” So, if you want to be a servant leader, choose humility over hubris.

7. Choose SACRIFICE Over SECURITY

In Matthew 20:28, Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Simply put, Jesus expected to make sacrifices. He even chose to sacrifice his very life at the cross. 

Elizabeth once said, “The best way to find out whether you really have a servant’s heart is to see what your reaction is when somebody treats you like one.” Let’s all follow Jesus’ example. Let’s all make the seven choices to become servant leaders. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE. You can also order the book on Amazon, Kindle, and other retailers.

LEAVE A RATING & REVIEW:

Would you do me a favor and leave a rating or review on this episode of the podcast. Your help in spreading the word is deeply appreciated.

One of the greatest leadership feats of the 20^th century was Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. 

The goal of the expedition was clear: cross the continent of Antarctica from west to east. But in the end, Shackleton’s greatest leadership feat wasn’t the crossing of Antarctica, but winning a two-year wrestling match to survive its ice-cold grip. 

The 28-man crew sailed on Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, and departed London on Saturday, August 1, 1914. But when they were only 60-miles from their destination, the ship became trapped by the ice floe, where it remained for months. 

Then, in early May, darkness covered Antarctica as the sun disappeared from the sky for the next 79 days. 

By the end of August, the Endurance cracked as the pressure of the floe tested its strength. And on October 27, 1915, Shackleton gave orders to abandon ship. Just 25 days later, Endurance was crushed and swallowed by the ice. 

The conditions on the ice floe were brutal. When the men had to relieve themselves, ice became their toilet paper. When their eyes watered, tears rolled down their faces and froze on the tips of their noses. To make matters worse, food was sparse, and the dreadful day came when they had to shoot their dogs just so they could eat. 

Finally, on April 9, the Boss—as Shackleton was known—gave the order to launch the three lifeboats into the water to make a perilous, sleepless journey through the violent ocean. And after a heroic effort, the men finally made landfall on Elephant Island. 

Then, Shackleton assembled a five-man crew to sail 800 miles to South Georgia in hopes of returning with a ship to collect the rest of the men. 

The crew had to sail through the Drake Passage, affectionately known as “The Drake Shake” because of its violent and inhospitable waves and weather. But against all odds, on May 10, the crew arrived. It had been 522 days since they originally left South Georgia.

There was only one problem: they were on the opposite side of the island from the Stromness whaling station. And between them and the station were 10,000-foot mountains. For 36-hours the men marched through the snow before finally making it to the whaling station. And then, after four valiant attempts, they rescued the 22 men waiting on Elephant Island. 

Why do I share the story of Shackleton’s perilous two-year journey—a journey in which he didn’t lose a single man? Because in his journey you discover eight valuable lessons that can help you lead people today. Let me share those lessons with you. 

1. Vision: Communicate an Inspiring Picture of the Future

Shackleton began with an unwavering vision to cross the continent of Antarctica from west to east. You might hear this and say, “But Shackleton didn’t achieve his vision.” I would argue he didn’t achieve his original vision. But he did achieve the most important vision: to get his entire crew safely home. 

After the ice swallowed the Endurance, Shackleton pulled his men together, served them hot tea, and then confidently said, “Ship and stores have gone, so now we’ll go home.” His vision was always clear. You’re probably not taking a voyage to Antarctica anytime soon, but if you want people to follow, you must cast an inspiring vision for the future—a vision that’s better than where you are right now. 

2. Strategy: Create a Path Forward

Every vision requires a strategy to seize it. Shackleton’s original strategy to fulfill his vision involved two ships, specific polar routes, and detailed action plans. And when his vision was thwarted, he made the necessary adjustments to his strategy to get the crew safely home. So, what makes a good strategy? Five things:

First, you need to understand your current reality—that is your strengths, weaknesses, and obstacles. Your current reality is your starting place. Second, you need to do research to discover the best practices to achieve your vision. Third, you need to secure the resources to achieve the vision. Fourth, you need to create a roadmap with clear goals to move toward the vision. And fifth, you need to rollout the strategy to your team with a clear communication plan.

When you understand reality, do your research, secure the resources, create a roadmap forward, and then rollout the strategy to the team, you’ll begin moving toward the vision.

3. Team Expectations: Define Roles and Goals

When five thousand applications flooded Shackleton’s office for his Antarctic expedition, he did the tedious work of selecting the right men for the job. Well, we must do the same. And to make that happen, each person on your team needs a clear role and a specific goal. Your job is to define the role. Their job is to define the goal. 

For the role, create written role descriptions that articulate the expectations and responsibilities of each role. And for the goals, let each team member choose their own. This will increase buy-in and create ownership. Just make sure the goals are aligned with each team member’s responsibilities and the organization’s highest priorities.

4. Equipping: Prepare the Team to Succeed

You can’t do a job without the right tools, and Shackleton provided the very best scientific instruments and polar equipment to accomplish the task. So, how can you prepare your team for success today? I recommend the TREC method. TREC, T-R-E-C, stands for Training, Resources, Experience, and Coaching. 

When you give your team practical training, the resources to do the job, experiences to help them grow, and personalized coaching, you’ll set them up for success. 

5. Delegation: Empower the Team to Act

Shackleton had a high standard, but he wasn’t a micro-manager. He delegated responsibilities to team members and then trusted them to excel. So, what does effective delegation look like? It requires the four A’s:  Assignment, Authority, Accountability, and Affirmation.

First, you need to assign tasks based on the giftedness of your team. Second, you need to give team members authority to make decisions in the areas you’ve assigned to them. Third, you need to hold team members accountable to deliver results. And fourth, you need to provide affirmation to each team member by encouraging them along the way. 

Assignment, Authority, Accountability, and Affirmation is your delegation roadmap to fully empower your team to succeed. 

6. Collaboration: Foster Relationships, Cooperation, and Unity

One of Shackleton highest values was unity among his crew. So, how did he achieve it? For one, he balanced the work of the scientists and the seamen by having them help each other. In addition, each crew member took turns sailing, doing night watch, caring for the dogs, and scrubbing the floors. Shackleton even rotated work assignments, so the men could build friendships as they served alongside one another. 

Fighting for the unity of your team is paramount, and it happens best when you build relationship, collaborate on projects, and nip divisive behavior in the bud. When you do these things, unity forms among the team. The seventh key to leading people is…

7. Compassion: Show People You Care

Shackleton cared deeply for his crew, and he did his best to show it in personal and collective ways. For example, he assembled his crew to have conversations, play games together, observe holidays, celebrate birthdays, and enjoyed sing-alongs. On top of that, each day, even during blizzards, he would visit each tent to inquire about every man’s health and comfort.

Compassion for people is essential in leadership. After all, you’re not just doing tasks, you’re leading human beings. So, take time to ask how they’re doing, inquire about their family, celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, and compliment them publicly. On top of that, listen to their feedback, offer to help when they’re struggling, learn to say thank you, invest in their growth, and have fun together. 

None of these tips are rocket science, but all of them require intentionality to show your team how much you care. 

8. Communication: Keep People in the Know

Shackleton’s communication was honest, optimistic, and frequent. And if we’re going to lead people well, we too must communicate frequently and positively, even in the midst of hardship. 

There you have it: 8 keys to lead people: Vision, strategy, team expectations, equipping, delegation, collaboration, compassion, and communication. These aren’t the only keys to successful leadership, but they’re essential to get you on the right path. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE. You can also order the book on Amazon, Kindle, and other retailers.

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Would you do me a favor and leave a rating or review on this episode of the podcast. Your help in spreading the word is deeply appreciated.

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Each year TIME Magazine publishes its list of the 100 most influential people. The list includes artists, icons, pioneers, leaders, athletes, and actors. Interestingly, some people on the list are here today and gone tomorrow. And I must admit, I’ve never even heard of some of these list-making influencers.

So, what about you? If you assembled a list of the most influential people in history, who would make your top 100? I’d no doubt recognize some of the names, while others would probably be obscure to the world but deeply impactful to you. 

Well, one of my top 100 would be the Apostle Paul. Outside of Jesus, Paul was arguably the most influential person in the New Testament. Paul, also known as Saul, brought the Gospel to the Gentiles, Jews, and kings. And not only did he preach the Gospel, but he also performed miracles, equipped leaders, and planted at least 14 churches. And, of course, Paul wrote nearly a third of the New Testament. Without question, his influence is substantial and significant. 

So, where did it begin? Well, if you dissect Paul’s life, you discover five ingredients to build God-honoring influence. 

1. Personal Calling 

Saul had a transformational encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. And when the Lord told Ananias to go and pray for Saul, the Lord said, “Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.” 

So, Paul encountered two callings: the call to follow Jesus, and the call to preach the Gospel. Those two callings were the catalyst for Paul’s influence. Well, you too have a personal calling. First, you’re called to follow Jesus, and second, Jesus has a unique calling for you to fulfill—a calling that deploys your gifts, abilities, skills, and passions to make a meaningful difference. 

So, that raises an obvious question: what does personal calling have to do with influence? Your calling is the internal driver that defines the external arena where your influence will come to life. When your calling is clear, it will reveal where you’re most likely to have influence and make the greatest difference. 

2. Trustworthy Character

In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” His character was trustworthy. So, how does character build your influence? 

First, trustworthy character enlarges the width of your influence. Character enables you to influence more people because it gives them a reason to trust you.  Next, trustworthy character increases the depth of your influence. The more trustworthy you are, the more people will allow you to influence them at the deepest levels. And finally, trustworthy character supports the weight of your influence. You see, leadership becomes heavier and harder as your responsibilities become bigger and broader.  

3. Inspiring Vision 

What’s the difference between inspiring vision and personal calling? Your vision flows out of your calling and engages the people around you. That’s what happened for Paul. He was called to preach the Gospel, but that calling became an inspiring vision when he partnered with others to see the vision fulfilled. 

4. Proven Competence 

It’s one thing to have an inspiring vision, but it’s quite another to turn that vision into reality. This is where your competence plays a critical role. 

Paul’s competencies included things like communicating, tentmaking, church planting, mentoring, and writing. And in His wisdom and sovereignty, God used each of Paul’s competencies to expand the influence of the Gospel and take new territory for the cause of Christ. 

The same will be true for you. Your competence plays an important role in your ability to gain influence for a cause that’s bigger than yourself. So, if you want to make your greatest impact, you must continually refine your skills. You must seek feedback, acquire coaching, and create a growth plan to maximizes your leadership competencies. 

5. Relational Investment 

In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul said to Timothy, “You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.”

Notice, Paul built influence with Timothy by investing in a mentoring relationship with him. Then, he commissioned Timothy to do the same with others. So, how do we put relational Investment to work in our lives? It happens through three things: connection, compassion, and coaching.

Let me close with one final challenge, and this is really important: don’t seek influence for the sake of influence. The real question isn’t about how much influence you have, but rather, what are you doing with the influence God has entrusted to you? 

What does that look like practically? The best way to make a difference with your influence, is to ask yourself these questions: What need can I meet? What problem can I solve? What person can I help? What beauty can I create? And what disciple can I make? 

Your answers to those questions will reveal where and how your influence can make the greatest difference. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE. 

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Would you do me a favor and leave a rating or review on this episode of the podcast. Your help in spreading the word is deeply appreciated.

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Several years ago, my wife Karen and I planted a church near downtown, Fort Worth, Texas. Well, a few years after planting the church, our building reached a tipping point. Our auditorium was full, our kid’s space stretched thin, and we knew we needed to either renovate or relocate. 

After careful consideration, we decided to renovate the building. Here’s the framework we drew from to make the decision.

1. PRAYER: Have I Asked for the Holy Spirit’s Wisdom? 

2. DNA: Does the Decision Support Our Organizational Identity? 

3. RESEARCH: Have I Done My Homework? 

4. EXPERIENCE: Do Lessons from Past Experience Support the Decision? 

5. ADVICE: Does the Wisdom of Others Affirm the Decision? 

6. RESOURCES: Can We Get the Money to Start and Sustain the Decision?  

7. IMPACT: Will the Decision Deliver a Good Return on Investment?

8. INTUITION: Is My Gut Telling Me to Proceed?  

9. INFLUENCE: Are My Key Leaders Receptive and Supportive?  

10. TIMING: Is the Timing Right for the Leader, Team, & Organization? 

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE. 

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Let me start this session by asking you a question: how valuable is your time? 

In his book, Becoming a Coaching Leader, Daniel Harkavy offers a great perspective on determining the value of your time. He suggests that you start by identifying your desired annual income five years from now. In fact, go ahead and pick a number. How much do you hope to make five years from today?

Once you’ve picked a number, open the calculator on your phone and divide your desired annual income by 2,080. 2,080 is how many hours there are in a 40-hour workweek during an entire year. Once you divide your desired income by 2,080, you’ll come up with an hourly rate. 

For example, if you want to earn $100,000 per year and you divide it by 2,080, you’ll make about $48 per hour. If you want to earn $250,000 per year, you’ll make about $120 per hour. Now, look at that hourly dollar amount on your calculator and ask yourself this question: “Is how I currently use each hour of my day worth that much money?” 

You might push back and say, “Stephen, I don’t make that much money per hour.” I get it, but that’s not my question. The question is, “Is how I CURRENTLY use each hour of my day worth that much money?” Let’s make it personal.

Is scrolling through social media worth $48 an hour to you? Is watching TV for three or four hours each night worth $120 an hour to you? Is spending excessive hours on your favorite hobby worth the number on your calculator right now? 

If your answer is “No,” I have news for you: If you don’t change how you use your time today, you won’t earn your desired income tomorrow. This example obviously doesn’t encompass the full value of time. After all, time isn’t just a matter of money. But this example does help us see time in a new light. 

Psalm 90:12 also provides incredible perspective on the value of time. It says, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.” When you realize the brevity of life, you begin to see time as a precious resource entrusted to you by God. We can spend time frivolously or invest it wisely; either way, how we use our time reveals what we value most.

So, how do you effectively manage time? Well, I believe it begins by identifying three circles. The first circle is “Why.” The second circle is “Where.” And the third circle is “How.” Let me unpack each one. 

CIRCLE #1: WHY: Purpose & Values

Without a well-defined purpose and clearly stated values, you’ll efficiently manage your time to accomplish the wrong things. That’s not a picture of success. After all, who cares if you get the wrong things done quicker. Purpose and values are the north star for time management. So, let’s start with purpose. 

If you want to discover your purpose, begin by identifying how God wired you. God designed you with your purpose in mind be depositing in you abilities, passions, and spiritual gifts. so if you identify how God designed you, you’ll begin getting clues to your purpose in life. Each of these traits are like puzzle pieces, and when you turn each puzzle piece face up, you quickly begin to see patterns emerge that give you clues to your life purpose. 

What about values? Values are the people, principles, and priorities that guide our lives. They’re the internal rules of the game that influence our behavior, what we do, and how we spend our time and money. Circle #1 clarifies your purpose and values. They are the “Why” of time management. 

CIRCLE #2: WHERE: Roles & Priorities

The “Where” circle focuses on the Roles & Priorities that will help you fulfill your purpose and values. In other words, this is “Where” you invest your time.  

Let’s start with Roles. You likely serve in a variety of roles at home, in your community, on a campus, in your career, or in the church. The question is, “Do these roles help you live out your purpose and values?” The more your roles are aligned with your purpose and values, the more time you’ll be able to allocate to them.

Within each of your roles, you also have Priorities. So, what should those priorities be? John Maxwell recommends answering three helpful questions to identify your highest priorities. Question one: What is required of me? Question two: What activities give me the greatest return? And question three: what activities give me the greatest reward? When you answer the three “R’s”—required, return, and reward—for each of your roles, you will discover your highest priorities in those roles. 

CIRCLE #3: HOW: Planning & Boundaries

Planning creates a system to maximize the minutes in your day. To plan your time wisely, select a good time management tool, and then conduct a weekly meeting with yourself to plan out your week. As you plan out your week, identify the three most important things you need to do that week, as well as the three most important things you need to do each day. Finally, eliminate time-wasters, automate things that happen repeatedly, and delegate tasks that must be done, but not necessarily by you. Those are the basic of how to plan your time. 

In addition to planning, the “How” circle also focuses on boundaries. Boundaries are the guardrails that protect the use of your time. To establish clear boundaries, conduct a time audit so you know exactly where your time is going. Then, identify the kind of tasks, projects, and appointments you’ll say yes to and the ones you’ll say no to. Finally, set technology boundaries. When you consider that the average person spends 143 minutes per day on social media, it wouldn’t hurt to establish some technology boundaries.

The sweet spot of time management is where the three circles overlap. In other words, when the WHY, WHERE, and HOW of time management intersect, you’ll be able to allocate the precious minutes of your life to what matters most. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE. 

LEAVE A RATING & REVIEW:

Would you do me a favor and leave a rating or review on this episode of the podcast. Your help in spreading the word is deeply appreciated.

SHOW NOTES:

Authors Mark Batterson and Dick Foth once said, “In a very real sense, my world begins and ends between my ears. I don’t have to be brain-dead to be brain-defeated.” So, how do effective leaders think? Well, in Insanely Practical Leadership, I outline eight essential mindsets of a leader. But today, I’d like to focus on three of them. 

1. Leaders Think Possibilities vs. Excuses

Unfortunately, leaders can come up with excuses, and Moses is a perfect example. When God called Moses to return to Egypt and lead His people out of slavery, Moses tried to dodge God’s call with five different excuses. 

Excuse #1: Insignificance: I’m Not Important Enough 

Moses said, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” In other words, Moses felt insignificant for the task at hand. 

Excuse #2: Incompetence: I Don’t Know Enough 

Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” Moses didn’t have the answers to move forward. In his mind, his competence didn’t cut it.

Excuse #3: Invalid: I’m Not Credible Enough 

Moses said, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?” So, get the picture: In this moment, Moses was doubting his credibility. 

Excuse #4: Inadequacy: I’m Not Skilled Enough 

Moses reminded God of his speech impediment. He said, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words.” Simply put: “God, I’m inadequate for the job. My skills don’t measure up.” 

Excuse #5: Inferior: I’m Not Good Enough 

Moses finally said, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.” In other words, “God, if you lined up a hundred other people, I’d be the least qualified. I’m inferior. Please, pick someone else.” 

Have you ever used any of those excuses with God or with someone else? Have you ever said, “I’m insignificant, incompetent, invalid, inadequate, or inferior?” Well, here’s the problem with excuses: they’re the permanent exit ramp from the highway of obedience. But that’s not how good leaders think. 

The most effective leaders think in the realm of possibility. Why? Because that’s where God resides. That’s why God didn’t put up with a single excuse Moses threw at Him. Instead, God told Moses, “I’ve sent you,” “I’ve equipped you,” and “I’m with you.” And the same is true for you. God has sent you. God has equipped you. And God is with you. And when that’s the way you think, you’ll lead in the realm of possibility.

2. Leaders Think People vs. Programs

Industrialist Andrew Carnegie once said, “Take away my people but leave my factories and soon grass will grow on the factory floor. Take away my factories and leave my people and soon we will have a new and better factory.”

Leadership is about the people not the programs, products, or property. You design programs, but you develop people. You create products, but you cultivate people. You buy property, but you build people.  When you stop developing, cultivating, and building people, the day will come when you have no more programs, products, or property. In fact, when you think people first, you won’t have to worry about products and programs because the people will think of them for you. 

So, if you’re going to think people vs. programs, then you must begin investing in people. Why do I say that? Because that’s what separates a leader from a high-achiever. High achievers are doers. But leaders are developers. One focuses on doing tasks, but the other focuses on developing people. And as a leader, the greatest fruit you’ll ever produce is the people you develop. That’s how leaders think. 

3. Leaders Think Empowerment vs. Control

Author and pastor Craig Groeschel says, “You can have control or you can have growth, but you can’t have both.” To maximize growth, leaders deliberately give up control and empower the people they lead. Yes, this feels risky. And yes, this stresses out control freaks, like me. 

But if you’re going to think like a leader, you must empower people with power. As Navy Captain Michael Abrashoff once said, “Empowering means defining the parameters in which people are allowed to operate, and then setting them free.” And what happens when you don’t empower people? They rely on you to make all their decisions for them. But again, as Captain Abrashoff observed, “If all you give are orders, then all you’ll get are order-takers.” 

So, what does it look like to truly empower others? It requires two keys: responsibility and authority. You must first release responsibility to other members of your team. And then, you must let go of the authority that goes with it. Responsibility and authority are the two tracks that the train of empowerment runs on. 

What about you? How does your thinking need to change? What mindsets do you need to embrace to think like a leader?

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE. 

LEAVE A RATING & REVIEW:

Would you do me a favor and leave a rating or review on this episode of the podcast. Your help in spreading the word is deeply appreciated.

SHOW NOTES:

Sinkholes aren’t confined to land. They also find their way into our character as leaders. When our souls become dry, the rains of pressure and problems cause subtle character cracks to become giant sinkholes. And in the end, not only does our life collapse, but our family, team, and organization pay a heavy price.

Author Lance Witt once said, “When leaders neglect their interior life, they run the risk of prostituting the sacred gift of leadership. And they run the risk of being destructive instead of productive.” So, how do we lead with character? There are actually five layers to leading with character. 

Layer #1: Identify Your Values

Values are the character compass that point you in the right direction. And values are formed at the intersection of three things: beliefs, principles, and priorities. 

Beliefs are the core set of creeds and convictions that anchor our lives. For followers of Jesus, beliefs are grounded in the truth of Scripture. Principles are wisdom and guardrails that guide us down the right path. Finally, priorities define the areas where we invest our time, talent, and treasure. 

Simply put, beliefs ground us. Principles guide us. And priorities order us. Together, they form the values on which we build our lives. So, Layer #1 to leading with character is to identify your values. 

Layer #2: Grow Your Character

Author Bob Goff once said, “We plant sod where God wants us to plant seed. He’s more interested in growing our character than having us look finished.” Character growth is important, but it doesn’t happen by accident. It requires several practices to maximize growth. 

Practice number one is to Cultivate Disciplines of Spirituality. We talked about those disciplines in the last session, and how they draw us into God’s presence where he can transform us. 

Practice number two is to Create Boundaries of Accountability. Boundaries of accountability gives us the external structure we need to outsmart our weaknesses. 

And practice number three is to Build Circles of Community. Community give us the wisdom and encouragement from others to help us play the long game. 

These three practices provide the nutrient rich soil to grow our character. And working together, these practices prevent sinkholes from forming below the surface of our hearts. 

Layer #3: Model Your Behavior

Modeling behavior happens when you do what you say you will do, even under pressure. For example, modeling behavior is asking for forgiveness when you step out of line. It’s telling the truth when it’s inconvenient. It’s receiving feedback with grace and humility. It’s showing compassion when others are hurting. 

These are all examples of what it looks like to model your behavior. In fact, in 1 Timothy 4:12, the apostle Paul said, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” Paul understood that character grows inwardly, but its influence is felt outwardly. 

Layer #4: Debrief Your Wisdom

In 2 Timothy 3:10-11, Paul said, “But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance. You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra—but the Lord rescued me from all of it.” 

Notice, in this passage Paul highlighted several character traits, not to exalt himself, but to use each trait as a teachable moment. In other words, Paul used his life to debrief matters of character with his young apprentice Timothy. And we must do the same with our team. 

The goal isn’t to brag about your character or present an image of perfection. Instead, we must give examples of when our character was tested, and how we responded. We must point to moments when we failed character tests, and then humbly share the lessons we’ve learned in the process. These “debriefing moments” are how you pass character onto the people around you.

Layer #5: Multiply Your Example

The example we set for others has the power to multiply far beyond us. How so? Multiplication happens when you guide the people you lead through the previous four layers of character. In other words, we must help others identify their values, show them how to grow and model their character, and then challenge them to debrief their character with the people they lead. As they exhibit each layer of the process, you’ll begin multiplying your character, and you’ll equip them to do the same. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE. 

LEAVE A RATING & REVIEW:

Would you do me a favor and leave a rating or review on this episode of the podcast. Your help in spreading the word is deeply appreciated.

Leadership is immensely challenging. In fact, as I coach leaders, I hear stories of bold visions, heart-breaking pain, board members gone rogue, difficult leadership transitions, and situations with intense spiritual warfare. 

The truth is, there is no shortage of stress and struggle in leadership. But as the external pressures of leadership increase, we need a more powerful presence within us. That’s why the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 3:16, “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.” 

So, where do we start? Well, to become a spiritually grounded leader, we need four spiritual keys. 

1. Spiritual Priority

Author Greg Mckeown made an interesting observation about the word priority. McKeown notes that when the word priority came into the English language in the 1400s, it was originally a singular word that meant “the prior or very first thing.” 

It remained a “singular” word for the next 500 years, until the 1900s when we made the term plural: priorities. Well, McKeown poses a powerful question about the word “priorities.” He said, can there be multiple very first things?

Unfortunately, many people think there can be, but Jesus makes it clear only one thing can be first. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” This is the starting place to become a spiritually grounded leader. Seeking God must be our very first thing.  

2. Spiritual Practices

Author Richard Foster once said, “We do indeed engage in practices—disciplines, if you will—but remember these practices earn us nothing in the economy of God. Nothing. Their only purpose is to place us before God. That is all…God then steps into our actions and, over time and experience, produces in us the formation of heart and mind and soul for which we long.”

Notice, the spiritual practices don’t change us—God does. The practices are merely the way we place ourselves before God so He can do His transforming work in us. So, whether it’s prayer, Bible study, worship, fasting, serving, generosity, or community, what are the spiritual practices you need to develop to bring you before God so He can transform you in His presence? 

3. Spiritual Pace

After performing a miracle where He fed 5,000 people, Jesus told His disciples to get into a boat and cross the lake. Then, Jesus went up into the hills to pray by himself. And the Bible tells us, “Night fell while he was there alone.” 

But the disciples didn’t immediately get in the boat and cross the lake. Instead, John 6:16 says, “That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him.” And eventually, darkness fell but Jesus still hadn’t come back.

That passage sounds simple enough, but when I read it, I’m convicted with this thought: Has anyone ever had to wait on me to finish praying?

You see, Jesus modeled the unrushed way by not rushing His time with the Father. Despite the demands Jesus faced, His leadership pace didn’t exceed His spiritual pace. I know, unrushed time with God sounds impossible, especially when speed is the name of the game for so many leaders. But if we’re not careful, we’ll begin measuring intimacy with God by our efficiency with God. 

Efficiency sounds like a good leadership tactic, but intimacy is the fuel to help you finish well. You can’t microwave maturity. And when we combine spiritual practices with a healthy spiritual pace, the transformation is deep. 

4. Spiritual Perspective

Leadership expert, Dr. J. Robert Clinton once said, “When a leader has a lifelong developmental perspective, that leader expects God to shape him over a lifetime. The leader views the things that happen to him as God’s sovereign way of developing him. That leader recognizes that all of life, while being vital and true for the moment, is also used to prepare him for all of the rest of life.”

To lead for a lifetime, you need a lifetime developmental perspective. You need to see pain, tests, and trials as the tools God uses to form you, grow you, and stretch you as a leader. I’m not suggesting God is the originator of all our hardships, but God doesn’t waste them either. The question is, will you? 

Without a healthy spiritual perspective, you risk becoming angry, bitter, and resentful at the leadership pain God wants to redeem to shape you into a Christ-centered leader. 

In fact, that may very well be the difference-maker in your leadership. Dr. Clinton said it like this: “The difference between leaders and followers is perspective. The difference between leaders and effective leaders is better perspective.” Perspective makes the difference.

So, to become a spiritually grounded leader, you need four things: spiritual priority, spiritual practices, spiritual pace, and spiritual perspective. Priority makes your spiritual growth important. Practices make your spiritual growth evident. Pace makes your spiritual growth vibrant. And perspective makes your spiritual growth resilient. This is the pathway to become a spiritually grounded leader. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE. 

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Personal and professional growth help you become the person, and the leader, God intended for you to become. As a leader, you are responsible to own your growth. You can’t delegate it or negotiate it. You can’t relegate it or vacate it. In fact, authors Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller said it like this: “Growth for leaders is the treasure that funds the future journey. Stop finding the treasure along the way and the journey ends.” 

As a leader, you have a dream burning in your gut. But between you and your dream is a gap—a growth gap. And the only way to close that gap is to fund the journey toward your dream with the treasure of your growth. That happens when you get insanely practical about three keys: a growth mindset, a growth plan, and a growth team. 

1. Adopt a Growth Mindset

In the Gospel of Luke chapter 2 verse 52, it says, “Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.” Notice, Jesus’ growth was intentional and continual. He didn’t think about growing—He grew. And He wasn’t haphazard about growing—He grew mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially. 

Without an intentional and continual growth mindset, we’ll view growth as nothing more than a one-time event. Events such as conferences and seminars are great at inspiring change, but the change doesn’t actually happen at the event. A process of growth must follow the event which then produces long-term habits of transformation. Simply put, events inspire change, process creates change, and habits sustain change. And it all starts with a growth mindset. 

2. Create a Growth Plan

I’ve developed a growth planning model that I call “Growth TRAC”—T-R-A-C. A Growth TRAC is a specific, measurable, and accountable plan for personal and professional growth. Each letter in the word “TRAC” stands for a word, and each word is accompanied by a question to help you create your own Growth TRAC. Let’s unpack it. 

The letter “T” in “TRAC” stands for Target, and the question is, “What are My Growth Goals?” Your growth goal is the target you’re aiming to hit. The letter “R” stands for Roadmap, and the question is, “How Do I Plan to Grow?” Your roadmap to reach your target is typically made up of things like training, resources, coaching, and experiences. 

The letter “A” stands for Accountability, and the question is, “Who Will Hold Me Accountable for My Growth?” None of us are good enough to reach our growth goals alone. That’s why we need friends and mentors in our lives to ask us questions and hold us accountable to grow. And finally, the letter “C” stands for Check-Up. The question is, “When and How Will I Evaluate My Growth Progress?” When you conduct regular check-ups on your growth progress, you’re able to make mid-course corrections to help you reach your growth goals. 

A Growth TRAC includes a Target, a Roadmap, Accountability, and Check-Ups. And when you follow your TRAC, it helps you intentionally grow. 

3. Assemble a Growth Team

Several years ago, Scott Wilson introduced me to the idea of a growth team. A growth team is a group of people who help you grow in the most important areas of your life. 

For example, if you’re married, your spouse will help you grow in your relationship with your family. But your growth team doesn’t end there. Prayer partners help us grow spiritually. Counselors help us grow emotionally. Coaches help us grow professionally, and financial advisors help us steward money wisely. Add to that friends and workout partners, and we find the help we need to grow relationally and physically. Together, this team helps us reach our growth potential.

So, to create your own growth team, start by identifying the primary roles and responsibilities in your life. Again, those might be spouse, parent, pastor, business leader, friend, and follower of Jesus. Then, identify individuals who can help you grow in those specific areas, and ask them to be on your growth team. And when you meet with these individuals, ask them questions to help you grow in the areas where they can help you most. Whatever you do, be sure to come prepared, take careful notes, and then apply what you’re learning. 

These are the keys to growth. You must adopt a growth mindset, create a growth plan, and then assemble a growth team. All three will change and mature over time, but these are the core ingredients to maximize your personal and professional growth. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT INSANELY PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP:

The teaching in this podcast series comes from my book, Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others. Get your copy of the book, masterclass, and study guide to maximize your leadership and to invest in the growth of your team. You can learn more about Insanely Practical Leadership and the bonus content that goes with the book HERE.

LEAVE A RATING & REVIEW:

Would you do me a favor and leave a rating or review on this episode of the podcast. Your help in spreading the word is deeply appreciated.

Let me tell you why. 

I’m not a natural-born leader.

Far from it. 

I was never the first kid chosen on the playground. I still recall the awkwardness as team captains looked over my head to see what other options there were. And at times, I still feel that paralyzing insecurity that came from being picked last. 

Then, in my very first leadership position, I set a church pew on fire. Not only that, but I forgot to reserve a trailer to haul our students’ luggage to a camp that was three hours away. I still shake my head in embarrassment when I think of that moment. 

I’ve battled self-doubt, second-guessed my decisions, and had plenty of regrets in leadership.

But it turns out…I’m not alone. 

In fact, research shows that only 10% of people possess the raw talent to manage and lead. 

That means the rest of us are “learned leaders.” In other words, we had to figure it out the hard way—through ups and downs, trial and error, as we stumbled our way toward hard-won lessons. 

But guess what! You don’t have to be a natural leader to become an extremely effective leader. 

And that’s why I wrote my new book, Insanely Practical Leadership. 

With all of the twists and turns and ups and downs, I’ve learned how to put handles on leadership so that anyone can excel at it. 

Insanely Practical Leadership equips you with 12 no-nonsense tools to master the art of leading yourself and others. In fact, every chapter of the book is a “how to” chapter. 

You’ll learn how to grow you, how to think like a leader, how to manage your time, and how to make leadership decisions. You’ll learn how to build influence, how to lead people, how to navigate conflict, and so much more.

In this book, I get honest and vulnerable.

I don’t just talk about the wins, but I also share the struggles, the failures, and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. Most importantly, I give you insanely practical tools in every chapter to help you lead yourself and others.  

Plus, if you’re looking for a resource to help your staff, your board, or your team wrap their head around leadership, this book is the place to start. It moves way beyond theory and provides a practical roadmap to become a great leader. 

So, whether you’re still trying to figure it out, or you’re a seasoned leader looking for a tool to develop others, Insanely Practical Leadership is the blueprint to help you take your next step. 

Plus, if you want to take your growth to the next level, I’ve also developed a 12-session video masterclass and study guide. 

Get your copy today at  insanelypracticalleadership.com and discover leadership for the rest of us. 

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1. Lack of Character

Some team members don’t take responsibility because of character gaps. Simply put, they lack the integrity, work ethic, and commitment to do what’s right. If a team member lacks character, they will always be prone to the highway of excuses. Leaders have to confront these character gaps quickly and state the change that is required immediately. 

2. Lack of Clarity

There are times when a team member doesn’t take responsibility because they lack clarity about expectations. It’s not that they don’t want to do what’s right, they were just never given a clear role description, expectations, objectives, or deadlines. This is especially common when onboarding new team members. 

3. Lack of Commitment

Author Patrick Lencioni observes team dysfunction begins when there is an absence of trust. That trust gap creates a fear of conflict, which means when decisions are made about the organization’s direction, team members exhibit a lack of commitment because they never felt comfortable weighing in on the decision. Simply put, the fear of conflict (caused by a lack of trust), produced a decision that people couldn’t buy-in to. What’s the outcome? When team member lack commitment, they ultimately avoid accountability for the decision, which leads to an inattention to results. This is why a feedback culture is so important. It allows everyone to weigh-in so that they can buy-in.

4. Lack of Competence

Some team members don’t take responsibility because they lack the skill to do what needs to be done. It’s not a matter of want to but rather the ability to. As a result, they make excuses, hem haw around, or find ways to delay effort and action. Rather than admitting what they don’t know or can’t do, they pretend, or worse, shift blame. This is why ongoing personal growth, professional development, and leadership coaching is so important. 

5. Lack of Confidence

A lack of confidence can stem from a variety of things such as personal insecurities or past failures. When confidence wanes, team members can enter into a doom loop where their lack of confidence leads to a delay in action, which results in no progress, ultimately compounding the lack of confidence. This is why it’s so important to provide ongoing encouragement and belief in your fellow team members. 

6. Lack of Connection

Sometimes responsibility is evaded when there’s a lack of connection with other team members. Gallup’s research indicates that employee engagement increases when team members have a close friend at work. Without a sense of connection and camaraderie, work begins to feel like a weight, and the joy gets drained out of our jobs. 

7. Lack of Courage 

Finally, some team members don’t take responsibility because they lack courage. In other words, they’re too scared to take a risk, have a hard conversation, or confront the issues that need their attention. As a result, they keep delaying what needs to be done. They need someone to talk to about their fears, and who will encourage their hopes as they identify easy next steps. Sometimes the big, scary steps just have to be broken down into bite-sized pieces. 

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The Cure for each Responsibility Gap? 

So, what’s the cure for these seven responsibility gaps? Each one is unique, but generally speaking, there are four primary ways to help a team member take responsibility and overcome the gap that’s undermining them.

1. Clarity

If the team member lacks clarity, it’s your job as the leader to provide it. They cannot read your mind, so be sure to establish a clear role description, expectations, and answers to any questions they might have. By providing clarity, you remove ambiguity and help the team member see the path forward.

2. Coaching

For many of the responsibility gaps, coaching is the best first step. For example, when there’s a lack of competence, confidence, or courage, the team member may just need some practical coaching to get them moving forward. They need someone to believe in them, provide perspective, offer key insights, and help them take the right next step. 

3. Culture 

Team members need a culture that values relationships, accountability, and feedback. Relationships will help you address the lack of connection, and accountability and feedback will help you address a lack of commitment. When these dynamics are part of your culture, they make it harder to hide behind responsibility excuses. 

4. Consequences

Finally, with some responsibility issues, you need make the consequences for failure to change clear and timebound. For example, character issues must be addressed immediately. There’s no time to delay, and immediate change is required. Team members need to understand what the consequences will be if a change doesn’t happen by a specific deadline.

Addressing responsibility gaps isn’t easy, but when leaders do, the respect from the rest of the team increases. Not only does productivity increase, but so does organizational momentum and the health of the team. 

Blind spots are those areas you simply don’t see, but others do. Deaf spots have to do with how you come across to others. And dumb spots are areas where you lack knowledge or expertise. Without feedback, you’ll remain blind, deaf, and dumb to these critical areas of your life. But with feedback, growth, health, and progress are possible.

At the same time, feedback isn’t always easy to give. It requires a clear approach that isn’t controlled by assumptions or attacks. From my observations, good feedback has six essential characteristics. 

1. Fast

Several years ago, I was at the dentist getting a crown replaced when I heard a member of the office staff talking rather directly to a patient on the phone. As my dentist worked on my teeth, he quietly mumbled something under his breath—too faint for me to hear. Then, after she hung up the phone, he suddenly left the room. 

That’s when I realized what was happening. He calmly but directly began to address how she had come across on the phone. It was an obvious deaf spot, and my dentist didn’t waste any time addressing it. 

When I thought about it, I realized he was practicing real-time coaching. He didn’t wait six months until it was time for a formal performance review. Instead, he addressed it immediately. That’s the best kind of feedback. It’s fast. 

2. Frequent

Good feedback is also frequent. In other words, staff members shouldn’t be left wondering how they are doing on the job. Feedback should be given frequently enough to remove ambiguity and uncertainty. 

This doesn’t mean you need to give feedback every day or every week. But feedback should usually be given at four important times: praiseworthy moments, problematic issues, potential coaching, and performance reviews.

During praiseworthy moments, you’re stopping to give feedback on a job well done. During problematic issues, you’re addressing behavior that needs to change or problems that need to be fixed. During potential coaching, you’re giving feedback and mentoring that will help a team member reach their full potential. And during performance reviews, you’re providing an overall review of the team members ability to meet expectations. 

3. Factual

As much as possible, feedback should be based on the facts. If you can’t give clear examples or point to specific issues, you may not be ready to provide feedback. If you have a hunch that something is wrong, admit that upfront rather than hurling accusations at the person. 

Without factual support for your feedback, you’re likely to spiral into a situation where trust is broken and false assumptions dominate the relationship. Stick to the facts without throwing in exaggerated statements like “always” and “never.”

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This practical 89-page guide provides the roadmap to BUILD A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE, MISSION FOCUSED, & FULLY ENGAGED CHURCH STAFF. Plus, you’ll get 25 customizable tools to build team momentum including a role description, dozens of interview questions, onboarding checklist, staff meeting template, goal template, annual reviews, teamwork scorecard, & more.

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4. Friendly

While facts deal with content, being friendly deals with delivery. The key to good feedback is to deliver truth in the tone of grace. That doesn’t mean you don’t have hard conversations. It simply means you need to show respect and dignity in the process. 

By friendliness, I don’t mean that you’re being buddy-buddy with a team member because you’re too scared to address a difficult issue. Nor am I referring to giving a pass for poor performance and unhealthy behavior. Instead, I’m talking about tone, attitude, and posture. 

While feedback should be fast, the leader can’t deliver it when they’re angry, visibly upset, or emotionally volatile. That will only make things worse, and it may permanently damage the relationship. Again, be factualand friendly, truthful and graceful. 

5. Focused

Everybody responds to feedback differently. Some people will thank you for it and then immediately get to work addressing any gaps that need to be closed. Others will become angry, defensive, or even blame someone else. Still, others will try to dodge it or delay it, hoping it will magically go away. 

Don’t get sucked into drama, dysfunction, or denial. Keep a cool head and stay focused on the issues at hand. If you don’t, they can quickly manipulate the issues to excuse their own bad behavior, or worse, put the blame on you. 

Conflict always reveals a person’s level of maturity. Your ability to stay calm and focused will ensure the situation is handled wisely on your part. A leadership coach once told me, “Don’t be afraid of how they might respond; their response is their responsibility.” Address the mess without getting sucked into it. 

6. Forward

Feedback that addresses growth gaps should always have the goal of creating forward progress. That’s why the way you deliver the feedback, and how you manage the meeting, is so important. Express belief in the person. Let them know you want what’s best for them and the organization. Then offer coaching and hold them accountable to move forward. 

When you take this approach, you make forward progress possible. However, they also must be receptive to the support you’re offering to them. Coaching doesn’t work with someone who’s not coachable. 

Make your feedback fast, frequent, factual, friendly, focused, and forward. When you do, you set the feedback encounter up for far greater success. In the end, you’re able to celebrate wins and address blind spots, deaf spots, and dumb spots. 

1. Proximity

The deepest levels of team development happen when there’s relational proximity. Relationships are at the heart of coaching, mentoring, and disciple-making. Relationships sit at the seat of one-on-one’s. And those relationships deploy the tools of development such as training, resources, and experiences.

Proximity happens when relationships drive the developmental process.  This makes team development people-centric rather than content-centric. Content is important, but it’s most powerful when deployed and debrief in the context of relationships.

2. Strategy

Developing team members doesn’t happen randomly. It requires a strategy that is clear, systematic, and multi-faceted. A team investment strategy may include conferences, resources, workshops, intensive coaching, books, video courses, and more.

At 7 City Church, we identified layers of volunteer leadership (team members, leaders, and coaches), and then we created training for each layer of leadership. That training is organized into four areas: discipleship, vision and values, leadership skills, and technical skills. My point is simply that team development needs a clear strategy.

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3. Consistency

Developing team members requires consistency. It’s not a one-time event but an ongoing developmental process. Without consistency, leaders fail to close character and competency gaps. Leaders must identify what they’ll do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually to invest in their team. You might do daily check-ins, weekly one-on-ones, monthly trainings, quarterly team nights, and annual celebrations. The key is consistency.

Proximity, strategy, and consistency are foundational guiding principles for developing team members. Combined, they’ll accelerate your efforts and maximize your people-development efforts.

Leadership is full of pain, and there is no shortage of circumstances where people say things and do things that will hurt you. So how do you forgive when those moments arise? To help us answer that question, take a look at a young leader named Joseph from the book of Genesis. Joseph lived in a family filled with dissension, anger, and jealousy. His eleven brothers hated him because their father loved Joseph more than any of them.

Because of their jealousy, they sold Joseph into slavery. Over the next thirteen years, Joseph served in the house of Potiphar (the captain of the guard), was falsely accused of attempted rape, and spent several years in prison. Needless to say, Joseph had every right to be bitter with his brothers. But Joseph chose a different route. He chose the high road of forgiveness. From his life we learn this powerful truth that every leader needs must embrace:

Forgiveness is a choice to let go of resentment and retaliation and let God redeem the pain.

1. Forgiveness is a Choice

That’s a tough pill to swallow because none of us “feel” our way into forgiveness. And if you’re the one who caused the offense, you’ll never “feel” your way into repentance. Embarrassment, pride, and rationalization will always speak louder than the small voice of forgiveness.

Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you” (MSG). Why would this verse say to forgive quickly and thoroughly? I believe the answer is found if you back up to verses 26 and 27: “And ‘don’t sin by letting anger control you.’ Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil” (NLT).

Paul understood that anger has spiritual ramifications. As the sun sets on our anger, Satan’s influence rises in our hearts. Despite what our culture tells us, nobody can make you angry. Anger and unforgiveness is a choice. You can release it or you can rehearse it.

When you rehearse the offense, you allow the offender to live rent free in your head. It’s like handing the keys of your mind to the person who hurt you and giving them permission to rule your head with negative thoughts.

The key to granting forgiveness is to remember how much God forgave you. His forgiveness was quick and thorough (Ephesians 4:32). I’m not suggesting that’s easy, but when you see your hurts in the shadow of God’s forgiveness, it tends to put your hurts—and the offender—in proper perspective. 

If you’re the offender, you also have a choice to make. The key to seeking forgiveness is to put the person before your pride. You have to humble yourself, acknowledge your sin, and seek reconciliation. Matthew 5:23-24 (MSG) says, “This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.”

2. Forgiveness Means Letting Go of Resentment 

When Joseph’s brothers came to him requesting food, Joseph wept (Genesis 45:1-2). In this crucial moment, all of the emotions of the past came rushing back to Joseph. I believe his tears, however, weren’t tears of resentment as much as tears of reconciliation. In this emotional encounter, Joseph recognized the opportunity to reunite with his family after 22 long years.

Resentment is a powerful emotion. Resentment is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die. When we hold a grudge, we poison ourselves. Reconciliation only happens when we throw away the poison and choose to forgive.

3. Forgiveness Means Letting Go of Retaliation

Retaliation is another natural response to hurt. Again, Joseph chose the high road. Genesis 45:3-5a (NIV) says:

“Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here,…”

Letting go of retaliation feels so unnatural. It feels like we’re admitting defeat and awarding the winner’s trophy to the offender. So, how do you deal with repeat offenders? The Gospel says to forgive seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21-22). This isn’t a license to hold a grudge after the 490^th offense. Rather, it’s a challenge to live with a spirit of forgiveness regardless of how often we are hurt. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a permanent attitude.” This doesn’t mean we allow repeat offenders to treat us like doormats.

A spirit of forgiveness is the attitude you have toward repeat offenders. Clear boundaries are the actions you take with repeat offenders. When you combine the right spirit with the right boundaries you’re able to navigate offense appropriately.

4. Let God redeem the pain 

Joseph’s encounter with his brothers reveals a remarkable level of character and integrity. It’s obvious that his character was refined through hardship. Genesis 45:5-7 (NIV) says:

“And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”

Most people waste their pain because they don’t let God redeem their pain. Joseph chose the latter. He allowed God to redeem his pain and use it for a higher purpose. Rather than harbor resentment or leverage his influence to retaliate, Joseph found the pathway to redemption.

One of the most remarkable stories of forgiveness is found in Elisabeth Elliot. Elisabeth served with her husband, Jim, as missionaries to Ecuador in the 1950s. While they worked with the Quichua Indians, Jim dreamed of ministering to an unreached tribe. That dream motivated Jim and four other missionaries to reach out to the Aucas—a fierce group of Indians with a brutal reputation for killing outsiders. Though the mission was dangerous, Elisabeth knew it was God’s plan.

Initially Jim and his team made friendly contact with two women and one man from the Aucan tribe. But on January 8, 1956, all five men were speared to death. Their bodies were found floating in the river. Now Elisabeth was a young widow left alone to raise Valerie, their ten month old daughter.

While the news was devastating, it was not debilitating. Elisabeth committed herself to continue serving the Quichua Indians in Ecuador. In the three years that followed Jim’s death, additional contact was made with the Aucans in an attempt to reach the tribe with the Gospel.

In February 1959, Elisabeth Elliot, her daughter Valerie, and Rachel Saint—the widow of Mission Aviation pilot Nate Saint—moved in with the tribe and lived with the family that had killed Jim, Nate, and the other missionaries. Eventually the Aucan Indians responsible for the death of the missionaries became followers of Christ.

The conversion of this tribe is quite remarkable. But perhaps more amazing is the willingness of Elisabeth Elliot to forgive the tribe and freely offer the hope of eternity. It must have been an emotional journey for Elisabeth and we can only imagine the feelings of bitterness that knocked repeatedly at the door of her heart—feelings that were continually served with an eviction notice as God’s love made room in Elisabeth’s heart for the Aucans.

Forgiveness is a choice to let go of resentment and retaliation and let God redeem the pain. Have you made the choice to forgive those who have hurt you? Do you need to seek forgiveness from the person you’ve offended? Perhaps God wants to redeem the pain of offense and use it from something great in and through your life.

The lessons from the servants are plentiful and powerful. However, there’s another lesson that is often overlooked in this parable. It’s a lesson from the master on how to lead faithful team members.  

Three Ways to Lead Faithful Team Members

To the first two servants, the master said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” (Matthew 25:21). How did the master lead these servants? He engaged three practices. He…

1. Commended

Notice the first thing the master said to the faithful servants: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” He acknowledged the good work of these servants. Their ability to double their master’s wealth didn’t go unnoticed. Team members shouldn’t have to wonder whether or not they’re doing a good job. As leaders, we must regularly commend their good work.

2. Entrusted

After commending the servant’s faithfulness, the master said, “You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities.” This is where leaders often drop the ball. We expect faithfulness, but then we don’t make a way for the faithful to advance. We expect faithfulness, but when it’s delivered, we don’t entrust the faithful with more responsibility and opportunity. This is demoralizing to team members. They are left to wonder, “How much more do I need to do to be entrusted with greater opportunities?” Your job as a leader is to make a pathway for emerging leaders to assume greater responsibility and opportunity. Expect faithfulness, but then be prepared to open doors when it’s delivered. 

3. Rewarded

The master did one more thing for the faithful servants. He said, “Let’s celebrate together!” In other words, he rewarded their faithfulness. As we lead our teams, there should be times set aside to celebrate wins. It might happen through public praise, a special outing, a bonus, or some other expression of appreciation. The point is, intentionally reward faithfulness. 

As you lead your team, don’t just expect faithfulness. Learn to commend, entrust, and reward the faithful. As you do, your team will flourish, grow in loyalty, and produce greater impact. 

One of the classic leadership bottleneck stories in scripture is found in Exodus 18. People were standing in line, all day and night, to ask Moses questions about God’s will concerning their disputes. Moses would judge right from wrong and inform them of God’s law. This process repeated itself day after day until his father-in-law, Jethro, pointed out Moses’ bottlenecks and prescribed the appropriate changes. Moses was suffering from three specific leadership bottlenecks:

1. The Priorities Bottleneck

The priorities bottleneck occurs when a leader tries to cram too many priorities into the narrow space of his or her schedule. Jethro challenged this bottleneck head on when he told Moses “This is no way to go about it. You’ll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you–you can’t do this alone” (Exodus 18:17-18, The Message).

Jethro continued by outlining three priorities for Moses: Point Leadership, Teaching, and Leadership Development. Simply pout, Moses was to be “the people’s representative before God,” teach the people God’s law, and select and release capable leaders. That’s it! Nothing else! Next Step: Identify your essential priorities. 

2. The Doer Bottleneck

Doer bottlenecks occur when a leader lets “doing” overshadow “developing.” “Doer Leaders” have influence because of their ability to get the job done. Their bottom-line results speak for themselves. But “Doer Leaders” will always be limited by time. If they can’t get it done in 24 hours, it simply won’t get done. And nobody can maintain that kind of pace long-term.

That’s why you must be a “Developer Leader.” Developer Leaders focus their time and energy on developing people. They understand that unless leaders are developed, they will never have leaders to whom they can release responsibility. Every opportunity requires a leader to run with it. When you run out of leaders, you can no longer delegate responsibility. Next Step: Shift from being a “Doer Leader” to a “Developer Leader” by investing in people. 

3. The Authority Bottleneck

The authority bottleneck occurs when a leader refuses to release decision-making power to others. When you have to make every decision, you become an authority hog. As a result, the church or organization you lead will never grow beyond you. You’ll eventually experience decision fatigue and it will overwhelm your capacity.

Typically “authority hogs” don’t trust their team to make the best decisions. These leaders are prone to give assignments without the authority to carry them out. Teams without decision-making authority are nothing more than researching and reporting assistants limited by the bottleneck of their leader’s “trust deficit.” Next Step: Identify trusted team members. 

Questions: How have you experienced these leadership bottlenecks? What other bottlenecks have you observed in leadership?

1. Unclear Vision

Vision is undeniably essential to any personal or organizational effort to create forward movement. Without vision, you’ll wander to your next destination…it just won’t be a preferred destination. Thus, the first inhibitor to making progress is unclear vision. You can’t get “there” when you don’t know what “there” looks like. And if you do see “there,” you won’t get there without clearly casting your vision to your team.

Unclear vision typically shows up in three forms: borrowed vision, self-imposed vision, or fuzzy vision. Borrowed vision occurs when a leader steals someone else’s vision and makes it his own. Self-imposed vision happens when a leader dreams up a vision without seeking God for His vision. And fuzzy vision happens when a leader simply doesn’t take enough time to see the vision clearly. It’s usually a rushed process that lacks prayerful, reflective thinking.

2. Irrelevant Strategies

Sometimes a leader has a clear vision, but they don’t have relevant strategies to achieve that vision. They’re afflicted by outdated and well-worn methods and programs. While they might have a vision for the future, it’s often viewed through the lens of strategies from the past. Your vision should drive your ideas, not the other way around. If your methods and strategies seem ineffective, evaluate them carefully and strategically. To evaluate and update your strategies, ask four questions about each one: What’s right? What’s wrong? What’s missing? What’s confusing?

3. Ineffective Execution

The next inhibitor is the inability to effectively execute. You can have the most inspiring vision and great strategies, but if you can’t execute, you’re dead in the water. Some people are fun to have on a team, but they just don’t get much done. They can’t execute. Everything takes longer than it should. As a result, they inhibit progress. Execution requires accountability and regular, strategic conversations to measure progress and make necessary adjustments. Regular one-on-one’s make this possible.

4. A Lack of Will

I was recently having lunch with a friend who has extensive leadership experience. We were discussing strategy and execution, and in the meeting I asked him which of those two ingredients is missing most frequently in organization. He said, “Neither. The biggest missing ingredient is the will to change.” If you don’t have the will to change, your strategies and execution really don’t matter. “Will” makes the difference. Will helps you make the hard decisions. Will drives you to actually implement your strategies and execute your plans.

5. Disengaged Teams

The fifth inhibitor is a test of your ability to recruit, equip, and deploy a fully engaged team. Author and consultant Patrick Lencioni describes this dynamic in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. The first level of dysfunction is an absence of trust. When teams are void of trust – lacking vulnerability with one another – they fear conflict. This fear of conflict prevents them from engaging in the healthy debate of ideas. As a result, because opinions aren’t voiced (or heard), team members lack commitment to the proposed idea or solution. This lack of buy-in causes the team to avoid accountability. In the end, there’s an inattention to results.

Simply put, nothing gets done because the team has disengaged. In some cases, team members need to be assigned different roles that better matches their gifting. Other times, team members need to transition out of the organization. If your team is disengaged, identify and address where trust has been violated. In addition, focus on building relationships, welcoming feedback, equipping your team, and empowering them with responsibility and authority.

These five inhibitors to progress prevent you from answering the five questions every organization must answer:

• Vision: Where are we going?
• Strategies: What’s the most effective method to get there?
• Execution: When will it be done?
• Will: Are we willing to make the hard decisions?
• Team: Who’s responsible for each step?

Question: Which inhibitor is slowing your personal (or organization) progress? What do you need to do to get the ball rolling again?

1. They Have Influence

This one’s pretty obvious. If people are following a young leader, pay attention. Others see something in the young leader that makes them want to follow.

2. They Take Initiative

This is a very important sign of potential leadership. If an individual takes initiative, it demonstrates their ability to lead themselves. Leading self opens the door to leading others.

3. They Possess Forward-Thinking Abilities

When somebody can think with innovation and creativity, they may have the ability to move things in the right direction. They are not confined to the world as they know it but, instead, can envision better ways to get the job done.

4. Their Spiritual Giftedness Indicates Leadership

Leadership is a spiritual gift. However, it is not the only spiritual gift that requires the ability to lead. Consider giving a young leader a spiritual gift assessment and see what comes to the top. They may have the gift of leadership. Or, they may have a gift that assumes a position of leadership–such as pastor, teacher, apostle, administration, etc.

5. They Possess Strong People Skills

The ability to work well with people will naturally increase a person’s influence. When you see solid people skills, you may see an emerging leader.

6. They Have the Ability to Motivate and Mobilize Others

Anybody can see a need. People with initiative see the need and do something about. But people with the ability to motivate and mobilize see a need and then inspire others to join them in meeting the need. It’s a natural progression toward higher capacity leadership.

7. They are Problem Solvers

Emerging leaders don’t whine about the way things are, but rather, wrap their heads around a problem and work diligently to find the right solution. The fastest way to gain influence is to solve problems. Solving problems makes life better for people which in turn increases the influence of the person that solved the problem.

8. They are Growing as a Disciple

Followers of Christ are committed to lifelong growth. And as disciples prove faithful in the small things, God tends to elevate their responsibilities–often in areas of leadership. This was true in my life. My leadership journey evolved from faithfulness in simple volunteer opportunities to increasing levels of organizational leadership.

9. They are Teachable

When a young leader is teachable, it reveals their desire to improve, grow, and be excellent in all they do. Teachability leads to excellence and excellence makes people take notice. It’s the excellent that often lead in any given field or industry.

10. They Model Servant-Leadership

Servant leaders lead by serving and serve by leading. When you see a potential young leader focused first on serving. , leadership opportunities may follow.

I am not suggesting that emerging leaders must possess all ten characteristics before they can be considered for leadership. After all, potential must be developed. Our job as leaders is to spot the potential and then proactively develop it.

Question: Which of these qualities do you see in the young generation around you? Why not invest in these emerging leaders and help them realize the gifting God has planted within them.

• The Insanely Practical Guide on How to Effectively Manage Your Time – Take your time management to an entirely new level by maximizing the three time management circles: WHY (Purpose & Values), WHERE (Roles & Priorities), and HOW (Planning & Boundaries).
• The Insanely Practical Guide on How to Lead a One-On-One Meeting – Leverage the power of one-on-one meetings by learning why and how to lead one-on-ones. Plus, you’ll get a meeting planner to give to your direct reports and a Meeting MAPP for supervisors to help you guide the meeting.
• The Insanely Practical Guide to Create, Communicate, & Capture Vision – Take the guesswork out of vision by learning how to clarify your vision, communicate it effectively, and take the steps necessary to turn the vision into reality. This A to Z resource will guide you each step of the way.
• 15 Outstanding Hiring Questions – Who you hire impacts everything. These 15 questions will help you find the candidate that’s right for your culture, team, and the role you’re trying to fill.

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Some influence is like roots. In a local church context, you get to put down roots in the community as you invest in one body of believers, serve a city for the long-haul, and help people grow strong in their faith. This form of influence is powerful and can leave a long-lasting impact in lives, churches, and communities. Influence grows because of the depth of your roots in one place. 

On the other hand, some influence is like branches. This is often the case for leaders who serve in organizations that aren’t confined to a single location or a single community. Simply put, their influence is like branches that stretch across a wider environment, reaching multiple places and spaces. 

Roots are about the depth of your influence and branches are about the width of your influence. One isn’t right while the other is wrong. They’re just different types of influence, and both types are needed.

Whether your influence is roots or branches, deep or wide, the important thing is to steward it wisely. In addition, support and champion both types of influence. After all, both forms need one another. 

Most time management methods focus on getting more done in less time. In other words, it’s about employing tips and tricks, tactics and tools, to squeeze more productivity out of every minute. That’s an important part of time management, but it’s incomplete. 

In my new resource, The Insanely Practical Guide on How to Effectively Manage Your Time, you’ll learn how to leverage the three essential circles of time management to achieve the highest levels of effectiveness: WHY (Purpose & Values), WHERE (Roles & Priorities), and HOW (Planning & Boundaries).

Without the “Why” circle (a well-defined purpose and clearly stated values), you’ll efficiently manage your time to accomplish the wrong things. That’s not a picture of success, much less significance. Who cares if you get the wrong things done quicker. 

Once you identify the “Why” circle, you must choose the roles and priorities that will help you fulfill your purpose and values. Roles and priorities are “Where” you’ll invest your time. The “Where” circle ensures alignment with your purpose and values.

Then, once you’ve established clear priorities for each role, you must engage the third circle—“How.” “How” keeps your priorities in focus with two important practices: planning and boundaries. Planning is about creating a system to maximize the minutes in your day. And boundaries are the guardrails that protect the use of your time. Without boundaries, somebody else will determine how you spend your time.

The Insanely Practical Guide on How to Effectively Manage Your Time will help you define all three circles to maximize your time management efforts. So, what happens when one of the time management circles is missing?

• Time management without purpose and values equals an UNFULFILLED LIFE.
• Time management without roles and priorities equals an UNFOCUSED LIFE.
• Time management without planning and boundaries equals an UNHEALTHY LIFE. 

This 35-page downloadable guide will help you maximize your time, make your greatest impact, and equip you to live a fulfilled, focused, and healthy life. Order a copy HERE for only $9.99, and be sure to check out other Insanely Practical Guides in the series.

1. REGULAR ENCOURAGEMENT 

According to research by Dr. Gary Chapman and Paul White, one of the five languages of appreciation in the workplace is words of affirmation. A one-on-one gives you a place to personally encourage and affirm team members. Furthermore, they give you an opportunity to express to your team members the value and importance of their contribution to the organization. 

2. CLEAR COMMUNICATION

Teams cannot function without clear and consistent communication. A one-on-one helps you give and receive regular communication updates. This is especially helpful when you need to communicate things that are only relevant to a specific team member.

3. GOAL PROGRESS

One-on-one’s allow you to stay up-to-date on a team member’s goals, the progress they’re making, and the areas where they’re getting stuck. They serve as a time for you to give perspective, offer wisdom, help them get unstuck, and hold them accountable.

4. PERFORMANCE COACHING 

One-on-one’s are an excellent time to provide coaching to your team members. In some cases, you will coach them in areas where you’ve observed a need for improvement. In other cases, you’ll coach them when they express a desire to grow in a specific area of life or leadership. 

Need help conducting effective one-on-one meetings with your direct reports? Check out The Insanely Practical Guide on How to Lead a One-On-One Meeting. You’ll learn:

• How to Introduce One-On-One’s to Your Team
• Ten Keys to a Successful One-On-One
• The One-On-One Meeting MAPP (a simple yet powerful meeting template for supervisors to use with their team members)
• The Team Member’s One-On-One Meeting Planner (a great tool to help team member’s prepare for a one-on-one with their supervisor)

Confidence is important in leadership, but every leader encounters struggles in this area at some point—often at many points—in their leadership journey. But author and leadership expert Dan Reiland offers great insight and practical help in his book, Confident Leader. 

Reiland provides a roadmap to help leaders move from being overconfident, underconfident, to authentic confidence. What’s the difference? 

Over-confidence is the overestimation of your abilities, assuming you are greater than you really are. Under-confidence is the result of “believing less in your abilities than God does.” It’s influenced by fear, insecurity, failures, and the opinions of others. But authentic confidence is a “grounded assurance” based on God’s presence and power. It combines acceptance, appreciation, and the cultivation of our God-given gifts and abilities. 

What kind of confidence do you have? Reiland observes, “The moment you step up to lead, you immediately become aware of your level of confidence.” So, how do you cultivate authentic confidence? Reiland offers a roadmap organized into three parts of the book, each illustrated by three Biblical leaders: Moses, David, and Nehemiah.  

DEEP FOUNDATIONAL DECISIONS

First, confidence begins with Deep Foundational Decisions “that establish stability and certainty in knowing who you are and how you were designed to lead at your best.” Leaders must take charge of their leadership confidence, overcome disbelief, establish their identity in Christ, learn to hear and heed God’s voice, and cultivate the qualities of a confident leader. 

I appreciate Dan’s focus on spiritual intimacy in the first section of the book. And his chapter on the Soul highlights five core qualities to embrace: humility, gratitude, generosity, security, and courage. Interestingly, as I reflected on these qualities, I realized they are at the core of some of the best leaders I know. 

DELIBERATE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Second, confidence requires Deliberate Character Development. Reiland observes:

“The bottom line is that a lack of competence can slow you down, but a lack of character can take you out. If you lack skill, you can improve; if you lack character, you are destined for a fall.”

Character gives depth to confidence and includes five important qualities: consistency, authority, adaptability, improvement, and resilience.

An insightful observation Reiland makes in his chapter on resilience is related to “The Anatomy of Pressure.” He notes, “When you begin in ministry, you start off with low pressure and high margin. But in time, you will inevitably have high pressure and low margin.” Your goal isn’t to avoid pressure, but to increase your ability to handle it and regulate it. He then offers five very helpful tips to navigate pressure, especially in low-margin seasons: Get your perspective right, tend to your soul, know your healthy pressure-relief valve, right-size the problem, and lean in to it. 

DAILY PRACTICAL DISCIPLINES

The third key to cultivate confidence is Daily Practical Disciplines. These are the essential competencies a leader must practice every day. Simply put, leaders must determine direction, focus on the game plan, care about those they lead, communicate an optimistic message, and develop leaders. His chapter on Communication offers some particularly helpful insight on optimism killers and optimism builders.

Confident Leader is a great resource with inspiration and application to boost your confidence—not just for a day but for a lifetime. That’s what I love about this book. The confidence solution Dan offers is grounded in insights that endure the test of time and the trials of leadership. Simply put, he offers a way to grow confidence that can weather the ups and downs of leadership.

Plus, Reiland includes several great interviews with highly effective leaders who have cultivated the confidence to lead with excellence—leaders like John Maxwell, Chris Hodges, Crawford Loritts, Jenni Catron, Sam Chand, Carey Nieuwhof, and others. 

I highly recommend Confident Leader. Dan Reiland provides a powerful combination of depth and practicality in an easy-to-read format. Pick up a copy of Confident Leader today. 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

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You don’t have to be in leadership for long to realize that criticism comes with the territory. People have opinions, and they’re not afraid to share them. That was certainly the case for Nehemiah when he began rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 4:1-3 says, “When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, ‘What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?’ Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, ‘What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!’”

These weren’t subtle grumblings under their breath. These were blatant criticisms meant to dissuade Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem from completing the way. But they didn’t Nehemiah or the people of Jerusalem. They doubled down on their efforts until the wall was finally finished in only 52 days. 

What about you? What critiques are your critics lobbing onto your leadership and the ministry God has entrusted to you? More importantly, how are you responding? Here are four ways to respond appropriately. 

1. Consider the Source

Everybody has an opinion, but that doesn’t mean you need to give every opinion equal weight. 

Sanballat and Tobiah were neither trustworthy nor interested in Nehemiah’s success. Quite the opposite. They schemed to harm Nehemiah (6:2), were relentless in their efforts to distract him (6:3-4), told lies to him and about him (6:5-9), and repeatedly tried to intimidate him (6:10-14, 19). Their critiques were born out of fear and intimidation rather than genuine care for Nehemiah and Jerusalem.

You will encounter criticism, but when it comes, consider the source. Disagreement doesn’t mean disloyalty. We must ask, is the source credible and caring? Are they trustworthy people who genuinely want what’s best for you AND for the organization? 

If they only want what’s best for you, your leadership will become self-serving. And if they only want what’s best for the organization, they may be fine bulldozing you in the process. The source needs be both CREDIBLE AND CARING. Being credible gives them permission to speak into the good of the organization. And being caring sets the tone in how they treat you in the process. 

2. Look for the Truth

There was no truth in the criticisms coming from Sanballat and Tobiah. Again, they lied to and about Nehemiah (6:5-9), and Nehemiah had the discernment to know they were lying. However, that’s not always the case. Even in hard criticisms, sometimes there’s a kernel of truth. 

Several years ago, I heard Carey Nieuwhof interview Scott Sauls, a pastor from Nashville who once worked with author and pastor Tim Keller. In the interview, Scott Sauls shared a powerful response Keller had toward criticism. Sauls said, “In a dozen false things said about him, he would search for a kernel of truth that he could repent of, because every opportunity for repentance is an opportunity to draw closer to Jesus.”

What a powerful practice. When Keller found the kernel of truth, he would humbly admit it and pray over it. Notice, Sauls didn’t say, “He searched for a kernel of truth he could agree with.” Truth sets us free, and Tim Keller was determined to embrace truth, even when it hurt. 

3. Control Your Response

Nobody likes criticisms. In fact, not only do we not like it, but we often have a visceral response to it that’s equally critical. In fact, harsher criticism is often how we repay our critics. 

But you can’t search for truth if you’re swinging a sword. You have to control your response. Why? Because your response does three things: it reveals, reinforces, and reproduces. 

First, your response reveals your level of maturity. Calm demeanors are more mature than rash reactions. Second, your response reinforces the truth. If somebody criticizes you for always being defensive, and then you respond in a defensive manner, the truth has been reinforced by your response. Third, your response reproduces patterns of behavior. In other words, how you respond to criticism will make the situation better or worse. Simply put, your response will reproduce bad behavior or good behavior. 

4. Protect Your Heart

Protecting your heart requires important spiritual habits such as prayer, worship, confession, and Bible Study. It requires a community of safe friends, wise coaches, and sometimes counselors. These are the practices that help you process your pain and remain spiritually and emotionally whole. 

What’s the alternative? If you’re not proactive about protecting your heart, criticism will turn into cynicism. You’ll become bitter, untrusting, angry, and resentful. 

What kind of criticism are you facing right now? Do an honest assessment of how you are responding. Then, consider the source, look for the truth, control your response going forward, and protect your heart. It won’t be easy, but it’s the mature way to handle our critics. 

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While this is true, not every team member is capable or willing of supporting the vision. In other words, not every team member sees the leader’s vision the same. In general, team members can see an organization’s vision from five different angles. 

1. An Inspiring Future to Support

These team members are fully bought into the vision for the future. It’s an inspiring picture that they willingly align themselves with and contribute to see it fulfilled. These team members bring great value to the organization for two reasons.

First, they’ve chosen to invest their time, talent, energy, resources, and influence into seeing the vision come to pass. Second, they actively create forward movement rather than sideways energy in the organization. These are the team members every leader hopes for when they cast compelling vision for the future. When a team member actively supports the vision, leaders need to actively express their appreciation for the team member’s support, effort, and contribution.

2. A Confusing Picture to Clarify 

These team members want to support the organization’s vision, but they’re limited in their ability to do so. Why? Because they don’t yet understand it. Simply put, they lack clarification. These are the quickest team members to get on board because all they need is for the leader to bring clarity to the picture they see for the future.

Whether it’s in a group meeting or a one-on-one, the leader needs to communicate the vision with extreme clarity and then provide the opportunity privately for questions and answers. Clarity is kind when it comes to vision casting. It helps team members see and support the vision for the organizations future.

3. A New Direction to Depart 

Team members who view the vision as a new direction to depart from are those who realize the organization’s vision is no longer something they are passionate about. Therefore, rather than creating waves, they choose to depart the organization and work somewhere else.

This is not a bad thing. Team members who have the self-awareness to see this reality, and then leave on good terms, exhibit a tremendous amount of character. On the other hand, those who collect a paycheck week after week from an employer whose vision they can no longer support exhibit very little character. When a team member acts honorably in their realization that it’s time leave, a good leader will affirm their decision, express appreciation for their honesty and integrity, and honor them in the process. It’s a mutually beneficial process.  

Leaders are responsible for creating and casting compelling vision for the future. But so often there is confusion around the visioning process. In The Insanely Practical Guide to Create, Communicate, & Capture Vision, Stephen Blandino takes the guesswork out of vision and helps you see, share, seize, and safeguard the vision so your church or organization can move forward. Download this extremely practical 36-page guide today for only $9.99.

DOWNLOAD NOW

4. A Frustrating Annoyance to Work Around 

These team members don’t view the vision as something to support, but something to ignore. They have an alternative vision, usually a personal agenda, that’s more important to them. Their vision is usually a pet project or a personal preference. In some cases, it’s a tradition to hold onto or an outdated initiative that they can’t let go of.

Whatever the case, these team members view the leader’s vision as a frustrating annoyance to figure out how to work around. Failure to address these team members will only lead to disengagement, dysfunction, disunity, and the poor stewardship of organizational resources. 

5. A Perilous Threat to Oppose 

These team members are not only opposed to the leader’s vision, but they actively look for ways to sabotage it. They will use their influence to dissuade others from following the leader or supporting the vision. They’ll create secret alliances that turn team members toward themselves and against the leader.

These individuals aren’t team members at all. They’re operating at the highest levels of disengagement and have become an active and blatant opposer to the organization’s vision for the future. Leaders must address these individuals quickly and hold them accountable.

Every team member will generally fall into one of these five categories when it comes to the organization’s vision for the future. Therefore, a leader needs the discernment to see clearly, and team members need the wisdom to support the vision, gain clarity from the leader, or leave the organization peacefully and honorably. 

Let me conclude with one final thought: Not every vision is for every team member. And that’s okay. What’s not okay is for leaders to abuse their influence to manipulate or control team members so they can get their way with the vision. Nor is it okay for team members to create division, disunity, derail the vision, or quietly disengage. Whether you’re the leader or the team member, your response in moments like these matters immensely.

1. Connect the Work to the Vision

Your organization no doubt has a mission and vision you’re working toward. The question is, are your team members working toward the same outcome? If daily actions aren’t aligned with organizational vision, you’ll never reach your preferred future. 

But here’s the hard truth: your job as the leader is to ensure there’s alignment between action and vision. If what you hired your team members to do is not aligned with where you want the organization to go, you either need to change the work or change the vision. 

Once there’s alignment, then help your team members see the difference they are making in their day-to-day work by showing them the connection between what they do and the organization’s dream for the future. 

2. Coach Toward Vision-Centric Success

Another key to employee engagement is giving team members the opportunity to learn and grow. But to accelerate purpose in the workplace, be sure you’re coaching your team toward vision-centric success. 

As I noted in the first point, the team will experience purpose when they see how their role contributes to the vision. However, they’ll feel even greater purpose when they receive coaching to excel in their role, thus making an even greater contribution to the vision. This coaching will them and the organization better. It’s a double win.

Leaders are responsible for creating and casting compelling vision for the future. But so often there is confusion around the visioning process. In The Insanely Practical Guide to Create, Communicate, & Capture Vision, Stephen Blandino takes the guesswork out of vision and helps you see, share, seize, and safeguard the vision so your church or organization can move forward. Download this extremely practical 36-page guide today for only $9.99.

DOWNLOAD NOW

3. Communicate Appreciation for Their Efforts

As team members carry out their responsibilities, learn to express appreciation for what they do, how they do it, their efforts to live out the organization’s values, and their commitment to the team. 

As Gary Chapman and Paul White have observed, every team member has a language of appreciation. The more you speak their language, the more they’ll feel a sense of purpose and value in the workplace. 

4. Connect with the Person

There’s nothing more powerful in a work environment—or in much of life—than healthy relationships. People find purpose at work not only in what they do, but also who they work alongside. 

By taking time to cultivate connection between team members, you increase meaning in the workplace. You help them see that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. You make the work transformational rather than transactional. 

Every team member wants to feel like what they’re doing matters. These four practices will help you infuse purpose into your teams and the culture you’re creating. 

1. Distracted Leader

Look in the mirror. You could be the first type of vision disrupter. I don’t believe the leader of a church or organization intentionally aims to disrupt the vision, but it can happen when the leader gets distracted. 

One of the most common distractions is shiny new visions. In other words, the “latest and greatest” can become a distraction to the original vision God put in your heart. This “alternative vision” might be a new opportunity, a flashy new strategy, or something that exudes fresh excitement. 

It takes discipline to stay focused, especially when it takes an extended period of time to see the vision fully realized. Without focus, you’ll jump from one vision to the next, leaving a wake of frustrated team members as they’re whipped back and forth in opposing directions. 

Another common distraction that leaders have to deal with is the weekly pressure of “Sunday’s coming.” I’m not implying that Sundays are unimportant. After all, Sundays are one of the most significant ministry environments in your week where God is touching lives and transforming hearts. Instead, I’m simply making an observation that the pressure to deliver a fresh, God-inspired sermon every week can keep you from seeing anything else. 

What’s the cure for the distracted leader? I would suggest three things. First, the vision needs to be extraordinarily clear. If there is any vagueness in the vision, you will naturally drift away from it. Second, the vision needs a timeline. If the vision is “somewhere out there,” you’ll never feel like you’re making progress. And third, the vision needs a plan. If a vision isn’t accompanied by a step-by-step plan, you’ll never turn the vision into reality.  

Don’t disrupt your own vision by getting distracted by alternative visions or the pressure of weekly ministry. Instead, get clarity, create a timeline, and develop a plan to get from here to there. 

2. Divisive Team Members

The second vision disrupter is team members with personal agendas. These agendas usually show up in three forms: self-promotion, pet projects, and divisive seeds. 

Self-promotion happens when the team member isn’t there for the team at all. Instead, they are only interested in promoting themselves. They don’t support the vision of the church because they’re too busy focusing on their own self-serving vision. It’s not about what they can give to the organization, it’s about what the organization can do to help them build their personal platform. 

The second type of divisive team member is the one consumed by pet projects. These projects aren’t necessarily bad, but they’re also not core to the church’s vision. In most cases, pet projects are only connected to the passions of a team member. But if those passions don’t align with the vision of the church, they quickly become disrupters and dividers of the vision. 

The third way team members disrupt the vision is when they sow divisive seeds. These seeds usually show up as hallway discussions, disengaged behavior, and a subtle attempt to create personal alliances that pull others off mission. 

All three types of divisiveness need to be addressed quickly and definitively. The longer they fester, the deeper the divide will become. In extreme cases, they lead to church splits. 

As a leader, confront the self-promotion, pet projects, and divisive seeds before they disrupt the vision and pull others down a destructive path. This will require you to address the behavior in a one-on-one meeting and then hold the team member accountable to change. If they won’t change, help them find a church or organization better aligned with their passions so they can put their full energy and support behind the vision. 

Leaders are responsible for creating and casting compelling vision for the future. But so often there is confusion around the visioning process. In The Insanely Practical Guide to Create, Communicate, & Capture Vision, Stephen Blandino takes the guesswork out of vision and helps you see, share, seize, and safeguard the vision so your church or organization can move forward. Download this extremely practical 36-page guide today for only $9.99.

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3. Disgruntled Church Members

The third disrupter is disgruntled church members. Anytime you cast bold vision, somebody will resist it. This can be true for a variety of reasons. Some members simply won’t like the vision. Some don’t fully understand the vision. And others feel threatened by the vision. To address disgruntled church members, take four approaches: 

• Build Relationships – John Maxwell says, “People buy into the leader, then the vision.” Too often we reverse this truth, trying to get people to buy into the vision before they buy into us. That doesn’t work. If people don’t buy into you, they’ll view the vision as nothing more than an unrealistic and unnecessary threat to the future. How do you gain buy-in? Start by building relationships. 
• Honor the Past – Leaders who cast vision for the future without honoring the efforts of the past will usually attract opposition in the present. You must remember that every idea was somebody’s good idea at some point in the life of the church. Because people often intertwine their identity with their ideas, they can easily interpret new visions as a personal attack. To keep this from happening, leaders must honor those who have gone before them. They should express appreciation for the faithfulness and fruitfulness of others’ efforts before they cast a new vision for the future.  
• Welcome Feedback – When you’re in the early stages of vision development, invite feedback from some of your greatest influencers. As the old saying goes, people are down on what they’re not up on. Welcoming feedback doesn’t mean you relinquish the vision. It simply means you invite others into the visioning process to help you see blind spots, address legitimate concerns, and sharpen the vision. 
• Address Division – If somebody’s disgruntled feelings turn into divisive behavior, you’ll need to address it through a one-on-one meeting. If that doesn’t work, involve a couple of key leaders in the church. You can’t allow a disgruntled member to become a catalyst for church-wide division and disunity.

Vision disrupters are a reality, but you can’t ignore them. As the leader, you are responsible to look in the mirror and avoid common distractions. You must address divisive team members. And you must carefully navigate the disgruntled pushback from church members. As you do, you’ll create a path forward for the vision to become a reality. 

1. See the Vision

This step walks you through specific and practical actions to help you see a clear and compelling vision for the future. 

2. Share the Vision

This step guides you through the process of communicating your vision to the various layers of the organization to cultivate buy-in and engagement. 

3. Seize the Vision

This step helps you turn the vision into reality by developing a strategy that includes goals, action steps, mobilizing your team, leveraging resources, and a clear timeline.

4. Safeguard the Vision

This step helps you protect the vision from distraction by safeguarding it against common issues that create organizational chaos. 

This no-nonsense 36-page tool takes the guesswork out of vision and walks you from A to Z as you clarify your vision, communicate it with others. and then turn it into reality. DOWNLOAD THE 36-PAGE PDF HERE FOR ONLY $9.99

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

One-on-one meetings with your boss, supervisor, or leader are an important part of organizational life. In some environments, one-on-ones are a consistent part of the workflow. In other environments, they are erratic or even non-existent. 

What’s the key to a successful one-on-one meeting? Preparation. So, how can you prepare for a one-on-one meeting with your leader. I recommend four simple questions that can have a powerful impact: 

1. Communication: What updates do I need to provide?

This part of the meeting is primarily designed to keep your supervisor in the know. Generally, this is a quick summary of the things you want your leader to be aware of. Bosses hate surprises, and the communication part of the meeting is your opportunity to keep them aware of updates on projects, decisions you’ve made, or issues that might affect them, the department, the team, or the organization. 

2. Clarification: What questions do I need to ask? 

If you don’t understand something, it’s your job to ask for clarification. You might seek clarification about unclear expectations, timelines, next steps, or other important items. Don’t leave it to chance. Ask quickly and kindly and be sure to take notes.

One-on-one meetings help leaders cultivate healthy people, teams, and organizations. In this insanely practical guide, you’ll learn the why and how of leading one-on-one’s, and how to introduce the idea to your team. Plus, you’ll get two tools: 1) A meeting planner to help team members prepare for a one-on-one; 2) A One-On-One Supervisor Meeting MAPP to help you guide the meeting. Download this 21-page guide today.

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3. Challenges: What problems, challenges, or ideas do I want to discuss? 

Every team member experiences problems or challenges in their work. You might be hitting a wall with a new strategy, struggling to resolve a conflict with another team member, or dealing with a crisis or looming problem. Do your best to come to the meeting with solutions to problems, and then seek your leader’s perspective and advice. 

On the other hand, you might have a new idea you’d like to pitch to your leader. It might be a new product, an improved service, a more effective strategy, or an innovative solution to an organizational challenge. The key is to pitch your idea without expecting an immediate response. Give your leader time to think about it without being pushy or demanding. 

4. Coaching: In what areas do I want to learn or grow? 

This final part of the meeting is an opportunity to learn new insights, sharpen your skills, and enlarge your leadership capacity. This doesn’t need to be complicated. Instead, come with one or two questions you’d like to ask your leader that would help you get better. Again, don’t expect your leader to read your mind. If you desire to grow in an area, share that with your supervisor and ask for their help. 

Your leader likely has a ton of wisdom to offer. Rather than waiting for them to share their insights, learn to ask thoughtful questions coupled with a posture to listen, learn, and grow. 

Next time you meet with your leader, come prepared with answers to these four questions. Not only will the meeting be far more productive, but your leader is more likely to be appreciative of your initiative and willingness to learn. 

RATING OR REVIEW

If you haven’t subscribed to the Leader Fluent Podcast, you can do so today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora or your favorite podcast platform. Plus, a RATING or REVIEW will help us spread the word to other leaders. Thanks for your help. 

If we want to create buy-in, we need to address the mistakes that often undermine our vision casting efforts. Here are three of the most common mistakes.

1. We Misestimate the Power of Clarity in Vision

Vision without clarity has no power. It’s as simple and painful as that. The number one reason leaders don’t cast clear and compelling vision is because it’s not clear in their own head. Simply put, if you asked the leader what their vision is ten different times, you would get ten different variations of the vision. 

Winston Churchill once said, “Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself believe.” None of this is possible without clarity. 

To help me gain clarity, I always write the vision. Let me be more specific. Before I cast vision, I always manuscript the vision. In other words, I write word-for-word exactly what I plan to say. I don’t read the vision word-for-word (that would feel rote and mechanical), but I do write it word for word so that I am crystal clear about what I want to say and how I want to say it. The more clear I am, the more confidence I’ll have, and the more confidence I have, the more compelling the vision will be. Clarity creates confidence which compels people to buy-in to the vision.

2. We Overestimate How Quickly People Get the Vision

It’s easy to forget how long it took to convince ourselves of the vision in our head. In most cases, we went through several iterations of the vision, often plagued with questions, doubts, and frustrations as we prayed, pondered, and planned.

Once we’re finally clear about the vision, we assume people will get it the moment we share it. Sometimes that’s true, but most times buy-in to the vision happens over time. 

When we launched a major vision campaign at 7 City Church, I cast the vision to staff members, board members, donors, volunteers, and then the entire congregation. These were all separate vision casting meetings, and many of these individuals were involved in multiple meetings. 

The more I cast the vision, the more the vision moved from the people’s head to their hearts. It took several weeks for the vision casting process to happen, but with each meeting, the vision took root in more hearts and at deeper levels. In the end, we moved forward with great results. 

Don’t overestimate how quickly people will get the vision. It takes vision gatherings, small group meetings, and one-on-one meetings to help the vision take root. But the process is worth it. 

Every leader has to create and cast compelling vision. In “The Insanely Practical Guide to Create, Communicate, & Capture Vision,” I take the guesswork out of vision to help you see, share, seize, and safeguard your vision. Get this downloadable 36-page guide today HERE.

3. We Underestimate How Long it will Take to Reach the Vision

This is the most frustrating part of the vision process. Leaders are usually action-oriented and impatient. That’s why we must remember an important truth about vision: the bigger the vision, the longer the runway. 

Big visions don’t take flight overnight. Visions the size of a 777 jumbo jet take much longer to get airborne than a vision the size of a small Cessna plane. Two keys are essential to address this common mistake. 

First, create a faith-stretching timeline without creating the false expectations of a completely unrealistic timeline. This will require some research and discussion with people who have expertise in the area of your vision. 

Second, an inspiring vision needs to be accompanied by a solid plan. Author Dan Reiland wisely observed, “The plan must never overshadow the vision, and the vision must respect the plan.” It’s not either/or but both/and. 

These three mistakes don’t have to plague your vision. By understanding them ahead of time, you can take proactive steps to mitigate them before they undermine your vision.

SHOW NOTES:

Every leader encounters conflict. In fact, conflict is a part of life, whether it’s at work, at school, or at home. And one of the biggest reasons for conflict is when there’s a gap between expectations and reality. So, how do you resolve the conflict in an effective and healthy manner? 

We find a really practical strategy on conflict resolution in the book of Acts chapter 15. In this passage, a conflict arises between Paul and Barnabas and some men from Judea. The conflict is over a Jewish religious practice that existed under the Old Covenant that was abolished when, through Jesus, a New Covenant was established. But these men from Judea are trying to impose this old religious practice onto the Gentiles. 

Needless to say, this difference of opinion became a point of conflict in the early church. So, Paul and Barnabas head to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and elders of the church to resolve this issue. And from this meeting, we discover seven keys to resolve conflict. 

1. Seek Understanding

Acts 15:7a says, “At the meeting, after a long discussion…” Why did these leaders have a long discussion? Because they needed to create space to hear both sides of the issue. In other words, a long discussion made room to gain understanding. 

Author Stephen Covey said, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” But what do we like to do? We like to seek first to make our point, so then they’ll understand. But that rarely works. You don’t gain understanding with answers. You gain understanding with questions. 

2. Begin with Common Ground 

Acts 15:7 says, “At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe.”

Peter established common ground. He said, “You all know.” But again, we like to begin with what I know rather than what we know. But that approach burns the very bridges that would allow us to resolve the conflict.  

John Maxwell calls it The 101% Principle. He says, “Find the 1% that you agree on, and give it 100% of your effort.” In other words, start with common ground. Start with what you both know to be true. 

3. Articulate the Facts Without Emotion

Acts 15:8 says, “God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.” 

Peter begins by sharing some basic facts, but he does so without emotion. Again, how we handle conflict reveals our level of maturity. If you handle conflict wisely, calmly, and with self-control, then you are being mature in how you handle it. But if you handle conflict in a harsh, demeaning, or uncontrolled manner, then you are only revealing your immaturity.

Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.” Articulate the facts without emotion. 

4. Acknowledge One Another’s Value

Acts 15:9 says, “He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith.” 

Jews in Jesus’ day had issues with the Gentiles because they wouldn’t conform to Jewish rules. So, what does Peter—who was a Jew—do in this situation? He acknowledges the gentiles’ value, because God acknowledged their value. 

If you want the other person to value your opinion more than you value them as a person, you will only escalate the conflict. Every person on planet earth was made in the image of God, including the person you’re having the most conflict with right now. 

5. Address the Real Issue 

Acts 15:10-11 says, “So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.

Peter’s not hurling accusations here. Instead, he’s putting his finger on the real issue at hand. This is the part of conflict resolution that is easy to ignore. This is where we so often talk AROUND the issue, rather than addressing the issue at hand. 

How do you address the real issue wisely? You have to speak the truth in the tone of grace. Truth without grace is mean. Grace without truth is meaningless. When you speak truth in the tone of grace, people can more easily digest it. 

6. Listen without Interrupting

Acts 15:12 says, “Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.”

Several years ago, I was sitting in a meeting with a group of leaders from a wide variety of backgrounds, organizations, and life experiences. These were sharp people who desired to make a meaningful contribution. But the longer I sat in the meeting, the more I made an observation: the people who talked the most had the least to say. In fact, the more they spoke, the less credible they became. 

Solomon warned us about this very issue when he said, “Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions” (Proverbs 18:2). And in verse 13 he said, “Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish.” 

When you begin with the posture of listening, then you earn the privilege to speak. And that’s exactly what happened in Acts 15:13-15a: “When they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me. Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted.”

James spent all his time up until this point listening without interrupting. And after he had listened carefully, he was then able to say with respect and credibility, “Brothers, listen to me.” 

Author and professor David W. Augsburger said: “Being heard is so close to being loved, that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.” Listen without interrupting. 

7. Agree on a Sensible Solution 

Acts 15:19 says, “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” James wasn’t giving the Gentiles a free pass to do whatever they wanted, but on this issue, he presents a solution that was both sensible and biblical. 

As you implement these seven keys, I believe you’ll become much more effective at resolving conflict in a healthy way. 

RATING OR REVIEW

If you haven’t subscribed to the Leader Fluent Podcast, you can do so today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora or your favorite podcast platform. Plus, a RATING or REVIEW will help us spread the word to other leaders. Thanks for your help. 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

Every leader wants his or her team to excel at the highest level possible. But building a high-performance team doesn’t happen just because we want it to. It requires a lot of work and intentionality with five foundational keys. 

1. Create an Effective Hiring Process

Author Jim Collins once said, “If I were running a company today, I would have one priority above all others: to acquire as many of the best people as I could [because] the single biggest constraint on the success of my organization is the ability to get and to hang on to enough of the right people.” 

According to a study released by Leadership IQ, the reason for 89% of job failures is due to Attitude Issues, and 46% of them failed within the first 18 months. But here’s the kicker: 82% of managers in the study said that, in hindsight, the failed hires elicited subtle cues DURING the interview process that they would fail.

So, how do you pick up on those subtle cues that indicate whether a candidate is or isn’t a good fit? You have to create an effective hiring process. Here are three tips to start with:

• Multiple Candidates – Do everything you can to secure multiple candidates to interview. In my experience, only two out ten resumes are actually worth looking at. 

• Multiple Interviews – Your interview process cannot be one interview. We use five different interviews including a screening interview, experience interview, deep dive, candidate and spouse interview, and team interview. 

• Multiple Interviewers – If possible, involve other members of your team in the interview process. This will help you see the candidate from different perspectives and catch any potential red flags. 

Again, there are multiple stages to an effective hiring process, but these three keys will help you get started. 

2. Maximize Your Onboarding System

Onboarding is how you set new team members up for success, and that’s the job of the leader. A good onboarding system should answer several questions including:

• What basic steps does the new team member need to take to be employed here? 
• What equipment, software, technology, and training does the team member need to successfully do their job?
• What does the team member need to know about their role, expectations, and areas of responsibility?
• What do we need to share with the team member about the organization’s DNA to help them successfully acclimate to our culture (things such as vision, values, culture, history, and common questions asked by new employees)
• What does the team member need to know to successfully work with their supervisor?
• Who do we need to introduce the team member to (including staff, key leaders, and key volunteers)?
• What does the team member need to know about our facility and their budget?
• What demographics and data would help the team member better understand who we’re reaching, the community we’re located in, and the growth trends of the organization? 
• What training, resources, and coaching does the team member need during their first 3-6 months to help them successfully integrate into our culture and maximize their performance on the job?

3. Invest in Your Team’s Growth

John Maxwell often says, “The only thing worse than training staff and having them leave, is not training them and having them stay.” So, as leaders, it’s our job to invest in our team’s growth regularly and systematically. By regularly, it should be weekly or at least monthly. And by systematically, it might include conferences, coaching, resources, one-on-one meetings, and staff meetings.

4. Cultivate Healthy Teamwork

No matter how great your team is, you must be intentional about cultivating and protecting healthy teamwork. Teamwork requires a team, and teams are made up of team members. Therefore, for teams to exhibit healthy teamwork, team members must exhibit four ingredients:

• Character – Do they model integrity and spirituality?
• Competency – Can they do the job with excellence?
• Chemistry – Do they connect well with the team? 
• Culture – Do they fit the DNA of the organization? 

When a staff member has a gap in any one of these four areas, it will disrupt teamwork. So, what happens when there’s a gap? Both the supervisor and the team member have three responsibilities. 

When a performance gap appears, the supervisor’s role is to create awareness of the gap, provide appropriate coaching, and then hold the team member accountable to get better. The team member’s responsibility is to own the gap, be teachable, and then make improvements.

5. Improve Engagement & Culture

Engagement and culture have to do with your work environment. So, what’s the difference between an engaged employee and a disengaged employee? An ENGAGED EMPLOYEE has a positive attitude and enthusiasm for their boss, their role, and the organization’s vision, values, and culture. They love what they do and feel an important part of the organization. A DISENGAGED EMPLOYEE has a negative attitude toward the organization, their role, and their boss. They feel unenergized by their work. They punch the clock, but their heart, mind, passion, and energy are elsewhere. 

Clarence Francis, former chairman of General Foods made a great observation about employee engagement. He said, “You can buy a man’s time; you can buy his physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of his skilled muscular motions per hour. But you cannot buy enthusiasm…you cannot buy loyalty…you cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds, or souls. You must earn these.” 

Here’s what you have to understand about engagement. In their book, Everyone Deserves a Great Manager, authors Scott Miller, Todd Davis, and Victoria Ross Olsson make a great observation. They said, “Leaders don’t, in fact, create engagement. People choose their level of engagement. Leaders create the conditions for engagement—for better or worse.” 

It’s our job as leaders to model the behavior and create the systems that cultivate a healthy work environment. 

We must also create culture. Culture is the shared values, expectations, and practices that shape what an organization does and how an organization feels. So, what shapes culture? Lots of things do. For example, the leadership you emanate, the wins you celebrate, the behaviors you tolerate, and the language you articulate shape culture. Whether positive or negative, leaders shape culture. 

As you focus on these five areas, I believe you’ll take your team development efforts to an entirely new level.

Join the “Building a Highly Effective Team” Coaching Experience:

The “Building a Highly Effective Team” coaching experience includes five-sessions that will help you create an effective hiring process, maximize your onboarding system, invest in your team’s growth, cultivate healthy teamwork, and improve engagement and culture. In fact, here are just a few of the things you’ll learn: 

• The 7 stages of an effective hiring process
• The 5 interviews of a great interview process, and the questions to ask during each interview.
• How to create an org chart, role descriptions, set compensation, and make hiring decisions.
• The 3 characteristics of a healthy onboarding system, and the onboarding checklist to equip new team members for success.
• The MAPP system to lead effective one-on-one meetings and provide helpful coaching to staff members.
• How to help team members create a personal and professional growth TRAC to accelerate growth and maximize potential.
• How to lead effective staff meetings that improve communication, collaboration, and staff development.
• How to address conflict, improve teamwork, and foster healthy team dynamics.
• A goal-setting template to help staff set goals that are aligned with job responsibilities as well as the organization’s strategic priorities.
• The 6 keys to increase employee engagement and 12 ways to create a healthy organizational culture.
• How to administer performance reviews that evaluate leadership competencies, job performance, and alignment with team values.

PLUS, in each session, you’ll receive in depth training notes, have the opportunity for Q & A, and you’ll receive copies of my hiring process, interview questions, position profile, onboarding system, goal-setting template, performance reviews, one-on-one coaching MAPP, and more that you can CUSTOMIZE TO YOUR CONTEXT.

If you’re a pastor, executive pastor, manager, team leader, or non-profit leader, I want to invite you to sign-up for this coaching experience HERE. 

RATING OR REVIEW

If you haven’t subscribed to the Leader Fluent Podcast, you can do so today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora or your favorite podcast platform. Plus, a RATING or REVIEW will help us spread the word to other leaders. Thanks for your help. 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

Goal-setting is designed to help us and our team make forward progress, both personally and organizationally. To help our team at 7 City Church set goals, I have a pretty particular goal-setting system. That system includes a one-page goal-setting worksheet that helps them set a clear, specific, measurable, and time-bound goal, as well as a specific action plan to reach the goal. 

But in addition to these common, goal-setting components, I also include five questions that help each staff member determine if they’re ready to START their goal. When we can answer “YES” to all five questions, then we know they’re ready to pursue the goal. I use the word START as an acronym to remember the five questions:

STRETCH: Will this goal stretch you?

Author Dave Anderson once said, “We are not at our best when life is too safe. In fact, too much certainty is cause for depression. Uncertainty keeps you alert, interested, and engaged.” That’s what “Stretch” is all about. It’s about setting goals that stretch you outside of your safe and secure comfort zone. By stretch, I’m not suggesting that team members should set “completely unrealistic” goals. What I do mean is that the goal should be something beyond what they’re currently doing. 

TASK: Is this goal within your job responsibilities?

In general, a team member’s goals should focus on the tasks you hired them to do. That’s why I include a section on our goal worksheet that lists their job responsibilities. This isn’t a detailed job description, but it’s a brief bullet point list of their six primary job responsibilities. Again, those six responsibilities don’t get into the nitty gritty…they are more like broad categories. 

ALIGNED: Is this goal aligned with our vision and priorities?

It’s not enough for goals to be in a team member’s job responsibilities. The goal must also be aligned with the overall vision, strategic priorities, and key result areas of the organization. Why? Because if it’s not, you’ll create sideways energy. 

With those three things in focus—vision, strategic priorities, and key result areas—team members write a brief description of how their goal contributes to at least one of them. This ensures the goal is aligned with the overall direction of the organization.

REACHABLE: Do the action steps for this goal make it reachable?

Without a clear action plan, team members risk setting goals that they cannot reach. Our goal worksheet provides a space for team members to list 5-7 action steps they would take to actually reach their goal. Then, when I review the action steps, one of the questions I’m thinking about is this: “How are these actions steps different than what they’re already doing?”

If what they’re planning to do to reach their goal is no different than what they’re already doing, then they’re not going to get an outcome that’s any different than the outcome they’re already getting. It’s the old saying, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” 

TIMING: Is this the right time to pursue this goal? 

Sometimes a team member can set a goal that will stretch them, it’s a task within their job responsibilities, it’s aligned with the organization’s vision and priorities, and their action plan is rock solid. The problem is, it’s just not the right time to pursue the goal. Sometimes, other goals would deliver a greater return on investment, making them a higher priority at this time.  

When you answer those five questions, you and your team will be equipped to set and pursue the right goals.

RATING OR REVIEW

If you haven’t subscribed to the Leader Fluent Podcast, you can do so today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora or your favorite podcast platform. Plus, a RATING or REVIEW will help us spread the word to other leaders. Thanks for your help. 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

Author Michael Hyatt said, “Vision, as I see it, is a clear, inspiring, practical, and attractive picture of your organization’s future.” But for that vision to have its greatest impact, the leader must communicate it in a clear and compelling way. It’s not enough to simply have a vision; you also need to create buy-in so the vision can be fulfilled. As author Ray Pritchard once said, “Good leaders have a vision; better leaders share a vision; the best leaders invite others to join them in spreading this vision.” 

The question is, how do you get others to understand the vision, embrace the vision, and rally around the vision? In other words, how do you effectively cast inspiring vision in such a way that people want to join you in the journey to a better future? I believe there are five stages in effective vision casting. 

1. CELEBRATION 

Vision casting doesn’t start by looking at the future; it starts by celebrating the past. This lets people who have “paid the price” for yesterday’s vision know how much they are appreciated. It’s a simple way of showing honor and respect to the people who paved the way for the church or organization to get to where it is today. 

Celebration sets the tone. It focuses on the wins, and it reinforces the organization’s ability to influence positive change. So, what should you celebrate? Celebrate growth, impact, testimonies, and life change. 

2. THE PROBLEM 

So often leaders share a vision before they’ve ever defined a problem. And yet, every vision is the answer to a problem. In this stage of vision casting, you’re introduce the problem you hope to solve. 

To make the transition from “celebration” to “problem,” use a phrase like this: “We celebrate the impact we’ve made over the last 12 months, but our mission is not done.” Or you might get very specific and say, “We celebrate what God has done in the last five years…but there’s a problem.” Use statistics, research, demographics, photos, and stories to raise awareness of the need you’re trying to meet or the problem you’re trying to solve. Then, once people feel the weight of the problem, transition to the next stage of vision casting.

3. THE SOLUTION

The solution is the part you’ve been wanting to get to all along. It’s the exciting picture of the future that you want people to see. And now that you’ve honored the past and helped people feel the weight of the need, their hearts are ready to hear the solution. 

Begin to unfold the vision in a clear, compelling, and specific way; the key is to connect the dots between the problem and the solution. That’s when your vision carries the most weight because people see the vision as something we must do not just something we could do.

Every leader has to create and cast compelling vision. In “The Insanely Practical Guide to Create, Communicate, & Capture Vision,” I take the guesswork out of vision to help you see, share, seize, and safeguard your vision. Get this downloadable 36-page guide today HERE.

4. THE PRICE 

Every vision comes with a price tag, and the bigger the vision, the bigger the price. And the bigger the price, the more intentional you have to be about layering your vision-casting. In other words, you must cast the vision to different groups of people at different times.

At each vision gathering, celebrate the impact, I introduced a need or a problem, share the vision (which is the solution to the problem), and share what the cost of the vision will be (which by the way, sometimes the cost isn’t money as much as it is time or change). 

5. PARTNERSHIP                                                                

Partnership is where you invite people to participate in the vision. This is where it becomes a shared vision. And as the leader, you must lead the way in what you’re asking people to do. 

Let me wrap up with one simple tip that I’ve found makes a big difference. When I do a vision casting talk, I always manuscript it. Manuscripting the vision helps me clearly articulate each of the five stages of vision casting. Furthermore, it helps me transition smoothly from one stage to the next, and it ensures the vision casting has substance, not hype. Substance creates security in the vision casting process. As you follow this five-step process, you’ll see the greatest buy-in to the vision God has given you for the future.

RATING OR REVIEW

If you haven’t subscribed to the Leader Fluent Podcast, you can do so today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora or your favorite podcast platform. Plus, a RATING or REVIEW will help us spread the word to other leaders. Thanks for your help. 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” Pride is destructive to our souls, but the destruction doesn’t end there. Pride is also destructive to our leadership. In other words, when we’re prideful, we not only undermine our own lives, but we undermine those we influence. So, what does pride look like in leadership? A closer look at the Pharisees in Matthew 23 reveals five faces of pride in leadership. 

1. Pretending

In Matthew 23:1-3 Jesus said, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach.” And in the remainder of this chapter, Jesus calls the Pharisees as hypocrites six times. Pretending says, “Do as I say not as I do.” 

2. Power

Matthew 23:4 says, “They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.” What were these “unbearable religious demands” that Jesus was referring to? It wasn’t God’s Law. It was the 613 laws the Pharisees added to God’s Law. So, you can only imagine how the Pharisees felt when Jesus came along and simplified everything down to only two Laws: Love God and Love People. 

But that wasn’t good enough for the Pharisees because their pride had blinded them. And as a result, their pride was causing them to abuse their power to get people to obey all of their man-made laws. Whereas the “Pretender” face of pride says, “Do as I say not as I do,” the “Power” face of pride says, “Do as I say, or else…” The “Power” face of pride is based on self-serving, fear-based demands. But that’s not what a spirit of humility does. 

3. Perception

Perception is all about how I see myself, and, how I think others see me. So, how does a prideful person see themselves? They see themselves as better than everyone else. Matthew 23:5 says, “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.” Perception says, “Look at me. Aren’t I great?”

The reason perception is such a deceptive face of pride is because it’s not based on reality. Instead, it’s based on a version of ourselves that only exists in our heads. And in our heads, we think we’re bigger and better than we really are. 

4. Perks

We love perks, don’t we? We love to be escorted to the seat of honor. We love to show our friends our awards, prizes, and possessions. We love to casually mention in conversation that our office is in the C-Suite. Perks and privileges make us feel important. But the moment perks make us feel important, is also the moment our identity has been stolen from us. Because if who you are is based on what you have, then your life has become a hollow shell of deception. 

Jesus said, “And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues” (Matthew 25:6). Perks says, “I deserve it, and I’m entitled to it.”

Now, does that mean that all perks are wrong? No. But, because perks have a way of making us feel like we deserve them and we’re entitled to them, we need a filter for our perks. My friend Steve Moore developed a great filter for perks when he developed these five questions.

• Do I need—fill in the blank—for example, bigger office, special parking space, or private bathroom—to do my job more effectively?

• Is this—fill in the blank—a legitimate reward for my performance?

• Does this—fill in the blank—create distance or separation, real or perceived, between me and the people I’m leading?

• Does this—fill in the blank—increase my vulnerability to pride and egocentrism?

• Would this—fill in the blank—make it hard for me to let go of my leadership role, even if I knew God was directing me to do so?

Those are great questions to ask when it comes to any perks we might receive in leadership. And that brings us to the last face of pride in leadership.

5. Position

Jesus said, “They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’ “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah” (Matthew 23:7-10). 

Position says, “I’m more important than you because my position is higher than yours.” Gerald Brooks offers a better perspective when he says, “The higher up you go in leadership, the less you get to think about yourself.”And C.S. Lewis said, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” 

Whichever face of pride it is—and we all struggle with at least one of them—let Jesus redefine your leadership with a different approach. Immediately following this description of pride exhibited by the Pharisees, Jesus says this in Matthew 23:11-12:  “The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

We all struggle with pride, but Jesus makes it clear what defines true greatness. True greatness is defined by humility, and our commitment to serve others.

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I get it. Leading change isn’t easy, and nobody wants to step into a lead pastor role (or senior organizational role) only to pack their boxes a few months later because of a change initiative that went awry. 

But, as hard as change can be, “Don’t change anything your first year” is bad advice. Why? Because when a new leader arrives, people generally expect something to change. In fact, many people are curious (even excited) about the possibility for new change, especially if the church was struggling. 

Leaders need to use this expectancy to create positive change. I’m not suggesting that everybody is ready to change. Nor am I suggesting that change will be easy and unopposed. But if nothing changes, then you’re no different than the last leader. So, how should you approach change when you’re new? Consider these tips. 

1. Change Some Things, Just Not Everything

“Don’t change anything your first year is bad advice.” Better advice is, don’t change everything your first year. If you come in and change everything, one of two things will usually happen: people change churches, or they change you. Simply put, they leave, or they make you leave. The solution isn’t to change nothing…it’s to change the right things without changing everything. Again, if you change nothing, then you’re no different than the last leader. 

2. Make Relationship Building Your First Priority

Relationship building puts people before change while simultaneously preparing people for the change. When you build relationships, people feel known and noticed. At the same time, as they get to know you, they become increasingly open to change. Why? Because they come to trust you, and they slowly begin to gravitate toward your values. As the relationship strengthens, people are prepared to hear and receive your vision and the change it will bring. 

3. Conduct a Listening Tour

Several years ago, I met the new athletic director from one of our local school districts. As I asked him how things were going, he said, “Right now I’m doing a listening tour.” He explained how he was taking the first few weeks (and months) on the job to spend a lot of time listening to leaders, fellow staff, parents, and students.

As I thought about his response, I immediately recognized two benefits to his approach. First, he was building relationships. And second, he was becoming aware of the changes that needed to be made. Some of the best (and easiest) changes you will ever make are the ones everybody wants you to make (and needs you to make). 

The only way to discover those changes is to spend time listening to people. That doesn’t mean you should be everyone’s puppet, but if the change makes perfect sense, it may be the best place to start. Every successful change gives you greater influence to make more and bigger changes.

4. Make Small Changes that Fix Obvious Problems

One of fastest ways to build influence with people is to fix problems that are obvious and obnoxious. In other words, find the problems that are annoying people and do something to make things better.

It might be a simple as repairing a broken water fountain, replacing burned out lightbulbs, improving communication, creating a calendar planning system, bringing someone in to EQ your sound system, improving your internet speed, recruiting additional volunteers to help an overworked team, making a cumbersome system more efficient, or increasing the budget of an under resourced department. The most positive changes will be the ones that address problems and frustrations that are the most widespread. 

5. Show Appreciation and Recognize People

In church world, it’s easy for volunteers to feel unseen and unappreciated. What would happen if you acknowledged their hard work and dedication, recognized them in front of their peers, stopped by on a Sunday morning to say thank you, or surprised them with coffee and donuts before they served? Simple expressions of gratitude can go a long way to build connection and camaraderie. It also builds trust and a general feeling that my leader is for me.

6. Don’t Announce Every Change

Some leaders create more headache than they need to because they publicly announce every single change. By no means am I suggesting that you hide information from people, but at the same time, some changes only effect a small group of people. Meet with that small group, discuss the change, and create buy-in. Have the conversation with the people impacted by the change without turning it into a churchwide announcement. 

7. Discover the Origin of Larger Problems

It’s easy to criticize and complain about the way an organization does things, but what new leaders often forget is that how things are done was once somebody’s great idea. And if that person is still in the organization, you could be facing big resistance if you attack or change their idea. 

When you want to change something, begin by doing a little bit of research. Find out how the idea started, who started it, and why it was started. If the person is still around, build a relationship with them and discover the backstory behind the issue. If you get their buy-in on a new idea, you’ll have a much better chance of creating widespread buy-in. 

8. Explain the Problem Before You Present the Solution

When you are making changes that are more substantive, be sure to start with the problem you hope to solve. Too often new leaders begin with their solution without ever defining the problem it will solve. As a result, people scratch their head saying, “I didn’t know we had a problem,” and then expressing resistance for the new idea. Present the problem, then the solution, and then offer a way for people to be a part of the solution. 

Again, “Don’t change anything your first year” is bad advice. You need to make changes…just don’t change everything. The steps above will help you make the right changes in the right way. 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

After celebrating your graduation, let me encourage you to take to heart seven practical and helpful words of wisdom. 

1. Put Character at the Top of Your List

Be careful not to sacrifice your character on the altar of achievement and results. In other words, don’t take shortcuts that ding your character. Ruth Haley Barton once said, “We set young leaders up for a fall if we encourage them to envision what they can do before they consider the kind of person they should be.” So, what kind of person do you want to be? Work hard to cultivate character so that your success doesn’t outpace who you are.

2. Graduate School but Don’t Graduate Learning 

Authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner call learning the “Master Skill.” In other words, it’s the skill that makes all other skills possible. Learning is the skill that opens the door to future opportunities, future growth, and ultimately the person you want to become. Today might be the day you graduate school, but the day you graduate learning should be the day you draw your last breath. Do your future a favor and be a lifelong learner. 

3. Pursue the Boredom of Success 

Success is usually perceived as a glamorous, adventure-filled road of glory, but it’s easy to forget that most overnight successes are actually twenty years in the making. Unfortunately, we tend to see the beauty of success but never the boredom of success.

So, what’s my point? Behind the glitz and glamour of successful people is usually a very routine, even at times very boring, set of disciplines. Let me say it another way: riveting success is always preceded by routine boredom. In other words, before success ever shows up, there are days, weeks, months, and even years of disciplined, step-by-step, methodical, vanilla, bland routines. 

Think about it—professional golfers spend hours every day on the golf course…when the cameras aren’trolling. Musicians spend countless hours practicing…before a single concert ticket is ever sold. CEO’s spend untold hours in long meetings making tough decisions…before the bottom line ever shows a profit. And authors agonize over every chapter and go through endless rounds of edits…before a single copy of their book hits the shelves.

That’s the boredom of success. But it’s worth it. It makes the success sweeter, and it helps us develop the character necessary to sustain the success. Boredom is part of the journey. So, rather than getting caught up in looking successful, pursue the boredom of success by establishing daily disciplines that will produce long-term health in key areas of your life.

4. Avoid Bad Attitudes

While there are all kinds of bad attitudes, let me mention just three of them that can be particularly disruptive to your future. 

• An attitude of negativity

• An attitude of arrogance

• An attitude of entitlement. 

If you avoid these bad attitudes, you will go farther, faster. If you have a positive attitude, you’ll connect better with people and you’ll be positioned with the mindset to see and seize the opportunities before you. 

5. Develop a Healthy Perspective of Success and Failure 

All of us will have both successes and failures in life. Nobody is all success and zero failure or all failure and zero success. So, here’s the truth you must keep in mind: Don’t let success go to your head, and don’t let failure go to your heart. Don’t’ let success inflate your ego, and don’t let failure define you. As you move into a new season of life, you will experience both success and failure. That’s part of the journey. The difference-maker is how you respond when success and failure come. Celebration and humility are great responses to success. And reflection and learning are great responses to failure. 

6. Match Your Books Smarts with People Smarts 

Some people are extremely smart in school but extremely dumb with people. They’ve got the book smarts, but they haven’t learned how to work with people. They lack emotional intelligence, the ability to build trust, and the skills to make people feel valued. 

Please hear this: your book smarts might get you hired, but your inability to connect with people will get you fired. In fact, attitude issues and poor people skills are among the top reasons people lose their jobs. To become people smart, start with three things: 1) Control your emotions. 2) Cultivate an empathetic heart. 3) Develop a listening ear. Those three things will take you a long way with people. 

7. Trust in God

Graduating school is a transition point where we leave the familiarity of school and step into a new job, or a new role, or even a new degree program that requires a higher level of discipline and hard work. And it’s in transition moments like these that we have to learn to trust God more. 

Proverbs 3:5-8 says, “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!” (MSG). 

Congratulations to all of our graduates. I hope these words help you make the next chapter in your life wildly successful.

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One day, toward the end of our swimming course, our instructor challenged us to make the jump. We had already jumped off the low dive time and time again, but none of us had ventured to the top of the high dive. 

Determined to take the challenge, I climbed the ladder and walked to the end of the board. My toes clung to the edge of the board as I looked down at the water. I thought, “This looks a lot higher than it did from down below.” 

From where I stood, the water may as well have been a mile away. I was nervous, but there was no way I was going to turn around and descend the ladder of shame. So, I raised my hands above my head (just like my instructor had taught me), took a deep breath, and then I jumped. When I came up out of the water, I heard the sweet cheers of victory.

Mission accomplished. 

From then on, jumping off the high dive became second nature.

Following God Off the End of the Diving Board

Swimming pools aren’t the only places we experience diving boards in life. God often leads us to places that require us to step off the board of our security into the pool of the unknown. That step requires both faith and trust. It requires us to let go of “what is” and step into “what could be.” 

God leads us up the high dive and then He stands behind us and gently pushes us to jump. He’s nudging, prodding, and speaking—inspiring us with a bold vision to leave what we know and jump into something new. 

But fear taunts us.

Fear tells us that such a step is irrational, illogical, even foolish. Fear whispers lies that make us doubt ourselves. Fear tells us that God would never lead us to the edge of the board. After all, God wants me to play it safe, doesn’t He? Safe is wise, right? 

As we look down, we can’t even see the water. A fog of doubt and uncertainty has formed between us and the pool. For all we know, the fog could be hiding certain failure. But God keeps nudging us and calling us. He assures us that He will be faithful. 

Here’s the ironic part. 

The same God that is pushing us to jump is in the water waiting for us to arrive. 

He’s here, and He’s there.

The question is, do we trust Him?

God wants to lead you outside of your comfort zone, far from Easy Street, into a place that requires you to trust Him. He wants to deposit a dream inside of you that makes a difference today, and for eternity. That kind of dream cannot be achieved in your own strength, with your own resources, and in your own wisdom. And that kind of dream is only found when you let go of your safe today and choose His vision of tomorrow. 

It’s not easy.

It feels unsafe.

But isn’t the will of God the safest place you can be?

You won’t be able to see all the details of the future God is leading you into. You’ll have plenty of unanswered questions. But the things that matter most in life always require trust. When God leads you to make the jump, He isn’t abandoning you. Take the step and He’ll be waiting for you.

This article is adapted from my new book, Stop Chasing Easy. Get your copy today at www.stopchasingeasy.com.

Plus, if you haven’t picked up my new book, Stop Chasing Easy, I’d like to encourage you to get your copy today. It’s available in print and ebook formats, and when you purchase a copy, you’ll also gain access to several FREE BONUS RESOURCES including the “Stop Chasing Easy Masterclass for Leaders.” 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

Every leader has moments and seasons when they feel like a failure. It might be after an event that didn’t go as planned. It might be after a speech that fell flat. It might be during an extended season of decline, or maybe after a major rift in your organization. 

Regardless of the area, I’m guessing at some point in recent weeks, months, or years, you’ve experienced “down and to the left” instead of “up and to the right.” So, what do you do in these moments? When you feel like a failure—even if only for a moment—how do you lead? Consider these five keys. 

1. Remember Your Identity

It’s very easy—especially in leadership—to attach our identity to our performance and to our growth. The problem is, if we’re not careful, we’ll assume that God uses that same standard—that same measure—to evaluate us. 

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been studying God’s love in Scripture, which has been a pretty amazing journey. The most common description of God’s love in the Bible is the phrase, “unfailing love.” For example, Psalm 36:7 says, “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.” And Psalm 52:8 says, “But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.” 

Here’s the good news: God’s love does not fail, even when we do. His love doesn’t fall short, break, or run dry. It is an everlasting love that stretches from generation to generation. And, as difficult as it is to believe, our performance has nothing to do with how much God loves us. 

In fact, consider Jesus, for example. Luke 3:21-22 says, “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Notice, the Father declared His love for the Son before Jesus every performed a single miracle. In other words, the Father’s love wasn’t based on Jesus’ performance. His love wasn’t dependent on whether or not Jesus had a big crowd or a fruitful day of ministry. The Father loved Jesus, and was pleased with Jesus, before his ministry ever began. The same is true for you and for me. Our identity must be firmly rooted in the unwavering love of God. So, remember, even when you feel like a failure, your failure doesn’t define you. Jesus’ love does. 

2. Reframe Your Perspective

Dr. Bobby Clinton has observed that the difference between followers and leaders is perspective. And the difference between leaders and better leaders is greater perspective. In other words, how we see life will determine how we respond to life. And how we see our leadership challenges will determine how we respond to those leadership challenges. 

Elisabeth Elliot once said, “If you believe in a God who controls the big things, you have to believe in a God who controls the little things. It is we, of course, to whom things look ‘little’ or ‘big’.” So, when we face “big” or “small”, or “easy” or “hard,” we have to reframe those things with a perspective that nothing is too difficult for God. Only then will we respond properly to our hardships and our failures. 

3. Redefine Your Measures of Success

When drastic changes occur in our environment, it often requires us to redefine success. I think we’ve all had to come to grips with this during COVID. COVID thrust us into an unpredictable environment that turned many of our measures upside down.

So, how do we redefine measures of success? One way is to start tracking “lead measures” not just “lag measures.” 

The Franklin Covey organization observes that when it comes to lag measures, “They are called lags because by the time you see them, the performance that drove them has already passed. You can’t do anything to fix them; they are history.” But Lead measures, on the other hand, “track the critical activities that drive or lead to the lag measure.” 

So, for example, if you have a goal to lose 20 pounds, when you stand on the scale, you’ll see your lag measure. No matter what that measure says when you stand on the scale, there’s nothing in that moment you can do to change that measure. It’s history. 

But what you can do is control the lead measures. For example, you can start counting calories. You can start working out several days a week. Those are activities you can control which will eventually LEAD to a different LAG measure. 

4. Reflect and Relearn 

Sometimes we can feel like a failure because something we tried actually failed. Those moments—as hard as they can be—are actually opportunities to reflect on what has happened and then make a conscious decision to learn from it. In fact, one of the biggest keys for a leader’s long-term growth is to embrace a willingness to learn, unlearn, and relearn. 

Learning gets you started in life. It helps you become successful. But somewhere along the way, the things you’ve learned can actually get in the way. In other words, they can become your ceiling. In those moments, you might have to unlearn a strategy or method that once worked but has now become a barrier to growth and progress. 

When you feel like a failure, take an hour or two to pull back, reflect on your situation, and determine if there’s something you need to unlearn and then relearn. That’s when you’ll discover the gold hidden in your failure. 

5. Reimagine What Could Be

One of the concerns I have is that after more than two years of being in a pandemic, so many leaders have stopped dreaming. Their imagination has been so clouded by what has been, that they’ve haven’t reimagined what could be. 

What was doesn’t have to define what will be. In other words, yesterday’s failure doesn’t have to dictate the future. So, if that’s where you find yourself today, let me give you an exercise that might help you. 

Imagine that you never worked where you work right now—whether it’s a church, business, or organization. Then, imagine that same church, business, or organization interviews you for a job, and then offers you the job. Now, imagine your excitement. You go home and tell your spouse, or your friends, or your neighbor and you can’t wait until you start. 

Between the day you were offered the job and your first day on the job, what are you doing? You’re dreaming about everything you’re going to do at that job. You’re dreaming about the difference you’re going to make in that organization. Why? Because you have no past in that job to hold you back. You have a clean slate. You have a fresh start. In other words, you have a dreamer’s mindset. 

Here’s my point: You might need to mentally resign from your job, then rehire yourself, and then walk into the office Monday morning with a dreamer’s mindset. That might sound strange, but think about it like this. 

During the great resignation, millions of people have left their jobs for a wide variety of reasons. But some people who had been in the organization for several years left because what they lost made it too painful to stay. In other words, almost overnight, they watched years and years of progress evaporate, and the thought of spending years to rebuild just to get back to where they were was simply too painful. Instead, they went somewhere else where they had no history to remind them of what they lost. As a result, they were able to start with a clean slate and dream again.

So, here’s my challenge to you: If you feel like you’re failing, don’t quit. Instead, rehire yourself, and start Monday morning with a dreamer’s mindset. In fact, you might need to start your first day on the job with a personal retreat where you reimagine what could be. It’s time to dream again. It’s time to reimagine the future. 

You’re not a failure, even when your feelings tell you otherwise. Instead, you are loved, and God will give you the strength and grace to lead through difficult seasons.

CHECK OUT MY NEW BOOK & FREE BONUSES

Check out my new book, Stop Chasing Easy, and access the FREE bonus content. You can learn more about the book, purchase a copy, and then claim the bonus content HERE. 

RATING OR REVIEW

If you haven’t subscribed to the Leader Fluent Podcast, you can do so today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora or your favorite podcast platform. Plus, a RATING or REVIEW will help us spread the word to other leaders. Thanks for your help. 

Plus, if you haven’t picked up my new book, Stop Chasing Easy, I’d like to encourage you to get your copy today. When you do, you’ll also gain access to several FREE BONUS RESOURCES including the “Stop Chasing Easy Masterclass for Leaders.” 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

The longer you lead, the more you’ll find yourself in meetings. They might be staff meetings, departmental meetings, board meetings, one-on-one meetings, or meetings with your volunteers, but there is never a shortage of meetings for leaders to attend. 

At the same time, we’ve all found ourselves in meetings that were poorly led and a total waste of our time. And if we’re honest, we’ve probably led a few of those meetings as well. I know I certainly have. So, what does an effective team meeting look like? I believe it includes five parts. 

1. Celebration

The first part of the meeting is focused on celebrating wins. Celebrating wins will remind your team of the value and meaning of their work. Think about wins in four categories: 

• Stories – What stories of life change, connection, or transformation can we celebrate? 

• Stats – In what areas of our ministry or organization are we seeing numerical growth? 

• Steps – What progress are we making with our goals and priorities?

• Success – What team member can we celebrate for modeling our team values? 

These four areas—stories, stats, steps, and success—provide a framework to help your team think more wholistically about wins in your organization. In general, this part of the meeting usually lasts 5-10 minutes…maybe longer if you’re coming off a really big church-wide or organization-wide win. 

2. Communication 

There are usually a few housekeeping items that need to be communicated during a team meeting. For example, you might do a quick review of the calendar, or you might provide a few quick details on an upcoming event that are relevant to the entire team. 

The communication part of the meeting is usually no more than 10 minutes, but it can eliminate confusion and keep everyone on the same page. The key to remember about communication is that it’s not a discussion. Instead, it’s providing simple bullet-point updates. 

3. Collaboration

Collaboration is the part of the meeting where you dig into items that require concentrated discussion. For example, you might collaborate on an upcoming event, discuss a staff-wide goal, or brainstorm a new initiative. In general, the collaboration part of the meeting is roughly 20-40 minutes long. If it’s going to take longer than that, I’ll usually schedule a separate meeting for it. 

4. Coaching 

We have a high value for personal growth, and so we’ll often include coaching in our team meetings. By coaching, I’m referring to any kind of training or reading that’s focused on staff development. For example, we might read a book together as a staff, and then discuss a couple of chapters each week during our meeting. Or we might watch a leadership video from a great speaker and then discuss it as a team. Or I might do a leadership teaching with our staff on a topic that would be helpful. The coaching part of the meeting is usually 20-40 minutes, depending on what approach we’re taking to staff development. 

5. Connection

This part of the meeting can play out in two ways—spiritual connection and relational connection. Spiritual connection is where we take time to pray as a team. Relational connection is where you take a few minutes to add a fun or relationally focused discussion to the meeting. You might even do a team lunch following the meeting to facilitate greater connection. 

Celebration, communication, collaboration, coaching, and connection are key parts to an effective team. If you are meeting weekly, you may choose not to include all five elements, but in general, these keys keep the meeting productive and fruitful. 

CHECK OUT MY NEW BOOK & FREE BONUSES

Check out my new book, Stop Chasing Easy, and access the FREE bonus content. You can learn more about the book, purchase a copy, and then claim the bonus content HERE. 

RATING OR REVIEW

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• Three types of gratitude
• Trusting God when you want to make life count
• Five questions to find your mission
• Three gifts of a mentor
• The value of unity
• And more

If you’re not already a subscriber to Leader Fluent, I’d love for you to subscribe to the podcast today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

STOP CHASING EASY BONUS OFFERS:

 When you buy Stop Chasing Easy, you’ll have immediate access to some great BONUS CONTENT including:

OFFER #1

ONLY $17.95 + S/H

(Total Value $117.92)

When you buy Stop Chasing Easy, you’ll receive 3 great bonus resources including:

• Stop Chasing Easy Sermon Series – A 4-part sermon series through Philippians (and based on the content of the book).

• Stop Chasing Easy Small Group Study – A 5-part study through Philippians complete with great content and practical questions.

• Stop Chasing Easy Masterclass for Leaders – A 4-session video masterclass and application guide for leaders where I apply the principles of Stop Chasing Easy to a leadership and organizational context.

All of this is FREE when you purchase a copy of Stop Chasing Easy (a $117.92 value). But there’s also additional bonus content when you buy the book in Bulk or Case quantities. If you order 10+ COPIES of Stop Chasing Easy, you’ll also receive:

OFFER #2

ONLY $144 + S/H

(Total Value $329.40)

• 10 Copies of Stop Chasing Easy

• All of the Bonus Content (sermon series, small group study, masterclass for leaders)

• A Digital Copy of Stop Chasing Easy 

• A Digital Copy of my book, Do Good Works

• A Digital Copy of my book, GO! Starting a Personal Growth Revolution

That’s 10 books plus all the resources above for only $144.00 + S/H (that’s a $329.40 value). Check it out HERE. 

Finally, if you buy a CASE OF 36+ BOOKS, you’ll receive all of the bonus content above as well as a ONE-ON-ONE PERSONAL LEADERSHIP COACHING CALL WITH ME. We can talk about organizational health, team development, life purpose, or whatever leadership challenges you’re facing right now. That’s only $360 + S/H (total value of $996.10) for:

OFFER #3

ONLY $360 + S/H

(Total Value $996.10)

• 36 Copies of Stop Chasing Easy

• All of the Bonus Content (sermon series, small group study, masterclass for leaders)

• 3 Digital Books (Stop Chasing Easy, Do Good Works, and GO! Starting a Personal Growth Revolution)

• A One-On-One 60-Minute Coaching Appointment with Me

You can order Stop Chasing Easy and check out all of the bonus resources HERE. I know you’ll be challenged, encouraged, and equipped. I hope you’ll check it out today. 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

Samuel Truett Cathy is remembered as the successful entrepreneur and founder of Chick-fil-A. Cathy died in 2014, but his quick-service restaurants continue to thrive today. In fact, each Chick-fil-A makes more money per store than McDonalds, Starbucks, and Subway combined. While the success of Chick-fil-A is obvious, what you may not know about is the struggle that Truett Cathy experienced along the way. 

• He grew up in the Great Depression. 
• As a child he had a speech impediment so bad that he couldn’t even pronounce his own name.
• In 1949, Truett’s brothers, Ben and Horace (both licensed pilots), tragically died in a plane crash as they flew to Chattanooga, Tennessee. 
• In 1960, one of his restaurants burned to the ground. The worst part? Truett only had $25,000 worth of insurance, not near enough to cover his loss.
• Not long after, Truett discovered he had polyps in his colon. As a result he had two surgeries, and had to have twelve inches of his colon removed. 

While we admire his success, the hardships made Truett Cathy. He later said:

“The history of Chick-fil-A, in fact, is a series of unexpected opportunities. When we responded to them, we often found ourselves richly blessed. The Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich itself was born in the wake of an unexpected opportunity. When one of my first two restaurants burned to the ground, I found myself with time on my hands and the availability to develop a new recipe.”

Cathy could have wallowed in defeat—most people would if they watched so many hours of hard work burn up in flames. Instead, Truett discovered a billion-dollar idea in the ashes. What enabled Truett Cathy to successfully navigate his setbacks? The right perspective. He exchanged pessimism for possibility. He looked for the right opportunities in the uncomfortable and the unexpected. Truett once said, “We change the world, and ourselves, by our response to unexpected opportunities.” 

So, how do you develop an opportunity mindset in the face of problems and hardship? It begins by taking four steps.

1. Embrace the Problem

Problems can be difficult, discouraging, and even downright painful. That’s why we like to ignore them. In fact, our tendency is to only address problems in two situations—when they’re easy to solve or when they’ve become a crisis too big to ignore. It’s in the messy middle that we pretend problems don’t exist. But here’s the problem in ignoring your problems. When you ignore your problems, you simultaneously ignore the opportunities buried within them. 

2. Examine the Problem 

To discover possibilities in your problems, you have to diagnose the problem. Embracing the problem forces you to deal with the problem, but examining the problem gets to the root cause. Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyota, developed a diagnostic approach which became popular in the 1970s, and is still used by Toyota today. The strategy is simply this—define a problem and then ask “Why?” five times until you get to the root cause of the issue.

3. Explore the Possibilities 

Once you’ve uncovered the root cause of your problem, start exploring the possible solution (or opportunity) hidden within your problem. That’s exactly what Truett Cathy did. After his restaurant burned to the ground (which I think we would all agree was certainly a problem), Truett didn’t just focus on reopening the store. That would have been the most obvious solution. Instead, Truett rummaged through the ashes of his problem and found a BETTER solution. In fact, not just a better solution, but a GREATER POSSIBILITY. 

The GREATEST opportunities are often hijacked by the most OBVIOUS opportunities. For Truett, the obvious opportunity was to rebuild the restaurant and go back to business as usual. But the obvious opportunity wasn’t the greatest opportunity. The greatest opportunity was to create a new recipe that paved the way for Chick-fil-A to be born. To discover the greatest opportunities, take three steps: 

• Create time and space for opportunity thinking. 
• Identify the problems nobody else is solving.
• Leverage your organization’s greatest strengths to solve unsolved problems. 

4. Engage the Possibility 

It’s not enough to discover the possibility; you must act on it. That’s when opportunity comes to life. In his book, Great by Choice, Jim Collins describes the best way to pursue opportunities when he talks about firing bullets vs. cannonballs. Jim Collins writes:

Picture yourself at sea, a hostile ship bearing down on you. You have a limited amount of gunpowder. You take all your gunpowder and use it to fire a big cannonball. The cannonball flies out over the ocean…and misses the target, off by 40 degrees. You turn to your stockpile and discover that you’re out of gunpowder. You die. 

But suppose instead that when you see the ship bearing down, you take a little bit of gunpowder and fire a bullet. It misses by 40 degrees. You make another bullet and fire. It misses by 30 degrees. You make a third bullet and fire, missing by only 10 degrees. The next bullet hits—ping!—the hull of the oncoming ship. Now, you take all the remaining gunpowder and fire a big cannonball along the same line of sight, which sinks the enemy ship. You live. 

So, how does Jim Collins’ “bullets vs. cannonball” analogy apply to opportunities for your organization? Collins describes it like this:

First, you fire bullets (low-cost, low-risk, low-distraction experiments) to figure out what will work—calibrating your line of sight by taking small shots. Then, once you have empirical validation, you fire a cannonball (concentrating resources into a big bet) on the calibrated line of sight. Calibrated cannonballs correlate with outsized results; uncalibrated cannonballs correlate with disaster. The ability to turn small proven ideas (bullets) into huge hits (cannonballs) counts more than the sheer amount of pure innovation. 

This is how you engage possibility and act on opportunity. You fire bullets then cannonballs. Again, you take low-cost, low-risk, low-distraction experiments to figure out what will work. And then, once you’ve calibrated your line of sight, you fire the cannonball so you can see the greatest results. 

CHECK OUT MY NEW BOOK & FREE BONUSES

Check out my new book, Stop Chasing Easy, and access the FREE bonus content. You can learn more about the book, purchase a copy, and then claim the bonus content HERE. 

RATING OR REVIEW

If you haven’t subscribed to the Leader Fluent Podcast, you can do so today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora or your favorite podcast platform. Plus, a RATING or REVIEW will help us spread the word to other leaders. Thanks for your help. 

HERE’S THE GREAT NEWS: When you buy Stop Chasing Easy, you’ll have immediate access to some great BONUS CONTENT including:

• Stop Chasing Easy Sermon Series – This is a 4-part sermon series through Philippians (and based on the content of the book) in manuscript form so you can customize it to your setting. 

• Stop Chasing Easy Small Group Study – This is a 5-part study through Philippians complete with great content and practical questions that you can use to facilitate your own small group.

• Stop Chasing Easy Masterclass for Leaders – This is a 4-session video masterclass for leaders where I apply the principles of Stop Chasing Easy to a leadership and organizational context. Plus, it comes with a practical application guide to help you apply what you are learning. 

ONLY $17.95 + S/H

(Total Value $117.92)

All of this is FREE when you purchase a copy of Stop Chasing Easy (a $117.92 value). But there’s also additional bonus content when you buy the book in Bulk or Case quantities. If you order 10+ COPIES of Stop Chasing Easy, you’ll also receive:

• All of the Bonus Content (sermon series, small group study, masterclass for leaders)

• A Digital Copy of Stop Chasing Easy 

• A Digital Copy of my book, Do Good Works

• A Digital Copy of my book, GO! Starting a Personal Growth Revolution

That’s 10 books plus all the resources above for only $144.00 + S/H (that’s a $329.40 value). Check it out HERE. 

ONLY $144 + S/H

(Total Value $329.40)

Finally, if you buy a CASE OF 36+ BOOKS, you’ll receive all of the bonus content above as well as a ONE-ON-ONE PERSONAL LEADERSHIP COACHING CALL WITH ME. We can talk about organizational health, team development, life purpose, or whatever leadership challenges you’re facing right now. That’s only $360 + S/H (total value of $996.10) for:

• 36 Copies of Stop Chasing Easy

• All of the Bonus Content (sermon series, small group study, masterclass for leaders)

• 3 Digital Books (Stop Chasing Easy, Do Good Works, and GO! Starting a Personal Growth Revolution)

• A One-On-One 60-Minute Coaching Appointment with Me

ONLY $360 + S/H

(Total Value $996.10)

You can order Stop Chasing Easy and check out all of the bonus resources HERE. I know you’ll be challenged, encouraged, and equipped. I hope you’ll check it out today. 

“Life is getting harder. At least for me. I thought it would get easier, but it’s not. It is getting harder because I have larger vision, greater influence, and more passion than ever. I’m guessing the same is true for you. In his latest book, Stop Chasing Easy, my good friend Stephen Blandino reminds us why easy isn’t fruitful and hard isn’t to be avoided. You’ll read, learn, grow, and share with all your friends—go hard!” 
– Dr. Sam Chand, Leadership Coach, Consultant, and Author of Leadership Pain and Bigger, Faster, Leadership

“Stephen Blandino’s new book, Stop Chasing Easy, is both candid and compelling. It will reset your priorities and inspire you to greater service.  If you want to see the challenges of life from a different perspective, this is a must-read.”  
– Hal Donaldson, CEO & President, Convoy of Hope and Author of Disruptive Compassion

“Stephen not only challenges us to reject the empty lies of Easy Street, but he equips us with the strategies to get from where we are to where God wants us to go. Stop Chasing Easy is filled with inspiring stories, rich biblical insight, and practical application. Catch a vision for a mission bigger than yourself, and discover how to make your life count today—and for eternity.” 
– Scott Wilson, CEO of 415 Leaders and RSG Leaders and Author of Impact: Releasing the Power of Influence

“I like being around people who do hard things. Probably because I want my life, and those closest to me to be marked by bold obedience and courageous actions. In Stop Chasing Easy, Stephen Blandino invites us to follow Jesus in ways where we opt into hard things rather than out of them. He presents four trades that will transform our faith and leave an eternity shaping wake.”
– Jeffery Portmann, Director, Church Multiplication Network

“Why do most organizations stop growing? They choose to. They choose not to make the courageous decisions they need to make and have the courageous conversations they need to have! Stephen has never tried to take the easy way out. He chooses courage and hard work, and it has paid off. This book is a look into his soul…and yours, and unlocks the pathway toward progress for your ministry or organization!” 
– Shawn Lovejoy, Founder & CEO of Courage to Lead and Author of Measuring Success

I’m so grateful for each endorsement, and I hope you’ll order Stop Chasing Easy and take advantage of the FREE bonus resources available when you purchase the book (plus, there are extra bonuses for bulk orders). You can learn more HERE. 

INTRODUCING STOP CHASING EASY:

Everywhere you look, there is a constant enticement to pursue a life of ease. In fact, for many people, “Easy Street” has become their primary ambition in life. Many believe that if it’s easy it must be good, and if it’s hard it must be bad. There’s only one problem: the apostle Paul warns us that, “Easy street is a dead end street” (Philippians 3:17-19, MSG). In the end, it leaves you feeling empty, and it deceives you into believing that the purpose of life is to avoid anything difficult.

But there’s a better way forward. Rather than leaning into “easy,” you can do hard things that make a real difference in your world. In my new book, Stop Chasing Easy, you’ll be inspired to think differently, grow to your full potential, and pursue a mission that’s worth your life. I’ll unpack the apostle Paul’s wisdom in the book of Philippians and share four powerful trade-offs that will help you make your life count today…and for eternity:

• MINDSET: Trade Pessimism for Perspective
• MATURITY: Trade Comfort for Character
• MISSION: Trade Temporal for Eternal
• MOVEMENT: Trade Regression for Progression

These four trade-offs come from the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Written from a prison cell, chained to a Roman guard, Paul shows us how to resist the lure of Easy Street and pursue a life of meaning and impact—even when it’s hard. 

Stop Chasing Easy has been endorsed by some great leaders such as Dr. Sam Chand (author and leadership consultant), Hal Donaldson (CEO of Convoy of Hope), Shawn Lovejoy (CEO of Courage to Lead), Jeffery Portmann (Director of Church Multiplication Network), Scott Wilson (CEO of RSG Leaders), and others. 

FREE BONUS CONTENT

Stop Chasing Easy releases February 15, but when you buy a copy today, you’ll have access to three great bonus resources:

• Stop Chasing Easy 4-Part Sermon Series
• Stop Chasing Easy 5-Part Small Group Study
• Stop Chasing Easy Masterclass for Leaders (available in January)

These resources are FREE when you buy the book. You can learn more or order your copy HERE. Plus, if you buy the book in bulk or by the case, you’ll have access to additional bonus resources including a digital version of Stop Chasing Easy, my previous books, and even a one-on-one leadership coaching session with me. Check it out HERE. 

I’m excited about the release of my new book, and I want to invite you to order your copy today. You’ll be challenged, inspired, and equipped to pursue a life that counts, even when its hard or the odds are against you. 

SHOW NOTES:

It’s the start of a new year and that means many of us are setting goals and planning our path for what we’d like to do accomplish in the days ahead. To help you maximize where you want to go, I’d like share two types of questions that I ask myself each year at this time: REFLECTION QUESTIONS and REFOCUSING QUESTIONS. The reflection questions deal with the past 12 months, and the refocusing questions deal with the next 12 months. Under each category I have five questions. 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. What am I thankful for?

When you start the reflection process by asking, “What am I thankful for,” you’re able to reframe the year from a positive perspective. 

2. How did I grow? 

This question is important because it forces me to reflect on the lessons I’ve learned over the last 12 months (in any area of life). This can happen by reflecting on my personal growth plan, life lessons in general, and the books that I’ve read. 

3. Who did I invest in? 

This question is really important because our legacy in life is often tied to the people we invested in the most. These people may be family, friends, colleagues, clients, or a host of other people. When you reflect on your list of people, you’ll quickly discover where you saw the greatest return on your investment of time and effort. 

4. How did I spend my time?

John Maxwell says that your success is determined by your daily agenda. Therefore, each year I’ll take my calendar from the past 12 months and reflect on how I used my time each day. When I do this, I’m looking for the three P’s: 

• Priorities – How much of my time did I spend on my highest priorities? 
• People – How much time did I spend with my family, friends, staff, leaders, and other important relationships in my life? 
• Patterns – What patterns have emerged in my schedule that reveal a poor use of time?

When I go through my calendar, I’ll take notes on these three things—priorities, people, and patterns. Then, I’ll make appropriate adjustments for the new year. 

5. How did I live out my mission and values?

Several years ago I created a life mission statement and a handful of core values. At the close of each year, I’ll reflect on my mission and values to determine how well I’m living them out each day. 

REFOCUSING QUESTIONS:

1. What is my growth plan?

Each year I create a personal growth plan at the start of the year—I often refer to it as a personal growth TRAC…T-R-A-C. The word TRAC stands for Target, Roadmap, Accountability, and Check-Up. In other words, I identify the target areas I want to grow in, then I create a roadmap to grow, then I invite someone to hold me accountable for my growth, and finally I’ll do check-ups throughout the year to monitor progress. You can access my free ebook, How to Create a Plan for Personal Growth (which unpacks the Growth TRAC model) HERE.

2. What are my ministry goals?

While a growth TRAC focuses on my personal growth, ministry goals focus on the health and growth of the church I lead. So, how do you know which ministry goals you should pursue? Consider a few thoughts such as: 

• Will this goal drive us closer to our vision?
• Will this goal help us become more healthy as a church or organization?
• What single goal, if reached, would make the greatest difference in our organization right now?
• Why do we believe this goal is the best place to invest our time, energy, and resources? 
• Is the timing of this goal right? 
• What will reaching this goal make possible? 

3. Who will I invest in?

This question is an easy one to overlook, but it’s really powerful. You want to start the year be determining who the people are where your investment of time and energy will make the greatest impact. Obviously, some of these relationships will be family and friends, but also think about it in terms of key leaders, staff, or volunteers in your organization. 

4. What will I stop, start, or delegate?

After you’ve done a day-by-day reflection on how you spent your time in the previous year, you should be equipped to answer this question. Why? Because you’ll be aware of the priorities, people, and patterns that emerged in how you’ve been using your time. With that information, you should be able to pinpoint pretty quickly what you need to stop, what you need to start, and what you need to delegate to someone else. For example: 

• Your Stop List will likely include things outside your strengths or that are a bad use of time for somebody in your position
• Your Start List should include things that leverage your strengths and time for the health and growth of the organization
• Your Delegate List should include things that have to be done, but not necessarily by you

5. How will I better align my time with my mission and values?

This last question helps me determine what changes I need to make in the new year to make sure my life is further aligned with my mission and my values. Living out your life purpose is a matter of wise stewardship, so you’ll want to drill down on what changes you need to make to better steward your life and time toward the mission God has entrusted to you. 

One final observation: I want you to notice something about both sets of questions. None of them are “yes” or “no” questions. They all require an explanation. This forces you to provide enough detail to adequately reflect and appropriately refocus. 

CHECK OUT MY NEW BOOK

I’m excited to announce the launch of my new book, Stop Chasing Easy: Pursuing a Life that Counts Today…and For Eternity. You can learn more HERE along with the great BONUS CONTENT available when you purchase your copy.

STOP CHASING EASY

PURSUING A LIFE THAT COUNTS TODAY…AND FOR ETERNITY

Are you tired of the empty promises of ease, comfort, and security? Are you ready to make your life truly count…now and forever?

In Stop Chasing Easy, Stephen Blandino inspires us with a bigger vision beyond the edges of ease. He unpacks the apostle Paul’s wisdom in the book of Philippians and shares four powerful trade-offs that will help you make your life count.

No matter where you find yourself, Stop Chasing Easy will inspire you to think differently, grow to your full potential, and pursue a mission worth your life. Rather than chasing easy, you’ll learn how to make your life count today…and for eternity.

STOPCHASINGEASY.COM

LEADER FLUENT RATING OR REVIEW

If you haven’t subscribed to the Leader Fluent Podcast, you can do so today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora or your favorite podcast platform. Plus, a RATING or REVIEW will help us spread the word to other leaders. Thanks for your help. 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

John Maxwell often says, “Most people have uphill hopes, but downhill habits.” In other words, lots of people have uphill dreams and goals—things they want to accomplish or become—but the problem is their habits don’t match their hopes. There’s a lot of great research on what the formation of habits looks likes, but I want to share four observations on habit formation that I see in the life of Jesus. As you read the Gospels, you discover that one of the habits Jesus modeled most frequently was prayer. Not only does Jesus’ prayer life give us a great example of prayer, but it gives us a great example of how to form a habit. 

Four Keys to Habit Formation:

1. Habits Need a Time

When you look at Jesus’ habit of prayer, he prayed at various times, but Scripture makes a specific reference to mornings. 

Mark 1:35 (NLT) – Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.

Luke 4:42a (NLT) – Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place… 

For a habit to form, you need a set time and a right time that works for you. When habits aren’t directed by a time, they become dictated by your feelings. And let’s be honest, we never feel our way into a habit. 

There are 525,600 minutes in a year. You’ll spend approximately 175,200 of those minutes asleep (if you get eight hours a night). That means you’ll have 350,400 minutes during your waking hours. And if you have a job and work eight hours per day, five days per week for fifty weeks a year, you’ll have 230,400 minutes remaining.

So, the question is, how many of those minutes will you give to form the habits that will make you healthy. And if you think you don’t have enough time, consider one more number: 51,830. That’s how many minutes the average person spends on social media each year. It’s 142 minutes per day…863 hours per year…22% of your minutes outside of work and sleep. 

2. Habits Need a Place

Each time Jesus prayed, Scripture refers to the place he prayed. The place wasn’t always the same, but the place was always secluded. 

Luke 4:42a (NLT) – Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place… 

Mark 1:35 (NLT) – Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.

Luke 5:16 (NLT) – But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

Luke 6:12 (NLT) – One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night.

Mark 6:46 (NLT) – After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.

What do all of these passages have in common? They reveal a secluded place where Jesus prayed. Simply put, every habit needs a home. That home is the place where the habit can take root and the habit can produce fruit. 

3. Habits Need a Frequency

This seems obvious because habits imply frequency and regularity. But I believe it’s worth pointing out when it comes to Jesus’ habit of prayer. 

Luke 5:16 (NLT) – But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

We know Jesus’ prayed often because of all the passages of scripture I’ve shared already. Why is this important to point out? Because frequency is what gives a habit its power. In fact, without frequency, a habit isn’t a habit; it’s a hobby. As you’re developing your habits, ask yourself this question from Dan Sullivan: “IS THIS WHERE I STOP?” Each time you answer no, you’re building frequency into your habit. 

4. Habits Need a Partner

Typically Jesus prayed alone, but there are references of other people being with him or near him when he prayed. 

Luke 9:18a (NLT) – One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him…

For many of the habits we develop, they will happen alone. But when habits are forming—especially in the early stages—we often need a partner. Generally there are two types of partners: ACTIVITY PARTNERS and ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNERS. 

Activity partners are people that develop the habit with you…they’re in the game taking action right alongside of you? Accountability partners are people that hold you accountable to develop the habit. Partners provide the support and accountability to form patterns of frequency so the habit becomes embedded in our lives. 

Every habit needs a TIME, a PLACE, a FREQUENCY, and a PARTNER. When those four things are in place, the likelihood of success increases. Mark Batterson once said, “Show me your habits, and I’ll show you your future.” I hope that challenges you as you think about the habits you need to form in your own life. 

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How do you close the gap between you and your dreams? It starts with a personal growth plan. In “How to Create a Plan for Personal Growth,” Stephen Blandino walks you through a proven four-step plan to create a growth plan that helps you reach your full potential.

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SHOW NOTES:

How do you know if somebody has leadership potential? Leaders have the responsibility for developing more leaders, but before you can develop more leaders, you have to know what to look for in a potential leader. I want to encourage you to pay attention to ten signs of an emerging leader. I’m not suggesting that an emerging leader has all ten of these qualities; I’m simply saying, these are the qualities to pay attention to when you’re trying to determine if somebody is a potential leader. 

1. They Have Influence 

This one’s fairly obvious, because at its core a leader is someone who has the ability to influence others. If you see somebody with the ability to gather followers, that’s a sign that they have leadership potential. 

2. They Take Initiative 

When someone takes regular initiative to get things done without being asked or told, they likely demonstrate the ability to lead themselves. If somebody can lead themselves, then there’s a greater likelihood that they’ll be able to lead others. Ask yourself, “Who around me takes initiative?”

3. They Possess Forward-Thinking Abilities 

Forward thinking abilities reveals a person’s ability to envision the future. If they can envision better ways of doing things, they may be able to use their vision to inspire others to take action. 

4. Their Spiritual Giftedness Indicates or Assumes Leadership 

Leadership is one of the spiritual gifts the apostle Paul describes in Romans 12. However, leadership isn’t the only spiritual gift that requires the ability to lead. For example, people who have the spiritual gift of pastor, or teacher, or apostle, or administration often find themselves in leadership roles as well. Consider administering a spiritual gifts assessment and look for those whose gifting indicates or assumes leadership. 

5. They Possess Strong People Skills 

Leadership is all about leading people, and people like to follow people who make them feel valued. If somebody exhibits strong people skills, they likely have greater influence with people than those who exhibit poor people skills or low emotional intelligence. 

6. They Have the Ability to Motivate and Mobilize Others 

Anybody can see a need, but seeing a need doesn’t make you a leader. However, some people not only see a need, but they also take initiative to do something about the need. These people can lead themselves, and possibly others. But other people have the ability to not only see the need and do something about the need, but they also have the ability to motivate and mobilize others to do something about the need too. These people have an even higher level of leadership capacity. 

7. They are Problem Solvers 

One of the quickest ways any leader can gain influence is to solve problems. Don’t pay attention to the people who whine about problems. Pay attention to the ones who can wrap their heads around a problem and work diligently to find the right solution to it. These are emerging leaders. 

8. They are Growing as a Disciple 

Followers of Christ are committed to lifelong growth, and part of that growth is learning to serve. And here’s the trend that I’ve noticed…when a disciple of Jesus proves faithful in serving in the small things, God tends to elevate their responsibilities—often in areas of leadership. 

9. They are Teachable 

When someone is teachable, it reveals their attitude and it enables their ability. First, teachability reveals a person’s attitude about improving, growing, and having the humility to receive feedback. Second, teachability enables ability. In other words, when a person is teachable, they are able to actually improve their abilities and get better. Their teachability has allowed them to deliver excellence in whatever you entrust to their care. 

10. They Model Faithful Service and Stewardship 

When you see someone who serves faithfully, pay attention. And when you see someone who faithfully stewards whatever responsibility has already been entrusted to them, pay attention. These people aren’t in it for the ego. They’ve put serving before leading, and they’ve put stewardship before ownership. 

I’m not suggesting that an emerging leader needs to have all ten of these qualities before you can identify them as a potential leader. I’m simply saying that these are the signs to pay attention to. When you see them…even just three or four of them, you might have an emerging leader on your hands.

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In The Doubters’ Club, Preston offers a raw and authentic look into his own faith journey, the doubts he experienced, and his journey back to Jesus. His personal experience has since given him credibility with doubters from all walks of life, and his efforts have led him to start the Doubters Club. 

The Doubters Club has one goal: Model friendship with people who think differently and pursue truth together. They meet in coffee shops in various cities around the country, and they are made up of people who don’t think alike. Preston says that Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God as a reality that exists inside of us (Luke 17:21). He writes:

“If the Kingdom of God is within you, you should leave a little bit of heaven everywhere you go. And I think that is our new strategy. Go to heavenless places and leave a trail of evidence for the doubter.”

He asserts that “doubts, not answers, might be our common ground with the unbeliever.” With this understanding, Preston challenges his readers with a question: “Would you be willing to start breaking bread with the people Jesus broke bread with?” Jesus didn’t insulate himself from people who thought differently than he did. Instead, he engaged them in conversations and listened carefully to their stories. Ulmer observes, “Friends talk about what they are most passionate about. Since we are passionate about our relationship with Jesus, wouldn’t it make sense that at least some of our spiritual energy is devoted to sharing that passion with others?” The question is, how? Preston offers five practical steps that brings a fresh perspective to evangelism. 

The first step is Impression. So often we make a poor impression, and as a result, our nonbelieving friends cast the shadow of that impression onto God. Ulmer writes, “Pursuing truth together means there is a humility (on both sides) to submit and admit. Submit to the truth, and admit when we didn’t have it.” Disagreements are an opportunity to grow, and humility is what makes that growth possible. Unfortunately, we are too often known for our disagreements rather than our humility. Preston notes, “When it comes to people having the right impression of you, everything is about acting like Jesus.” And Jesus was humble. 

The second step is Intention. In other words, what are your intentions with your unbelieving friends? Too often we view relationships with unbelievers as transactions, but that’s not what real relationships are about. Intention is all about our motives. We can have an ultimate motive (which is to befriend unbelievers regardless of whether or not they become followers of Christ), but we cannot have an ulterior motive. An ulterior motive is when your friendship with the person is based on them deciding to follow Christ within an allotted amount of time. As Preston notes, “The intention of the Doubters’ Club is not to ‘win’ the debate. The intention is to build a platform of friendship for us to pursue truth together…The purer the intentions, the more influence we gain.” 

The third step is Invitation. In most cases, we think of “church” when we hear the word invitation. But Preston offers a greater perspective, and that is to invite the nonbeliever into real life. Take a genuine interest in the person and show an interest in what they are doing. Do life together and recognize that “you both are going somewhere much bigger than yourselves.” 

The fourth step is Initiation. Initiation is all about re-examining our views through conversations that matter. Talk to them about something they are familiar with. That’s what Jesus did with the woman at the well. One way Preston does this is to ask nonbelievers what book or movie has really shaped them. That question has led to deep conversations and long-lasting relationships. Preston notes, “Initiating conversations that matter is not so that we can create converts. It’s so that we can taste the goodness of God with others, leaving us both craving more.” 

The fifth step is Imitation. Preston challenges his readers to invite people to participate in imitating Christ with us. That’s what happens in the Doubters’ Club. “The Doubters’ Club is proof that sometimes behavior imitates faith before the mind does.” Imitation is how we define progress, and progress happens when our unbelieving friends join into the story of God.  

I found The Doubters’ Club to be extremely refreshing, and Preston’s insights offer a compelling way to connect with nonbelievers…a way that is authentic and Jesus-like. Preston’s writing is not only inspirational, Biblical, and practical, but it stirred within me a fresh desire to build meaningful relationships with people who don’t think like me. I highly recommend The Doubters’ Club. You will be challenged, and your commitment to nonbelievers will be renewed. 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

What are the signs of a truly hard worker? I believe there are five signs that separate hard workers from people who simply put in long hours. 

1. Right Priorities 

A hard worker is not focused solely on getting things done. Anybody can do that. Instead, a hard worker is somebody who gets the right things done. In other words, they understand their high-return priorities, and then they allocate the bulk of their time and energy to those priorities. 

So, how do you establish the right priorities? Start by practicing the 80/20 Rule. The 80/20 Rule says that 80% of your outcomes are the result of 20% of your activity. Simply put, if you have ten priorities, the top two priorities will produce 80% of your results. You can identify the right priorities by asking yourself, “Which priorities will give me the highest return on my investment of time?” 

2. Personal Initiative 

Personal initiatives show up when we practice the three P’s. First, be PROMPT. Arrive on time to work, to meetings, and to appointments. If you’re continually late, then you’re probably overscheduling, oversleeping, or underestimating how much time a task will take. 

Second, own PROBLEMS. Hard workers don’t point fingers, blame others, or say, “That’s not my job.” Instead, when problems arise, hard workers take initiative to resolve them quickly.

Third, be PROACTIVE. One of the hallmarks of a hard worker is that they don’t have to be told what to do. Instead, they’re self-motivated. They take initiative without waiting on someone else to light a fire under them. 

3. Quality Work 

Years ago, Truett Cathy (the founder of Chick-Fil-A), told his vice presidents and marketing team, “Gentlemen, I am sick and tired of hearing you talk about us getting bigger. What we need to be talking about is getting better. If we get better, our customers will demand that we get bigger.” 

Truett’s words that day shifted the entire conversation, and by 2000, Chick-Fil-A hit a billion dollars in sales. If you’re going to get better and do quality work, it will require a growth mindset, regular evaluation, excellent execution. 

4. Efficient Delivery 

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Work smarter, not harder.” That’s what efficient delivery is all about. It’s choosing to wisely steward time, talent, and treasure to deliver outcomes in the most efficient way possible. 

One of the best ways to provide efficient delivery is create good systems. Think of the word SYSTEM as an acronym that stands for: Saves You Stress, Time, Energy, and Money. That’s what an efficient system does. 

5. Unwavering Persistence 

Author and psychologist, Angela Lee Duckworth, has done extensive research on the subject of grit. This is what she observed about grit…she said: “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Hard workers have the ability to stick with something even when that something is hard. They have the ability to persevere and persist. They have grit and they are resilient. So, if they have to put in more hours, they’ll put in more hours. If they have to do extra research to figure something out, they’ll do the extra research. They don’t quit. That’s part of what it means to be a hard worker. 

Questions for Reflection: 

• Have you identified your high-return priorities?
• Do you take initiative by being prompt, owning problems, and being proactive?
• Do deliver quality work marked by excellence?
• Is your work delivered efficiently and in a way that saves you stress, time, energy, and money?
• And do you have an unwavering persistence to keep going, even when things are tough?

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Throughout the book, Pastor Mike draws from three different parables to reveal what our Heavenly Father values most, and how to embed those values in the culture of the church. He begins with the Parable of the Two Sons in Luke 15. From this parable, Burnette points out, “Our job is to make sure we understand the Father’s heart and then craft our cultures to reflect his. That begins by understanding the first basic value found in the culture of the Father: lost things matter to him.” He operates in an economy of grace rather than shame. 

Unfortunately, too many churches have become like the older brother. The older brother was blinded by pride and his own self-righteousness. As Pastor Mike notes: 

“He was close to the father’s hand but far from the father’s heart, and that’s why he didn’t think to approach the father with the same humility, repentance, and gratitude as his brother. He showed his true self—his rude, entitled, and vindictive self—all the while, claiming to be a faithful son who shared the values of a father he looked nothing like.” 

As pastors, we have to protect our hearts and our churches from adopting the “older brother mindset” where “people stop being people to us and instead become labels.” Instead, our cultures must exude the grace of the Father. We must make room for prodigals and throw parties when they return home. 

The second parable that reveals the culture of God’s kingdom is the Parable of the Sower. Many church leaders elevate the pastors and leaders of the fastest growing churches, but Pastor Mike is careful to note that it is God who grows the church, and our job is to be stewards of the growth. He writes:

“Most of the time and money are in the dirt, not the seeds and not the sower. Catch this: the primary energy of a healthy and kingdom-growing church is spent on cultivating, turning, rehabbing, preparing, and keeping the soil of the hearts of people sustained. So at LifePoint Church, we’ve decided to invest a lot in the dirt…All of the activities of our church are motivated by preparing the ground, turning the dirt, removing the rocks, and pushing back the weeds that choke out life. Everything we do is motivated by this parable, and we spend a considerable amount of resources and energy to get the soil of every person ready to receive the seeds of God’s word.”

The third parable Pastor Mike covers is the Parable of the Talents. He notes that a talent was the equivalent of about twenty years worth of income. It’s a profound lesson in stewardship, and as the author notes, “we’re not just stewarding stuff; we’re stewarding souls…The talents—the vested capital of infinite worth that God entrusts into our hands as stewards—are, above all else, his people.”

Too often in churches we focus on comparing our treasures with everybody else. However, God—our Master—determines how much to entrust to each of His servants, according to their abilities. As Burnette notes, “The parable of the talents is a story about capacity, not comparison…I believe God isn’t looking for every tree to bear the same number of pieces of fruit. Again, he knows what every tree—every servant—is capable of, and he is calling us to be faithful to those capabilities.” 

Our job is to be faithful with whatever God has entrusted to us. We may be entrusted to lead a small congregation in a remote corner of the state, or God may entrust us with large influence and many people. Again, it’s not a matter of size, but rather faithful stewardship. 

Parable Church is an insightful and refreshing approach to church that magnifies the culture of God’s kingdom. As Pastor Mike notes, “Jesus never actually told us how to ‘Do Church.’” Instead, as Burnette observes, He provides us with the principles and values that drive long-term health. I encourage you to pick up Parable Church today, and be challenged by Mike Burnette’s fresh perspective and biblical insights. 

SHOW NOTES:

Leaders make countless decisions in their organizations, and those decisions are on a wide spectrum…from easy to difficult, from small to big, from simple to complex. The real question is, how do leaders consistently make great decisions? Let me share eight ingredients to help you make better decisions, and a simple question to go with each one. 

1. God: What is the Holy Spirit Saying?

One temptation in leadership is to restrict our decision-making inputs to the latest research, the newest books, our closest friends, and the most respected leaders in our field. There’s nothing wrong with any of these, and we’ll talk about them in a moment, but great decision-making starts with God. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” 

The most helpful prayer a leader can pray is, “God, fill me with the wisdom and knowledge of your perfect will, and give me the courage to pursue it.” So, when it comes to an important decision, invite the Holy Spirit to direct you and speak to you. 

2. DNA: Does the Decision Violate Our Identity?

Every church and every organization has a unique DNA. In general, an organization’s DNA is made up of four things:

• Vision – Where you’re going
• Mission – Why you exist
• Values – What’s most important
• Culture – How we do things

For your DNA to positively impact your organization, you have to integrate it into your decision-making. If you don’t, you’ll start to experience sideways energy. 

3. Research: Have I Done My Homework?

In-depth decision-making requires some in-depth research. In fact, Jesus once said, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish’” (Luke 14:28-30). The lesson is clear—good decisions require proper planning and research. 

4. Experience: What Does Past Experience Reveal?

One of the greatest informers of future decisions is past experience. Job 12:12 says, “Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?” The longer you live, the more perspective you glean and the more insight you uncover. So, when you’re making decisions for your church or organization, pay attention to three types of experience:

• Personal Experience – This is the experience you personally bring to the table. It usually consists of your failures, successes, habits, education, proficiencies, and observations. 

• Historical Experience – This experience draws on your church or organization’s historical trends, traditions, metrics, and behaviors. The purpose of historical experience isn’t so much to define a future strategy, but rather to understand how the church or organization might respond to future decisions. 

• External Experience – This experience comes from leaders outside of your church. You might look to a coach, consultant, mentor, or another experienced leader in your field to provide fresh input before making an important decision. 

5. Advice: Have I Sought the Wisdom of Others? 

The book of Proverbs has some of the most practical insight on the importance of advice. For example,Proverbs 13:20 says, “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” In other words, gleaning wise advice begins by carefully choosing to associate with wise people.

Then, Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.” Your willingness to actively listen will determine how much wisdom you gain from others. Finally, Proverbs 13:10 says, “Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.” In other words, wisdom comes to those who are teachable. So, the key to good advice is the PERSON (in other words, who you listen to) and your POSTURE (in other words, your willingness to learn from them). 

6. Intuition: What is My Gut Telling Me?

Intuition is the most nuanced part of decision-making. John Maxwell makes a great observation when he says that we are most intuitive in the areas of our greatest giftedness. So, when it comes to decision-making, listen to your gut, especially in the areas where you have natural strength. Also, listen to the nudges from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes a nudge from the Spirit will feel like a red flag. Other times you’ll sense a nudge to take a step in a specific direction. Pay attention to your gut. 

7. Influencers: Are My Key Leaders Receptive and Supportive?

There’s an old proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Well, in leadership, the key is to make sure your influencers—such as staff, board, and key leaders—are with you in the decision-making process. John Maxwell says it like this: “People buy-in to the leader before they buy-in to the vision.” You can have the greatest ideas in the world—even ideas God has birthed inside of you— but if your leaders aren’t on board, you’re going to have a hard time moving forward.

8. Timing: Is the Timing Right? 

Timing is not one dimensional in its application. When you’re making a decision, you have to ask three timing questions: 

• Is the Timing Right for the Leader? 
• Is the Timing Right for the Team? 
• Is the Timing Right for the Church? 

Those are the eight ingredients to help you make good decisions. Let me wrap up by pointing out what happens when one of these ingredients is missing. 

• Without God, decisions will lack supernatural wisdom.
• Without DNA, decisions can lack organizational consistency.
• Without Research, decisions can lack depth.
• Without Experience, decisions can lack maturity.
• Without Advice, decisions can lack perspective.
• Without Intuition, decisions can lack peace. 
• Without Influencers, decisions can lack buy-in.
• Without Timing, decisions can lack impact.

The decisions you make each day will ripple through your entire church or organization. And you, your teams, and your entire organization will pay the price (or reap the rewards) of every decision. 

RATING OR REVIEW

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If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES

“What was I made to do?” That question has haunted people of every age and every walk of life for thousands of years. And while there’s nothing wrong with that question, I actually believe there’s a second question—perhaps a better question—that will help you discover your life mission. That better question is, “How did God design me?” 

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Not only did God create us to do good works, but he prepared those good works before we were even born. And here’s the good news: when God created us, He designed us with those good works in mind. The more we understand how we’re designed, the more clues we’ll discover to the mission God created us to fulfill. 

Think about it like a puzzle. When you dump a puzzle on a table, what’s the first thing you do? You start turning over all the pieces of the puzzle. Why? Because you want to see the different shapes and colors so you can connect the pieces together. 

Your life mission is the same way. The more pieces of the puzzle you turn over, the more you begin to discover the common themes and patterns in how God designed you. You start to see how the pieces connect together to help you fulfill a specific mission in life. So, what kind of puzzle pieces do you need to turn over to help you clarify your life mission? Start with these four puzzle pieces. 

1. Experience

Our experience quickly reveals what we’re good at, and what we stink at. In other words, when you reflect on your past experience, you quickly discover where you’ve experienced success, and where you’ve experienced failure. This process helps you narrow the circle of your life mission. So, in what areas have you experienced the most success? Your answer to that question will give clues to how God wired you.

2. Destiny Markers 

I learned the concept of destiny markers from my friend Steve Moore. A destiny marker is an event, experience, relationship, or circumstance that reminds you that God has a specific purpose for your life, or it provides clues to what that purpose might be. 

Destiny markers come in a variety of forms. For example, a destiny marker might be a formative relationship, a personal milestone, or a providential occurrence. Destiny markers reveal how God has been at work in your past. They reveal the seeds of destiny God has been sowing throughout your lifetime. 

3. Giftedness

In Exodus chapter 35 and 36, Moses mobilized a team of people to help construct the sanctuary. And in Exodus 35:31-35, Moses said, “The Lord has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze. He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft. And the Lord has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach their skills to others. The Lord has given them special skills as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet thread on fine linen cloth, and weavers. They excel as craftsmen and as designers.”

What is Moses doing in this passage? He’s describing in detail the giftedness of Bezalel and Oholiab. In the same way God gifted these two men, God has also given each one of us gifts, abilities, and skills. When you understand your gifting, you’ll be satisfied, God will be glorified, others will be edified, and your gifting will be verified by others. 

4. Passions

In the same passage from Exodus where God gave Moses instructions for the construction of the sanctuary, we read these words in Exodus 36:2: “And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.”

That phrase, “whose heart stirred him up” is all about passion. Passions are like those deep interests or issues that drive you. In fact, when it comes to passion, it’s been said that a person will work 8 hours a day for a paycheck, 12 hours a day for a good boss, but 24 hours a day for a cause. Your passion is your cause.

So, let me ask you, what needs move you to action? What problems do you feel compelled to solve? What activities really engage your heart? Is there a group of people you feel called to serve? These kinds of question will help you pinpoint your greatest passions. Another way to discover your passions is to listen to yourself speak. When do you hear the most energy in your voice? Sometimes you don’t see your passion as much as you hear your passion. 

These four puzzle pieces—experience, destiny markers, giftedness, and passions—will give you clues to your life mission. Once you turn these puzzle pieces over, start looking for the common themes that emerge. Those common themes will give you clues to the mission God has called you to fulfill. 

LIFE MISSION RESOURCES

If you’d like to dive deeper to discover your life mission, I’ve developed several helpful resources to help you gain greater clarity. 

• Do Good Works Book – This practical book is designed to help you turn over ten pieces of the life purpose puzzle, and then craft those pieces into a compelling life mission statement. You can purchase Do Good Works HERE. 

• Do Good Works Six-Session Study Guide – This free, downloadable resources is a practical way to discuss the principles of Do Good Works with a small group of friends. You can download the study guide at www.dogoodworksbook.com. 

• Do Good Works Life Purpose Coaching – This practical and personalized coaching process will walk you step-by-step through the Do Good Works framework and help you create a personal life mission statement. Learn more HERE. 

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If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcast platform. And after you subscribe, be sure to leave a RATING or REVIEW of the podcast. It helps us spread the word to other leaders. 

SHOW NOTES:

Coaching is a powerful tool to help people grow. I know for me, I’ve gained a huge amount of insight and perspective from the coaches I’ve had over the years. But coaching isn’t just something I’ve personally benefited from, it’s also something I’ve been able to leverage to help others grow too. 

So, that raises a question: what exactly does a coach do? I like to say it like this: Great coaches take AIM at potential. AIM stands for Assessment, Insight, and Motivation. In other words, a coach will take AIM at personal or organizational potential by providing assessment, insight, and motivation so the leader or organization can realize their greatest potential. Let’s unpack each of these: 

1. Assessment 

One of the first things a coach has to do is assess the needs of the person their coaching. Sports coaches do this all the time. They observe their players, and they note what they’re doing well and how they need to improve. Why? Because you can’t help a person reach their full potential if you don’t understand their growth gaps. You have to assess where they’re at, where they want to go, and the gap between the two.

So, when you’re coaching someone, how do you assess their needs? By asking questions and administering assessments. Asking questions is important because the most significant growth in a person’s life will usually occur in the area where they have the highest intrinsic motivation to grow. Question-asking reveals those key growth areas. And assessments are valuable because they reveal how a person is wired and can often help a leader garner 360 degree feedback. A couple of great tools to help with this process is  the 360 Degree Refined Leadership Test or the Leadership Practices Inventory.

2. Insight

Following an accurate assessment, coaches provide valuable insights that will help a leader grow, improve, and accelerate. There are four different approaches to provide insight to the person you’re coaching: 

• Probing – Probing happens when the coach asks good questions to uncover the insight already inside the person. In other words, by simply asking the right questions, the coach is able to pull out of the person the solution to their challenges. The solution was there all along, but it wasn’t until the coach started probing by asking good questions, that they were able to bring the insight to light. 

• Processing – When a person is being coached, they will often share ideas, strategies, or pathways they want to pursue. A coach’s job is to help them process these ideas and insights by serving as a sounding board, asking clarifying questions, and pointing out potential blind spots. 

• Permission – Sometimes the person being coached knows what they should do, but they’re lacking the confidence to do it. The person being coached doesn’t actually need the coach’s permission to act. However, when the coach affirms what the person is thinking, it gives them a confidence boost to actually act. In this way, giving permission is the insight needed to get dislodged from the paralysis of analysis. 

• Perspective – Perspective is all about offering breakthrough ideas, best practices, and a fresh viewpoint. In other words, the coach doesn’t just ask questions, they actually offer practical solutions. Rather than pulling the solution out of the person, they make a deposit into the person with an insight that is exactly what they need. 

3. Motivation

A good coach serves as a motivator. By motivator, I’m not talking about constantly having to light a fire under the person you’re coaching because they’re just not motivated to do anything. If they’re not motivated to grow, then trying to coach them is a waste of your time. Instead, by motivator, I’m talking about the coach standing on the sidelines and cheering the person on to success. A good coach provides Motivation in three ways: 

• Acceptance – Acceptance motivates the person with a sense of belief and unconditional love. 

• Affirmation – Affirmation is all about encouraging the person you’re coaching. It’s acknowledging their progress, celebrating their wins, and expressing continual praise and affirmation. 

• Accountability – Accountability is a motivator because it doesn’t’ make room for excuses. It lets the person you’re coaching know that you believe they have what it takes to grow to a new level, and you’re determined to help them get there. 

I’ll say it again…great coaches take AIM at potential. They provide Assessment, Insight, and Motivation. And when they do, they help others succeed.

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If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcast platform. And after you subscribe, be sure to leave a RATING or REVIEW of the podcast. It helps us spread the word and help other leaders. 

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Delegation is a critical part of leadership. Not only does delegation allow you to create a sustainable pace, but it also helps you cultivate a people-development culture. 

One of the greatest delegation examples in Scripture is the story of Moses and Jethro. One day Jethro, who was Moses’ father-in-law, came to visit him. After watching Moses carry out his duties, he said these words: “What are you really accomplishing here? Why are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from morning till evening?” (Exodus 18:14, NLT). 

Notice how Moses responds to Jethro’s question: “Because the people come to me to get a ruling from God. When a dispute arises, they come to me, and I am the one who settles the case between the quarreling parties. I inform the people of God’s decrees and give them his instructions” (Exodus 18:15-16, NLT). 

Jethro could have patted Moses on the back and said, “Wow, sounds tough. I’ll pray for you, Moses.” Instead, Jethro looks at Moses and says, “This is not good!” Isn’t that what you’d love to hear your father-in-law tell you? 

But then he told him why it wasn’t good. He said, “You’re going to wear yourself out – and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself” (Exodus 18:17-18, NLT). So, what does effective delegation look like? Consider these three steps. 

1. PRIORITY ASSESSMENT

Delegation doesn’t begin by giving anything away. Instead, delegation begins by determining what NOT to give away. You have to start by identifying your priorities so that you know where to focus your time and energy. That’s what Jethro did with Moses. In Exodus 18:19-21, Jethro basically told Moses to do three things: 

• Be the people’s representative before God
• Teach the people God’s decrees
• Select capable leaders 

In other words, Jethro helped Moses identify his highest priorities before he ever delegated a single responsibility. And we have to do the same. How? Start by asking yourself three questions: 

• What are my job requirements?
• What are my greatest strengths?
• Where do I get the greatest return on my investment of time? 

Your answers to these three questions will reveal your priorities. However, where your answers overlap and intersect reveals your highest priorities. Then, once you’ve identified your highest priorities, create a second list with everything that you should delegate. 

2. TEAM EMPOWERMENT

Team empowerment is all about empowering your team with responsibilities and opportunities. It’s handing off the things that fall outside of your highest priorities and entrusting them to your team. So, where do you start? Start with the four “A’s” of delegation. What are the four “A’s” of delegation: Assignment, Authority, Accountability, and Affirmation. The first “A” is…

• Assignment: Who should I delegate these responsibilities and opportunities to?

• Authority: What authority do I need to give to the person I’ve delegated a responsibility to? 

• Accountability: How do I need to hold accountable the people I’ve delegated responsibilities to? 

• Affirmation: How can I best support and encourage the people I’ve delegated responsibilities to?

Without these four steps, you’ll have nothing more than order takers. Captain Michael Abrashoff once said, “If all you give are orders, then all you will get are order takers.” Empowerment is about much more than giving people orders. It’s about much more than telling people what to do. It’s giving people responsibility combined with authority, accountability, and affirmation. 

3. MONKEY MANAGEMENT

The concept of “Monkey Management” was made popular in a book by Ken Blanchard, Bill Oncken, and Hal Burrows titled, The One-Minute Manager Meets the Monkey. In their book, “Monkeys” represent any next move (or next step) you’ve delegated to another team member. 

“Monkey Management” is the process of keeping monkeys (or next steps) on their rightful owner’s back, rather than letting the monkey return to your back. In their book, The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey, the authors articulate The Four Rules of “Monkey Management.”

Rule #1: A boss and a staff member shall not part company until appropriate “next moves” have been described. Monkey management begins by identifying the monkey (the next steps).

Rule #2: The dialogue between boss and staff member must not end until ownership of each monkey is assigned to a person. The authors observe that, “All monkeys must be handled at the lowest organizational level consistent with their welfare.” Every monkey needs an owner.

Rule #3: The dialogue between boss and staff member shall not end until all monkeys have been insured. “Monkey insurance” (as the authors call it) is designed to make sure your team only makes affordable mistakes. There are two types of monkey insurance policies: Recommend, then act OR act, then advise. In other words, depending on the situation, staff members should either:

• Recommend solutions, acquire your feedback, and then act on the best solution, OR 
• Act and then advise you of what they did so that you’re in the communication loop. 

The level of risk determines which policy to implement. And the more trust you build with your team, the more they’ll be able to act and then advise. 

Rule #4: The dialogue between boss and staff member shall not end until the monkey has a check-up appointment. What’s the purpose of a monkey checkup appointment? First, a check-up allows you to catch people doing something right, and then offer praise and encouragement. Second, a check-up helps you spot problems, and then take necessary action to correct the problem before it turns into a crisis.

As you practice these three steps—Priority Assessment, Team Empowerment, and Monkey Management—the quality of your delegation will naturally improve. When Jethro gave his delegation advice to Moses, he said, “If you follow this advice, and if God commands you to do so, then you will be able to endure the pressures, and all these people will go home in peace” (Exodus 18:23, NLT).

Think about that for a moment! Imagine being able to endure the pressures of leadership, and to be able to go home each night in peace, knowing that your organization is successfully meeting the needs of the people it serves. 

That’s what happened to Moses when he took Jethro’s advice to heart. He followed Jethro’s plan of delegation, and as a result, he was able to assume a sustainable pace and meet the needs of the people. And here’s the good news…what worked for Moses can work for you. You can delegate in three simple, but profound, steps: Priority assessment, team empowerment, and monkey management. 

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Several years ago, I worked with a couple of close friends to start an organization from scratch. Despite all of the energy and effort, this fledgling organization didn’t survive. At times, people have asked me about that season of my life. Why didn’t it work? What was the purpose of that season? Do you regret it? 

The honest answer is “No”…I do not regret it one bit. Why? Because today I can look back and say that God used that season to prepare me for the seasons that would follow. Had I not gone through that “failure,” several things would not exist today. For example:

• I would not understand how God develops leaders, or have my current understanding of leadership, because my philosophy of leadership was significantly formed in that organization.
• I would have never written my book, GO! Starting a Personal Growth Revolution, because it was in this organization that I learned the power of personal growth planning.
• I would have never written my book, Do Good Works, because a co-worker in this organization mentored me through the process of discovering my life purpose.
• 7 City Church would not have the vision it has today, because the seeds to the vision were planted in this organization when I was introduced to the idea of culture-shaping leadership.
• 7 City Church would not have an aggressive organizational learning culture, because it was in this organization that I was introduced to what it means to be a learning organization. 
• I would not have two great friends today that still speak into my life and offer so much encouragement and wisdom. 

Nothing is wasted. God redeems everything. I never would have guessed how instrumental my time would have been during a season that some might call a failure. In reality, it was a catalyst that shaped my life, leadership, and future ministry.

You might be going through a tough season right now, or you may have a chapter from your past that seems like a failure or a complete disappointment. Don’t waste that season. Where do you start? 

1. Don’t Let Failure Become an Inside Job 

When yesterday’s failures move into our heart today, it begins to poison our tomorrows. Failure is an event. When we let it become our identity, it gains more power than it was ever intended to have. You can’t harvest the lessons of failure unless you learn to separate your identity from it. 

2. Perspective Makes Sense of What Doesn’t Make Sense

In the moment of failure, it often doesn’t make sense. This is especially true when we tried to do something noble, something good, and we gave it our very best effort. Why would God let this fail? But when you adopt the right perspective, you’re able to make sense of what doesn’t make sense. In other words, when you choose to see failure in the broader context of God’s life-shaping process, you’re able to glean important insights that can add profound value to your future. 

3. Just Because a Dream is Lost Doesn’t Mean the Growth is Lost

Failure often means something has died, and many times it’s a dream. But just because the dream dies (or is significantly delayed), doesn’t mean all is lost. There is still gold to be mined. There is still growth to be harvested in the midst of all of it. Again, this starts with your perspective. There may be grieving in the pain, but there can also be growth. 

4. The Seeds Planted in One Season Produce a Crop in the Next Season

Failure doesn’t mean you weren’t faithful. I need to say that one more time: Failure doesn’t mean you weren’t faithful. In fact, God may choose to honor your faithfulness today at a later season of your life. Though the seeds you planted never bloomed, it doesn’t mean they can’t still bring a future harvest. 

That’s what happened to me with many of things I shared above. Seeds were planted in one season, but they didn’t bloom until a different season came. For me, that season was 7+ years later. Though it didn’t make sense in the moment, it makes perfect sense today.

I don’t know what season you’re going through right now, but I do know that God wastes nothing. But here’s the danger we face: though God wastes nothing, we can waste everything. In other words, God wants to redeem yesterday’s pain for today’s gain, but we have to let Him do so. If we don’t cooperate with His life-shaping process, we’ll squander the lessons (and the good that could come out of all of it). The question is, “Are we willing to learn from what feels wasted?” It’s in the learning that we discover God’s redemption. 

When these three key ingredients are in place, customer satisfaction soars. Conversely, when one of these ingredients is missing, the customer experience suffers, as does customer satisfaction and loyalty. While these three elements are highly visible in a fast-food experience (which I’ll use as an illustration through this article), they can be applied to nearly any customer experience, and to nearly any industry. What are the keys to creating satisfied and loyal customers? 

1. Product: Is the Product Quality Excellent? 

No matter what product you purchase—whether a hamburger at a restaurant or a computer at a tech store, whether a used car or a new home—every customer wants to know that the product they’re purchasing exhibits quality. Nobody likes to buy junk. A quality product is excellent when it…

• Solves a Problem – Every excellent product solves a problem. We expect food products to solve our hunger, we expect cars to solve our transportation needs, and we expect phones to solve our communication challenges. Failure to do so is a product fail at the most basic level. 

• Delivers on its Promise – Most products make specific promises about how your life will be better if you make the purchase. Excellent products don’t just make a promise, they consistently deliver on it, whether it’s the promise to satisfy your tastebuds, increase productivity, or enrich your life in a meaningful way. Breaking product promises ultimately breaks customer trust. 

• Is Fairly Priced – People are willing to shell out hard earned money for a product—often, lots of money—but if they feel like they’re overspending, they’ll deem the product, “a rip off.” The product doesn’t have to be underpriced to be excellent, nor should it be overpriced. You have to search for the pricing sweet spot. You can almost always increase the price if your product consistently exceeds a customer’s expectations. 

• Provides an Enjoyable Experience – Finally, an excellent product is accompanied by an experience that is truly enjoyable. This is especially true in service industries where the product is the service (such as hotels, government services, or nonprofit services). Providing an enjoyable experience creates positive memories, along with the likelihood of repeat business. 

2. Process: Is the Delivery System Efficient?

When it comes to customers, expectations are increasing while patience is decreasing. You can have a great product, but if it takes forever to get it, people will leave in frustration (and likely post a bad review). So, what does an effective process do? How do you know when your delivery system is efficient? A good SYSTEM will Save You… 

• Stress – First, a good system reduces stress (for the employee and the customer). The best way to reduce stress is to make sure the system is simple. Remove the “complicated and cumbersome” from the process and people will start to smile. 

• Time – Second, a good system saves you time. It doesn’t add to the length of the experience but instead speeds it up. It’s quick. It requires as few steps as possible, and if multiple steps are involved, the transitions are seamless, intuitive, and easy to follow.

• Energy – Third, a good system requires less energy. It’s automated as much as possible, and the energy load is significantly less. 

• Money – Finally, a good system saves you money. It might require money on the front end to set up the system, but if it’s the right system, it will make you more money on the back end. 

A couple of years ago I heard about a great new sandwich being offered at a fast-food restaurant. It was all the rave, so I thought I’d try it. After sitting in a drive-thru line for over an hour (no joke), I was impressed with the product but completely unimpressed with the process. Needless to say, I haven’t been back. The broken delivery system has kept me away from the great product. 

3. People: Is the Customer Service Exceptional? 

Satisfied customers experience exceptional service from the organization’s people. Simply put, the interaction customers have with employees is first class. It’s respectful in every way, and it’s truly customer centric. Exceptional customer service is: 

• Friendly – With great customer service, the employee smiles, cares, and is fully engaged with their customer. When you interact with them, they don’t seem bothered by your presence. Quite the opposite…they are glad to see you and glad to help, and do so with a great attitude. 

• Knowledgeable – Employees should always know more about their product than the customer does. They should be able to answer questions, facilitate a product demo, and know the details about costs, warranties, benefits, and more. Associates can’t sell what they don’t understand. 

• Responsive – Next, exceptional customer service is responsive to the needs of the customer. They help customers solve their problems by recommending the right product, removing barriers that are causing frustration, and addressing immediate concerns. In an age of instant everything, responsive service doesn’t leave the customer waiting or wondering. They don’t stand in endless lines or get transferred six times before their problem is solved. 

• Professional – Finally, exceptional customer service is professional. It acts in a way that exudes proficiency, expertise, skill, and creates a positive first impression. An employee that’s professional is dressed appropriately (regardless of the industry), is clean and well-groomed, maintains eye-contact, and creates confidence in the customer. 

The people side of customer satisfaction is huge. There’s a restaurant with a drive-thru a few minutes from my house that has great food (the product is good), and they are consistently efficient (their process is down to a science). In fact, I’m often amazed at their speed of service. But the “people” side of the business is lacking. 

In fact, I’m amazed at the number of times I’ve gone through a drive-thru and the person at the counter didn’t say a word to me…not a single word. I handed them my credit card, they handed me the food, and nothing was ever said. One time the person never even looked at me. They stuck their arm out the window until they could feel my credit card, processed the card, and then handed me the food and my receipt…with their back turned to me the entire time. 

Product, Process, and People…the three essentials to satisfied customers. What about you? Is your product quality excellent? Do you have processes that smoothly deliver your product with efficiency? And are the people who work with you modeling exceptional customer service? All three are critical to create satisfied and loyal customers. 

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Authors Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller once said, “Growth in wisdom has no formula, but it almost always involves at least one of four elements: rigorous self-evaluation, honest feedback, counsel from others, and time.” In other words, when we do these four things, we exhibit a spirit of teachability. 

Author Roger Seip describes what he calls a “Teachability Index.” His teachability index is a simple but powerful equation: Desire to learn x Willingness to change = Level of Teachability. According to Seip, if you assign a number (on a scale from 1 to 10) to your desire to learn, and a number (on a scale from 1 to 10) to your willingness to change, you can come up with your teachability index in many areas of life. 

For example, if you score a nine (on a scale from 1 to 10) in your desire to learn about leadership, and you score an eight in your willingness to make changes so that you’ll become a better leader, then you have a score of 72 on the teachability index in the area of leadership (9×8=72). Again, Desire to Learn x Willingness to Change = Level of Teachability. 

Eight Pitfalls to Teachability

1. Pride: You Think You Already Know

Most of us don’t like to admit, “I don’t know.” But true teachability is grounded in humility. Proverbs 11:2 says, “Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” And Galatians 6:3 says, “For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” 

2. Past: You Rely on Yesterday’s Success 

Too often we let tried-and-true methods squelch new and improved opportunities. But if we’re not careful, we can turn yesterday’s success into an idol that robs the future of its potential. If you’re relying too much on yesterday’s success, one day you’ll wake up in a graveyard of irrelevance. Let truth and wisdom guide you, but when it comes to methods and strategies, honor the past but be loyal to the future. Otherwise, the past will try to deceive you into thinking yesterday is the best way. 

3. People: You Don’t Surround Yourself with New Voices 

We love to be around people who think like us, act like us, talk like us, and lead like us. The problem is, when “us” is outdated, irrelevance becomes the master teacher. As author Andy Stanley says, “If you are surrounded long enough by people who think like you think, you will become more and more certain that’s the best way to think.”

4. Professionalism: You’re Already an Expert

One of the biggest roadblocks to tomorrow’s teachability is the belief that you’re already an expert, and therefore you already have the answers. Take Nobel Prize winners for example. Daniel McFadden, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2000, said, “If you’re not careful, the Nobel Prize is a career-ender. If I allowed myself to slip into it, I’d spend all my time going around cutting ribbons.” And Nobel Literature winner, T.S. Eliot, said, “The Nobel is a ticket to one’s own funeral. No one has ever done anything after he got it.” To remain teachable, you just might have to unlearn some false assumptions so you can relearn some new insights. Don’t let your expertise be the thing that undermines future learning. 

5. Plateau: You’ve Lost Your Passion and Curiosity for Growth

Just because you grew, doesn’t mean you’ll grow. In other words, yesterday’s growth doesn’t guarantee tomorrow’s growth. The apostle Paul said it like this when he was writing to his young apprentice Timothy: “Instead, train yourself to be godly. “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come…Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress” (1 Timothy 4:7b-8, 15).

If you lose your passion and curiosity for growth, a teachable spirit will vanish, and you’ll eventually arrive on a permanent plateau. Do everything in your power to avoid this pitfall. As Paul said, “Give your complete attention to these matters.” 

6. Price: You’re Unwilling to Pay the Price for Growth

One of the things I’ve discovered about personal growth is that the longer you grow, the more expensive growth will become. And this is true in every sense of the word. Growth will become more time intensive, because you’ll have to practice deeper thinking. Growth will become more financially expensive, because you’ll have to pay more to get in the rooms with the highest levels of coaching and training. Growth will become more painful, because you’ll recognize the sacrifices you have to make in order to grow to a new level of impact. There’s a price to remaining teachable; the question is, are you willing to pay the price? What price for personal growth have you been avoiding? 

7. Perspective: You Don’t Mine Lessons out of Failures

One of the greatest teachers you’ll ever have will be your failures. But unfortunately, too many people don’t harvest the lessons this teacher sends our way. Instead, we often view failure as nothing more than an event, an obstacle, an inconvenience, or a permanent roadblock. But if failure is never given permission to teach, you’ll silence the very lessons that might hold tomorrow’s breakthroughs. Failure offers us great perspective, but you have to be willing to listen to its voice. 

8. Predictability: You’re Resistant to Change

What does predictability do? It offers a sense of stability and assurance. But if we hang on to the predictable too much and too long, we’ll resist the changes that are necessary to grow and mature. In other words, predictability can put teachability out of business. 

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For example, if you introduce a major new vision initiative with little warning, you’re likely going to create tension. People may feel a sense of whiplash as it relates to organizational direction. Or, if you suddenly release a staff member, that unexpected change is going to create tension in the organization (and possibly among other staff members). Again, the speed of change determines the size of tension. Think of it like a seesaw.

When the speed of change is quick, the weight of the tension is heavy. In this scenario, the quick change may not have had much thought put into it (it’s lighter). Or, it may have been thought out thoroughly but executed poorly. Either way, the tension load is heavier, and the leader will end up having to deal with more headaches and heartaches. They’ll have more fallout to clean up and less buy-in from the team and the organization as a whole.

If, on the other hand, the leader slows the speed of change, they will likely have to deal with less organizational tension. In other words, when you increase the length of time to introduce change, it helps the team and organization absorb the possibilities and implications of the change. As a result, unnecessary tension decreases.

While this concept makes sense, most leaders struggle with it at one of two extremes. Both of these extremes can undermine the organization’s progress. 

1. Leaders Interpret “Slower Change” as “Slower Progress” 

“Slower change” and “slower progress” are two different things. “Slower change” doesn’t mean we drag our feet on pursuing vision or game-changing opportunities. “Slower change” doesn’t mean we become irrelevant and outdated with methods and strategies that no longer work. Instead, “slower change” is all about the pace of communication and execution.

“Slower change” takes a bit more time to plan its execution effectively, and then communicate our strategy clearly. When this happens, buy-in increases. There’s less tension to deal with, and therefore, the impact and outcome of the solution is usually greater (and in the end, faster because there’s less mess to clean up). 

The truth is, “quick change” can actually slow your progress because you didn’t take the time to raise the anchor of resistance. That anchor can only be raised when you carefully plan the change (often with input from key leaders), and then thoughtfully communicate the “why” and “how” of the change throughout each layer of the organization. In the end, your change has buy-in which leads to breakthrough.

2. Leaders Assume the Goal is “No Tension”

At the other extreme are leaders who tend to be less welcoming of change. Sometimes they’ve gotten comfortable, are less agile and flexible, or simply accept the idea of change at a slower rate. The struggle these leaders have is thinking the goal of change is “no tension.” 

But if you’re a leader, there’s really no such thing as “no tension.” A leader leads the organization to a better future, which implies change, and there’s no such thing as tensionless change. Just ask your body when you start exercising. It will feel the tension, and your sore muscles will let you know it. Sure, you won’t run a 26.2 mile marathon the first time you exercise, but without a sense of urgency, you won’t make any changes either. 

Again, the goal isn’t to eliminate tension. In fact, if your goal is to wait until all tension is eliminated, your organization will inherit a greater tension: decline and eventual death. Avoiding all tension only leads to greater problems. 

So, what is the goal? The goal is to make necessary change while reducing unnecessary tension. You can’t entirely avoid tension (nor do you want to). But you can reduce tension that is simply unnecessary. One way to do that is to ensure the change is made at the proper speed. And by proper speed, I’m not necessarily talking about months or years.

Again, the proper speed of change is almost always connected to your pace of communication and execution. Therefore, consider the following:

• The bigger the change, the longer the runway needed to get the change airborne. 
• Don’t assume everybody knows the “why” and the “how” of the change. You may need to put as much thought into how you communicate the change as you do into how you execute it. 
• When communicate change, define the problem, present the solution, and show people how they can be part of the solution.
• Execution almost always requires more time, more people, and more money. Consider what support people will need to execute the change when their plates are already full. 
• Seek input from key leaders when assembling your communication and execution strategy. They will help you see your blind spots and lead change with greater effectiveness.

Again, the larger the change, he longer the runway. Smaller and mid-size changes require less runway. In fact, many changes can happen with some thoughtful planning and a handful of conversations with the right people. Don’t overcomplicate it, but always remember, the speed of the change equals the size of the tension.  

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Several years ago, I moved into the role of lead pastor when we planted 7 City Church near downtown Fort Worth. Up until that point, I had served in a variety of roles including executive pastor, associate pastor, youth pastor, as well as a leader in a non-profit organization.

But when I moved into the lead pastor role, I simultaneously had to make a series of shifts in my leadership. Here are seven shifts you have to make when becoming a lead pastor, and what you can do now to prepare for those shifts. 

1. The Shift from Serving a Vision to Creating a Vision

When you serve on the staff of a local church, you are ultimately responsible for serving the vision set for the church by the lead pastor. But if you’re going to move into a lead role, you have to start creating a vision. 

How do you make that shift? First, create a vision for whatever area of ministry you are leading right now (just make sure it’s aligned with your lead pastor’s vision). And second, start asking God to give you a vision for the church you will one day lead. That vision is often formed at the intersection of the three P’s: Problems, Passion, and Prayer. In other words, vision is formed when you understand what PROBLEM you want to solve, what you are most PASSIONATE about, and what you sense God saying to you in PRAYER. 

2. The Shift from Being on Staff to Leading a Staff

It’s great to have a staff, but leading a staff is not always easy and it’s not always fun. In the lead role, you have to learn how to hire staff, coach staff, review staff, and make difficult staffing decisions. There will be times when you have to correct staff, deal with conflict, address performance issues, and navigate staff transitions. On top of that, you get to manage the ever-increasing costs of salaries, raises, and benefits. When you’re on a staff, you don’t think about any of these things, but when you shift to leading a staff, these issues become front and center. 

So, what can you do now to prepare for this shift? Start applying many of the same principles for building a staff to building your team of volunteers. Draft job descriptions, conduct volunteer interviews, create new volunteer on-ramping systems, provide regular volunteer training, and conduct one-on-one coaching. 

3. The Shift from Spending Money to Raising Money

It’s nice to have a budget that you can spend to do ministry, but when you move into the lead pastor role, your focus immediately shifts. Yes, you’ll spend money on ministry, but first you have to raise it (and not just for your department). Now you get to raise money for staff, buildings, multiple ministries, missions, expansion efforts…everything. 

What can you do now to prepare for this shift? First, make a list of every question you can think of about church finances. Second, meet with a CFO or business administrator to ask your questions. Third, study the preaching of pastors who communicate on stewardship and generosity in a healthy, respectful, and biblical manner. And fourth, interview a handful of pastors to discuss how they do financial vision casting, how they appreciate donors, how they preach on generosity and stewardship, and how they build a culture of generosity. 

4. The Shift from Occasional Communication to Weekly Communication

When you’re a staff pastor, you may have the opportunity to preach on occasion—perhaps a few times a year (or maybe more if you’re a teaching pastor). But when you become a lead pastor, it won’t be uncommon to preach 40+ times per year (and even more if you have a Sunday night service or a midweek service). 

So, how do you make this shift? Create a communication system and a content system. My communication system began by manuscripting every sermon. This helped me craft better transitions, think about the flow of the sermon, and insert illustrations where needed. 

When it came to a content system, I became an avid reader and then filed great quotes, great content, and great stories. Doing this year after year helped me build a great source of material to help you develop engaging sermons. 

5. The Shift from Focused Ministry to Executive Responsibility

When you’re a staff pastor, your primary focus is a specific area of ministry you’ve been hired to lead. And so, you focus your energy on reaching ad discipling people in that specific ministry. 

But when you assume lead pastor responsibilities, you not only do ministry, but you also assume an executive component of leadership. In other words, you work with a board of directors, budgets, bylaws, and building campaigns. You hire staff, create strategic plans, and you have to make the most difficult decisions in the church. Sometimes I’ll say it like this…you essentially do what a CEO does, except you also get to deliver an original, God-inspired, company-wide speech every week (called a sermon). 

How do you prepare now for this shift from focused ministry to executive responsibility? Start studying organizational leadership. Read leadership books and business books. Study the bylaws of healthy, growing churches. Practice creating a budget for an entire church, not just a single department. And learn to think cross-departmentally. 

6. The Shift from Working “In” to Working “On”

Working “IN” ministry is focused on things like preaching, counseling, planning services, conducting outreaches…basically it’s the people side and the public side of ministry. It’s what you envisioned ministry being when you first started out.

But when you shift into a lead pastor role, you’ll still do those things, but now you have to also work “ON” ministry. Working on ministry is about things like vision, mission, values, culture, and strategy—basically it’s the 30,000-foot view of leadership and the church. 

How do you make the shift from IN to ON? Conduct a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) on your ministry, and then form goals for the future. Or, you might work on your ministry by asking some strategic questions. For example: 

• What are our two greatest growth engines and how can we leverage them for greater impact? 
• Who are the top 20% of my leaders, and how can I invest more time in them? 
• What are our greatest weaknesses and obstacles, and how can we remove them in the next three months? 
• How do I need to shift funding to leverage our greatest opportunities? 
• Do our current ministries have the ability to scale? 
• How could I restructure staff or volunteers to prepare for greater growth? 

These are great questions that will help you make the shift from not just working “IN” your ministry, but also working “ON” your ministry. 

7. The Shift from Doing to Delegating

When you assume a lead pastor role, the need to delegate sharply increases. Suddenly, the number of phone calls, text messages, emails, requests for meetings, and a barrage of decisions to be made land on your desk. If you don’t start delegating, you’ll sink. Growth will screech to a halt. You’ll start burning the candle at both ends until you’re emotionally wasted. 

Please hear this: Your job is not to do, but to equip and empower others to do. So, what can you do now to prepare for this shift? Start by identifying your highest priorities, and then recruit leaders and volunteers to do the rest. 

To help you navigate ministry effectively in your new role, you have to make these seven shifts. As you do, embrace the comforting words of 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” God will help you make these shifts, and as you do, your ministry impact will not only be greater, but also sustainable.

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But money isn’t the only place deposits make a difference. Relational deposits are just as powerful…even more so. When we make deposits into our relationships—whether at home, at work, in church, or among friends—we experience a greater sense of joy, meaning, and fulfillment. The relationship grows, trust deepens, and lives are enriched. So, what does it look like to make a relational deposit? Here are ten deposits that will add value to your relationships today. 

1. Belief

People tend to rise to the level of belief we have in them. Our belief helps them borrow the confidence they may be lacking in themselves. Belief may be the quickest way to deepen trust in the relationship because it is exponentially positive in nature. It can shift the negative self-talk and narrative of self-doubt, replacing it with truth, hope, and an optimistic outlook. The deposit of belief says, “No matter what anyone else says, I believe in you.” 

2. Listening

Our culture—and human nature—has trained us to talk more than we listen. If we’re not talking, we’re thinking of what we’re going to say next. Unfortunately, few of us took a class in school on how to listen. Conversely, many of us took a class on how to talk better. And yet, listening is the loudest and most effective way you can communicate. Listening is an expression of respect. It’s a deposit that says, “You matter, and what you have to say is worth hearing.” 

3. Gratitude

A sense of entitlement is growing bigger every day in our culture. It expects more for less. It demands its rights without carrying its responsibilities. And when somebody does something for us, entitlement views it as something we deserve rather than an undeserved blessing. How do we fight this attitude? With gratitude! Being thankful and expressing thankfulness loosens the grip of entitlement and makes a deposit into our relationships that acknowledges the value others bring to the table. It says, “Thank you for everything you do. Our family, our team, or our church is better because of you.” 

4. Encouragement

Encouragement is oxygen to the soul. We all need more of it, which means we should all give more of it. The deposit of encouragement lifts people out of despair and puts wind in their sails to keep going, keep persevering, and stay in the game. Ephesians 4:29 says, “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” Encouragement is the deposit that puts courage into the heart. It says, “You’ve got this, you’re going to make it, God is with you.” 

5. Celebration

A common emotion in some relationships is jealousy. The way to eliminate jealousy’s hold in your life is to celebrate the person you’re jealous of. You can make the deposit of celebration with birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and other milestones. It can also happen by acknowledging and encouraging someone when they share personal successes and organizational wins. Celebration says, “Congratulations! I’m so proud of you.”

6. Caring

You’ve heard it a thousand times: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” And it’s still true. Caring is the relationship deposit that goes the second mile. It’s the “double-deposit” because it takes time to empathize and then time to act. It combines acknowledging a need with addressing a need. It’s the attitude of service combined with the act of serving. Caring says, “I notice what’s happening and I want to help.” 

7. Coaching

Sometimes the greatest deposit you can make in a relationship is wisdom. How do we provide this deposit? Through thoughtful coaching or mentoring. Coaching takes AIM at potential: it offers Assessment, Insight, and Motivation. In other words, it takes time to assess a person’s needs or challenges, offers insight (or wisdom) to help them move forward, and then motivates them by cheering for their success. Coaching says, “I see your potential and I want to help you seize it.” 

8. Time

Relationships are never efficient. The moment we treat relationships as a task to check off our to-do list is the moment the relationship becomes nothing more than a transaction. Time is the key. That doesn’t mean we can give time to every person; nor does it mean we can allocate time in equal quantities. The deposit of time says, “More time with fewer people equals greater impact.”

9. Apology

Apology is the relational deposit that requires a posture of humility. When we make this deposit, we own our mistakes and mend bridges before they become permanent fractures. Apology says, “What I did was wrong. I apologize and I need to ask for your forgiveness.” 

10. Fun

Healthy relationships are not always serious in nature. They make room for fun and allow the relationship to flourish in a relaxed, life-giving environment. The deposit of fun says, “I enjoy being with you.” 

These aren’t the only deposits that will enrich a relationship, but they’re a great place to start. Which deposit do you make most frequently. Which deposit is long overdue? Which deposit will you make today? 

In the Gospel of Luke chapter nine, we see a string of opportunities to learn what leadership was really all about, and each time the disciples missed the point. From this passage, we discover three things servant leadership is not.

1. Servant Leadership is Not the Pursuit of a Position

The first missed opportunity to learn servant leadership happens when an argument breaks out among the disciples about, “which of them would be the greatest” (Luke 9:46). Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he takes a little child beside him and said, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest” (Luke 9:48).

While the disciples were concerned about the pursuit of a position, Jesus was concerned about the posture of the heart. Servant leadership is never focused on titles and positions, and yet, when we practice servant leadership, God seems more inclined to entrust us with them. 

That’s what He did with Joseph? God gave Joseph favor as he positioned himself with a heart of purity and integrity. God elevated him time and again as Joseph served faithfully, whether under Potiphar, in the prison, or in the palace. 

2. Servant Leadership is Not the Pride of Exclusivity

You would think the disciples would have clued into what Jesus was saying, but they missed the point completely. Instead, John immediately says, “Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” (Luke 9:49). 

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? He’s not in our denomination. She’s not in our church. They don’t do church “our” way. How petty we can sound. So, what is Jesus’ response? “‘Do not stop him,’ Jesus said, ‘for whoever is not against you is for you’” (v. 50). Have you ever stopped to think that if the church down the street isn’t against you, they’re for you? 

The lesson is clear: servant leadership is not about the pride of exclusivity. Being a leader in the Kingdom of God is not exclusive to the best and the brightest. His power isn’t reserved for name-brand evangelists or popular preachers. Leadership in God’s Kingdom has no room for pride. The way up is down, and the high path is the humble path. 

3. Servant Leadership is Not the Abuse of Power

When Jesus sent messengers ahead of him to a Samaritan village, they were not welcomed because they were heading for Jerusalem. So, what do His disciples suggest? “When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?’” (Luke 9:54).

Strike three, you’re out. You would think the disciples would finally get it. You’d think Jesus’ point was loud and clear by now. But, once again, the disciples missed the mark. How does Jesus respond? “Jesus turned and rebuked them” (Luke 9:55). 

What were the disciples thinking? “Oh, you don’t want us here. Okay, that’s fine. But it’ll cost ya. Stand back boys, I’m about to call down fire.” But Jesus had a different plan. In the Kingdom of God, leadership isn’t about the abuse of power. Getting your way isn’t the goal. Serving is. 

The world’s way of leadership is all about position, pride, and power. It’s all about leveraging who you are and what you have to get what you want. It’s all about elevating your name and your agenda.

But Jesus operated by the rules of a different Kingdom. Again, He came to serve, not to be served. In fact, He said, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave” (Matthew 20:26-27). 

The key is to lead by serving and serve by leading. The key is the attitude of the heart. It’s reorienting your life around service and sacrifice rather than rights and rewards. So, what’s our first step to leading as a servant? Ask yourself these three questions:

• Do I rely on my position to gain influence and respect from others? If you do, your leadership will be short-lived. The only thing a position does is buy you a little time to prove what kind of leader you really are. 

• Am I creating a culture of exclusivity? If you are, you’ll only care about people if they can do something for you. In the end, your pride will infect your heart and undermine your leadership. 

• Do I use my power so I can get my way? If you do, God may eventually strip you of your power because He cares more about your soul. 

These are heart-check questions, but they’ll help you course-correct and return to a healthy approach to leadership. They’ll help you become a servant-leader and honor God with the influence He’s entrusted to you. 

While trust is extraordinarily important, it’s also not easy to build. In fact, a quick trust-building recipe doesn’t exist. But there are practical steps you can take to accelerate the process forward and avoid common trust pitfalls. Where do you start? Consider these ten ways to increase trust. 

1. Character: Cultivate a Life of Integrity 

The foundation of increasing trust is to possess trustworthy character. Are you truthful, honest, humble, and full of integrity? Do you model the fruit of the Spirit, the heart of a servant, and a commitment to self-discipline? All of these qualities make up who you are as a person, and they provide a firm footing for enduring trust.Question: What character gaps are undermining my ability to build trust?

2. Competence: Develop Your Skills with Excellence

People need to trust not only who you are (character) but also your ability to deliver results. If people lack confidence in your ability, you might make a great friend, but they won’t follow you as a leader. Competence is all about developing the skills to do the job with the highest levels of excellence, which in turn gives people the confidence to follow your lead. Question: What competencies and skills do I need to grow so others will trust me more? 

3. Compassion: Show Genuine Care for Others

You’ve heard it said a thousand times: people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Compassion is all about heart-felt care and concern. When people feel noticed, appreciated, and cared for, they are much more willing to trust you. Why? Without compassion, the relationship feels cold and even callous. Question: How can you show genuine compassion to each member of your team?

4. Connection: Invest Time in Building Relationships

The deeper the relationship, the greater the trust. This is a simple principle, but it’s often overlooked because relationships take time to establish, grow, and mature. That’s why great leaders make room for connecting. They invest in relationships (inside and outside of work), which accelerates trust and respect. Question: How often does your team focus on relationship-building and having fun together? 

5. Communication: Be Transparent and Authentic

When people feel like they’re in the dark, suspicion fills the mind and flows out of the mouth. But trust forms when we talk openly and frequently with the people we lead. Celebrate wins. Be honest about difficulties and hardships. Cast clear vision. Keep people in the know. These simple steps will build a culture of trust and snuff out suspicion before it has a chance to breathe. Question: What systems can you put in place to ensure communication is clear, frequent, and thorough.

6. Courage: Make the Hard Decisions

When team members see leaders make hard decisions, their respect inevitably grows. As one man said, “People follow courage.” People are more willing to trust a leader when they see the leader emboldened with courage to make tough calls that put the future in reach. Without courage, trust is slowly eroded by mediocrity and the turning of a blind eye. Question: What courageous decision have you been putting off?

7. Confess: Admit When You’re Wrong

To confess means to admit the truth. Unfortunately, many leaders can’t admit the truth that they’re wrong. Nobody is perfect, and the leader who can admit it will actually garner greater trust. It’s a beautiful expression of humility that lets your team know you’re in touch with reality. Question: In what area have you been wrong that you need to admit to your team? When will you do it?

8. Control: Manage Your Emotions

The word “control” sounds like a trust-busting word. But I’m not using control in relation to others, but in relation to our emotions. The leader with a short fuse, an unpredictable nature, or a tendency to take people on an emotional roller coaster will never build trust with others. You have to control your emotions so that people feel a sense of stability, normalcy, and maturity. Question: Which emotion most often gets the best of you? How can you take control of this emotion?

9. Credit: Share the Credit with Others

It’s disheartening when a leader takes the credit for the work done by somebody else. When people work hard, they want to be noticed and celebrated. Our job as leaders is to share the credit. Don’t spend all of your time looking in the mirror; instead, look out the window and point to the people who did the work. When you do, others will not only trust you more, but they’ll be more willing go the second mile. Question: Who do you need to recognize this week at work?

10. Consistency: Develop a Track Record of Trustworthiness

Anybody can do anything right…once. But leaders who build enduring trust are consistent day after day, week after week, year after year. While “consistency” sounds boring, it’s the quality that compounds success and delivers the greatest long-term outcomes. When you’re consistent with the nine ingredients above, trust has a way of catalyzing forward momentum. Question: In which trust-building strategy do you most need to be more consistent?

While trust takes time, these ten ideas will point you in the right direction, increase your speed, and help you avoid the common pitfalls that undermine trust in a leader and organization. 

But vision casting is also an art. You can’t vision cast from the hip, treating it like a thoughtless leadership activity that requires little planning and preparation. When we take that approach, we inevitably cast a vision that is too big, too small, too wide, too narrow, too fast, or too slow. Here are the dangers in each approach.

The SIZE of Vision Casting:

1. Vision Casting That’s TOO BIG Creates a Loss of Credibility 

Vision should be big—really big—but it can’t be so big that it undermines your credibility. In other words, the size of the vision has to be matched by the size of the leader. When the size of a vision outpaces you as a leader, a credibility gap forms and people will start jumping ship. This doesn’t mean they don’t like the vision; it means they don’t believe you’ve got the goods to get them there. Therein lies an important lesson: The bigger you grow personally, the bigger the vision you can cast organizationally. 

2. Vision Casting That’s TOO SMALL Creates a Loss of Excitement 

People want to be challenged. People want to be inspired. But if your vision doesn’t challenge or inspire, people will remain seated in their lawn chairs and yawn with boredom. Tiny visions produce tiny buy-in. Simply put, when vision is too small, it feels routine. It’s like a re-run of yesterday with a lazy afternoon nap dropped in the middle of the day. There’s no excitement. 

The SCOPE of Vision Casting:

3. Vision Casting That’s TOO WIDE Creates a Loss of Focus 

Big is all about size whereas wide is all about quantity. In other words, big says, “Let’s take Mount Everest.” Wide says, “Let’s take every mountain in the world.” When your vision gets too wide, people feel confused about what you’re trying to accomplish. Rather than being focused, the vision tries to accomplish everything, everywhere. That’s an impossible feat. 

4. Vision Casting That’s TOO NARROW Creates a Loss of Movement

A narrow vision might be focused (which is good), but the problem narrow visions have is that they apply to so few people that you can never reach a tipping point of momentum. In other words, if in a church of 1,000 people, the vision only feels relevant or applicable to 10 people, you’ll never gain traction. The vision is simply too narrow to jumpstart major forward movement. 

Every leader has to create and cast compelling vision. In “The Insanely Practical Guide to Create, Communicate, & Capture Vision,” I take the guesswork out of vision to help you see, share, seize, and safeguard your vision. Get this downloadable 36-page guide today HERE.

The SPEED of Vision Casting:

5. Vision Casting That’s TOO FAST Creates a Loss of Buy-In

Think of vision casting like peeling back the layers of an onion. You have to cast the vision to one organizational layer at a time until the vision permeates the entire organization. When we launched a major vision campaign at 7 City Church, I rolled the vision out to my wife, then my inner circle, then the staff, then the board, then high-capacity donors, then the volunteers, and then the entire congregation. All of these were separate meetings spread over the course of several months, but the outcome was worth it. The bigger the vision, the longer the runway. You can’t get a 787 vision airborne on a Cessna runway. 

6. Vision Casting That’s TOO SLOW Creates a Loss of Unity 

I once knew a leader that was so slow in his vision casting that the people in his organization started creating their own visions. In other words, a lack of vision created division. That’s what happens when you wait too long to cast vision. You make room for petty visions to surface that distract and divide the efforts of your team and organization. Unity suffers when leaders drag their feet on setting direction for the future. 

The sweet spot of vision casting is in the middle…the right size, scope, and speed. So, before you start casting vision, ask yourself if the magnet of “Too” is pulling your vision in an unhealthy direction. If it’s too big, too small, too wide, too narrow, too fast, or too slow, you’ll lose buy-in and diminish your impact.  

Paul’s words weren’t empty or heartless; instead, he was writing from experience. He personally encountered immense hardships, overwhelming stress, and crushing opposition. And yet, despite so much physical and emotional strain, he discovered the keys to finding peace in the midst of his anxiety-filled circumstances. 

In this short book, I unpack Paul’s thought-provoking insights and share his four keys to conquer anxiety. This practical resource gets straight to the point, shares hope-filled stories, and offers practical tools you can immediately apply. You’ll discover the wisdom you need to face your fears, defeat your worries, and conquer your anxiety. Get FREE for the next 48 hours on Amazon Kindle.

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, or your favorite podcast platform. And after you subscribe, would you do me a favor and RATE or REVIEW the podcast. It’s makes a difference and helps us spread the word to other leaders. 

SHOW NOTES:

Leaders don’t just lead projects, they lead people. They recruit and empower people to help the organization achieve its desired outcomes. But building a high performing team doesn’t end with recruiting people and then handing off a job responsibility to them. You also have to invest in your team’s growth. Using the word TEAM as an acronym, here are four ways to do just that. 

TRAINING: INVEST THROUGH KNOWLEDGE 

Team members need the “know how” to accelerate in their areas of responsibility. Consider training in two formats:

• Onboarding – Every person on your team should receive training as you onboard them onto the team and into the organization. That onboarding process should include important topics such as vision, values, history, ministry model, governance, goal setting, staff communication, how you make decisions, and other common questions team members’ have. Your goal in onboarding is to set your new team up for success. 
• Ongoing – Create a systematic way to provide ongoing training to your team. This might happen through conferences and workshops, but you can also make it a part of your regularly scheduled staff meetings. 

EQUIPPING: INVEST THROUGH RESOURCES 

One of the benefits we have at this moment in history is the vast number of resources available to help us equip our teams. Think of resources to equip your team in two ways:

• Job Resources – When it comes to job resources, ask yourself, “What does my team need to do their job in the most effective and efficient manner?” Job resources might include a computer, software, subscriptions to various programs or services, or resources specific to their role. 
• Growth Resources – Growth resources can be books, courses, podcasts, blogs, Youtube videos, Ted Talks, audible books…the list can almost be endless. When you consider that the average commute to work is 46 minutes per day roundtrip, your teams could easily turn their drive time into growth time if they have access to the right resources. 

APPLICATION: INVEST THROUGH OPPORTUNITIES 

Investing in your team goes beyond simply pumping more information into their heads. True leadership isn’t learned in a classroom; it’s learned in the trenches. That’s why it’s important to focus on application. Application is where you invest in your team through opportunities. There are four levels of opportunity that will help your team grow: 

• Level #1: Personal Accountability 
• Level #2: Stretch Assignments 
• Level #3: Expanded Responsibility 
• Level #4: Supervisor Role 

These four levels of opportunity help your team apply what they have been learning. In fact, this process is how you grow leaders and help your team put what they are learning into practice in the everyday trenches of leadership. 

MENTORING: INVEST THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS 

The Gallup organization discovered that 65% of people that leave a company are actually leaving their managers. However, if we would mentor and coach our team members, we could dramatically increase performance and engagement. How do we mentor our team? Consider two strategies:

• One-On-One Meetings – Hold weekly (or at least bi-weekly) one-on-one 45-minute meetings with each staff member that reports directly to you. Let them bring any issue or item they want to discuss to the meeting. In addition, ask for updates on goals or priorities they are working on, and, if need be, provide coaching on an area they can grow in. 
• Real-Time Coaching – Real-time coaching is “mentoring in the moment.” Rather than waiting to address a performance issue six months later during an annual review, providing coaching when it will have the greatest impact.

These four strategies: Training, Equipping, Application, and Mentoring will help you intentionally invest in your team’s growth. 

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In an age where it’s easier to read blogs (which is what you’re doing right now) and listen to podcasts (which are also a great way to learn), I believe there are specific benefits to reading books. In this article, I want to focus on its advantages for pastors. While applicable in a broader context, here are six ways pastors benefit from a habit of reading good books.

1. Personal Growth

I know, “personal growth” seems obvious, but think about its implications. Pastors are expected to be examples. The apostle Paul told Timothy, “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). Reading good books helps you grow personally, which in turn, helps you model the behaviors and set the example that others can follow. 

Paul encouraged people to follow his example as he followed Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). The goal of reading isn’t just to acquire knowledge, but to apply it to your life. The application is where the real growth happens, and with it comes a greater example that others can follow. By no means does this imply that pastors are perfect, but in a culture plagued with compromise and hypocrisy, our example matters more than ever. 

2. Deeper Thinking

I love blogs (I’ve been blogging since 2009), and I write regularly for a leadership magazine, but books allow you to go deeper on a topic, which in turn allows you to think at a deeper level. 

This seems counterintuitive in a world where attention spans are shrinking, and people are used to reading catchy, tweetable phrases. But at the same time, a gap is growing in how deeply we think. Don’t get me wrong…some 200-page books could easily be condensed to 30 pages. But others are worth every single page turn. 

As a pastor, it behooves you to read good books so that you can deepen your thinking, sharpen your theology, grow your leadership, and speak from both the heart and the head. In addition, some books (certainly not all) have a way of enduring the test of time. Some authors today will be talked about a hundred years from now because of the depth of their wisdom and their ability to communicate in a deep and transformational way. Pastors should glean from this wisdom and benefit from the deeper thinking it produces. 

3. Distant Mentoring 

If I asked you which authors you’d love to mentor you, I’m confident you could give me at least a couple of names. It might be a leadership guru, another pastor with a deeply mature faith, a marriage expert, or someone that shares a similar passion to yours. But for most of us, we’ll never have a personal relationship with our favorite author. Perhaps we’ll hear them speak at a conference, or maybe we’ll even meet them at an event, but is unlikely we’ll ever be mentored by them, unless of course, we broaden your definition of mentoring.

Most people box their definition of mentoring into intensive mentoring (a growth-focused relationship that’s up close and personal). But the truth is, you also need distant mentors. Distant mentors are people who mentor you from a distance through their videos, podcasts, teachings, and yes, books. 

Here’s the truth: if you were able to have a face-to-face meeting over dinner with your favorite author, most of the wisdom they would give you is probably in a book they’ve already written. The good news is you can buy that book with the money you would have spent on dinner. It’s all a matter of perspective. Rather than viewing books as a 200-page reading assignment, see them as one-on-one meetings with your favorite authors. 

This is also valuable when you read biographies of people from previous generations. I have a friend who—before he reads a biography—lists the questions he would ask the person if they were alive today. Then, as he reads their biography, he looks for the answers to his questions. It’s a great way to benefit from historical mentors, and it’s a practical way to benefit from distant mentors. 

4. People Connections

I love reading business books and leadership books. A big reason is because of my passion for leadership and organizational development. If you regularly read my blog or listen to my podcast, my passion in this area is obvious. However, there’s another benefit to reading business and leadership books: they help me connect with the business leaders in my church.

By reading books in this category, I learn the language of business leaders. I discover ideas, best practices, lingo, and how business leaders think. So, when I sit down for a cup of coffee with a high-capacity business leader, I’m able to connect with them on a deeper level. In fact, there have been many times when I’ve been able to offer some wisdom, recommend a book, or provide some helpful ideas based on what I’ve read. 

In addition, I’ve been able to attract business leaders to small groups I’ve hosted in our church that offered quality leadership material. A habit of reading good books will enhance your ability to connect with people who read (or would benefit from) those same books.

5. Habit Multiplication 

A couple of times each year I’ll host a small group for 6-8 leaders that meets once per month for 4-5 months. In this group, I assign a book to read each month, and then we meet together to discuss our most important takeaways and to share how we plan to apply it to our lives. In addition, we’ll have a short leadership lesson (or a video teaching from a respected pastor or leader), as well as a time of prayer. It’s a great way to mentor or disciple a handful of people at a deeper level.

I’m always amazed by the response to these groups. In addition to the deep discussion and genuine growth, it’s not uncommon for several in the group to say, “I haven’t read this much since I was in school,” or “I’ve never read this many books in an entire year.” I had others come back to me and say the group helped them to start (or re-engage) a habit of reading. 

The same has happened with our staff. I’ve often said, “If you’ll read one chapter a night before you go to bed, you’ll easily read at least two books per month.” That thought prompted one team member to start reading more. Others have told me their book reading goals for this year, and another is listening to books on Audible because of his long drive each day. 

Pastors, when you read good books, you can inspire others to do the same. Your book reading habit is more than a personal practice; it’s a habit you can multiply in others as you help them catalyze their growth. 

6. Sermon Preparation

Every week pastors prepare sermons, and every week people expect them to be good. It’s one thing to prepare one good sermon, but it’s another thing to repeat that practice every seven days. That’s why reading good books is so valuable for pastors. 

So, how do you leverage book reading for sermon preparation? I have a habit of doing two things when I read a book. First, I love physical books, so I always read the book with a pen in hand. Anytime I read a quote that I love, content that is very insightful, or stories and illustrations that make a great point, I will highlight them with my pen.

Second, after I read the book, I hand it to my assistant who puts every quote into a digital file and makes a copy of every story or illustration. For example, if I read a great story about “forgiveness,” I’ll highlight it in the book, and then my assistant will file that story under “forgiveness.” I may not need that story now—or next year—but one day I’ll need it for a sermon. If I don’t file it, I’ll probably forget about it. By having an intentional system for capturing what I read, I have a file waiting for me when the need arises. 

I’ve practiced this for nearly 30 years, and it has benefited my sermon preparation nearly every week. Whether you use my system (which I’m sure I borrowed from someone else), or you create your own system, be sure to implement a way to harvest what you’re reading so it will benefit others.  

These are six benefits as a pastor that I’ve experienced from reading good books. I’m sure there are more, but I’d encourage you to embrace them as well. 

Selecting the right candidate—even with a robust hiring process—still feels a bit risky. There are no guarantees. But if you’ve done your homework, and if you’ve followed a systematic hiring strategy without rushing the process, the following ten questions should help you make your final decision. 

1. Are there any red flags in the candidate’s character? 

No matter how talented the individual might be, if they have character gaps, it’s only a matter of time before they take themselves out or undermine the organization. None of us are perfect, so we all have some kind of gap in our character. But when I say, “red flags,” I’m talking about significant character problems, patterns of poor behavior, and issues that will undermine the candidate’s credibility. During reference checks, I always ask former employer’s about the candidate’s coachability, humility, and what other teammates found annoying about the candidate. I also ask if they would hire the candidate again. 

2. Does the candidate have a track record of results? 

A great question to ask candidates is, “What have you grown?” Said another way, “What was the condition of XYZ Program when you arrived, how did it grow under your leadership, and what was the condition of XYZ Program when you left?” The greatest indicator of future success is past behavior. Can the candidate deliver results? Keep in mind, results aren’t goals. Results aren’t ideas. Results aren’t “If I had this, I would have done that.” Results are results…outcomes, growth, and impact. 

3. Does the candidate have what we need to go to the next level? 

When you hire someone, it presents the opportunity to take your organization up a level. You’re only as good as the people around you. As you reflect on all of the information harvested during your hiring process, how confident are you that this candidate will help you go to the next level? Your organization’s success doesn’t ride solely on their shoulders, but they should definitely add to the growth potential of the organization. 

4. Does the team respond well to this candidate? 

Nothing will stop you quicker than a bad fit. The candidate may exhibit strong competence and have an amazing track record of results, but if they don’t get along with the team, they will thwart chemistry and disrupt unity. One way to measure how well they jive with the team is to conduct a team interview, and then spend time together outside of the office at lunch or dinner. Following the interview and the lunch gathering, debrief with your team and welcome their honest feedback. 

5. Does the candidate exhibit our team values? 

Part of our interview process at 7 City Church is built around our team values. We have three team values: servant leader, team player, and hard worker. Not only do I ask questions in these three areas during one-on-one interviews, but our entire team interview is built around our team values. If we don’t see evidence in the candidate that they are a servant leader, team player, and hard worker, the likelihood that we’ll hire them drops significantly. 

6. Is the candidate emotionally healthy? 

All of us deal with emotional issues at some level. We all have anxieties, fears, worries, and difficult bouts at various seasons of life. I’m a pastor, and my wife is a counselor, and we both see this frequently. Our desire is to help people any way we can. So, when I talk about emotional health, again, I’m not talking about perfection. Rather, does the candidate exhibit emotional intelligence? Emotional intelligence is all about self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. If the candidate lacks emotional intelligence, they are much more likely to wear their emotions on their sleeve, be unaware of how they come across, ignore the emotions of others, and disrupt the overall emotional environment. People who are not emotionally intelligent tend to create more drama and more trauma. 

7. Is the candidate a mercy hire? 

Sometimes you’ll come across a candidate that has had a really tough employment history. Other times they will have just left a bad situation and you feel really sorry for them. Mercy is a great quality. Our world would be a brighter place if more people modeled a greater dose of mercy. But “mercy hires” are rarely a good idea. In other words, hiring somebody just because you feel sorry for them doesn’t usually work out. That doesn’t mean you won’t hire people who have encountered a rough streak in their past, but that’s not why you hire them. Always connect the why to their character, competence, and chemistry. 

8. Is the candidate in financial trouble? 

If the candidate is in financial trouble, you’ll never be able to pay them enough to satisfy their financial needs (or wants). In our interview process, we ask about financial health and salary requirements. And when the candidate joins our team, our onboarding process includes a financial course to give them a firm foundation for the future. 

9. Am I trying to convince myself to hire this candidate? Don’t. 

There will be times in the hiring process when you try to convince yourself to hire a certain candidate. You might say things like, “But their such a nice person,” or “I don’t have any other candidates to choose from,” or “I doubt anybody else would work for us considering what we have to offer.” Your train of thought might also go like this: “I know on the surface this person doesn’t appear to bring much to the table. They don’t have the track record of results and they don’t seem to jive with our team values, but I really like them. Plus, I bet with a little bit of training, they’ll get the hang of it and up to speed in no time.” Don’t! Don’t hire them! This is why it’s valuable having others involved in the hiring process. Build a hiring team, conduct team interviews, utilize assessments, and seek perspective from people who have experience in effective hiring. 

10. What do I sense God is saying? 

In James 1:5, God extends an invitation to all of us: “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” Hiring new team members is one of the most important decisions you will ever make for your organization. Ask God for wisdom. Seek Him for clarity about who to hire. He already knows, and He will guide you in the decision-making process. 

Maybe you’re in the hiring process now, or perhaps you plan to make a hire later this year. As you get to that point of decision, answer these ten questions before you make your final offer. 

If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, or your favorite podcast platform. And after you subscribe, would you do me a favor and RATE or REVIEW the podcast. Plus, tell a friend and encourage them to check out Leader Fluent today.

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Leading Up is an important skill that allows you to add the most value to your organization and be the greatest help to your leader. The question is, “How”? What does it look like to lead up in a manner that is effective and healthy? Here are ten tips to get you started.

1. SELF-LEADERSHIP: LEAD YOURSELF CONSISTENTLY WELL

Self-leadership is the discipline to influence your life in the right direction. If you can’t lead you, your boss won’t entrust you to lead others. So what does self-leadership look like? It’s about showing up on time, taking responsibility for your character, having a lifelong learning attitude, owning your problems, taking initiative, and being disciplined in key areas of life. If you want to consistently lead yourself well, create a personal growth plan (You can access a FREE RESOURCES HERE to help you create a plan for personal growth).

2. RESPONSIBILITY: DO WHAT YOU WERE HIRED TO DO

The first thing your leader wants to know is whether or not you’re getting the job done that they hired you to do. To be trusted with new opportunities, you first have to show yourself trustworthy with your existing opportunities. Be responsible. Do what you were hired to do. 

3. EXCELLENCE: CONSISTENTLY OVER-DELIVER

Whereas responsibility means you can be trusted, excellence means you can be heard. If you want your leader to hear you, he or she has to see a level of excellence that gets their attention and makes a positive impression. Doing what you’re supposed to do doesn’t get noticed. It’s expected. But when you consistently over-deliver, your leader starts paying attention.

4. TEACHABILITY: BE A CURIOUS LISTENER AND LEARNER

The team members that impress me are the ones who are teachable and coachable. Author Roger Seip describes a teachability equation like this: Desire to Learn x Willingness to Change = Level of Teachability. Teachable people first have a DESIRE to learn. They have a deep passion to become better at what they do. Then, they combine that desire with a WILLINGNESS to change. Without willingness, your desires are nothing more than a daydream. Willingness is where discipline turns your desires into reality. When you make yourself teachable, you endear yourself to your leader. Be humble, listen more than you talk, welcome honest feedback, and don’t get defensive when your leader gives it to you. Be a curious listener and learner. 

5. PRIORITIES: VALUE WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO YOUR LEADER

If you want to lead up, you can’t put your personal preferences ahead of the organization’s priorities. That will never work. You have to embrace and personalize the organization’s vision, because if your leader ever thinks you have an ulterior motive or a secret agenda, your days of leading up are over. Learn to value what’s most important to your leader. 

6. SACRIFICE: PAY THE PRICE OTHERS ARE UNWILLING TO PAY

We live in an entitlement culture. People want their perks, privileges, and power without paying their dues. If you want to lead up, you can’t demand your way to the top. You have to make sacrifices. Put in more time, mental energy, and a higher quality of work than others. Volunteer for projects (so long as you’re delivering on your other responsibilities) without expecting something in return. Make sacrifices. Pay the price others are unwilling to pay. 

7. TEAM-BUILDING: DEVELOP TEAMS AND MULTIPLY LEADERS 

The best team members are those who are focused on DEVELOPING not DOING. They’re focused on developing people, building teams, and multiplying leaders…not doing all the work themselves. Peter Haas describes three types of leaders: technicians, equippers, and multipliers. Technicians do the work. Equippers empower people to do the work. But multipliers build entire family trees of equippers. The staff members that get my attention the most are the multipliers. They have the ability to build teams and develop leaders of leaders. They don’t just get the job done; they get it done with and through leaders of teams.

8. CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING: BE SOLUTION-MINDED

I don’t mind if a team member brings me a problem. What I do mind is when I have to be the one who always has to solve the problem. When you bring a problem to your leader, simultaneously bring two or three possible solutions. This shows your leader that you take initiative and have problem-solving skills. If your leader has to do all of your thinking for you, then they don’t need you. 

9. PREPAREDNESS: VALUE YOUR LEADER’S TIME

John Maxwell says, “I give my love unconditionally, but you have to earn my time.” This is how leaders think, and if you want more of your leader’s time, you have to earn it. This begins by being prepared. To lead up, you have to think and plan ahead. Ask yourself, “What does my boss want to know and need to know?” Then have an answer so he or she doesn’t even have to ask. 

10. FLUX: KNOW WHEN TO PUSH FORWARD AND WHEN TO PULL BACK

What do I mean by flux? On one end of flux is what authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner call, “challenging the process.” When you “challenge the process,” you are challenging the status quo, taking risks, and helping the organization improve. Young leaders especially love this practice because they see things that can get better. This is the PUSH side of flux—it’s pushing new ideas and new innovations forward—and every organization needs it.

BUT, you also have to master the other side of flux: PULL. While there are certainly times to push forward by challenging the process with your leader, there are also times when you need to pull back, yield to your leader, and be sensitive to what’s important to him or her. Here’s why this is important: if you never push forward, you’ll stop bringing value and innovation to the organization. And if you never pull back, you’ll start to irritate your leader and even break trust with your leader. There’s a dance between knowing when to push forward and when to pull back. If you can master that dance, you’ll be much more effective at leading up. 

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1. Prayer

Luke 6:12 says, “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” Before Jesus made His team-building decision, He invested significant time in prayer. If I had to guess, this probably wasn’t His first time to pray about it, but it was clearly the moment that He invested the greatest amount of time.

There’s an important lesson here for leaders: The weight of the decision determines the length of your prayers. By length, I’m not talking about rambling on and on in a public setting. I’m talking about investing adequate time in prayer before making the most important decisions. 

Jesus would travel with these men for the next three years, so He had to hear from His Heavenly Father. Similarly, some of our decisions will impact us and the people we lead (and the mission God has entrusted to us) for years to come. Hearing from God about the people we invite onto our staff, boards, and teams is essential. 

2. Choice

Luke 6:13 says, “When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles” (emphasis added). Notice, Jesus didn’t vote on the twelve. He didn’t call everyone together and say, “I’ve got twelve openings on my leadership team. Here’s your voting card with everyone’s name on it. Whichever twelve get the most votes…you’re in.” 

This was Jesus’ choice, and His choice was guided by the time He had spent in prayer with His Heavenly Father. Similarly, leaders don’t need to make every team building effort a matter of voting. That’s why you’re the leader. You are responsible for choosing the right team for the moment…the right team for the mission. 

Team building isn’t a popularity contest. Team building is guided by the fact that there’s a mission that hangs in the balance, and the only way to fulfill that mission is to get the right people on the team. Choose…and choose wisely. 

3. Selectivity

There’s a subtle aspect to Luke 6:13 that reveals another dimension of Jesus’ team-building efforts. It says, “he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them.” Who were these disciples?

During the first century, a disciple was a learner. A learner wasn’t focused so much on a subject, but rather a person. When we think of learning today, we think of a class, a major, or a subject matter. But in Jesus’ day, it was a matter of learning from a rabbi…from a specific person. It was a matter of a mentoring and discipling.

At this moment, Jesus had disciples…people who wanted to learn from Him personally. We don’t know how many, but there were obviously more than twelve. And yet, when Jesus built His team, He didn’t choose everyone. He picked twelve. Who were they?

“Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor” (Luke 6:12-14). 

This rather average band of men would follow Jesus for the next three years. Though average on the surface, they were the right people. From everybody He could have chosen, Jesus selected these twelve men. 

I’ll say it again: team building is not a popularity contest. When you select people for the team, it implies that you didn’t select others. That’s one of the hard decisions you have to make as a leader. Not everybody is going to be on the team. Not everybody will make the cut. And not everybody will be happy when you make your final decision. 

Does that mean you don’t love them? Of course not. Does that mean they can’t serve on other teams or in other places of ministry? Not at all. You have to prayerfully align character, competence, and chemistry to select the right person. 

This doesn’t mean that every team building effort is a public matter. In most cases, they won’t be. But you have to make the call. You have to live with your decision. And if somebody asks, “Why am I not on that team,” you have to confidently and humbly give your reason. 

Another reason selectivity is important is because teams become less effective the larger they become. Small teams can pivot quickly and make faster decisions (often better decisions). In fact, if you want to eliminate a great deal of frustration in your leadership, keep your teams small. Working with a team of 3-6 qualified leaders is far better than trying to guide a team of 15 people. You’ll never make a decision with that many people on the team.

As you build your teams, keep these three keys in focus. As you do, you’ll experience greater impact and fewer issues. Most importantly, the mission of Jesus will move forward as you maximize the gifts and abilities of the team.  

Today, fame and popularity are often the secret (or not so secret) ambition of many leaders. And yet, though Jesus attracted the crowds, popularity was never his goal. From his life we learn two very important lessons, but first, let me set the stage. 

In Luke 5:12-16, Jesus encountered a man with an advanced case of leprosy. The man said to Jesus, “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” Jesus’ response was simple and direct: “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the man was healed. 

As a result of this miracle, Jesus’ ministry experienced bigger and faster. Verse 15 says, “the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came…” Simply put, Jesus attracted bigger crowds and faster publicity.

Bigger and faster are usually celebrated in leadership circles. Leaders want bigger crowds, bigger sales, bigger success, and a bigger bottom line. And, with bigger often comes faster: faster publicity, faster notoriety, and faster promotion and exposure. 

But bigger and faster rarely come alone. They’re usually accompanied by higher and greater: higher demands and greater needs. When the crowds grew bigger and the news spread faster, a higher demand was placed on Jesus’ preaching and healing ministry. Those demands increased because more people needed what Jesus had to offer (healing). Verse 15 continues, “vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases.” 

Here’s the bottom line: bigger and faster (growth and publicity) usually come with higher and greater (demands and needs). As a result, even though bigger and faster is fun, the pressure of higher and greater is often unsustainable. It becomes too much for the leader to handle. 

Bigger, faster, higher, greater can create a vicious cycle that produces leadership burnout or a complete leadership collapse. So, what should leaders do? Here’s where we learn two important lessons from Jesus: a perspective and a practice.

1. Perspective: See Your Motives Clearly

After Jesus healed the man with leprosy, he gave him clear instructions not to tell anyone what had happened (Luke 5:14). Therein lies our first lesson: Jesus was able to handle bigger crowds and faster publicity because he didn’t seek them. It wasn’t His driving motive.

This is the tension point for many leaders. When something good happens, we want to tell anyone and everyone. We want to celebrate wins and spread the news. And in one sense, we should. It’s good to celebrate what’s happening with our teams and cultivate an environment that honors the hard work that helped make the wins possible. The issue is not celebration or wins. And the issue really isn’t growth or publicity. The issue is motives. 

Does God want your church or organization to grow bigger? You could make a case that He does. Does He want the news of your church or organization to spread faster? Perhaps. But those really aren’t the questions we need to answer. The real question is, why do you want this? What’s your underlying motive? 

Jesus didn’t seek bigger and faster, and yet, He experienced it. Why? Yes, He was a great teacher. Yes, He was a miracle-worker. But more importantly, His motives were pure. The fact that He could say, “Don’t tell anyone,” is evidence of His true motives.  

Bigger and faster are merely an output, but if your input doesn’t include pure motives, the output will become your master. If we want pure motives, we have to see our motives clearly. Only then can we assess them and correct them. What’s the best way to do this? Psalm 139 gives us the answer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (v. 23-24). 

What would happen if you began asking God to search your heart? What would be revealed? What motive would be uncovered? If we don’t let God search the why of our hearts, the what will consume us, and possibly destroy us. I’m not suggesting that bigger and faster is wrong, but I am suggesting that our motives can be. 

2. Practice: Seek God Regularly

Even though Jesus told the man healed of leprosy not to tell anyone, the news spread faster and the crowds grew bigger. As a result, the demands on Jesus accelerated exponentially as the needs became greater. 

How did Jesus handle this pressure? He employed a faithful practice that we read about in verse 16: “Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” While His ministry advanced, Jesus withdrew. 

Let me say that again: while His ministry advanced, Jesus withdrew. Time with His Heavenly Father was His first priority. Pulling back sustained Him as He moved forward. 

When leadership demands increase, it’s very easy to sacrifice the important for the urgent. It’s easy to sacrifice time with God on the altar of meeting more needs and solving more problems. Higher demands and greater needs rob us of our most important responsibility: seeking the Lord. And yet, time with God is where we find the strength, wisdom, and clarity to wisely deal with the demands and the needs. 

Don’t make popularity your goal. Jesus handled popularity (whether he was loved or hated) with the right perspective and the right practice. We must do the same. Protect your motives and seek the Lord.

Plus, download the free e-book, How to Create a Plan for Personal Growth in the FREE RESOURCES section of my blog. This practical resource will inspire you to grow and give you the step-by-step process to create your own Growth TRAC that’s customized to your needs. Plus, it’s a great resource to help your team grow with clarity and focus.

Finally, be sure to subscribe to Leader Fluent so you don’t miss a single episode. You can subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, iHeartRadio, and other platforms. Plus, I’d love for you to leave a rating or review. Thanks for checking out Leader Fluent today.

SHOW NOTES:

What is a Personal Growth TRAC? A Growth TRAC is a specific, measurable, and accountable plan for personal and professional growth.

Target: What are my growth goals?

• Spiritual Growth
• Mental Growth
• Relational Growth
• Physical Growth 

Roadmap: How Do I Plan to Grow?

• Training
• Resources
• Relationships
• Experiences

Accountability: Who Will Hold Me Accountable for my Growth?

Some accountability is Automated, and other accountability is Customized. Automated accountability is something you have zero or little choice in. Customized accountability is where you intentionally choose somebody to hold you accountable for a growth goal. And the best accountability partners are those who are trustworthy and they can help you reach your goal.  

Check-Ups: When and How Will I Evaluate My Growth Progress?

Check-ups are all about determining how and scheduling when you’ll evaluate your progress. Check-ups are where you set deadlines for each step in your roadmap, embed your roadmap into your daily schedule, and then do in-depth check-ups monthly or quarterly with your accountability partner so you can make appropriate mid-course corrections. 

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HOW TO CREATE A PLAN FOR PERSONAL GROWTH

Discover how to close the gap between you and your dreams by creating a customized personal growth TRAC. This proven four-step process will not only help you reach your potential, but it will equip you with a tool to help your team maximize personal and professional growth.

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We’ve all experienced the two extremes of customer service. On one end, we’ve been wowed by over-the-top service that generates loyalty to a company or organization. At the other extreme, we’ve all experienced a failed product, bad attitude, or horrendous experience that caused us never to return again. So, how do you elevate your service to create a consistently positive experience? It doesn’t happen by accident, and these four steps are a great place to start.

1. Create a Customer Friendly System

In their book, Be Our Guest, Disney describes an Integration Matrix that looks at two things: SERVICE STANDARDS and DELIVERY SYSTEMS. They’ve identified the service standards that they want to consistently deliver to their customers (safety, courtesy, efficiency, etc.), and they’ve implemented those service standards in three delivery systems: their cast (employees), setting, and processes.

2. Recruit People Who Love People

Retail Consultant Liz Tahir once said, “There is no way that the quality of customer service can exceed the quality of the people who provide it.” Lee Cockrell says that when it comes to customer satisfaction, the single most effective strategy is to hire people who have what he calls, “The Triple Crown.” The Triple Crown consists of:

• Great Skill
• An “I can do whatever is needed” Attitude
• Tremendous Passion for their Work

When you combine those three ingredients, they add up to the most indispensable element of great customer service: COMMITMENT. 

3. Engage Your Customers

• Build Relationships Not Just Sales – The companies where you feel the greatest sense of loyalty are the ones that are most interested in you. They don’t just want your money, they want to build a relationship with you. In his book, The Customer Service Revolution, John DiJulius shares a simple strategy to build relationships with customers. He calls the strategy FORD (Family, Occupation, Recreation, Dreams). When you can discuss at least two of these four things with a customer, you begin to deepen the relationship.

• Create WOW Experiences

4. Practice Team Huddles

One of the most effective practices employed by the Ritz Carlton hotels is their daily line-up before each shift. Employees gather for a brief huddle where they always review one of their service values. 

Episode #1: How to Create a Plan for Personal Growth

Episode #2: Six Keys to Effective Time Management

Episode #3: Creating Stellar Customer Service

I want to invite you to SUBSCRIBE TODAY to Leader Fluent. Don’t miss a single episode on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, iHeartRadio, Google, TuneIn, or Amazon Music. And while you’re at, I’d love for you to leave a rating or a review. I hope you find Leader Fluent to be a great addition to your Podcast listening. Enjoy!

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Circle #1: WHY

1. Purpose
2. Values

Your purpose and your values are like the north star for time management. They are the “Why” that directs all of your time management efforts. In fact, time management minus purpose and values equals an unfulfilled life. 

Circle #2: WHERE

1. Roles
2. Priorities

Roles are any place where you serve. For example, your roles might include husband, wife, father, mother, pastor, business executive, student, teacher, community volunteer…the list could be endless. We all fill multiple roles in life…whether their at home, at work, at school, or in the community. The question you have to answer is, “Do my roles allow me to fulfill my purpose and live out my values?” The second strategy in the “Where” circle is Priorities. In other words, once you identify your roles, what are the top 3-5 priorities in each role that will leverage your abilities and passions.  John Maxwell offers seven questions to help you identify priorities:

• What are you recognized for?  (those things that others say you do well)
• What is required of you?  (those things in your job description)
• What are you requested for?  (those things in your roles that others request you to do because they are strengths for you)
• What are you rewarded most highly for?  (those things others reward you for because you do them so well)
• What produces the greatest results?  (those things in your roles that have the highest return on your investment of time)
• What do you rejoice over?  (those things in your roles that bring you the greatest personal satisfaction)
• What do you want to be remembered for?  (those things in your roles you want others to remember you for long into the future)

Circle #3: HOW

1. Planning
2. Boundaries

What happens when one of these six time management strategies is missing:

• Time management without purpose and values equals an UNFULFILLED LIFE.
• Time management without roles and priorities equals an UNFOCUSED LIFE.
• Time management without planning and boundaries equals an UNHEALTHY LIFE. 

You can check out the very first episode today on the topic, “How to Create a Plan for Personal Growth.” The new year is a great time to create a growth plan that’s customized to your personal and professional goals. In this episode, I unpack my “Growth TRAC Template” to help you focus your growth and create a customized plan on the priorities that are most important to you.

Listen today and be sure to subscribe to “Leader Fluent” on your favorite platform. Plus, if you find Leader Fluent helpful, be sure to leave a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher. You can also subscribe on iHeartRadio, Android, and other platforms.

SHOW NOTES:

What is a Personal Growth TRAC? A Growth TRAC is a specific, measurable, and accountable plan for personal and professional growth.

TARGET: WHAT ARE MY GROWTH GOALS?

• Spiritual Growth
• Mental Growth
• Relational Growth
• Physical Growth

ROADMAP: HOW DO I PLAN TO GROW?

• Training
• Resources
• Relationships
• Experiences

ACCOUNTABILITY: WHO WILL HOLD ME ACCOUNTABLE FOR MY GROWTH?

Some accountability is Automated, and other accountability is Customized. Automated accountability is something you have zero or little choice in. Customized accountability is where you intentionally choose somebody to hold you accountable for a growth goal. And the best accountability partners are those who are trustworthy and they can help you reach your goal.  

CHECK-UPS: WHEN AND HOW WILL I EVALUATE MY GROWTH PROGRESS?

Check-ups are all about determining how and scheduling when you’ll evaluate your progress. Check-ups are where you set deadlines for each step in your roadmap, embed your roadmap into your daily schedule, and then do in-depth check-ups monthly or quarterly with your accountability partner so you can make appropriate mid-course corrections. 

For example, there will be times when you have an idea or suggestion for how another team member can do their job with a greater level of effectiveness. It is not your job to do their job (which is why you should generally stay in your lane), but your perspective could prove extremely beneficial. So, how do you offer feedback to help them improve without veering into their lane and appearing to grab hold of the steering wheel. Consider starting with these three strategies:

1. Provide Your Feedback Privately 

Public feedback can blindside team members, and it has the potential to embarrass people, break trust, and create unnecessary friction and division. Unless the feedback is being sought in a group planning or brainstorming session, it’s best to offer the feedback privately. 

Private feedback creates safety. It sets the table for others outside of your lane to listen carefully to what you have to say. Not only will this approach garner greater respect, but it will also improve the odds of your feedback being received.

2. Pace Your Feedback Appropriately 

People want feedback, but if they feel like you’re giving them a constant stream of ideas or suggestions, they may start to resent you and the feedback you’re trying to offer to them. Discover the right pace to provide feedback so that others are more receptive to your ideas. 

The pace of your feedback will usually be impacted by two things: position and personality. When it comes to position, you may be able to give feedback at a quicker pace if you hold a higher position of leadership in the organization. If you’re the newest member of a team, you may have to slow the pace of your feedback until you earn the team’s trust. You have unique perspective—which the team needs to hear—but the pace at which you deliver it will determine their receptivity to it.

When it comes to personality, yours and theirs will set the pace for feedback. For example, people outside your lane are more likely to receive feedback if your personality is warm and cordial. Personalities that are more direct or abrasive will have to offer feedback at a much slower pace. Similarly, if the person you’re giving feedback to has a personality that is resistant to change, you’ll need to slow your feedback pace to allow time for the ideas to be processed and absorbed. 

3. Position Your Feedback Wisely 

Positioning feedback is all about how you introduce feedback to a fellow team member. Always exhibit dignity, truth, and grace. At the same time, consider carefully how you should introduce the feedback. You might position your feedback with a statement like:

• “Hey John, I came across an idea the other day that I thought you might be interested in. Do you have a minute…I’d love to share it with you?”

• “Hey Janet, I noticed something in the presentation last week that I wanted to ask you about. Do you have a minute that we could talk?”

• “Hey Mark, do you have a minute? Somebody shared something with me Sunday about worship, and I thought you might want to be aware of it. First, I want you to know that I had your back, and I told this person that they should come and talk to you personally about it. But if I was in your shoes, I’d want a heads up about it, so I wanted to see if I could share it with you.” 

• “Hey Elizabeth, do you have a minute? I was at lunch yesterday with Bill and he was telling me that his teenagers were struggling to get connected with other students at the church. I encouraged him to come and talk with you about it, and that you would be more than happy to connect with them. But after I left the conversation, I got to thinking about something that might be a great idea. Do you mind if I share it with you?” 

Statements like these will help you position your feedback in a way that increases a higher likelihood of receptivity. Each example is a warm introductory statement that creates curiosity and openness. 

These three steps will help you give feedback outside of your lane. Once you provide the feedback, it’s up to them whether or not to accept it and act on it, but the odds increase if you take this approach. 

This is a guest post from Rodney Wardwell. Rodney is a pastor, church planter, author, and hosts the podcast, Unthinkable Leaders. Learn more at unthinkableleaders.com.

Just imagine the smells of the bakery with me. You walk in and the place has all of the right aesthetics. It’s a warm and cozy space. You walk up to the glass case and see all of the amazing breads, donuts and pastries. The case is impressively pristine…no fingerprints or smudges. There’s even coffee with hundreds of different flavors. The place is amazing. 

As you admire the baked goods, you notice one man working quickly to pull items out of the case. He gets the food and coffee for one customer, and then he rushes to the register to cash that customer out. He runs back and forth to the case of baked goods, helping customers as fast as he can. When the madness slows down, he wipes down tables, throws away trash, and grabs a broom to sweep the floors. The baker is working feverishly, and at first sight you think to yourself, “This guy is crushing it.” 

But then you notice something you hadn’t seen before…the baker is extremely thin. He looks like skin and bones. What a sad tragedy. Here is the man with all of these amazing pastries and baked goods, and yet he’s wasting away to nothing. He’s exhausted. He’s depleted. He’s utterly drained. 

The baker is a picture of so many leaders today. Their unsustainable pace has produced an unhealthy soul. The demands of leadership have made them victims of leadership fatigue. Leadership Fatigue is often the result of focusing more time and energy on leading others than we spend on leading ourselves. Leadership fatigue occurs when we make more decisions for others than we do for ourselves. 

Let’s just be real—this has been a difficult season for every leader. The weight of each decision, combined with the relentless pressure to do what’s right, has created a brutal environment, especially for unbalanced leaders. And that’s why I want to encourage you with a handful of practical tips to help you in this challenging season. How do you deal with leadership fatigue? Start with these three action steps to stay in the fight and keep going for the long haul.

1. Set Challenging Personal Goals

One of my favorite stories in the gospels takes place right before Jesus calls Peter, James and John into ministry (in the TV Series, The Chosen, they tell this story in an awesome way.) The men had been out fishing all night, and they hadn’t caught any fish. Then Jesus tells Peter to push out a little bit and throw his net on the other side of the boat. Peter reluctantly does so, and then what happens? The fish hit the net hard. There are so many fish that the boat begins to sink. 

So, what do they do? 

They call their friends over and get another boat. In other words, they grow their capacity. Now, maybe I have this wrong, but in my experience facing hard moments and constant leadership decisions isn’t as difficult when you’ve been consistently growing yourself and leading yourself. Why? Because when you grow yourself, you stretch your leadership threshold. 

Let’s face it, personal challenges are often better than outside challenges. Why? Because I get to choose the challenges. I would have never chosen a pandemic to lead in. I would have never chosen to lead through racial injustice. But I do get to choose my devotional life. I do get to choose weight loss and personal health, along with the steps I’ll take to accomplish those goals. I do get to choose the number of books (and types of books) I read to help myself grow. 

Plus, your personal growth has a ripple effect. As you lead yourself, you’re better equipped to lead others. Decision making and leadership moments are less exhausting when you’ve grown your capacity by regularly flexing your leadership muscle.

2. Develop and Guard Your Emotional Intelligence

Looking back to the disciples again, we know that Simon Peter was a rather passionate person. However, as Pastor Jim McNabb has always said, “It’s the burden that is sustainable and sadly, sometimes ‘passion’ can run out.”

Simon Peter had a tendency to make knee jerk reactions—didn’t he? I mean, who would ask Jesus, “If it’s you then call me out on the water with you?”…and then actually go! Or who would say, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” (Matthew 26:35), and then a short time later actually deny Jesus three different times. Then there’s the time when Jesus was being arrested in the garden? It was Peter who was ready to revolt as he pulled out his sword and cut off the ear of the Roman guard Malchus. 

Simon Peter had a history of being emotionally charged. He was controlled by his emotions, and it often got the best of him. In fact, after Jesus’ death, as Peter beat himself up emotionally for denying Jesus, it took a meet up with Jesus in John 20 for Peter to be reminded of the call that God had upon his life. 

That’s why, as a leader, I refuse to let CNN or Fox News dictate my interpretation of how I’m supposed to feel about the status of the world today. Uncle Larry’s or Aunt Sue’s Facebook post about our current events doesn’t bother me. I’ve learned that I can’t let someone who is not headed down the same path or toward the same destination give me directions. 

This year I told our Bricktown church family (where I pastor) that we can’t take our cues from people who are out in their boats weathering the storm without an anchor. So many people are being tossed about by the same wind and waves that we are, but the difference is they aren’t anchored to anything. They’re out in the middle of the ocean with a bull horn trying to tell everyone else how to feel. But those who are anchored in Jesus see the storm through the lens of Hebrews 6:19: 

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus has entered on our behalf.” 

So, we have to guard our emotions; otherwise, listening to the voices around us will create leadership fatigue and wear us out.

3. Find and Do What Recharges You

In Matthew 14, Jesus and his disciples finished an intense day of ministry. Jesus had fed more than 5,000 people, and then he sent his disciples ahead of him in a boat. Why? Because Jesus needed time to recharge. Matthew 14:23 says: 

“After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there along, and the boat was a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.”

Jesus needed some time alone, and this was a regular practice in His life. Mark 1:35 says, “Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went to a solitary place to pray.” If the very Son of God in his human form needed to spend time with the Father to be recharged, how much more do you and I need that spiritual connection to fuel us today? Isaiah 40:30 reminds us, “Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

I have found that I recharge while riding my bike and listening to a good audiobook. I’m renewed when I take a walk around the neighborhood with my family. When I go on a day date with my wife, it puts fuel back in my tank.

We all need treasures in our treasure chest. If we stop taking the time to create memories and have fun, we’ll grow tired and exhausted. But if you want to avoid leadership fatigue, then you need to discover the things that recharge you, and then schedule them into your daily and weekly calendar. 

These three keys will help you lead at a higher level for a longer time. That’s my prayer for you. Don’t be like the starving baker. Take care of yourself by setting challenging goals, guarding your emotions, and finding what recharges you.

1. Practical Assessments

One advantage we have in our current day is the number of assessments that are available to help us understand our uniqueness, strengths, and personality. Some common tools today are Myers Briggs, DiSC, Strengthsfinder, Enneagram, Leading From Your Strengths, Emotional Intelligence, and Leadership 2.0. These are just a few of the assessments available on the market today. I recommend taking several practical assessments, and then paying attention to four things:

• Confirmations – Ask yourself, “What does this assessment confirm that I already suspected to be true?” Sometimes an assessment gives language or voice to something you’ve felt all along, but you’ve never been able to put it into words. 

• Patterns – When you look at the results of multiple assessments, what are the dominant themes or patterns that seem to emerge? If multiple assessments are saying the same thing, that’s an important clue to who you are and how you’re wired. 

• Blind Spots – Consider the tendencies an assessment reveals about potential blind spots. Every personality has its strengths, but there are also areas where we are most vulnerable. Becoming aware of these gaps is important if we want to grow, improve, and avoid leadership landmines. 

• Perceptions – Assessments can help us understand what it’s like to be on the other side of me. In other words, some assessments help me see how I come across, how I’m perceived by others, and what it’s like to work with me. These insights are extremely valuable for developing healthy working relationships. 

Taking multiple assessments brings to light confirmations, patterns, blind spots, and perceptions that I may not otherwise recognize. 

2. Perceptive Feedback

Gleaning feedback is immensely valuable…so long as you’re willing to listen to the feedback. Though feedback can be painful at times, it’s also a gift that will help you get better. Consider two approaches to acquiring perceptive feedback:

• Feedback Seeking – In other words, intentionally seek out feedback from friends, family members, co-workers, or supervisors. Because giving feedback is difficult, most people won’t voluntarily offer it. As leaders, we have to seek it out by asking for feedback and creating a safe environment for others to deliver it. 

• Feedback Systems – To embed feedback into your organization, create feedback systems. These systems can include annual reviews, weekly one-on-one’s, and assessment tools that gauge the health of your organization’s culture. These systems should foster safe environments for respondents to share honest feedback without retribution.  

Again, most people don’t volunteer feedback (especially when it comes to your performance). Whether it’s personally seeking it out, or creating feedback systems, make sure there’s a place for people to speak into your life and offer insights that will help you get better. Whatever you do, don’t retaliate or get defensive. 

3. Professional Coaching

I like to say that a good coach takes AIM at your potential. In other words, they assess your performance, provide insights to improve, and motivate you to get better. So, what’s the difference between feedback and coaching? Feedback often comes from within the organization whereas coaching often comes from outside of it. 

I once had a coach give me feedback on my communication abilities. This was immensely valuable because they could see things I couldn’t. Their insights were valuable and unemotional…and that’s why coaching is so important. Outside coaching comes from someone who has nothing to lose. In other words, they’re not emotionally attached to the situation (or to you), so they’re willing to share insights to help you grow without worrying about losing a friendship. 

4. Personal Reflection

If you’re going to truly benefit from assessments, feedback, and coaching, you have to follow each of them with personal reflection. Reflection turns insights into action. Reflection helps you take all of the data and discoveries gleaned from the other self-awareness tips and turn them into practical next steps. 

Your personal reflection might happen after a series of assessments, a burst of feedback, or a coaching session. You might step away from your office for a couple of hours of uninterrupted reflection to help you determine what to do with the information you’ve harvested. You might write in a journal, create a personal growth plan, or seek out accountability for several helpful action steps. Whatever your approach, don’t skip personal reflection. 

The beauty of self-awareness is that it brings focus to your personal growth. It helps you strategically pursue growth in the areas that will make the quickest and most noticeable change in your life. The people closest to you will thank you the most. 

3. The Pillar of Purity

Psalm 119:9 gives us the secret to cultivating a life of purity: “How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.” When Scripture takes a central role in our lives, it provides a standard for right and wrong. Otherwise, we’ll massage the definition of right when it feels inconvenient in the moment. When right is informed by Scripture, we can then conform our lives to it. 

Purity should also be the posture of our lives. 1 Corinthians 6:18 shows us the posture we should maintain when sexual temptation comes our way: “Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.”

The apostle Paul further expounds on this purity posture when he writes, “God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5). A life of purity is central to the will of God. It is neither optional nor suggested. 

The greatest purifier is not human will, but rather the presence of God. God’s presence encapsulates His holiness, and God’s holiness reveals our sinfulness. When we draw near to God, His purifying presence penetrates our hearts and minds. Our leadership becomes increasingly honorable to God when it’s built on the pillar of purity. 

4. The Pillar of Generosity 

There’s a difference between a generous act and a generous lifestyle. True generosity isn’t a random act of the hand, but a regular habit of the heart. A habit is an on-going, systematic part of our lives. 

The apostle Paul emphasized this important habit of generosity when he said, “On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once” (1 Corinthians 16:2). One random act of generosity wasn’t enough. Paul had a “day” and a “frequency”…the first day and every week. 

Why would Paul build this habit in his life? Because Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The way you work the stronghold of greed out of your heart is to work the habit of generosity into your heart. 

Generosity is an essential part of an abundance mindset. While scarcity protects and hoards, stewardship manages resources with an open hand. Scarcity confines while generosity expands. 

Proverbs 11:24-26 shows us the power of generosity to cultivate an abundance mindset (as well as the ripple effect generosity has in our lives and our world): “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped. Curses on those who drive a hard bargain! Blessings on all who play fair and square!” (MSG)

God entrusts us with resources, not so we can own it for our pleasure, but so that we can manage it for His purposes. A wise steward manages the money entrusted to him with the interests of the true owner in mind. 

As you lead, you’ll undoubtedly encounter the temptations of pride, dishonesty, sex, and greed. But by proactively building your leadership on the pillars of humility, integrity, purity, and generosity, you’ll be prepared to win over the temptations and lead in a way that serves others and glorifies God. 

How many times have you seen a leader with an inflated ego that bought the lie of invisibility? How often have you watched leaders make dishonest decisions, subtle compromises, and lapses in judgement? How many leaders have you seen fall from their pinnacle of success because of sexual acts or addictions? And how often have you seen a leader undermined by greed and an uncontrollable appetite that drove them to illegal or unethically acts? Sadly, these four sins topple leaders time and time again, and each one of us are susceptible to their lure.

Leadership attracts these four temptations, which is why the four pillars of character are so critical. Each pillar is the antidote to a common leadership temptation, and each one requires our ongoing attention. 

1. The Pillar of Humility

Humility shapes two important aspects of leadership: attitude and motive. When your attitude reflects humility, you maintain the proper perspective on your abilities. Humility also enables you to give credit where credit is due, operate out of a selfless spirit, and remain teachable and correctable. 

Similarly, when your motives reflect humility, you use influence for the glory of God and the good of others. The driving purpose of your influence isn’t to elevate your name or build your own empire, but rather to honor the name of Jesus and bring about good in the world.

Humility was woefully absent in the life and leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar. He arrogantly announced, “Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor” (Daniel 4:30). 

In a moment, King Nebuchadnezzar was driven from power, and from society, to graze in the fields like a wild animal for seven years. When he finally came to his senses and humbled himself before God, he was restored to his kingdom. With newfound humility, he declared, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud” (Daniel 4:37). 

The lesson is clear: Pride builds monuments, but humility builds ministry. James Kouzes and Barry Posner observe:

“The words human and humble share a common origin. They both come from the Latin humus, meaning earth. To be human and humble is to be down-to-earth, both feet planted firmly on the ground. Interesting, isn’t it, how as people climb the ranks in organizations they also climb to a higher floor in the building, getting farther and farther away from the ground? It gets harder and harder to remain humble the higher up you go.”

James Kouzes & Barry Posner

Pride is man’s path to pursue favor; humility is God’s path to give it to you. When our leadership rests on the pillar of humility, our attitudes and motives become bless-able. 

2. The Pillar of Integrity

Rather than living a double-standard life, a leader with integrity is the same in public and in private. What impact does integrity have in leadership? Proverbs 10:9 says, “People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed.” Time and again we’ve seen leaders exposed for a lack of integrity. Their security was stripped from them because they’re integrity was stunted in them. 

Author and pastor Andy Stanley defines character as, “the will to do what is right, as defined by God, regardless of personal cost.” The question is, who is defining what’s right in your life? Character doesn’t begin with how you act; it begins with who you’re loyal to. 

If you’re loyal to God, your character will be shaped by His Word and His will. But if your loyalty is to popular opinion, your leadership will shift in the direction of compromise. The word integrity means whole, complete, and undivided. Divided loyalty always results in divided integrity. 

Titus 2:7 gives us further insight into the critical nature of integrity: “And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching.” Then, in his first letter to Timothy, Paul described the example of integrity with these words: “Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). Simply put, integrity should shape five areas: speech, life, love, faith, and purity.

The pillars of humility and integrity are essential to effective leadership. They provide a firm foundation that helps leaders lead for the long-haul. In my next article, we’ll look at the next two pillars of character in leadership.

1. Credibility Increases When You Own Your Mistakes

None of us are proud of our mistakes. They make us look bad, and sometimes they’re downright embarrassing. But the biggest mistake you can make with your mistakes is to not own them. In fact, the counter-intuitive reality is that when you own your mistakes, your credibility tends to tick upward. Why? Because most people don’t. Owning mistakes is rare in our culture, and people would rather dodge them and deny them than deal with them honestly. However, your credibility is most likely to increase after a mistake when you own it quickly, fully, and apologetically. 

First, quick ownership keeps the mistake from morphing into a far bigger problem. Plus, when you can admit your faults quickly, people tend to give grace more freely. The fact that you were proactive about owning your mistake tells them that you are a responsible person who made a mistake, rather than an irresponsable person that just happened to get caught.  

Second, full ownership is all about owning everything that went wrong, rather than blaming this part on Person A, and that part on Company B, and another part on System C. Just own it…all of it. Excuses are nothing more than a different name for non-ownership. 

Finally, apologetic ownership is expressing a sincere apology for making the mistake. It’s not saying, “I’m sorry if you feel…” Apologizing for how somebody feels is not an apology; it’s a heartless disqualification of the pain somebody else feels. Instead, say, “I’m sorry for…” Then admit what you did wrong. Be genuine and sincere. Ask for forgiveness, and pledge not to do it again. When you take these steps, people will actually adopt a higher view of you. Your credibility usually goes up because you responded the way they hoped you would respond (they way you should respond). 

2. Credibility Increases When You Fix Your Mistakes

After you own a mistake, you have to fix it. In other words, you have to take responsibility to make things right. For example, if you said you would do something (and you never did), you need to go back and fix it. If you promised to deliver a report that still hasn’t been done, you need to get the report finished and on your boss’s desk by first thing in the morning. Fixing is all about taking the action you failed to take to deliver the outcome you failed to produce.

Think of “fixing” like the evidence of “owning.” Fixing is the proof that what you said when you owned the mistake was more than words. It was a commitment to make things right. But owning and fixing is amplified with the next insight. 

3. Credibility Increases When You Learn from Your Mistakes

Most people will offer forgiveness and readily give you another chance if you have owned your mistake quickly, fully, and apologetically. And if you fix your mistake, they’ll generally be pleased with your actions. However, if you keep making the same mistake, your long-term credibility will sink. Owned mistakes are forgiven. Repeated mistakes are hard to forget. 

A repeated mistake means you didn’t learn from the mistake. You might have fixed it once, but you didn’t learn enough to make permanent change. Instead, you made a career out of the mistake. Think of repeated mistakes like a slow leak in your tire. You might be able to go for several days—perhaps a couple of weeks—without addressing it, but eventually you’ll find yourself stuck on the side of the road. Instead of moving forward, you’ll be trying to convince everyone why they should keep following you (or why you should be allowed to keep your job). 

Mistakes take a withdrawal out of the bank account of trust, but repeated mistakes put you into overdrawn status. And here’s the crazy part…you’ll have to work twice as hard to regain (and keep) your credibility. It’s always easier to follow owning a mistake with fixing the mistake. But the real growth happens when you learn enough from the mistake that you make permanent and long-lasting changes. 

For example, if you’re regularly late to work, learning from the mistake will cause you to arrive early (notice, I didn’t say arrive on time). You have to show people that you’re serious about doing things differently. If you treated a team member poorly, you have to change your attitude, your tone, and the way you interact with them (not just once, but from this point forward). If you’re failing to get the job done, you have to step it up and start delivering consistent results so the rest of your team can count on you. Learning from your mistakes doesn’t just look for a temporary fix, but rather a solution that delivers superior outcomes. It isn’t learning to get by, it’s learning to get better. It 

4. Credibility Multiplies When You Coach Others Through Their Mistakes

Some people are so scared of making mistakes because they fear consequences from the top. As leaders, our job is to create an environment of truth and grace. In other words, there must be truth (we acknowledge and own our mistakes), accompanied by grace (we freely extend forgiveness and offer a second chance). Both of these ingredients—truth and grace—are best expressed through coaching. 

It’s a best practice to meet one-on-one (weekly or bi-weekly) with each person who reports directly to you. The purpose of the meeting is to give your direct reports an opportunity to discuss anything on their agenda that will help them do their job effectively. However, there will also be times in those meetings when you’ll need to address a mistake. That’s where coaching comes in. Rather than dropping the truth bomb and then sending them out of your office in tears, give them truth wrapped in grace. Coach them through their mistake. 

Sometimes I’ll approach these conversations by saying, “Can I give you some coaching?” If you have a history of treating them respectfully, they’ll always say yes. Then, provide your observations about their mistake, offer a couple of tips to help them improve, and then let them know you believe in them. Simply put, take AIM at their potential: Assess performance, offer valuable Insight so they can improve, and Motivate them with words of belief and encouragement. Sometimes you don’t even have to give them any tips. You can just ask the right questions to draw the insight out of them. 

This simple (but profoundly important point) will increase your credibility. Why? Because your team members will still feel respected by you, even though you had to address their mistake. They’ll appreciate the opportunity to grow through the mistake instead of being beat up for the mistake. 

So, if mistakes are undermining your credibility, start by owning them and fixing them. Then, be sure you learn from the mistake so you can create healthy, long-term change. Finally, help others grow through their mistakes by providing coaching so they can improve.

Frankly, research sounds boring, tedious, and laborious. But without the proper research, people can stop big visions and bold decisions in their tracks. So, before you cast your next vision or make your next big decision, consider four types of research that can significantly increase your likelihood of buy-in with your team, customers, or congregation. 

1. Research Current Reality

For people to buy-in to a new vision or an important decision, they first want to know that you understand the current state of affairs. In other words, are you aware of your organization’s greatest strengths, biggest needs, and looming challenges? Do you know what’s happening in your community or market, and are you aware of the characteristics that define your target audience? 

Understanding your current reality creates buy-in because people will recognize that you’ve done your homework. Nobody wants a clueless leader to drive the bus. Nobody wants a leader who shoots from the hip, hoping for the best outcome. Instead, you have to do adequate research on “the way things are” so that you’re operating from a position that’s defined by facts, not feelings. 

2. Research Creative Possibility

Ideas are endless. The sky is the limit on possibilities, solutions, and innovations. And bold visions and big decisions usually introduce new ideas or solutions. But possibility can also be a giant vortex that sucks you dry of precious time, energy, and resources. 

That’s why leaders need to field-test creative possibilities by asking three questions: First, how will this solution address the needs of our current reality? If you can prove that your solution solves a real-life problem, there’s a much greater likelihood for buy-in to increase. 

Second, how will this solution leverage an important opportunity? Most opportunities are tied to a clock…unless you act by a certain time, the opportunity may pass you by. If you can show how a solution leverages an opportunity for the benefit of the organization or the people it serves, again, buy-in will likely increase. 

Third, what does this solution make possible that other options don’t? Answering this question is what sets your solution apart and gives it a competitive advantage. Answering it will increase buy-in because it shows your team the uniqueness, and even the genius, of the solution. 

Each of these questions will help you focus on creative possibilities that meet real needs, leverage time-sensitive opportunities, and offer advantages that set you apart from the rest of the pack. 

3. Research Financial Viability

Ideas, solutions, and visions cost money…often, lots of money. For that reason, you have to research the financial viability of the vision you want to pursue or the decision you plan to make. When you consider financial viability, ask yourself three questions.

First, is this a one-time expense or an ongoing financial commitment? It’s almost always easier to swallow a one-time expense than it is to make a long-term commitment. Second, will this expense generate a revenue stream? If the solution requires money on the front end but has the real possibility of delivering greater revenue on the backend, it may be well worth the upfront investment. Third, if you don’t have the money, how can you get the money? Sometimes we throw good solutions and quality ideas out the window because we let, “I don’t have the money” trump a more important question: “How can I get the money?” 

For some people, money is their biggest hurdle to buying-in to a solution. But when you research financial viability, resistance often decreases because you’ve proactively answered the question everyone is asking: how are you going to pay for this? You’d rather set the tone for the financial discussion than have the tone set for you. That can only happen if you research and then communicate financial viability before people start asking questions. 

4. Research Growth Probability

As noted earlier, every vision should be an answer to a need or a problem. Therefore, it’s important to do the research on the potential impact that will result from pursuing your vision or implementing your decision. Simply put, how will tomorrow be better than today if you take your proposed action? What is the growth probability? What potential lies in the solution you have offered? When you can point to research that shows the real probability of a better tomorrow, people are more likely to buy-in. 

All four of these research types are important. When we don’t research current reality, our entire decision-making process is based on false assumptions. When we don’t research creative possibility, we often settle for yesterday’s outdated solutions. When we don’t research financial viability, we jeopardize the financial health (or financial potential) of the organization. And when we don’t research growth probability, we fail to see the long-term gain we can experience from the right solution. Together, these research methods can deliver the highest levels of buy-in. 

Obviously the questions you ask vary based on the situation, as well as the responses, you are given. However, questions are not the only ingredient in a coach’s arsenal. “Coaching Phrases” are equally important. Here are three that I find particularly helpful:

1. “Unpack That For Me”

This is one of my favorite phrases. When I’m talking with a team member, I’ll often use this phrase after they’ve shared an idea, observation, or struggle. This is a great phrase to use when the suitcase has been unlocked and you need to open it to see what’s inside. It’s a permission-giving statement that allows you to hear what the person you’re coaching is really feeling or thinking. “Unpack that for me” often provides the backstory behind the situation at hand.

2. “Help Me Understand”

This is a good statement to use when you’re trying to understand the logic behind a team member’s ideas, thoughts, or actions. I’ve found it helpful in two situations: gaining clarity and giving correction. First, “Help me understand” brings clarity to “What” situations. It helps you better understand what a person means or what they intend to do. Second, “Help me understand” introduces the need for correction in “Why” situations. Rather than saying, “Why on earth did you ____________.” A better approach is to say, “Help me understand your thoughts behind why you did ___________.” It gives the person being coached the opportunity to share their reasoning before you provide any necessary correction.

3. “Tell Me Your Options”

This is a good phrase to use after listening to a situation in need of a solution. Rather than being the answer man, use the “Tell me your options” phrase to get people to think for themselves. That’s what good coaches do. Plus, it helps the person being coached own their problems and, just as importantly, own their solutions. You might even follow up the “Tell me your options” phrase with a “What else?” question. This helps them drill down on their options and not settle for the easiest answer.

Question: What other “coaching phrases” have you found helpful?

In 1 Thessalonians 4, the apostle Paul addresses the importance of character. He even says, “God’s will is for you to be holy” (v. 3). But there’s one phrase Paul uses twice in this chapter that demonstrates the lifelong growth of character: “even more.” 

Paul begins chapter four by saying, “Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more” (v. 1).  

Notice, Paul urged the Thessalonian believers to “live in a way that pleases God.” Then, Paul commends their character by saying, “You live this way already.” In other words, they practiced what Paul preached. But because character development doesn’t have a stopping point, he goes on to say, “and we encourage you to do so even more.” 

Therein lies an important lesson for us today: character growth has no finish line. We never arrive. We can always become more like Jesus…in our integrity, behavior, attitudes, and words.

But Paul didn’t stop with pleasing God “even more.” He applied the same truth to loving people. In verses 9-10, Paul said, “But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another. Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.”

Again, these believers already modeled a life of love. Love was more than a good idea; these Christians embraced it as a way of life. But love also has no limits, and therefore, Paul urged them to love “even more.” 

Paul’s instructions are clear: Character development is not part-time, but full-time. It’s not one-time, but all the time. No matter how much you’ve grown in character, there is even more. There is no finish line. And when you pursue the “even more,” your character starts to compound. You gain greater trust. You develop a deeper measure of spiritual authority. Rather than influencing out of skill or expertise, your character becomes the bedrock of your influence. People follow you because of who you are.

The Scarcity Mindset

The first kind of mindset revolves entirely around scarcity. When you were a kid, did your parents ever order a pizza for you and your friends. If so, did you ever find yourself quickly calculating how many slices each of you would get? A scarcity mindset says, “I better get mine first or there won’t be enough.” Unfortunately, this same mindset shows up in leadership. 

When a leader possesses a scarcity mindset, everything is viewed through the lens of limitations. These leaders often say things like, “We don’t have enough money,” or “We don’t have enough volunteers,” or “We’ll never have the same resources the church down the street has.” Their dominant focus is on what they don’t have, and therefore can’t do. 

The danger in the scarcity mindset is that it operates from a foundation of fear. Leaders with this mindset are too scared to take a risk, support a new project, or let go of power. Simply put, limitations become their lens for decision-making. As a result, vision fades, the best team members leave, and the faith to try anything new evaporates. In the end, scarcity-minded leaders never live up to their God-given potential, and they often steward resources and opportunity poorly.

The Abundance Mindset

The abundance mindset, on the other hand, recognizes the limitless nature of opportunity. They aren’t worried about getting their slice of pizza, because they believe there’s enough ingredients to make another pizza. 

Abundance-minded leaders don’t blindly ignore their lack of resources and limitations. Instead, they refuse to give those limitations the final authority over their future. They look for best practices, innovate new ideas, and search for new opportunities. They’re less likely to take “No” for an answer. They’re more likely to live from a posture of wisdom-filled faith rather than crippling fear.

Instead of saying, “We don’t have enough money,” abundance-minded leaders say, “How can we get the money we need?” Instead of saying, “We don’t have enough volunteers,” they ask, “Who have we not asked to serve?” Instead of saying, “We’ll never have the resources the church down the street has,” they say, “What resources do we have, and how can we leverage them for the greatest impact possible?” 

Exchanging Mindsets

If you find your thinking leaning in the direction of scarcity rather than abundance, you can make a shift in the right direction. It’s not easy, but you can deliberately choose an abundance mindset. How? Start with these three steps. 

1. Express Gratitude Daily 

Why not start a gratitude journal where you record two or three things you are grateful for each day? This practice will begin training your mind to focus on the positive rather than the negative. It will help you see the goodness of God and the blessing He has already entrusted to you. If you expressed gratitude for three things each day, you would accumulate 21 expressions of gratitude in a week, and 630 in a month. That’s a lot to be thankful for. It wouldn’t take long to start recalibrating your attitude toward abundance rather than scarcity. It wouldn’t take long for the posture o your heart to lean in the direction of thankfulness.

2. Give Generously

People with scarcity mindsets are rarely generous people. They’re too afraid of what they might lose or that they’re resources will run dry. The by-product of this mindset is greed. The only way to break the back of greed is to give…generously. Proverbs 11:24-25 says, “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped” (MSG). 

3. Release Power

Finally, to cultivate an abundance mindset, release power to other members of your team. If you have to make every decision, you’ll control your way into scarcity. As author and pastor Craig Groeschel says, “You can have control or you can have growth, but you can’t have both.” Release control today. Share authority. Give away power. 

Here’s the strange part of developing an abundance mindset. When you hear “abundance,” it’s easy to think about getting more. After all, to live in abundance don’t you have to acquire more than you currently have? 

But the paradoxical truth is that every step toward an abundance mindset is focused on giving more…expressing gratitude, giving generously, and releasing power. The focus is on expressing, not securing, giving not getting, releasing not acquiring. And as you do, God has a way of providing you with what you need. Most importantly, your heart begins to look more like Jesus. 

So, why not begin making the exchange today? Why not peel your fingers off the scarcity mindset and begin leaning in the direction of an abundance mindset? Express gratitude. Give generously. Release power. As you do, greed and fear will lose their grip on your heart, and joy will flood your soul. 

In this short, easy-to-read book, I unpack Paul’s thought-provoking insights and shares his four keys to conquer anxiety. This practical resource gets straight to the point, shares hope-filled stories, and offers practical tools you can immediately apply. You’ll discover the wisdom you need to face your fears, defeat your worries, and conquer your anxiety. 

Two Ways to Get the Book

1. GET A FREE PDF VERSION – You can go to 7 City Church’s Home Page and download a FREE version of 4 Keys to Conquer Anxiety. Click HERE and then scroll to the bottom of the page to download the free resource.

2. GET THE KINDLE VERSION – You can purchase a Kindle version of 4 Keys to Conquer Anxiety on Amazon for only $2.99. Get it HERE.

If you are struggling with fear, worry, or anxiety, or you have a friend or family member that is, get a copy today. Again, this short, easy-to-read resource will provide Biblical hope and practical tools to help you face and overcome anxiety.

We all know there are times we need to say “No,” but that’s usually not the issue. Instead, we get hung up on the how and the when. That brings us to the three rules of saying “No.” Each one helps us navigate those difficult moments when we have to say “No” to someone…whether it’s a child, a friend, or a team member.

1. Say No Clearly

Saying “No” presents an emotional tug-of-war for leaders. We usually know fairly early that we need to say “No,” but because we don’t want to hurt people’s feelings, it’s easy to vacillate between speaking up and keeping the peace. As a result, our “No” gets draped in “kinda, sorta, maybe not” language. Simply put, we’re not clear.

Why do we do this? Because we want to ease into our “No.” I understand…I’ve certainly done it. The problem is, when you ease into a “No,” you usually soften the facts and make room for alternatives. In other words, the person you’re telling “No” to doesn’t really think you’re serious. They think it’s a negotiation rather than a declaration. There’s too much room for interpretation.

Instead, say a clear, concise “No!” Then give whatever explanation is necessary without stretching it out. If people understand the why, they’re usually more receptive to the what. But, again, be clear and concise about it. Saying “No” shouldn’t take an hour. If it does, the other party may talk you into a “Yes!” Be clear.

2. Say No Quickly

Another common mistake is to put off saying “No” for weeks or even months. I’ve been guilty of this one too. If I’m unclear about what to do, sometimes I’ll say, “Let me think about that.” There’s certainly nothing wrong with that approach, unless of course you never make a decision.

The longer you wait to give an answer, the more room you leave for ambiguity. Ambiguity always produces alternative visions, unclear communication, and diminished morale. It leaves everyone in a fog, and eventually team members make the assumption that because you never said “No,” you must mean “Yes.”

A delayed “No” also causes you to put off hard conversations. The longer you wait, the more likely you are to never address bad behavior or disruptive attitudes. Say “No” quickly. It’s okay to think about it but be sure to give yourself a deadline. 

3. Say No Kindly

One reason we don’t say “No” clearly and quickly is because we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. But saying “No” doesn’t make you a jerk, unless of course you say it like a jerk. 

Quickly does not mean rudely. You can be clear and kind. You can deliver the right action with the right attitude. Is it easy? Usually not. Is it comfortable? If it was, you probably would have already done it. But you can exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5) while delivering difficult news. Remember, you’re responsible for your response, not theirs. 

When you say “No” clearly, you remove ambiguity. When you say “No” quickly, you keep people on the same page, and you prevent alternative visions from taking root. And when you say “No” kindly, you show dignity and respect to the other person. The good news is, you can do all three. 

The smaller the change, the less time you need for planning and buy-in. In fact, some changes are so small that people will hardly blink twice when the changes are made. You don’t need anyone’s input or permission, and therefore the time it takes to plan it and the buy-in it requires to execute it is hardly even an issue. 

Big changes, on the other hand, are different. The bigger the change, the more time you’ll spend crafting a thorough plan of execution. You’ll also spend more time generating buy-in from the people you need to help turn the change into reality. 

I like to compare this change process to different types of transportation. Every form of transportation is designed to get you from point A to point B. Point A is your current reality. Point B is your ultimate destination. The question is, what form of transportation is best to get you to your final destination. In the context of churches and organizations, the answer depends on the size of the change.

1. Small Changes are Like Helicopters

A couple of years ago me, my wife Karen, and some members of my family, took a helicopter ride in Alaska. Our destination was a massive, beautiful glacier. It was an amazing, awe-inspiring experience. We lifted off quickly, flew for about ten minutes, and then landed on a flat space on the glacier. After hiking around for about an hour, we loaded the helicopter and made a safe return trip. 

Helicopters are unique. It didn’t take us a long time to load them, and when it was time to depart, we lifted off fairly quickly. That’s the nature of small changes. There’s not much preparation, and the change is airborne almost immediately. 

“Helicopter changes” in any organization usually require little (if any) planning, and they don’t require much (if any) discussion. In fact, some helicopter changes are so minor that the leader can make them without any fear of fallout. It might be a minor modification to the layout of a report, a change that impacts only the leader, or a change in the location or time of a meeting.

2. Medium Changes are Like Airplanes

Airplanes require runways. Small planes need shorter runways while big planes require longer runways. For example, a Cessna 172 Skyhawk needs 995 feet to become airborne. This is a small plane with very limited seating capacity. But when you board a Boeing 777-300, you need 8,858 feet of runway to get airborne. 

Change in organizations is similar. Medium size changes need longer runways to get airborne. Unlike “helicopter changes” that can lift off immediately, “airplane changes” need a longer runway to give you adequate time for planning and for creating buy-in. 

Airplane changes might include things like staffing decisions, changes in programs or strategies, or reallocating financial resources toward more strategic initiatives. You need time to prepare and enough runway to generate buy-in so the change can actually take flight. 

3. Large Changes are Like Cruise Ships

A few years ago, we took a cruise to the Caribbean with a couple of friends, and a couple of years ago my family did a cruise to Alaska. On both cruises, there was a long preparation period before we ever departed. It took hours to load everyone onto the boat, train them in safety measures, and eventually pull away from the dock. It was a slow but very necessary process. 

The same is true on the open sea. Cruise ships don’t turn quickly like small boats. If they need to go a new direction, it takes time to turn such a large vessel. A similar principle applies when making big changes in organizations.

“Cruise ship changes” are major changes that have long-lasting impact on the organization. These changes might include things like a massive new vision initiative, the launch of a new store or campus, or a major change in strategic direction. These kinds of changes don’t happen quickly. Like a cruise ship, they require lots of preparation and planning as they get everyone on board and properly trained. Like a large cruise ship, it takes time to turn an organization and head a completely new direction. But this extended period of planning, and the time it takes to create broad buy-in, are essential to success. 

It’s important to understand what category each change you make fits in, and to treat them accordingly. For example, if you treat airplane or cruise ship changes like a helicopter change, you’ll likely generate massive opposition, waste precious resources, disrupt morale, and encounter an unsuccessful or extremely difficult change. On the other hand, if you treat helicopter changes like an airplane or cruise ship change, you’ll only slow your organization down with unnecessary meetings and increasing levels of bureaucracy.

Planning and buy-in are essential to any organizational change. But the first step is knowing what type of change you are embarking on. By determining if it’s a helicopter, airplane, or cruise ship change, you’ll be prepared to look at planning and buy-in efforts through the proper lens.

Drift rarely ends well. There’s usually a price to pay, an unintended consequence, or at the very least, regret. And yet, we’re ultimately in control of how much or how far we drift. It’s our choice. So, what does it take to avoid personal and organizational drift? How do we resist the lure toward laziness and the lie that we can accomplish everything? Three keys are essential. Together, they will significantly reduce the drift in your life and leadership.

1. Clarify Your Target

The only way to know whether or not you’re drifting is to have something to drift from. Simply put, you need a clear target, personally and organizationally, to serve as your true north. Unclear targets make drifting feel normal. After all, if the target isn’t defined, whatever you see through the front windshield of your life will always seem right (at least in the moment). Until you gain clarity, you’ll never know what adjustments to make when you experience turbulence along the way.

A good way to clarify your target is to ask yourself four questions. First, what vision do I aspire to fulfill? This is the big picture dream. Second, what goals do I want to achieve? This takes your vision and breaks it into manageable, attainable pieces. Third, what habits do I want to develop? Habits ensure that you are living with a sustainable, health-producing system for your life. And fourth, what values do I want to model? Without values, you’ll take short-cuts to achieve your vision and goals. When you define your vision, goals, habits, and values, you define the targets that are most important to you. Without this clarity, your life will feel like a giant blur.

2. Practice Disciplined Focus

Gaining clarity is usually easier than maintaining clarity. The constant stream of information, ideas, and opportunities can pull you off mission quickly. Whether it’s the latest trend or a shiny new object, it’s quite easy to slip into the undisciplined pursuit of more. Author Jim Collins describes this undisciplined behavior as “overreaching,” and it’s one reason organizations fail.

Overreaching begins when an organization’s leaders allow their pride and previous success to cause them to overestimate what they’re capable of doing. As HP co-founder David Packard once observed, “a great company is more likely to die of indigestion from too much opportunity than starvation from too little.” And Collins goes on to say, “When an organization grows beyond its ability to fill its key seats with the right people, it has set itself up for a fall. Although complacency and resistance to change remain dangers to any successful enterprise, overreaching better captures how the mighty fall.”

The antidote to overreaching is disciplined focus. This is especially important in a world where the menu of distractions grows longer by the second. And if focus is a continual nemesis in your life and leadership, the third point will be especially important for you.

3. Create Intentional Guardrails

When you drive down a windy mountain road, there are usually guardrails to keep you from flying off the edge of the road. Similarly, we need guardrails personally and organizationally to keep us from drifting into the danger zone. Guardrails can include schedules, accountability systems, budgets, evaluation questions, processes for assessing new product or service ideas, and personal relationships (with close friends, family members, coaches, and consultants) that will keep us focused and engaged.

It’s easy not to care about a guardrail, until you need it. That’s why you have to identify and establish the guardrails early in the journey. And it’s usually wise to get the advice of trusted leaders who have more experience, wisdom, and perspective than you do. They’ve been down the road, and they already know what curves are waiting ahead for you.

Let’s put the three keys together. Your target gives you direction. It defines success for you. When you start to drift, it shows you what to steer back to. Disciplined focus gives you concentration. In other words, it helps you resist the temptation to overreach and wander into the undisciplined pursuit of more. And Intentional Guardrails give you protection. They help you outsmart your weaknesses before your weaknesses show up. To activate these three steps in your life, begin with the following:

• Answer the four questions above (vision, goals, habits, and values) to help you clarify your target. This will require some time away from daily distractions and interruptions.
• Sit down with your core leaders to determine where the organization lacks disciplined focus. Then make the tough decisions about what to cut so that you can engage in the disciplined pursuit of less. In your personal life, talk to your spouse or a close friend, and give them freedom to tell you how you’re overreaching and overstretched. Then make the adjustments to help you refocus on what matters most.
• Work with your key leaders (and your spouse at home or a close friend ) to identify the guardrails that will keep you and the organization out of the danger zone. The guardrails need to be extremely practical.

Drift will always be a battle. There’s so many interruptions and disruptions, and focus is becoming increasingly harder to find and maintain. These three steps will get you started in the right direction.

If you’ve read Nebuchadnezzar’s story, you know that the three young men from Judah–Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego–refused to bow to the idol. As a result, the king became furious and threatened to throw them into the “roaring furnace.” Fully understanding the consequences, these three Israelites boldly declared:

“Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. But even if he doesn’t it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18, The Message)

Nebuchadnezzar was furious when he heard the response from these courageous young leaders. The king had them thrown into the furnace, but God pulled off the rescue of the century. Even the king said, “There has never been a god who can pull off a rescue like this” (Daniel 3:29). The rescue followed the risk. 

And the same is true today. Risk always precedes reward. Courage always comes before victory. Even King Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s courage when he said, “They ignored the king’s orders and laid their bodies on the line rather than serve or worship any god but their own” (Daniel 3:28).

The only leadership endeavors that shape history, advance noble causes, and propel churches and organizations forward are those marked by courage. Simply put, courage is the key that opens the door of vision. Without it, every dream will remain locked behind fear, anxiety, and inaction. What difference does courage make?

• Courage allows you to have the hard conversations
• Courage enables you to make the toughest decisions
• Courage gives you the backbone to stand up for what’s right
• Courage propels you to take the first step
• Courage gives you the strength to say no
• Courage empowers you to depart the status quo
• Courage puts a better tomorrow in reach

So, how do you become a courageous leader? Where does courage begin, and how do you resist the temptation to abandon your noble dreams and the values that matter most? Courage takes three things.

1. Embrace a Bigger Yes

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were wholeheartedly committed to God. Their “bigger yes” was their faith in God, despite the threat of death. Without a bigger yes, you’ll cave when the pressure is on. You’ll be crushed under the weight of worry. Without a vision, a conviction, a value that’s more important than the fear and the threats, you’ll quickly abandon “hard” and go looking for the regret-filled road called “easy.” Courage begins when you have something worth giving your life to.  

2. Choose Your Inner Circle

Hard roads are easier to travel when you have the right traveling companions. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego formed an inner circle that gave each other strength to stand when everyone else bowed. You and I need the same kind of friends. We need mentors, coaches, family members, friends, and people who will stand with us and stick by us when it would be easier to run. Your inner circle doesn’t have to be big (in fact, in most cases it will be quite small). But don’t go it alone. Courage is emboldened with companions. 

3. Define Your Lines

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had a clear, soul-stirring conviction: they would not bow to an idol…ever. Their line was clear, and nothing would cause them to cross the line of compromise. In his book, Homerun, pastor Kevin Myers says that if you’re going to win in the area of character, you have to define the lines of your life. In other words, you have to define the lines between good and evil, right and wrong, wise and foolish. Thus, Myers makes an important point: Whoever controls the pencil in your life, draws the lines in your life.  

Some people put the pencil in the hands of their family, friends, the media, political parties, or even their feelings. The problem is, people change and feelings change. They’re not trustworthy sources to draw the most important lines in our lives. Instead, we need to hand the pencil to God. His lines lead to life, and until you allow Him to define the lines, your courage will be undermined by what’s comfortable and convenient.

These three keys will embolden you to be the courageous leader God is calling you to become. It won’t be easy, but you only need courage in the face of fear. 

When these moments come, how do you maximize your vision-casting efforts? How do you ensure that your vision is communicated not only with passion, but in a way that garners the greatest amount of buy-in? Here are seven steps to get you started.

1. Clarify the vision

All vision casting begins with a crystal-clear vision. If you lack clarity, the most passionate vision talk will ultimately fall flat. This is where leaders often short-circuit the process. They don’t take adequate time to think, pray, and clarify in their own minds exactly what they aim to achieve. If the target is unclear, the pathway to get there will be equally confusing, and any efforts to communicate it will fall short. 

To gain vision clarity, ask yourself some important questions like: What problem do we want to solve? What need do we want to meet? What mountain do we want to take? What product or service do we want to develop? You might even think about your vision through the lens of big buckets like church, community, and world. 

2. Organize the vision 

Once the vision is clear, you have to organize it into a communication framework. In my recent article, The Five Stages of Vision Casting, I talked about the five things every vision talk must include. 

First, you need celebration. In other words, before you introduce change for the future, celebrate what God has done in the past. This will help you acknowledge those who have blazed a path forward and the sacrifices they’ve made to get you where you are today. Second, define the problem. If people don’t understand the problem you’re trying to solve, they won’t value the solution you’re trying to present. 

Third, present the solution. This is where you rollout the vision that will specifically solve the problem that stands before you. It’s the bold picture of the future that offers a better, brighter tomorrow. Fourth, share the price. People need to know exactly what it will cost (in time, energy, money, etc.) to see the vision fully realized. Don’t beat around the bush. Instead, make the price tag extremely clear. 

Fifth, invite people to partner with the vision. Share an unapologetic and inspiring invitation for people to personally engage the vision. By organizing your vision around this five-part framework, you’ll be able to take people on a journey that creates the highest levels of buy-in. 

3. Illustrate the Vision 

As you’re sharing the vision, you’ll need to illustrate it in such a way as to create interest, passion, and emotional buy-in. You can do this by sharing compelling statistics, telling stories, sharing testimonies of life change, showing visual renderings, or showing a well-produced vision video. 

Illustrating the vision helps the vision move from the head to the heart. It helps people not just hear it but feel it. Without illustrations, the vision will feel bland, boring, or like a long rambling of irrelevant information. People need to see the vision, and illustrations help them imagine what the future will look like.

4. Manuscript the Vision

This step probably sounds strange, even lifeless, but stay with me. Every time I preach, I manuscript my sermon. That doesn’t mean I read my sermon word-for-word. I simply manuscript it to make sure every word counts. Manuscripting a sermon helps me clarify my thinking, articular compelling points, insert illustrations at the right place and pace, improve my opening and closing, and get a gauge on my timing. 

When I realized how much a manuscript helps me in sermon prep, I started to use it in my vision casting efforts. As a result, I noticed a considerable increase in engagement, clarity, and buy-in. I simply build a vision manuscript around the five-step process described above. This helps me strategically and systematically celebrate the past, define the problem, present the solution, share the price, and invite people to partner in the vision. 

By manuscripting the vision, I’m able to see what part of the vision casting effort needs more clarity and more inspiration. I’m able to pinpoint gaps and answer questions before they are asked. And I’m able to stay focused as I paint the vision for the future. 

Every leader has to create and cast compelling vision. In “The Insanely Practical Guide to Create, Communicate, & Capture Vision,” I take the guesswork out of vision to help you see, share, seize, and safeguard your vision. Get this downloadable 36-page guide today HERE.

5. Communicate the Vision

Once the vision is clear, organized, illustrated, and manuscripted, it’s time to actually communicate the vision. Practice, practice, practice. Be sure the vision is “in you,” and that you can speak from the five-point framework of your vision without having to constantly look at your notes. Furthermore, exude passion and positivity in your communication. You may only get one shot at casting vision, so it’s imperative that you’re on your game. 

Finally, be sure you use multiple tools to help you communicate clearly and in a manner that brings the greatest engagement. For example, use slides, video, and printed materials, and be sure to have a commitment card of some kind that can be used when you make the ask. 

6. Layer the Vision 

By “layering,” I’m talking about vision casting to different groups of people in different settings. For example, long before you communicate the vision publicly, you’ll want to host vision-casting gatherings with your staff, board, high capacity donors, volunteers, and other key stakeholders. In fact, you’ll likely do 3-4 vision gatherings before you ever cast the vision to the entire church or organization. 

This is where many leaders miss it. They think one inspiring talk is all it takes to get people on board. The truth is, you’ll need to do multiple smaller vision gatherings with specific groups of people, and in some cases, you’ll need to do one-on-one’s to make sure key stakeholders are on board. By layering your vision casting efforts, you’ll building increasing layers of support. In fact, when we rolled out a major two-year vision at 7 City Church, more than 50% of the congregation had already heard about it before we went public with the vision. How did that happen? We layered our vision-casting efforts.

7. Follow-Up the Vision

Finally, once the vision has been cast, follow-up with the people who heard the vision. Some people will immediately jump on board, but others will take time to process and pray about their involvement. Let them know, “I’ll follow-up with each of you in the next couple of weeks to answer any questions you have and to discuss your partnership with the vision as we move forward.” 

Proper follow-up is a great way to increase the personal touch. It gives you a chance to catch up with people, hear more of their story, learn what excites them about the vision, and address any questions they might have. It’s also an opportunity to re-invite them to participate in the vision, and to express your deepest gratitude. 

These seven steps will help you maximize your vision casting efforts. Each one is strategic, and each one will help you build an air-tight plan to cast vision for the future and increase engagement and buy-in. 

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So, what does effective vision-casting look like? How do you cast vision in such a way that people want to join you in the journey to a better future? We recently completed of a major two-year vision initiative at 7 City Church. To create the engagement necessary to see the vision move forward, I communicated the vision in five stages. 

1. Celebration 

Vision casting doesn’t start by looking at the future; it starts by celebrating the past. That might sound strange, even counter-intuitive, but one of the best ways to create buy-in for the future is to first acknowledge what has already been accomplished. This lets people who have “paid the price” for yesterday’s vision know how much they are appreciated. It’s a simple way to show honor and respect for the people who paved the way for the church or organization to get to where it is today. 

Celebration sets the tone for the gathering. It focuses on the wins, and it reinforces the organization’s ability to influence positive change. It celebrates growth, impact, life change, testimonies, and the difference made over the past few years. In some cases, it can stretch all the way back to the inception of the church or organization. 

2. Problem 

After highlighting the organization’s impact and progress, you have to introduce a problem. Every vision meets a need or solves a problem, so at this stage, you need to introduce the problem you hope to solve. To make the transition from “celebration” to “problem,” I used the following phrase when casting our vision: “We celebrate what God has done in the last five years…but there’s a problem.”

I used that statement as a springboard to introduce a problem we were having with space in our auditorium and kids environments. I also used it to introduce the need for churches in other culturally influential cities, as well as the need for impactful ministry in some of the most broken parts of our world. 

Once everyone felt the weight of the problem, I transitioned with this statement: “All of these needs—the needs in our church, our cities, and our culture, are simply too big to ignore. God has done great things through 7 City Church in the last five years, but we cannot stop now. We cannot afford to get comfortable, or to sit back and coast. Instead, God is calling us to act now.” 

3. Solution

The statement above set up the opportunity to introduce a bold new vision that we titled, “Brave.” Brave was a two-year vision initiative that addressed needs in our church, cities, and culture. I first took a moment to express how God had been stirring a fresh vision in my heart and the hearts of our leadership. I talked about the time we had taken to pray, reflect, and seek counsel. And then I introduced a five-minute, professionally produced vision video. The video re-highlighted some of our past accomplishments, and then it spelled out the vision in detail, as well as how much it would cost to fulfill the vision. 

Once the video was finished, I connected the dots between the problem and the solution. Even though the connection was made clear in the video, I reiterated it by saying, “By pursuing this vision, we will have room in our auditorium to reach people in our city who are far from God. We will have room for our kids ministry to continue to grow and thrive. And we’ll be able to serve those in need by planting new churches, caring for orphans and foster kids, developing leaders, and serving the poor in Kenya, Africa and other parts of our world.”

After the solution was clearly articulated, I then transitioned into the question everybody was thinking. I said, “So, what will it take to see this vision fully realized?” That set-up the fourth stage of vision-casting. 

Every leader has to create and cast compelling vision. In “The Insanely Practical Guide to Create, Communicate, & Capture Vision,” I take the guesswork out of vision to help you see, share, seize, and safeguard your vision. Get this downloadable 36-page guide today HERE.

4. Price 

Every vision comes with a price tag. The bigger the vision, the bigger the price. And the bigger the price, the more intentional you have to be about layering your vision-casting. In other words, you have to cast the vision to different groups of people at different times.

The first layer of my vision-casting was to our staff and board. Even though they already knew the details of the vision, it was important to articulate the entirety of the vision to them and their spouses in one gathering together. The second layer of vision-casting was to our faithful givers, and the third layer was to our volunteers. By the time we publicly introduced the vision in a Sunday morning service, we had already shared it with half of the congregation. This takes time, but it is absolutely essential to create the buy-in necessary to achieve a major vision. 

At each vision-casting meeting, I announced the date (our 5^th birthday as a church) that we would publicly share the vision. I also announced that we would engage our congregation in a two-year generosity initiative to raise the money to see the vision fulfilled. I provided a specific dollar amount, and I acknowledged that it was the biggest and most significant vision we had ever pursued as a church. 

I did not go into the nitty gritty details of how much every part of the vision would cost. Instead, I gave the bottom-line price tag, and I encouraged every person to participate. That led to the fifth stage. 

5. Partnership

The final stage in vision casting is to invite people to participate. We clearly communicated that our biggest priority was not a financial goal, but rather a participation goal. Yes, we made the financial price tag very clear, but we emphasized that if we had 100% participation, we believed God would help us reach our financial goal. 

During my invitation to partner with the vision, I said, “We believe this vision is so critical to the future of 7 City Church, and to the impact we can have on our community and world, that we will ask our congregation to elevate giving over the next two years.” I shared a few more details, and then told them that Karen and I had been praying about what God would have us to pledge to this vision. We were committed to leading the way. 

Finally, I highlighted a couple of printed vision resources (Brave vision one-pager and pledge card), and then I said, “We’re not asking you to write a check tonight.” Instead, I gave them three actions steps. First, I asked them to pray about how God would have them to participate. Second, I asked them to simply do whatever God told them to do. Third, I told everyone I’d like to meet with each of them one-on-one over the next 4-6 weeks to answer any questions they have. I assured them I’d be in touch to set up a time to meet. 

While we wanted every person to make a pledge, we didn’t want them to make the pledge until we had rolled out the vision to the entire congregation. This church-wide rollout included a 5-week sermon series, small groups, and pledge Sunday.

I closed our vision-casting gatherings by reading a verse that was core to our vision: “Remember that I commanded you to be strong and BRAVE. Don’t be afraid, because the Lord your God will be with you everywhere you go” (Joshua 1:9). Then I prayed and thanked everyone for joining us. 

These five stages of vision-casting can be used anytime you’re introducing people to a bigger and brighter future. They work. But they also require you to be extraordinarily intentional. 

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I’ve written over 400 blog articles on leadership, personal growth, church, culture, and organizational development. Whether you’re a pastor, organizational leader, or the member of a team, each article will help you grow in the areas that are essential for health and success. Be sure to check out the categories and tags to find your favorite topic.

2. FREE RESOURCES 

A number of free downloadable resources are available for personal growth, leadership, and improving organizational health. These helpful tools include the following:

• The Young Leader’s Guide to Building Influence
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• How to Create a Plan for Personal Growth
• Do Good Works (Six-Session Small Group Discussion Guide)
• What Does It Mean to Trust God?

Each of these free downloadable resources is designed to bolster your growth personally, foster a stronger team, and develop a healthier organizational culture. Plus, they’re not built on theory or simplistic thinking, but rather thought provoking wisdom and ideas that work. 

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I’ve written four books, and each one is designed to help your or your organization grow. Whether it’s discovering your life purpose, climbing the levels of personal growth, building a healthier culture, or deepening your faith in God, you’ll be encouraged and challenged with each resource. You can learn more about each of my books including:

• Do Good Works
• Creating Your Church’s Culture
• GO! Starting a Personal Growth Revolution
• Unexpected: What to Do When Life Disrupts Your Plans

Plus, Do Good Works has a free downloadable six-session discussion guide that can be used in small group environments. And Unexpected: What to Do When Life Disrupts Your Plans has a 5-session study guide that’s available for personal reflection or group discussion.

4. SPEAKING & COACHING 

Whether you’re looking for a speaker for your next conference or leadership event, or you’re seeking out coaching to help you breakthrough growth barriers, I’d love to help. I offer speaking and coaching to leaders, churches and organizations, and on my site you’ll find speaking topics, areas of coaching, and the ability to request speaking and coaching services. 

I hope you’ll stop by today and check out the new stephenblandino.com. 

1. Do: What priorities should we focus on? Financial stewardship during a crisis often begins with, “What can I cut?” We’ll get to that in a moment, but that’s not where you begin. Instead, focus on your highest priorities. In other words, identify what not to cut because of the critical nature it plays in your organization. If your priorities are not clear, you may unintentionally undermine the staff, programs, or products that are most essential to your ability to survive the crisis. 

2. Delete: What easy cuts can we make? Once priorities are clear, start looking at the “easy cuts” that you can make. Easy cuts usually include things that are nice to have but not essential to do business. It might include certain subscriptions, memberships, or spending decisions that are generally less disciplined.  

3. Discontinue: What services or purchases are not essential? Two services that were a regular part of our church services included our coffee service and the hiring of a police officer. When COVID-19 shut down Sunday services, there was obviously no longer a need for either service. What services can you temporarily suspend or discontinue during a crisis? Coffee and a police officer were obvious, but there may be other hidden expenses that simply aren’t needed any longer. 

4. Delay: What new initiatives should we temporarily suspend? Most churches and organizations have something in development at any given time, such as a new program, a new product, or interviewing for a new position. When a crisis hits, it’s often a good idea to delay these new initiatives. You’re not throwing them out the window, never to be seen again. Instead, you’re putting them on hold, delaying the hire or holding off on the program or product launch. 

5. Decrease: What budget lines should we reduce? Leaders will often make across the board cuts when finances are tight. For example, they might say, “Every department needs to cut 25% from their budget.” This is an easy way to get to the budget number looming over your head. While this might work, keep in mind that not every budget line is equal. Some budget lines are critical in a crisis, while you may be able to completely eliminate others. Be careful not to make equal decreases across the board. Understanding your highest priorities will help in this process. 

6. Delegate: What can we outsource for less or for free? For churches and other non-profits, take a look at the services you pay for and determine whether some of them could be delegated to a volunteer who is able and willing to volunteer their time, skill, and expertise. Not only will this save the organization money, but it will mobilize a volunteer to use their gifts and passions to make a difference.

7. Deal: What services or contracts can we renegotiate? It’s very easy to secure a contract and let years go by before we stop and evaluate if we’re getting the best deal. A crisis moment is a great time to revisit monthly and annual contracts on equipment, insurances, and other services to determine if you should renegotiate the terms of the contract or search for a better deal with a different vendor. 

8. Downsize: What services can we trim? When COVID-19 hit and our on-campus services stopped, we significantly reduced our janitorial services. With much of the building remaining empty, there was simply no need to pay for cleaning services in those areas. Downsizing can also apply to staff, but work hard to push this decision off as long as possible. If that time comes, you’ll have to determine what’s best in your situation. Different leaders take different approaches. Some lay off one person so that everybody isn’t negatively impacted. Others do across the board salary cuts—perhaps 10% or more. Others begin cuts by removing benefits such as matching retirement funds or eliminating the funding of a health savings account. Seek wisdom and perspective so you can manage these difficult decisions wisely and respectfully. 

9. Double: What should we invest in more? This probably sounds counterintuitive when finances are tight. However, depending on the situation, it may be wise to invest more money in areas that will deliver a greater return on investment. When COVID-19 hit and everything had to move online (services, groups, etc.), we had to increase our investment in technology. While it required more money, the investment was still fairly minor, but the return was well worth it. 

10. Distribute: What can we give to those in need? Finally, consider who you can help in the middle of the crisis. Generosity is not a character quality we only exhibit when times are good. Generosity is a way of life. There’s likely somebody hurting, out of work, in need of groceries, or struggling to pay their rent. What can you (personally and organizationally) do to help someone else?

These ten questions have application organizationally as well as personally. It’s a good place to start when a crisis disrupts your life, organization, or the world. 

1. Calm over Chaos – When crisis hits, the most respected leaders exhibit a calming presence. That doesn’t mean they don’t take the crisis seriously. Quite the opposite. They’re so serious about the crisis that they make sure their demeanor doesn’t add to the crisis. Chaos creates a culture of panic whereas calm creates a culture of peace. Leaders understand that their body language sets the tone for everyone else and everything else. 

2. Care over Callousness – Crisis creates tension. Emotions heat up under the pressure, and sometimes they can spill out onto the people around us. This communication tip is all about guarding your heart and exercising emotional intelligence. Everybody is stressed. Everybody. Give a bit more time to the “heart” side of leadership before you jump into the business side. Tough decisions have to be made, and people need to be held accountable, but remember, they’re still people. Like you, they still feel. Don’t let a callous response trump your commitment to compassion and care. 

3. Reality over Hype – Crisis communication acknowledge what’s really happening in the crisis. When a leader downplays the crisis, they present themselves as out of touch with reality. The temptation for these leaders is to shift into hype mode. They avoid the exaggeration of the crisis (which is good), but they swing to the other extreme and exaggerate positivity. Always remember, in a crisis, people want to know that their leader understands their fears and anxieties. Too much hype puts you out of touch with what’s really going on inside the people you lead. 

4. Research over Reaction – In a crisis, communication that catches people off guard is usually a sign of reactionship, instead of leadership. The challenge we face in crisis moments is that we usually have limited time to make important decisions. Simply put, the urgency of the moment demands a quick response. Even so, leaders need to take the time they do have to do whatever research they can. James 1:19 reminds us, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” Reactionary leadership reverses this truth: it’s slow to listen and quick to speak and become angry. Do your best to gather the facts, and then communicate what you can without making assumptions about the future. 

5. Priorities over Panic – Because time is strained in crisis moments, our highest priorities can get downgraded in the process. The things that are most important can become all but forgotten. Initially, you may need to make some quick adjustments, but recognize that your first decision doesn’t have to be your final decision. Work hard to identify your highest priorities in the midst of the crisis, and then let those priorities be your true north. When you have values-based priorities, you’ll lessen the panic and increase the peace. 

6. Clarity over Certainty – Leaders are often tempted in a crisis to do two things: predict and promise. On the one hand, we try to predict what will happen next, hoping it will create a greater sense of peace. On the other hand, we make promises we cannot keep. Both responses will undermine your church and the steps you’ll need to take in the future. Instead, as author Andy Stanley says, leaders must fight for clarity over certainty. You’ll never be completely certain about what to do because the circumstances are filled with too much change and uncertainty. But you can be clear. You can communicate a clear path forward in the midst of the uncertainty.  Don’t overpromise and don’t try to predict the future, but also don’t leave people guessing. Choose clarity over uncertainty. 

7. Hopefulness over Permanence – Several years ago I was watching a news program after a crisis hit a community where several people had lost their lives. During the program, the host interviewed members of a different community who had experienced a similar tragedy a few years earlier. The longer I watched the interview, the more depressed I became. Why? Because the people in the community where a crisis had hit years earlier kept painting layer upon layer of doom and gloom. Not only were things bad, they would always be bad.

In exasperation, the host finally asked a member of the community, “Can you offer any hope to the people who have just experienced this same tragedy in their hometown?” Finally, they mustered a few words that offered a glimmer of hope. Had it not been for this host’s quick response, the interview would have ended in a permanent abyss of despair. As a leader, you can’t ignore reality, but you also can’t turn brokenness into permanence. We must offer hope. People need the assurance that things will get better and that this crisis will eventually pass. Model hopefulness, and then encourage people to speak hope into their own souls. As David said, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5). 

The first response in each point above will demonstrate wisdom and produce a far healthier outcome. The second response will only magnify and multiply the crisis. Be careful not to speak the language of chaos, callousness, hype, reaction, panic, certainty, and permanence. Instead, choose the language of wisdom. Be calm and caring. Focus on reality, research, and priorities. And offer clarity and hopefulness as you move forward. 

Daniel served under four different kings (King Nebuchadnezzar, King Belshazzar, King Darius, and King Cyrus), and in each government administration he served in the highest levels of leadership. One verse gives us a glimpse into Daniel’s secret to building influence:

“Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom” (Daniel 6:3).

He distinguished himself by his commitment to God and his upright character, but there were three additional distinguishing characteristics of Daniel’s life and leadership: competence, courage, and consistency.

1. Competence

Daniel exhibited the gifts, abilities, and skills to effectively lead. Everybody has abilities, but Daniel’s understanding and approach to his giftedness set him apart.

A. Daniel Knew His Gifts and Their Source

When you read Daniel’s story, it becomes clear that he had three primary gifts:

• Knowledge and understanding
• The ability to interpret dreams, riddles, and problems
• The capacity for leadership

But Daniel not only knew his gifts, he also knew the source of his gifts. Daniel 1:17 says, “To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.” This is an important point to make, because in our culture, gifts quickly get turned into gods. We see this in sports, media, and anywhere there’s a platform. But Daniel kept his gifts in perspective by recognizing God as the source of his gifts. 

B. Daniel Had a Learning Attitude that Helped Him Grow His Gifts

When King Nebuchadnezzar captured Daniel and brought him to Babylon, Scripture describes his appetite for learning: 

“Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service” (Daniel 1:3-5).

Daniel was one of these men who applied his God-given gifts, knowledge, and understanding to learn the language and literature of Babylon. And Daniel 10:12 tells us that Daniel set his mind to gain understanding. It’s clear that God gave Daniel the aptitude to learn, but Daniel chose the attitude to learn. 

That’s the same choice God gives us today. God gives you the aptitude, but that God-given aptitude doesn’t do you much good if you don’t combine it with the attitude to learn. Your attitude toward growth determines the size of your growth. 

C. Daniel Used his Gifts to Serve the Kings with Excellence 

Daniel distinguished himself with a spirit of excellence. Daniel 1:18-20 says,

“At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

Consider this: Daniel served four corrupt and ungodly kings with excellence. This is an important insight. Sometimes God will place you in an environment to use your gifts to serve faithfully and with excellence—even though your leader is ungodly. That’s what God did with Daniel. He served four corrupt kings for over 65 years. How corrupt? 

• King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Daniel’s hometown of Jerusalem. He also threatened to have Daniel and the other wise men torn limb to limb, and to burn down their houses, if they didn’t interpret his dream. In addition, Nebuchadnezzar threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into a fiery furnace for refusing to bow down to his idol.
• King Belshazzar got drunk on wine out of the goblets that used to sit in the temple of God in Jerusalem. 
• King Darius had Daniel thrown in the lion’s den for praying to God instead of the king.

Again, these weren’t just mean kings…these were corrupt, inhumane, and ungodly kings. And yet, despite all of these acts of corruption, violence, and disrespect for God, Daniel faithfully—and with excellence—deployed his gifts in service to each king.

Here’s the lesson for us today: Sometimes you won’t agree with your leader’s decision. Sometimes your values will collide with those of your leader. Sometimes your leader will reject your faith and your God. But sometimes God calls his people into those environments to be light in the darkness. And when you show yourself—in that environment—to be competent, God will often increase your influence so that God’s Kingdom can expand in those broken places. 

2. Courage

Anytime you serve in a culture that opposes God or exhibits corruption, you will be faced with moments that require courage. Courage isn’t necessary when everybody thinks and acts like you. Courage is only necessary when you have to take a stand for what is right, and sometimes that comes with a cost. 

For example, Daniel had the Courage to speak the truth. On one occasion, he interpreted the handwriting on the wall for King Belshazzar. He told the king: 

“This is the message that was written: Mene, mene, tekel, and Parsin. This is what these words mean: Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up.Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (Daniel 5:25-28).

What king wants to be told he doesn’t measure up or that he’s about to lose his kingdom? Those are pretty risky words to tell a king who has the authority to kill you. But Daniel had the courage to speak the truth when the truth was unpopular. 

Daniel also had the courage to remain faithful to God. When King Darius issued an edict to pray only to him for 30 days, or face the consequence of the lion’s den, Daniel continued to pray to God alone (Daniel 6:10-11). He was faithful to God, even in the face of death. 

Sometimes courage starts with the smallest acts. In their book, A Leader’s Legacy, James Kouzes and Barry Posner share the story of Rosa Parks. On December 1, 1955, the bus driver of the Cleveland Avenue bus in Montgomery, Alabama demanded that black riders move from their seats in the racially neutral middle section of the bus to make way for white passengers. But a black rider named Rosa Parks remained seated. 

When he asked her if she was going to stand up, she said, “No, I am not.” When he threatened to have her arrested, she said, “Go ahead.” Rosa Parks’ actions weren’t strategic or grand; in fact, you could argue that they were simple and mundane. But Rosa’s refusal to move from her seat demonstrated the power of a single act of courage to stand up for what was right. 

Rosa wasn’t a powerful civil rights leader. She was a seamstress on her way home from work. She was a wife, member of her church, good neighbor, and a volunteer in the army of black citizens doing their part. But because of her single act of courage, she gave momentum to a movement. In her autobiography, Quiet Strength, Rosa writes:

“I didn’t get on the bus that day to get arrested. I got on the bus to go home.” She said, “It’s funny to me how people came to believe that the reason that I did not move from my seat was that my feet were tired. My feet were not tired, but I was tired of unfair treatment.” 

Rosa Parks was committed to a set of values that propelled her to make a courageous decision. She said, “There had to be a stopping place, and this seemed to have been the place for me to stop being pushed around and to find out what human rights I had, if any.”

When you look at Rosa Parks’ actual behaviors—not moving, saying no, willingly getting arrested—they are fairly simple actions. They don’t require big budgets or strategic planning sessions. They require only a personal decision and the will to stick with it. But that’s where courage often begins.

3. Consistency

Daniel did not gain and exert influence overnight. Daniel 1:21 says, “Daniel remained in the royal service until the first year of the reign of King Cyrus.”

Get the picture: Daniel served four kings—King Nebuchadnezzar, King Belshazzar, King Darius, and King Cyrus—from the time he was 16 until he was in his 80s. He slowly built influence, step-by-step, day-by-day, year-by-year, and choice-by-choice. Simply put, Daniel was consistent. He modeled…

• Consistent Commitment to God
• Consistent Character
• Consistent Competence
• Consistent Courage 

Anybody can do any of those things once. Anybody can be committed to God in a moment. Anybody can show character in a single moment of convenience. Anybody can be competent or courageous for a brief time. But Daniel’s commitment, character, competence, and courage were lifetime qualities. As a result, his influence and impact grew stronger year after year. 

Consistency has a compounding effect. In the same way money in an investment account compounds over time, consistency compounds your commitment, character, competence, and courage. Anybody can be good once, but consistency is what makes the difference.

In his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, John Maxwell shares the story of composer, John Williams. John Williams has written film scores for more than 120 movies, including classics like Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Last Ark, Superman, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and Harry Potter. What was his greatest key to success? Consistency. John Williams said:

“I developed from very early on a habit of writing something every day, good or bad. There are good days, and there are less good days, but I do a certain amount of pages it seems to me before I can feel like the day has been completely served. When I am working on a film, of course, it’s a six-day-a-week affair, and when I’m not working on films, I always like to devote myself to some piece, some musical project, that gives me a feeling that I’m maybe contributing in some small way or, maybe more importantly, learning in the process.”

No matter how good you are, without consistency, you’ll never make your greatest contribution to the world, and you certainly won’t build influence.

So, how would you score yourself in the five qualities necessary to build influence in a hostile culture. On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you score your:

• Commitment to God
• Character
• Competence
• Courage
• Consistency

More importantly, what one or two steps can you begin taking to improve. These are not quick fix solutions to a life of influence. They represent the long road. But they are the only way to build enduring influence amidst the hostility of culture. 

And yet, despite the hostility, God raised Daniel up to influence four different administrations of government over more than 65 years. He served in leadership roles under:

• King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 6:46-49)
• King Belshazzar (Daniel 5:29)
• King Darius (Daniel 6:1-2) 
• King Cyrus (Daniel 6:28)

How did Daniel gain so much influence in such a hostile culture? While Daniel was serving under King Darius, he, “so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom” (Daniel 6:3).

God’s favor certainly attributed to Daniel’s influence, but Daniel also distinguished himself in a way that God could trust him with greater influence. In part one, we learned that Daniel distinguished himself by his commitment to God…a commitment that had been tested in hardship and under pressure. But Daniel also distinguished himself with trustworthy Character. A closer look at Daniel’s life reveals three character qualities that can profoundly impact our lives today.

Three Qualities of Daniel’s Trustworthy Character: 

1. Integrity

Daniel chose integrity under every king he served—in the good times and in the tough times. For example, Daniel chose:

• Integrity Over Convenience – When Daniel, and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were captured and taken to Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar assigned them a daily ration of food and wine from his table. Initially, that sounds like a good deal. But notice how Daniel responds: “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way” (Daniel 1:8). Daniel wouldn’t eat the king’s food because the king worshipped idols, and the meat from his table had been offered to idols. In order to remain ceremonially clean, Daniel refused the food and instead asked for a diet of vegetables and water. Eating the food from the king’s table would have been the convenient thing to do, but Daniel chose character over convenience. Daniel put personal integrity before personal interests. What was the result? Ten days after starting the diet, Daniel and his friends looked healthier than the other young men. And after three years of training, the king chose Daniel and his friends to enter into his service. For Daniel, moral conviction superseded momentary convenience.

• Integrity Over Carrots – In the business world, leaders often motivate people with one of two things: sticks or carrots. For example, some people use the equivalent of a stick to motivate people by threatening them, beating them down, or whipping them into shape. When King Darius demanded that everyone worship him for thirty days, or be thrown into the lion’s den, that was “motivation by sticks.” Sticks says, “Do it…or face the consequences.” Other people use carrots to motivate people. They think, “If I just offer them a big enough reward—in other words, if I dangle a carrot in front of them—then they’ll gladly do whatever I say.” While carrots can be nice rewards, if the heart of the leader is corrupt, a carrot can quickly become a bribe. Daniel experienced the “carrot” when King Belshazzar summoned Daniel to interpret the “handwriting on the wall” that appeared after the king, his nobles, and their wives got drunk on wine using gold goblets taken from the temple of God. The king said to Daniel, “Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems.  If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom” (Daniel 5:16, emphasis added). There’s the carrot. I’ll give you honor and I’ll give you power. But Daniel’s character was greater than the carrot. He responded, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means” (Daniel 5:17). Daniel could not be bribed. In other words, Daniel was more concerned about doing right than he was about claiming his rights. Simply put, his integrity was not for sale. 

• Integrity Over Corruption – While Daniel was serving under King Darius, he so distinguished himself that the king intended to set him over his entire kingdom. But the other administrators were jealous, so they set out to discredit Daniel’s character. Daniel 6:4 says, “At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (emphasis added) Daniel’s character did not waiver in private, in public, or under pressure. Why? Because Daniel determined who held the pencil in his life. In his book, Homerun, Kevin Myers talks about the power of a pencil. He asserts that if we’re going to win on the inside—in other words, if we’re going to win in our character—we have to define the character lines in our lives. Simply put, we have to know what lines we are not willing to cross—lines between good & evil, between right & wrong, between wise & foolish. For some people, family or friends draw their character lines. For others, the media draws their character lines. And for others, political parties, educators, or personal feelings draw the lines. Who’s draws the character lines in your life? This is an important question because, whoever controls the pencil in your life draws the lines in your life. If you haven’t given God the power of the pencil in your life, then there’s a good chance you don’t know where the lines of truth are, which will ultimately result in character compromises. Daniel let God hold the character pencil of his life. God drew the lines, and Daniel became a leader of character. He could be trusted, and as a result his influence increased. 

2. Wisdom

During the second year of his reign, King Nebuchadnezzar kept having dreams that were troubling him. So, he gathered his wise men and demanded that they not only interpret his dreams, but that they tell him what he dreamed in the first place. 

Obviously, that would seem impossible. It’s one thing to say, “Let me tell you about a dream I had last night, and then ask you what it means.” But it’s entirely different to say, “I had a dream last night…now, tell me what I dreamed and what it means.” 

Because the king’s wise men couldn’t fulfill his request, Nebuchadnezzar’s ordered that they all be executed. Daniel was one of the wise men, but when Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard arrived to have Daniel put to death, Daniel spoke with wisdom and tact. He said:

“Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him” (Daniel 2:14-16).

Think about Daniel’s response. When he heard the news, he didn’t start yelling at Arioch. He didn’t resist arrest, pull out a sword and start swinging, or go into hiding. Instead, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. That insight is the answer to more of your problems than you even realize.

When somebody brings you a problem, don’t fly off the handle. Instead, deal with it with wisdom and tact. When your kids start complaining, don’t yell back. Instead, handle it with wisdom and tact. When a co-worker blames you for something you didn’t do, don’t start hurling insults and threats at them. Instead, handle it with wisdom and tact. When someone starts touting their political persuasion, don’t get into an argument with them. Instead, handle it with wisdom and tact. 

Wisdom and tact are two of the greatest conflict resolution strategies available to you today. Why? Because wisdom tells you what to say, and tact tells you how to say it. Daniel grew in influence because he understood the power of these two keys. As a result, Daniel was able to buy enough time to seek God, receive the interpretation to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and ultimately save a lot of lives. 

3. Humility

After God revealed to King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel, Daniel’s first response was to worship God. When he stood before the king, Nebuchadnezzar said, “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?” (Daniel 2:26b). Most people in a situation like that would see it as a chance for a promotion. Most people would stand up straight, puff out their chest, and try to make themselves look good. But not Daniel. Daniel’s posture was humility, not pride. Daniel 2:27-28a records Daniel’s reply to the king:

“No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come” (emphasis added). 

Then Daniel went on to accurately describe the kings dream and its meaning. As a result, King Nebuchadnezzar promoted Daniel to be ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and as chief over all his wise men (Daniel 2:48). 

Here’s the lesson for us today: The fastest way up, is down. Promotion doesn’t begin with pride; it begins with humility. Daniel understood that principle, but unfortunately King Nebuchadnezzar did not. 

On another occasion, King Nebuchadnezzar had another dream. When Daniel interpreted this dream, he basically told Nebuchadnezzar, “You’re like a tree, and one day you’re going to be chopped down. You’re going to lose your power and your kingdom, and you’ll live with the animals of the field.” 

Daniel pleaded with the king to stop sinning, do what was right, and have mercy on the poor (Daniel 4:27), but the king refused to listen. One year later, King Nebuchadnezzar was walking around the rooftop of his palace in Babylon, admiring the monument he had built for his own glory. As he did, he said: 

“Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor” (Daniel 4:30b, emphasis added).

As he spoke those words, the judgment of God fell on King Nebuchadnezzar, and he lived like an animal for seven years (Daniel 4:31-33). Notice the contrast between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel’s humility promoted him, but Nebuchadnezzar’s pride demoted him. 

After seven long years, Nebuchadnezzar finally acknowledged the Most High God. As a result, his kingdom was restored to him. Daniel chapter four closes with these words: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud” (Daniel 4:37). Pride builds monuments, but humility builds ministry. 

A beautiful example of this can be seen in the life of Robert Murray McCheyne. McCheyne was a preacher of the Gospel, and in the 19^th century he travelled Scotland declaring the good news of Jesus. After preaching the Gospel, and seeing people come to faith in Christ, McCheyne rod out of town on his horse. When he could no longer be seen, he got off of his horse, knelt down, and then took an imaginary crown off his head and put it on the Lord Jesus Christ. It was his way of humbling himself and reminding himself who deserves the credit and the glory. 

Ezra Taft Benton once said, “Pride is concerned about who’s right. Humility is concerned about what’s right.” Daniel learned this lesson early on, and he walked in a spirit of humility under each king he served. 

Those three keys—integrity, wisdom, and humility—were the foundation of Daniel’s character. The natural by-product was that people trusted Daniel. And when people trust you, your influence usually increases…even in a corrupt and broken culture.  

Today, let me challenge you to take a simple “Trustworthy Character” test. It’s only three questions: 

• Integrity: Who holds the pencil and draws the lines of truth in my life?
• Wisdom: Does what I say and how I say it reflect wisdom and tact?
• Humility: Am I more concerned about who’s right or what’s right?

Your honest answers to these questions will give you a glimpse of the character in your life. If you really want to know, ask a trusted mentor to answer the questions for you. They might provide perspective you cannot see for yourself.  

Building long-lasting influence in a hostile culture requires character depth. Shallow character won’t do the job. You need integrity, wisdom, and humility. That trio will prepare you for leadership, and possibly even lead to your promotion. 

• How do followers of Christ positively exert influence in a culture filled with so much political divisiveness?
• How do followers of Christ positively exert influence in a culture where corruption is rampant and civility no longer sets the tone for the day?
• How do followers of Christ positively exert influence when the hottest issues of the day—issues like immigration, abortion, and racism—create a polarizing effect that leads to more hatred and hostility?

Many would argue, “It’s not even possible for followers of Jesus to thrive in such a culture.” In fact, many would argue that we shouldn’t even try—that instead, we should retreat from culture and hide, safely tucked away in our Christian bubble. 

But I believe Scripture teaches the opposite…that it is possible to thrive in a hostile culture. I’m not naïve, uninformed, or overly optimistic, but when you read the story of Daniel, it’s clear that it’s happened before. In fact, the culture Daniel lived in over 2,500 years ago makes our culture today look like a picnic. 

Daniel was a teenager—probably about 16 years old—when he was captured around 605 B.C. King Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, captured all the young men of Jerusalem, and carted them off to Babylon. Imagine being 16 years old and being taken as a prisoner of war. Imagine being 16 years old and being separated from your family, friends, and homeland while being thrust into a culture that was hostile toward your faith in God. 

And yet, despite the hostility, God raised Daniel up to influence four different administrations of government over more than 65 years. What role did Daniel play in these government administrations? 

• Under King Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel was elevated as the ruler over the entire province of Babylon (Daniel 6:46-49).
• Under King Belshazzar, Daniel was promoted to the third highest ruler in the kingdom (Daniel 5:29).
• Under King Darius, Daniel was an administrator who helped provide oversight to 120 satraps (Daniel 6:1-2). 
• Under King Cyrus, Scripture simply tells us that Daniel prospered during his reign (Daniel 6:28).

How is all of that possible? How did Daniel go from a nobody to a somebody, from so little influence to so much influence, from a captive to a leader in Babylon? 

Two words: God’s favor.

Daniel’s story is laced with God’s favor from start to end. The chief official agreed to Daniel’s request for a diet of vegetables and water. God enabled Daniel to interpret dreams for two different kings. God rescued Daniel from a den of lions. And God elevated Daniel to positions of influence under four different kings. 

Here’s the thing about God’s favor—you can’t demand it; you can only position yourself for it. And that’s exactly what Daniel did. While Daniel was serving under King Darius, he…

“so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom” (Daniel 6:3).

That verse raises an obvious question: Exactly how did Daniel distinguish himself? A closer look at his life reveals five “distinguishing characteristics.” In this article, I want to address his first quality: Tested Commitment. Daniel was deeply committed to God, but what made his commitment to God so great was that it had been tested. 

When you test something, it reveals its quality. For example, when you test drive a car, it reveals the quality of the car’s ride. When you taste test your mom’s fresh baked apple pie, it reveals the quality of the pie. When a student goes to school to become a doctor, or a lawyer, they take tests—usually lots of tests—to make sure they know their craft. You don’t really want a doctor to operate on you who hasn’t been tested. You don’t really want a lawyer to represent you whose knowledge of the law hasn’t been tested. It’s not until something has been tested that you know its true quality. 

The same is true in our commitment to God. It’s not until our commitment to God is tested that we discover how committed to God we really are. Why is that important? Because, the only commitment to God that makes a real difference in a hostile culture is one that has passed the test. In fact, an untested faith is probably not much of a faith at all. So, how was Daniel’s commitment to God tested? 

1. The Authenticity Test: Daniel was Committed to God Personally

When you hold a dollar bill up to the light, you can see watermarks on the bill, verifying its authenticity. When you draw a line with an iodine pen on the bill, the color of the ink will reveal whether the paper used to print the currency is authentic. Similarly, the authenticity of our commitment to God is revealed when our commitment is tested. 

Daniel discovered this firsthand. After King Darius decided to elevate Daniel over his entire kingdom, Daniel’s fellow administrators and satraps got jealous of him and tried to find grounds to discredit him. The problem was, they couldn’t find accusation to bring against him. Daniel 6:5 says, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”

Daniel had a reputation for serving the God of Israel. In fact, Daniel had a reputation for praying three times per day. His commitment to God was not a secret…it was the real deal. 

Here’s the point: Authenticity gave credibility to Daniel’s commitment to God. You cannot fake your relationship with God, and you cannot delegate your relationship with God. You have to personally own it. In fact, if anything repulsed Jesus, it was pride and pretense. He said, “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding” (Matthew 6:1, MSG). Authenticity attracts the attention of God, and authenticity puts credibility in your commitment to God. 

2. The Intimacy Test: Daniel was Committed to God in Prayer

Daniel’s greatest priority was not to grow in influence with people; his greatest priority was to grow in intimacy with God. We see this play out when Daniel’s accusers convinced King Darius to pass a law that made it illegal to pray to any god, or any human, other than King Darius himself. If anyone broke this law, they would be thrown into the lion’s den (Daniel 6:6-9). That’s a pretty blatant sign of hostile, narcissistic leadership. But look how Daniel responds. 

“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10). 

The reason Daniel’s commitment to God didn’t waiver in public is because his commitment to prayer didn’t waiver in private. His commitment to God passed the intimacy test, and intimacy with God is only formed in a personal habit of prayer. 

Hugh Cairns, lord chancellor of the United Kingdom in the late 1800s, attributed any accomplishments during his lifetime and leadership to his habit of prayer. He started each day with two hours of communion with God through the discipline of prayer and study of God’s Word. He once said, “Do you suppose I come to a Cabinet meeting without first having talked it over with God?” Cairns, too, passed the intimacy test. His habit of prayer in private impacted his discipline of leadership in public. 

3. The Loyalty Test: Daniel was Committed to God Under Pressure

Daniel didn’t stop following God when it became extraordinarily inconvenient. After the edict was issued not to pray to anyone other than King Darius, Daniel continued to pray three times per day…“just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10-11). He remained loyal to God when the pressure was on. He remained loyal to God despite the hostile threat of the lion’s den. 

Then, verses 13 and 16 tell us what happened next: “Then they told the king, ‘That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.’…So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, ‘May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.’”

And that’s exactly what God did. He sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions, and He delivered Daniel. The lesson is clear: you don’t really know if somebody is committed until their commitment is tested under pressure. The pressure reveals the quality of what’s inside of a person. Daniel remained loyal to God under the pressure of a hostile culture. 

Charles Thomas Studd (or C. T. as he was commonly known) was a wealthy Englishman who sold everything after coming to Christ, and he became a missionary to China and then India. But C. T. struggled with continued health issues. In fact, after returning from England, his friends described him as a “museum of diseases.”

Despite his physical struggles, C. T.’s commitment to missions wasn’t over. He sensed God calling him to the heart of Africa when he was 50 years old. After sharing his vision with a group of business leaders, they agreed to support him under the condition that his doctor would give him the go ahead. Unfortunately, he didn’t. 

Eventually these business leaders withdrew their offer of support when Studd declined their stipulations to restrict his efforts in Africa. But C. T. still obeyed God’s call, and he started what today is known as WEC International before he died in Africa. 

C.T. Studd could have easily succumbed to the pressure to retreat to a life of safety. Instead, his commitment to God passed the loyalty test, and he remained single-mindedly focused on what God called him to do. 

Building godly influence in a hostile culture is not easy. It starts with a commitment to God that has been tested. Everybody wants God’s favor, but it’s most often found on the other side of tested commitment. The question you have to answer is, “How do I respond when my commitment to God is tested?”

But before the wet cement around these goals dries, ask yourself five organizational questions to make sure your plan is solid. These questions will help you gain greater clarity and confidence, and they’ll give you a track to run on for the future. 

Where are we stuck? Every organization has blind spots or sticking points that are derailing their momentum and potential. Simply put, they’re stuck. To move beyond “stuckness,” it’s helps to conduct a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). Conducting a SWOT analysis will help you better understand what’s happening internally and externally. 

Evaluating Strengths and Weaknesses reveals what’s happening within the organization through your existing programs, services, products, structures, as processes. Evaluating Opportunities and Threats helps you look externally to discover new ideas and opportunities, and to pay attention to the threats that have the ability to undermine your organization and mission. From all of this data, you can formulate a plan of action to move forward. 

The best way to conduct a SWOT analysis is to assemble a small team of leaders that can think objectively about the currently state of the organization, and strategically about the future direction of the organization. Who you gather around the table is the greatest predictor of a successful SWOT analysis. 

What is our greatest growth engine, and how can we invest in it more strategically? Every organization has services, programs, or products that produce the greatest organizational growth and impact. The question is, “How can we invest more strategically in these growth engines?” Rather than allocating your time, personnel, and financial resources to low-return activities, identify what generates the greatest growth and the deepest impact. Then, align your resources to those activities.

The best way to identify growth engines is to look at organizational metrics over an extended period of time. Don’t just consider a few weeks or months of data. Look at the last couple of years. Once you’ve identified a growth engine, you’ll have to make some hard decisions about what changes need to be made to give greater attention to these growth engines. These hard decisions might require you to reduce funding in other areas, restructure organizationally, or even cut “dead wood” so that your growth engines are no longer encumbered. 

How are we developing existing and future leaders? An organization can only grow when it has the leaders necessary to scale. Author Jim Collins observes that organizations risk long-term decline when their short-term growth outpaces their ability to get the right people in the right seats. Robust growth without robust leadership development eventually leads to a decline. This is difficult to see when you’re actually experiencing growth, but if you don’t ask, “Who are our future leaders?” and then create a plan to develop and deploy these leaders, you’ll hit an organizational wall that stops you in your tracks. 

How can we improve the health of our organizational culture? Having a healthy culture is essential in any organization. You can have the biggest goals, the greatest strategy, and the most talented team, but an unhealthy culture will undermine all of them. For example, if you have a low-trust culture, silos will form and an “us vs. them” mentality will sidetrack your efforts. If you have a culture that shows little regard for your team members, you’ll have a hard time keeping great talent. If you have a culture that doesn’t value growth, feedback, or coaching, mediocrity will become the standard of success. 

Do an assessment on your organization’s culture, and then take the steps necessary to improve. One resource to help you get started is Gallup’s Q12 Employee Engagement Survey. This easy-to-use and cost-effective tool will give you an immediate snapshot of your employee engagement level and help you better understand where to focus improvements. 

What are our “Who will do what by when” goals? Goal-setting is common, but goal reaching is far less common. Why? Because our goals often lack the appropriate clarity and accountability to ensure fulfillment. The first step is to set good goals. I recommend Michael Hyatt’s S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goal framework. S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals are Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Risky, Time-Keyed, Exciting, and Relevant. Once those goals are established, ask the question, “Who will do what by when?” In other words, every action step under every goal should have an owner—somebody that is held accountable to reach a specific step by a specific deadline. This will ensure your goals are translated into action and deliver the intended results. 

To make your future count, ask these five questions to make sure you’re investing your time, energy, and resources on the right priorities. 

If you want to create goals that bolster your growth, I would recommend that you start with a series of questions. These questions provide perspective, help you clarify what’s most important, and provide a framework to establish better priorities as you move forward. 

• What can I learn from last year? Before rushing into a new year with a robust list of goals, first stop and reflect on the previous year. What did you learn? What worked, what didn’t work, and why? What new habits did you develop (good or bad)? How did your character grow? What did God do in your life over the last twelve months? Giving adequate attention to the previous year has two benefits. First, it helps you mine and assimilate valuable lessons into your life. Second, it gives you context and clarity for setting future goals. 

• Where do I sense the Holy Spirit leading me to grow this year? It’s very easy to rattle off a list of growth goals when the year starts. “I want to lose weight and get in shape.” “I want to start a new hobby.” “I want to save more and spend less.” Most of us intuitively know what we could do better and the areas of our lives where we need to make adjustments, or even complete overhauls. But have you stopped to ask the Holy Spirit what He wants you to do? Yes, getting in shape, starting a hobby, and becoming financially disciplined are important—even biblical. I’m confident the Holy Spirit wouldn’t have any problem with you giving attention to these areas. But the purpose of seeking the Spirit’s direction for your growth is to attune you to the areas you may not be thinking about. Silencing the noise in your head and taking time to simply ask the Holy Spirit what He wants you to focus on may very well reveal insights you’ve never considered.  

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• What single step this year would make the biggest positive impact in my family relationships? All of us want thriving relationships at home, but if we’re honest, we can easily take advantage of these relationships because of the constant demands placed on us at work and in ministry. One of the best things you can do is to get painfully specific. What is one thing you can do to strengthen family relationships? What is one step you can take to make a daily deposit in your family’s health? Rather than beating yourself up over a litany of things you could do better, pick one action step that would have the single greatest impact on the quality of your family relationships. A single step could be, “Don’t be away from home more than two nights per week.” Or “Be home from work by 6:00 pm every night.” Or “Eat dinner as a family five nights a week.” Or “Do a date night once a week.” You get the point. One step that would have the singles biggest impact. 

• What would make me a healthier leader this year? The health of the organization is often a reflection of the health of its leaders. So, rather than asking, “How can I become a better leader?”, ask yourself, “What would make me a healthier leader?” Could the answer to both questions be the same? Maybe. But health isn’t just focused on competencies. It looks at the whole of the leader. For example, “working less” so you are adequately rested might actually make you a healthier leader. This has nothing to do with competencies or organizational strategies, but there’s no doubt the organization would benefit from a leader who feels rested and refreshed. 

• How can I better align my life and resources to live out my purpose and values? God created you with a clear purpose. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The more time you spend doing the “good works” God created you to do, the greater impact you’ll have in the world. It doesn’t do much good to have a life mission or a set of core values that have no impact on your life, your time, or your resources. How can you create better alignment? Perhaps you need to focus your schedule so you can give more time to maximizing your gifts and abilities. Maybe you need to rework your budget so you can invest in causes where you have the greatest passion. Maybe you need to develop a more disciplined morning routine so that you can give energy and time to your value for personal growth. 

You could ask yourself dozens of questions, but these five are a good place to start. Carve out a couple of hours—or maybe a full day—to answer these questions and then craft a roadmap forward. I believe the outcomes will bolster your personal growth this year. 

However, in most cases, opportunity is not an entitlement. Just because I want it, doesn’t mean I’ll get it—or deserve it. So, how do I attract opportunity to me? How do I increase the odds that I’ll experience the opportunity I hope to see, whether that opportunity is a promotion, a new assignment, or a lifetime dream? While there is really no guarantee that certain opportunities will come your way (and that’s important to recognize), there are four things you can do now to position yourself for opportunity. 

1. Superior Performance

If you only do what’s expected, don’t be surprised if nobody notices. Mediocre, average, or just-enough-to-get-by performance won’t get you anywhere. Great opportunities usually only come to people who have performed greatly. If you want to attract new opportunities your way, start delivering your “A” game now. You may not be the best, but if you don’t give your best you certainly won’t attract the best opportunities. As John Maxwell often says, “People don’t pay for average.” 

2. Strong Passion

Leaders don’t like to promote people who exhibit little excitement about their job. After all, past performance is the best indicator of future performance. If you can’t show excitement in the job you have now, your boss isn’t likely to hand you more responsibility or opportunity. Passion isn’t a matter of personality; it’s a matter of self-motivation. Having passion shows your leader that you know how to motivate yourself, and self-motivated people are much more likely to experience new opportunities. Your leader doesn’t have time or energy to constantly motivate you or light a fire under you. Genuine and sincere passion gets noticed.  

3. Second-Mile Perseverance

I recently heard an Entreleadership interview with Mark Miller, Chick-fil-a’s Vice President of High Performance Leadership. Miller said, “Opportunity is found in the second mile.” People notice the extra. When everyone else clocks out early—or even on time—second mile leaders go beyond the status quo. Going the first mile might help you keep your job, but going the second mile is where promotions are found. Second mile perseverance is what sets you apart from the rest of the pack. And here’s the truth: very few people go the second mile. Those who do rise above the pile.

4. Steady Preparation

In the same interview, Mark Miller went on to say that you don’t determine opportunity; you determine readiness. In most cases, we can’t force an opportunity to happen. We can’t demand it, manipulate it, or orchestrate it. We can only prepare for it. As Coach John Wooden used to say, “When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.” If you’re going to prepare for opportunity, you have to cultivate a lifelong learning attitude. You don’t prepare once. You don’t prepare by attending one training event, reading one book, or completing one course. Opportunity comes to those who have developed a discipline of steady preparation. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year. You can’t determine the opportunity, but you can determine if you’re ready for it. 

If you dream of having greater opportunities in your future, you can’t simply wait for those opportunities to appear. Opportunities are much more likely to come to the person who chooses today to exhibit superior performance, strong passion, second-mile perseverance, and steady preparation. While opportunities are future-oriented, the preparation for them is now-oriented.