Leading Hope with Kevin Jack: Recent Episodes
Leading Hope with Kevin Jack
The Archive:Episode 178 “3 Pillars of Self-Awareness”Watch EpisodeAlso Available On:Never Miss A Thing!
The Archive:Episode 197 “Only Let God Uproot You”Watch EpisodeAlso Available On:Never Miss A Thing!
The Archive:Episode 93 “How To Tell A Story”Watch EpisodeAlso Available On:Never Miss A Thing!
The Archive:Episode 147 “The Future Leader”Watch EpisodeAlso Available On:Never Miss A Thing!
The Archive:Episode 85 “Stay Positive”Watch EpisodeAlso Available On:Never Miss A Thing!
The Archive:Episode 126 “Get Rid Of It”Watch EpisodeAlso Available On:Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 241Also Available On:Forced MaturityJuly 31Leader NotesCo-Dependent Definition: Emotional or psychological reliance on a partner. Tendency of leaders to set-up their leadership as co-dependent. + Small Ways: Can’t make a decision because the Boss it out of town. + Big Ways: “We left the Church because the pastor left, it’s just what you do” * Issue: The test of great leadership is what happens when you’re absent*.
Why Do We Do That? Kindest Way: We don’t even realize we’re doing it and we don’t know how not to. + Where tools like vision, values, systems come into play when they’re being used to empower, not create bureaucracy. * Realest Way: We feel like imposters, we’re not secure in our role, we want to feel needed*. + Acknowledge that it feels good to need your opinion to make a decision. + Acknowledge that it feels good for people to leave because you’re no longer there because it’s not the same. * Point + We want to feel wanted. + When a leader leads to feel wanted, they become needed, and create co-dependency.
Co-Dependent LeadershipThe Impact of Co-Dependent Leadership1. Hurts longevity. No momentum beyond current tenure. 2. Cripples Development. Think of like a parent who needs to be needed by their kids. The result is the kids never become adults. Here: The followers never become leaders in their own right.
Antidote You antidote to co-dependent leadership is security. * Security is built on: + Awareness of Gifting. - Don’t need validation of your competency. - Security is built on testing and trial, not just affirmation. - Amateurs want to know they did well, professionals want to know how they can get better. Donald Miller. + Commitment to Calling, not assignment. - Security will never exist if all you have is a job. - What I do supercedes the person I’m doing it with’s opinion of me. + Effectiveness that is built on your willingness to adapt*. - Key is listening and adapting. - People will tell you how to lead them, not because it’s a perfect match.
Conclusion* The danger of co-dependent leadership. * Cultivate Security. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 240Also Available On:Forced MaturityJuly 31Leader NotesIntro Maturity is a good thing. * Def: having reached the most advanced stage. Obviously not what we think, advanced stage. * Mature is not about being serious or lacking fun. * Immature: Not fully Developed*.
How We Think Development Happens It takes time…somewhat accurate. * Maturity is gradual; but it is not inevitable*. + Development takes time; but time doesn’t mean develop is going to happen.
How to Force Maturity You can force maturity through responsibility. + Example: A friend (Robby Brown) & his level of maturity + I’ve never met a mature person who carries no responsibility. * The best way to bring people to development is to add responsibility.* * Conversation with a friend (Ward) on Leadership.
Notes Proper responsibility will add strength, too much weight will cause it to crack. * People vastly underestimate their ability to carry weight. Church Plant Days * There is no such thing as leadership development that isn’t load bearing* Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 239Also Available On:Habits of Self-AwarenessJuly 24Leader NotesIntro-Quick Recap The danger of self-awareness becoming unbalanced * Self-Awareness is not a gifting, it’s a set of habits and disciplines. * Today: The Habits that bring self-awareness*
Read The Room How do people respond to you? Kindness can distort your view of reality. + What is the response when you speak: - Do people in? Do they look down? - Don’t mistake authority for influence. + What is the response when you enter: - Energy go up or go down? + Other Questions - Do people tease you? If they don’t, probably take yourself too seriously. - Do people confide in you? If they don’t, probably afraid of you. * Key Question: What are the nonverbal cues to my presence?*
Ask the Room Quickest way to gain self-awareness. * Favorite Question: What’s it like to be on the other side of me? * Doing it is worth nothing, doing it right means everything!* + Don’t argue. + Implement.
Close* Self-Awareness is a discipline.Two Habits to help you in that. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 238Also Available On:Don’t let this become unbalancedJuly 17Leader NotesIntro We are not “balance” people*. * Obviously, some things need balanced: Today talk about self-awareness
The Problem Give a picture of self-awareness: Ripple effects of your decisions and your presence. * The problem is when others awareness of you exceeds your own level of self-awareness*.
What happens when that becomes unbalanced: You keep making messes that you’re unaware of. * You slow down because you always have to re-calibrate yourself to current reality. * You will eventually lose your leadership*. People will deal with a mess when you’re winning, never when you’re losing: Coaches
What makes this so Tricky: Others, always, have a better a view of you than you do. + Literally: YOU CAN’T SEE YOU! So you don’t know what it’s like when you enter the room, or leave it! * Which means: Self-Awareness if not about gifting, it’s about the discipline to gain that perspective.* + Not Gifting: When someone says, “I’m really self-aware”, they’re not. Or they were at one time, but they’re not. + There are habits of self-awareness that must be cultivated. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 237Also Available On:Two Words to Shorten Any MeetingJuly 10Leader NotesNote: Purpose of this podcast is to save you time, we will do that and not go any longer than the content needs.Content We all hate long, unproductive, meetings. * The two words: I agree*! * Meetings are long because… + People feel the need to weigh in and give their two cents; meetings are about better decisions because of a better perspective. + People hide a lack of clarity of thought behind many words. If I wanted your perspective I would have asked, I want to know what you would do. * Implement this: Tell people, if you agree; say it. Then let’s move on. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 236Also Available On:Outcome ThinkingJuly 3Leader NotesIntro* Quick rant on “Thinking Limitations” + The Limitation: We think Input vs Desired Outcome * Series coming up of “And Here’s Why…” The importance of outcome-based thinking.
Where we Fail Start: I want to accomplish this. (Goal or Desired Outcome) * Next: In order to do that, I need to do this. (Best Guess) * Discipline: I did what I set out to do. * Issue: Did what you did do what you wanted it to do?*
Why You Need Outcome Thinking Someone’s else’s input will have different results for you than them.* Physically, Eating, Preparation, Education.
Different Pieces People say “Think Process, not goals”. + Yes, goals are only met through process. + But you must think process and goals*. * Goals: S.O.M.E. Goals (Outcome Based) + Activity and Outcome must always stay connected- but outcome matters more than activity. * Exercise + Toyota: 5 Why’s: Get to the root of the problem and not just deal with the surface issue. + Outcome-Thinking: 5 So What’s. WIthin 5 you better be at the Vision. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 235Also Available On:Two Way DoorsJune 26Leader NotesIntro:
– Jeff Bezos idea on decisions: Two Way Doors and One Way Doors.
– Implications
How This Changes:
– Pace:
– One-Way: Slow
– Two-Way: Relatively Quickly. Don’t need high confidence level, just some intuition.
– People:
– Two-Way: Few
– One-Way: Many points of input. Not just for better decision-making but because we’ll all have to live in the reality.
Failures:
– We treat every decision like a two way, or a one way.
– Two way Like a one way:
– Unnecessarily waste time and get significantly behind.
– Bad decision makers think they’re making decisions
– One way like a two way
– Resentment builds in.
– Paint yourself into a corner.
Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 234Also Available On:MagicJune 19Leader NotesThe magic you’re looking for is in the work you’re avoiding.Reality The thing I want to do; got me here. The thing I don’t want to do; will get me there.*
Questions: What do you do first? What do you put off last? Flip Them! * Who are you drawn to first, who do you ask their opinion last? Flip Them! * What project keeps coming on your “I need to get to” list. Do you keep pushing it back due to lack of impact or because of difficulty?* Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 233Also Available On:Learning HumilityJune 12Leader NotesWhat Humility Is A fake lack of confidence * Unawareness of your giftings * Humility is the absence of pre-occupation with yourself.* + Humility is not thinking less of yourself, humility is thinking of yourself less. CS Lewis
One Reason Humility Is So Important Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." * Humility reveals the gap that you can grow into.*
Important idea I used to think humility was the default and pride slowly crept in. * I now believer that pride is the default, and humility has to be learned. * Evidence: JJ Reddick & Lebron James podcast. Kids, Staff. * We assume competency and mastery are much closer than they actually are.*
Learning HumilityPart One* People use the phrase "being humbled" * "Humbled" comes at two moments: + When ignorance meets competency + When competency meets mastery * Notes: + Humbled does result in at least a short-term humility. + You don't have to be humbled to be humble.
Part Two Humility is a posture, humbled is an event. Humility is not being unaware of competency, it is believing you have more to learn to reach mastery. * Key: I don't have to be around a master to grow in my mastery. I can learn it from anywhere.* * That's humility: I have room to grow and everyone can help me get there. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 232Also Available On:The missing link in how People Buy Into YouJune 5Leader NotesIntro* People buy into a leader before they buy into a vision or culture.
They Need to Like You* Tim Sanders book on Likeability * People who came out after biographies of Steve Jobs to counter them.
They Need to Trust You* Character & Competency. Integrity & Ability. * Competency attracts * Character sustains
They Need to Want to Follow You* Able to follow: you’re going somewhere. * Want: Bold Direction.
They need to know you trust them.* You have to be willing to go alone on hills you’ll die on. * You have to be willing to change your path. * People buy into your why (where), they need to know you’ll change your how.
People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 231Also Available On:How Leaders Decide What to Work OnMay 29Leader NotesIntro Feeling I’ve felt at times of didn’t know what to do, especially if I empowered others. * Leaders are proactive about their schedules.*
Transition The leader shift is from task to time.* * I can’t complete most things, because they’re never completed; but I can make them better. * I can’t think what I can complete, I must think what I should invest my time into.
How to Decide1. Your priority is driven by the vision. 2. Cultural work is driven by investigation. 1. Baptism Investigation. 2. Values Investigation. 3. Find new ways to gather people: Vision priority that I’m doing cultural investigation. 3. Your development is driven by your next season 1. Not weakness, skill you will need to rely upon in the next season. 2. You figure that out by asking others. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 230Also Available On:Know Your ExcuseMay 22Leader NotesIntro* We know: Growth and Comfort are incompatible. * Choose Your Hard: Workout or Poor Health, Regret or Discipline, Pleasing everyone or Pursuing what matters, Debt or Financial Discipline. * When displayed like that- the choice is easy.
Caution* The Danger: We never think we choose the wrong hard, we introduce an unnecessary extreme. + Work Hard or Stay Same…..Not a workaholic. + Be Fit or Unhealthy….Still going to be social. + Debt or Financial Discipline….Still going to have fun. + Leader or People Pleaser….Not going to be a jerk. * We never accept we chose the wrong hard, we paint an extreme and position ourselves against that.
Teaching We avoid the wrong extreme. * If you’re trying to develop a habit, you are obviously more predisposed to choosing the wrong hard. You’re not close to the other extreme. * Introducing the wrong extreme only gives you an excuse.*
Application You’re not close to burnout, you’re closer to laziness. * You’re not close to being a health nut, you’re closer to not making any healthy decisions. * You’re not close* to not being able to be with friends, you’re close to not being able to get a loan.
Point You have to know which excuse you’ll gravitate towards: + Workout (Piece of Cake) Healthy Eating (Piece of Cake!). I’ll tell myself, well I have to eat like this to be social. I’m not close to not being social; I’m close to never eating healthy. + My risk is not accessibility, my risk is a lack of prioritization on what really matters. + My risk is not neglecting my kids, my risk is not being with friends. * Avoiding the wrong extreme keeps you in mediocrity.* Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 229Also Available On:A Mountain a DayMay 15Leader NotesIntro* Feeling at Church Plant that everything was just leading into Sunday and that I had one significant day and 6 prep days. * Shifted to two days that were significant: Big meetings on Wednesday & Spiritually significant on Sundays. * Now: A mountain a day.
Tips/Focus1. Expectation 1. That’s not going to happen everyday. 2. Not every hour will be significant because of energy levels, but everyday can have something. 2. Practice 1. I have to define the most significant thing that I can move that day. Then do that. 2. I have to be obedient to what God is leading me into. 3. What It Looks Like 1. Big Meetings: Practice of Study Break 2. Heavy Conflict with Culture Focus
What This Has Shifted* I would rather live with a no “off” days mentality. * My “off” days are the biggest thing I can do that day! Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 228Also Available On:Helping You Think StrategicallyMay 8Leader NotesIntro* Non-strategists and helping people think strategically. * Want this to be a tool for you or for you to help others.
Questions To Ask To Help You Think Strategically1. What problems am I repeatedly solving? 1. Strategy is a response to a problem. 2. (Not New): Why am I repeatedly solving this problem? 1. If I’m blaming human nature: It’s a strategy issue. 1. “They just won’t; they never complete; no one cares; no one’s smart enough.” 2. There’s a big difference between a tension to manage and a problem to solve. 1. If the pendulum swings too far one way 3. How do I future fix it? (FUTURE IMPROVE) 1. People think they’re not strategists because it’s not perfect. Perfection isn’t the goal, improvement is. 4. What are potential problems two steps down the line? 1. Strategic Thinking is future forecasting. 2. If you can dream, you can begin to think strategically.
Solutions & Next Steps Read Biographies and Case Studies * The strength of the strategy is your ability to communicate it simply.* * An executable strategy is infinitely better than a perfect theory. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 227Also Available On:Picking Your First JobMay 1Leader NotesIntro* Contrasting ViewPoints + Find somewhere you can find a mentor; also hear that experience is the best teacher. + Large organization where you can learn systems: Small organization where you can do a lot of stuff. + Find a great workplace culture; or you can learn as much from a bad culture as you can a good culture. * Offer my perspective on picking your first job…assuming you have a choice. If you don’t; you might just need to take a job.
History* 3 Internships while in college. + Children’s Intern at Home Church: Common + Youth Intern at Growing Church: Did Nothing. + Children’s Pastor at Small Church: Did Everything & Was Overworked and undervalued. * Youth Pastor eventually interim pastor at Mid-Sized Church for 3.5 years
Two Points1. Find Calling, Not Benefits, Not a Career, Not a Ladder of Advancement. 1. Key Questions (Ministry-Focused) 1. Does your heart break for the community? 2. Do you love the people? 2. Further 1. Pay package and benefits do give you a sense of value for the role. (Within Reason) 2. Future Opportunities are helpful, there’s not many people who stay at an organization for 10 years. Sometimes “advancement” is dangled without any plan or vision. 2. Your job choice should be tailored to your development, which means you must know your weaknesses. 1. Your first job should not be viewed as your maximum level of impact, but your maximum level of development. 1. People coming in overestimate the impact they are making, underestimate what they can be learning. 2. Now Pick, with that in mind. To maximize your development.
Guidelines to Consider1. If you lack strategy, go to a large organization! 2. If you lack experience, go to a small organization! 3. If you’re secure, get a leader you will learn from. 4. If you’re insecure, get a leader you will connect with. 5. If you’re mature & secure, pick opportunity. 6. If you’re not, pick culture.
Don’t: Pick Benefits, Salary, Cool City, or Future Promises.Close* People pick jobs for all the wrong reasons. Choose Calling & Development over everything else first. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 226Also Available On:Constructing ArgumentsApril 24Leader Notes“How to make the best case possible that unites rather than divides.”The things I’m looking at when I’m constructing a thought line.Principles1. Immersion predates writing. * I don’t need to know everything they think, I need to know what they value: I need to value what they value. * Talk about with the name change. * Note: I’m storing up all that information. 2. My case is only as strong as my weakest argument. * If I’ve got 5 points and 4 are strong, I have a weak argument. If I have 4 points and 4 are strong, I have a strong argument. 3. I’m owning my weak points to defuse them. * I have to be immersed because I need to know what the objection is. I own it and explain why I think it’s still worth it. * So important: I’m actually open! Not convincing, just explaining to people my process. 4. Never Approach From Head On 1. Defense are up! Always approach from an angle! 2. Politics: Not talking issues and policies; talking priority. 3. Don’t ever use the thing to talk about the thing: People expect that and so they’re convinced. 4. Why I use sermon titles. 5. Always use the thing to talk about another thing. 5. Story is King 1. Defenses drop in narratives. Not illustration: point. Long parable to immerse. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 225Also Available On:Deliberately Entering ControversyApril 17Leader NotesIntro* Politics Series (Non-Political Political Series) + Resources available at elephantsanddonkeys.church
Step #1: Discern* Decision: Not addressing this would be more of a distraction than addressing it. * Goal is not attention, goal is mission. * Don’t enter controversy because of boredom, do it because of your purpose. * Explain our decision: It will be more of a distraction not to, and our responsibility is faithfulness. * So, we are deliberately entering controversy to avoid future controversy.
Point #2: Thought Line* Explain Finding the thought line. * Be very clear on how my goal is to be of service to the common desires that God has placed within the people and in myself.
Point #3: Reduce Collateral Damage* Created a website * Published in advance
Point #4: Expect Smoke* What happened * Our approach: + Responded to messages + Stayed out of the comments Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 224Also Available On:When to ShepherdApril 10Leader NotesIntro– Final Episode: You have to know when to abdicate the focus of leadership and only be a shepherd.– Don’t fully know how to explain this, so may leave people confused, but I’ll do my best.Examples– My family is more in need of my shepherding than my leadership.– My friends do not value my leadership ability, they value me personally. To choose to lead in that environment is to damage the friendship.– In crisis, the organization needs to see I’m more concerned about if we’re good than if we’re great.– Not “appear” to care, actually care.Point– Organizations need leaders who care about the organization and the individual. Prioritize Both.– Personal Lives need people who care most.– When you only know how to lead your personal life will fall apart.Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 223Also Available On:From Shepherd to Leader (Part 2)April 3Leader Notes1. Shepherds will help people continue to grow regardless of where they are. Leaders will hold people to a standard, develop them up or move them on. 1. Are they improving vs will they meet the standard? 2. Shepherds will apply their time based upon your proximity and need, leaders will apply their time based upon your potential. 1. They need a lot of my time vs Is this the best use for my time? 3. Shepherds will always do what they feel is best for the individual, leaders will always do what they feel is best for the individual & the organization. 1. If it’s not best for the organization it’s not best for the individual. 4. Shepherds believe leading by example is enough, leaders know they need to pull more levers than that. 5. Shepherd is more leadership present, Leader is more strategically absent. 1. The leader is present when it’s helpful, the shepherd wants to be needed. 6. Shepherd overvalues loyalty, Leader overvalues impact. 1. not saying negatively, saying that is the bent. 7. Shepherd evaluates people based upon intentions, leader evaluates people based upon outcomes. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 222Also Available On:From Shepherd to Leader (Part 1)March 27Leader Notes1. Shepherds will help people continue to grow regardless of where they are. Leaders will hold people to a standard, develop them up or move them on. 1. Are they improving vs will they meet the standard? 2. Shepherds will apply their time based upon your proximity and need, leaders will apply their time based upon your potential. 1. They need a lot of my time vs Is this the best use for my time? 3. Shepherds will always do what they feel is best for the individual, leaders will always do what they feel is best for the individual & the organization. 1. If it’s not best for the organization it’s not best for the individual. 4. Shepherds believe leading by example is enough, leaders know they need to pull more levers than that. 5. Shepherd is more leadership present, Leader is more strategically absent. 1. The leader is present when it’s helpful, the shepherd wants to be needed. 6. Shepherd overvalues loyalty, Leader overvalues impact. 1. not saying negatively, saying that is the bent. 7. Shepherd evaluates people based upon intentions, leader evaluates people based upon outcomes. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 221Also Available On:The Distinction Between Shepherds & LeadersMarch 20Leader NotesIntro:* Goal of this: To Be Helpful to our team & Others * 2nd Goal: To Help People Move from one level to another. * Thesis: Learning to lead, when you know how to shepherd, is a higher skill set.
Distinctions:* Shepherd: Care. + Where the word pastor comes from. “To lead to pastures”. * Leader: Moving from one place to another. * You can be in a leadership position and not moving anyone, just caring.
The Dynamics:* Not talking about led poorly andtyrannical * Led Well, No Shepherds: + High Impact + When people go “through it” they’ll drop out! + They’ll look back on that season as one of the highest impacts of their life and glad they’re done with it. * Only Shepherds: + People will be well cared for and supported. + We think: People will love it and this is healthiest. + Reality: We were meant to grow and we respond to challenges. The organization and people will stall out
The Concern:* We’ve so many abuses of toxic leadership that we quite valuing moving people to a better place. * We’ve made the mistake of misdefining care as coddling. * To let someone sit comfortably in their dysfunction, or missed potential, is neither leading nor shepherding.
Thesis:* You should not lead if you do not care about people. * If you truly care about people, you need to learn how to lead and not just shepherds. * Shepherds make people feel better, leaders are able to make the world better. * Shepherds help people feel good, leaders enable people to do something great. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 220Also Available On:The Best YesMarch 13Leader NotesContext* I need to get better at saying no, don’t want to get too good at saying no. * I want to be strategic about saying yes.
Big Idea* Good leadership & great leadership is time well spent. * My Goal: In every moment to say yes to the best thing. * “The Best Yes” * I don’t want to get better at no, I want to get more deliberate about my yes.
Factors* Energy: A yes now can’t inhibit a better yes later. * Relationship: A yes needs to prioritize people. * Scheduling: Don’t say yes in advance that I’ll regret later: need more “maybes” Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 219Also Available On:Don’t Take a Break Because You’re BoredMarch 6Leader NotesIntro:* If you’re taking a break because you’re bored, you’re not going hard enough. Take a break because you can’t keep going. * Episode 212: Intense Words & My own implementation of that. * Found: How often we operate with a total lack of intensity.
Thoughts:* Training: You can go long, you can go hard, you can’t go hard & long. * We take breaks because we’re bored, not because our performance is declining.
Note:* Not everything requires intensity, but more things than you think require it.
Application:* If you’re multi-tasking something that if you’re fully engaged you can’t multi-task- you need to up your intensity. * If you never have to take a break because of fatigue, not boredom, you need to up your intensity. * If your work always fits the allotted time- you need to up your intensity.
How to up it:* Dial in, Tune everything out, Set 40 minutes & go after it. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 218Also Available On:Behind the name change – Part 2February 28Leader NotesThe Difficulty, The Decision, The Process.The Difficulty This is a strategic decision in a spiritual community. + Tendency to spiritualize everything. + God showed us where, we need to figure out how to get there at times.*
The Decision Do the benefits of expansion and cultural clarity outweigh the pain of the process and the risk of upsetting people. + Explain both dynamics and what was at stake*. * So we didn’t make a gut reaction to it, we investigated it through the process.
Our Process* Rebrand Groups: Believed we needed to rebrand at least. + 130 People through questions like - “What sticks out about our culture?” - “What, if changed, would make you consider leaving this Church?” - “Stories that embody who we are?” + Interesting thing learned: - Not known by our name. - Concern: Cost * Community Survey: Feel for the communities perspective of who we are. + 150 People through questions like - What do you know Highland Park by? - If you were to attend a Church, why would you? What are you looking for? + Interesting thing learned: Known by events, looking for culture. * Small Group of our Board + Didn’t pick the name, answered the question, “Do the benefits of expansion and cultural clarity outweigh the pain of the process and the risk of upsetting people.” - In the midst: Incredible donor who cover the cost. - Answer: yes! + Reconvened & added others to pick the name. - Criteria: Google Search Unique, Non-Geographic, True to culture. - “One” “Church”–> had a brand not a name: Church for the One.
Wrap Up* Defined the key questions * Defined the Process * Got the Opinion of 280 People * Made a Decision Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 217Also Available On:Behind the name changeFebruary 21Leader NotesThe Difficulty, The Decision, The Process.The Difficulty This is a strategic decision in a spiritual community. + Tendency to spiritualize everything. + God showed us where, we need to figure out how to get there at times.*
The Decision Do the benefits of expansion and cultural clarity outweigh the pain of the process and the risk of upsetting people. + Explain both dynamics and what was at stake*. * So we didn’t make a gut reaction to it, we investigated it through the process.
Our Process* Rebrand Groups: Believed we needed to rebrand at least. + 130 People through questions like - “What sticks out about our culture?” - “What, if changed, would make you consider leaving this Church?” - “Stories that embody who we are?” + Interesting thing learned: - Not known by our name. - Concern: Cost * Community Survey: Feel for the communities perspective of who we are. + 150 People through questions like - What do you know Highland Park by? - If you were to attend a Church, why would you? What are you looking for? + Interesting thing learned: Known by events, looking for culture. * Small Group of our Board + Didn’t pick the name, answered the question, “Do the benefits of expansion and cultural clarity outweigh the pain of the process and the risk of upsetting people.” - In the midst: Incredible donor who cover the cost. - Answer: yes! + Reconvened & added others to pick the name. - Criteria: Google Search Unique, Non-Geographic, True to culture. - “One” “Church”–> had a brand not a name: Church for the One.
Wrap Up* Defined the key questions * Defined the Process * Got the Opinion of 280 People * Made a Decision Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!
Episode 216 Also Available On: Architects & Archaeologists February 14 Leader Notes Culture should be designed not merely accepted. [...]
Feedback on Skills should flow from the expert to the learner.Feedback on Leadership should flow from the team member to the leader.The First One is Obvious, The Second One No One Does.
One of your primary roles as a leader is to identify what matters most, not just what needs to get done.
Deception:We Think you’ve arrived.Deception: Accomplishment is others awareness of your arrival.
Patience is an undervalued quality of leadership.Three Views of Patience:1. People & Processes take time to advance. 2. Trajectory is more important than location3. My default is to blame myself first.Power of Patience1. Growth.2. Too quick to abandon or burn things down when they just need time to get there.
Episode 210 Also Available On: Better January 3 Leader Notes We get better at, instead of getting better. We're [...]
Phrase use over the last year: Year of hard ThingsJoy comes on the back-end of enduring.Questions- Don't just ask: What do I want to accomplish? Goals?- Also ask: What am I willing to endure?End Note- Prepare for the joy and the endurance.
- If you have to change your presentation for something big it reveals your preparation is inadequate.- There's a difference between that and complex. Discuss.- The tendency is something is big so:- it reveals our preparation is inadequate, or...- it makes you stiff.
What people actually mean by deep:– Verse-by-verse exposition– Vulnerable & Emotional – UnfamiliarThe Response:– Vulnerability– Unfamiliarity– Emotional
- Idea: Rarely, rarely should things be the same through every season.- We like schedules that are predictable, but predictable schedules do not enable us to maximize the season.Examples:- Shaping culture: Staff hear from me a ton. Setting culture: Give the microphone to many other people.- Work and Rest in Bursts: Heavy work seasons and heavy family seasons (No guilt!)- Lean deeply into huge projects and accelerate the timeline (Claim)Thoughts:- You can work more efficiently and move faster by concentrating your time.- Talk about parenting & creating significant memories with that time.
Episode 205 Also Available On: The Four Frames (Part 2) November 29 Leader Notes In leadership we: - Attempt to treat before [...]
In leadership we:– Attempt to treat before we diagnose– Treat based upon our strengths and not what is needed.Vision Issues:– Don’t know, Communication, lack pace– StallStrategy/Systems Issues:– Wastes time, ordinary people do extraordinary things. Without ordinary do mediocre– FrustrationLeadership Issues:– No team, No execution, No energy– Morale, unique problems in certain areasSpiritual Issues– Pride, Selfishness, Willingness to sacrifice, give up comfort.– Righteousness. Theological bullets.
Episode 203 Also Available On: DON’T EXHAUST YOURSELF FROM IMMATURITY November 15 Leader Notes [...]
Episode 199 Also Available On: The Front Door is the Heaviest Weight October 18 Leader Notes [...]
Episode 198 Also Available On: Don't Be Afraid To Be An Idiot October 11 Leader Notes [...]
1: Don’t ask someone to let go of something until they can hold onto something else.#2: Be more focused on culture than systems#3: Use cultural evidence to determine systems pace
Focus on playing the role that is needed instead of the role that is familiar.The Roles:The role of the coach is to elevate performance of the group.The role of the counselor is to create clarity on where clients are, where they want to be, and how to get there.The role of the consultant is to provide insight that creates actionable improvement.The role of the manager is to align individual actions with overall goals and provide accountability to those actions.You need to know which role you’re in and play the ones that’s needed not the one you like the most.
The absence of curiosity is actually an initial step towards cynicism.
Your next breakthrough probably does not come from a field you already know.
You can learn something from anywhere.
Assignment: – Write down 10 fields of study outside your own. – Write down everything you know about those 10 fields– then go figure out what you don’t know.
Most people exist & comment, they don’t lead. We must have the conviction to be the one who sets the environments instead of the one who is impacted by it.
Get a taste of what the life you were supposed to live looks like, then refuse to live in anything else.
Episode 194Also Available On:I Get Bored EasilyAugust 30Leader NotesConfession: I Get Bored so Easily
Boredom is both a great strength and a potential weakness.
Diagnose It
– Change what won’t impact outcomes.
– Challenge Myself. (If I’m bored, it’s my fault)
– Live into my starter strengths.
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Episode 193 Also Available On: Something is Always Wrong August 23 Leader Notes Confession: Something is always Wrong. Application: - You are [...]
I always feel behind.
Why You Might Feel Behind:
I have a picture in my head of what success looks like that is distorted. I’ve allowed “should” to overtake my priorities. What I do:
Define where I am and Where I can be in the near future: What this does: Allows me to “run my race”. Gives me a proper sense of progress. Trajectory matters more than current location.
Main Idea: Leaders know that evaluation is an important part of their role. But many leaders fall into a pattern in which they overlook common, but important, Blindspots that are the keys to moving from steady improvements to significant leaps.
1st: You focus on improvements detached from outcomes.
2nd: Your focus on improvement doesn’t enable you to think with a “blank slate”.
3rd: You don’t think broad enough in terms of your stakeholders.
4th: Evaluate too Early
Identify which of the Blindspots you’re most likely to commit & either – Start with outcomes – Start with a blank slate – Invite others into the room or get their feedback – Don’t do it all.
3 Levels: – Former Leader proactively makes comments about the current leadership – Former Leader is willing to engage in conversation about the current leadership – Former Leader is willing to listen to the frustrations of others
People are going to struggle with the transition, and some of them were more bought into you than the vision. Help them through the transition.
The people who you listen to the most will probably be on their way out.
The only reason you should proactively make comments is if it’s clear that organization would be better firing the current leader and finding a new one than living with the current leader.
Question: What could you be accused of? What impact did you violation create?
You will always build with personality.
There is a key distinction between building it with your personality and on your personality.
Don’t allow any significant connection to rely only upon your relationship.
You can lead the whole way through, but you can’t lead from the front the whole way through.
Exercise: If you were hit by a bus, what would fall apart? What can you do today to stop that from happening?
The List: 1. You like the attention of being the leader & if they fail, or struggle, the attention stays on you. 2. You feel their failure enhances your credibility. 3. Existing members complaining keeps you connected to the community. 4. It was never about the mission, it was always just about expanding your platform
You win when the team wants your participation and promotion.
You do what you say you’re going to do.
You don’t do anything that will hurt the credibility of the team.
You mind your “wake”.
– Ask your teammate, is there anything I’m doing that is making your job difficult? – Ask your teammate, how could I make your job easier?
You win when the team has met their goals because you have met the expectations set for you.
You make all of this easier by being someone who is easy to lead
If your boss doesn’t win, you don’t win.
Take Responsibility for Communication.
Be intentional, not needy, on time.
Work with a greater focus on the overall outcome than just your own.
You win when you have clarified priorities, communicate outcomes, and ensured a possible path for success.
You make all of this easier by being someone who is easy to follow
It is your role to direct the work:
It is your role to direct the work:
It is your role to ensure a possible path for success
What is Interesting: – You must be Clear & Bold about the work we’re doing while you are adaptive & flexible about how you’re going to get there. – Tell your team where to go, let your team tell you how you can help them get there.
We build our rhythms for effectiveness, but there’s only so much efficiency you can dial in for any given week.
For some things more time creates diminishing returns, and for some activities more time creates exponential impact.
If You want to “Leap” you need to:
Build into your rhythm “leap time” Be willing to abandon your rhythm for “leap time”
Too much information can be distracting to those who are working with you.
Too much information can be used against your vision by your enemies.
Too much information can be used against you.
Why I plan with an open hand.
If people don’t know where you’re going when they’re working with you they are minions, not follower, and definitely not leaders. I cannot develop leaders if I don’t teach them how I’m thinking. I cannot tap into their talent if I don’t give them my portion of the map. Application Questions:
Are you more open or closed hand with information? (Think- do you like to tell stories of what’s going on, or does it annoy you?) What level of transparency is needed to develop leaders? What’s your risk in doing so?
“The goal is the avoidance of all unnecessary complications”
What if you viewed your culture like a chef. The culture was the product of all the ingredients: everything you do creates the culture. What if you began to view the culture you wanted to create like a chef?
In leadership we confuse the ingredients for the dish and become more focused on what we’re doing than what it does.
Application Questions
What dish are you making? What ingredients will you use? What ingredients do you need to remove?
Point One: – Vision changes the frequency of conflict in the organization and increases peer-to-peer accountability. – Harmony-Focused Communities do not have conflict beyond their level of confidence in the relationship. – Vision-Focused Community will have conflict on anything that jeopardizes the success of the vision.
Point Two: – Vision changes the pace.
Point Three: – Vision creates dissatisfaction with the present.
Episode 180Also Available On:You Have To Get BetterMay 24Leader NotesMain Idea:Leaders who have mastered self-leadership put a priority on developing themselves, they do not delegate that role to anyone else. “I’m not being developed” is what non-leaders say, that is always your responsibility.* Map for today: Habits, Skills, Attitude
All of self-leadership is built off of healthy habits.* What you repeatedly, intuitively do. * Everything in life is upheld by our habits: Relationships, Health, Personal Development, Faith. * “Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits.” James Clear * Habits are difficult to start, easy to maintain: “The choices that are easy in the short term are very often in direct conflict with what makes life easy in the long term.” Rory Vaden * Question: What current habits are leading you toward the outcomes you desire? What current habits are leading you away from the outcomes you desire? What habits do you need to start to get there? * Note how this is the most important one and the other two really are specific applications off of habits.
Leaders who lead themselves deliberately develop & refine the skills. Make a note how the above line isn’t brilliant- yet most people don’t do it. * Stephen Covey speaks on “Sharpen the Saw”. Abraham Lincoln, “If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe.” * Where most people find the importance of coaches.* Coaches give clarity of perspective and accountability. * Several Self-Directed Learning Initiatives + Examples - Speaking Structure - Speaking Clearly - Thinking Clearly: Systems Thinking - Time Management + Every single one of these has started with absorbing a ton of information and then enduring habits. * Go where your competitors don’t go and read what they don’t read. Sample * Question: What skill do you need to develop, what outcome do you seek, who can you learn that skill from?
Leaders who lead themselves deliberately develop a positive perspective The Idea + Connected to the idea of grit.* + Too many gifted, talented, influential leaders drop off, or drop out, because they disconnected from their passion or they see far more negative than positive. + Entitlement is the end of achievement. Rory Vaden + A life of mediocrity doesn’t come from having a bad attitude, a life of mediocrity comes from having an average attitude. Attitude is simply the way you choose to see things. Rory Vaden * How to do this: + Surround yourself with people who think in terms of opportunity. + Develop habits around gratitude & capturing the positive. + Develop habits around dreaming & spotting opportunities. Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!(We do not share your data with anybody, and only use it for its intended purpose)
Episode 179Also Available On:How to Live ProactivelyMay 17Leader NotesHow to Live Pro-Actively* The first habit of highly effective people from Stephen Covey is to live “proactively”. The truth is most of us live our lives in a reactive state, stuck in a constant response to the issues that come our way where we find ourselves playing defense more than offense. * Main Idea: Leaders who lead themselves view themselves as a resource to be deployed, and they properly deploy that resource to play offense with their lives. * Jack Welch & Jeff Immelt on “couldn’t connect actions between their work & the bottom line”
Leaders who play offense live according to self-set, pre-determined priorities.* Before you know what you should put your effort towards, you need to know what your priorities are. * My constant frustration with people who don’t grasp the difference between activities that are good, and outcomes that are best. * For most us we live in a state of creative avoidance: “Creative avoidance is unconsciously filling the day with menial work to where we end up getting busy just being busy!” Rory. * 2 Illustrations on Living according to self-set, pre-determined priorities. + Big Rocks Metaphor: + Key to juggling life is to know some balls are glass and some are rubber. * Assignment: What can you not “not” accomplish?
Leaders who play offense effectively deploy their time, and especially their energy, towards their priorities.* “The difference between good leadership and great leadership is time well spent.” Jim Collins * Level 1: Time + If you don’t schedule your priorities, everyone and everything else around you will. Harkavy\ + The first step toward change is to refuse to be deployed by others and to choose to deploy yourself. Bennis + Michael Hyatt’s “Ideal Week” * Level 2: Energy + Dan Pink research on chronotypes: Peak, Trough, Recovery - Lark: Early morning: Analytical Work; Afternoon: Trough, Administrative or routine garbage; Evening: Creative Work. - Owl: Afternoon: Analytical Work; Evening: Creative; Early: Administrative. - Third Bird: 3rd Set - “All times of the day are not created equal” Dan Pink + If you give time to your priorities, but it’s not your best time, it won’t happen. * Assignment: Map out when your energy is best and worst, and begin to schedule you priorities in your best time?
Leaders who play offense deploy their strengths towards their priorities, and effectively stay out of their weaknesses.* Presidents don’t do great things by dwelling on their limitations, but by focusing on their possibilities. Kissinger * Compounds + Falls back to the first episode: Self-Awareness of your strengths. + Falls back to this episode: To operate in your strengths without understanding your priorities is worthless. * As you are scheduling your time/deploying your energy: + What is the unique contribution I can make to our priorities? + Is our team built in a way that I won’t have to operate in my weaknesses? + If you don’t staff around your strengths and toward your weaknesses you will never operate in your strengths. * Waivers + We must delegate but never surrender decisions. Sample Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!(We do not share your data with anybody, and only use it for its intended purpose)
Episode 178Also Available On:3 Pillars of Self-AwarenessMay 10Leader NotesMain Idea: To lead yourself well, you must know yourself. You must have a true foundation, and increasing grasp of self-awareness. Typically we have one overdeveloped, over-obsessed pillar, and two that are almost completely unformed.Pillar One: Who Are You?* Character: + Are you lying to yourself about what could potentially destroy you? + Are you shaking off, or actively combating, truths that are uncomfortable? * Personality: + What energizes you? What depletes you? What’s your natural rhythms + Personality Testing: DISC, Enneagram, Leading from your strengths. * Gifting: + We try to operate in other people’s gifting because we see the impact it has clearer than we can see the impact of our own gifting. + Test: StrengthsFinder * Ethos + Emotional Intelligence component of who you are. + Question: “What’s it like to be on the other side of me?” * Further Statements + Only when we know what we’re made of and what we want to make of it can we begin our lives. Bennis + Warren Bennis on how to know yourself - 1) You are your own best teacher - 2) Accept responsibility. Blame no one. - 3) You can learn anything you want to learn. - 4) True understanding comes from reflecting on your experience.
Pillar Two: What do you want* This is one aspect of self-leadership that is almost completely unformed. People set out to be leaders, without knowing why. + “No leader sets out to be a leader. People set out to live their lives, expressing themselves fully. When that expression is of value, they become leaders. So the point is not to become a leader. The point is to become yourself, to use yourself completely-all your skills, gifts, and energies- in order to make your vision manifest.” Warren Bennis. + Reflection: I don’t think that’s true, many people set out to be a leader. * Mercenary Leader or Visionary Leader + Mercenary: Developing and deploying skills to whatever seems the most interesting and pays the most. + Visionary: The person who becomes a leader, develops what is needed, in pursuit of a vision they desperately want to accomplish.Mercenary Leaders bail early. * Sources + The 2nd Habit of Highly Effective People from Stephen Covey, “Begin with the end in mind”. + The first element of leadership is having a guiding vision. Bennis * Aspect of it, plan, “You’re either going to be proactive or reactive- without a plan, you have a much greater probability of getting ‘off purpose’.” Harkavy
Pillar Three: Are you willing to do what is necessary to get there?* Angela Duckworth, “Grit is the combination of passion and perseverance…that is a stronger predictor of high-achievement than intelligence, talent and other personality traits.” * My belief: People over-obsess on personality tests, don’t really have a good idea of what they want to accomplish, and bail at the first sign of difficulty. The third pillar of self-awareness must be an awareness of “are you willing to do what is necessary to get there?” * Many men want to be president, few want to do president. Steven Sample * Metaphor of knowing if you can get there. Count the cost * The difference between where you are and where you want to be is the pain you’re willing to endure. Sam Chand
Close* “A leader should always act as if he himself, not history or fate, is responsible for his actions.” Steven Sample Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!(We do not share your data with anybody, and only use it for its intended purpose)
Episode 177Also Available On:The TransformerMay 3Leader NotesMain Idea: Series: If leaders do not become conscious of the culture and context they interact with and are embedded in, those cultures will manage them. * Today: A good leader is successful in a specific context (Church consultants), a great leader is able to create impact in a variety of contexts. Transformer. How to be the Transformer*
Increase Diversity* Diversity increases adaptive capacity. The more turbulent the environment, the more important it is for the organization to maximize diversity. * Diversity reduces blind spots * Diversity increases options
Create Psychological Safety:* A compelling positive vision. * Formal Training, Practice sessions, coaches: Increasing competency creates safety. * Positive role models * Systems and structures that are consistent with the new way of thinking and working * Good upward communication: Without it organizations can neither be safe or effective.
Deal with the past without getting trapped by it (From, “How to lead what you didn’t start” by Tyler Reagin)* Celebrate appropriately * Honor the right things * Shift Focus: “When I’m talking about where we need to go, it’s not a reflection of good or bad within the organization; it’s a direction for the future.” * Cast new compelling vision * Move on from honoring
Close: Don’t blame bad outcomes on anyone but yourself. Context cannot be the “fault”Assignment: Ask are you successful in one thing, or all things?Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!(We do not share your data with anybody, and only use it for its intended purpose)
Episode 176Also Available On:Why you are the way you areApril 26, 2023Leader NotesMain Idea:
- Series: If leaders do not become conscious of the culture and context they interact with and are embedded in, those cultures will manage them.
- Today: Context can be learned, interpreted, and evaluated. 3 Things to Learn: Vision, Values, Motivations
Types of Motivations:
- Club culture: Power-Oriented
- Task Culture: Achievement-Oriented
- Role culture: Position-Oriented
- Existential Culture: Support-Oriented (Non-Profit) 2 Things to Observe: Interaction & Stories
1 Thing to Do: Ask Questions* Be radically open-minded * Curiosity paves the way for gaining quick influence. * Some Questions + Is the current context a culture of trust or suspicion. + What is rewarded? What is disciplined? + How’s the gossip? What does that mean about the authority and the followers? + What lines won’t be crossed?
Closing: Being in a place you don’t understand is not a weakness, it’s a place of growth if you choose to learn about where you are so you can better accomplish what you’re called to accomplish.Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!(We do not share your data with anybody, and only use it for its intended purpose)
Episode 175Also Available On:Where am I?April 19, 2023Leader NotesMain Idea:
- Series: If leaders do not become conscious of the culture and context they interact with and are embedded in, those cultures will manage them.
-
Today: Every culture that exists was formed over time to create a specific context today. Knowing how & why that context came to be enables us to better interact with, lead within, and when necessary: shift that culture. Context is never simply “bad”.
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The effectiveness of any culture cannot be evaluated separately from the environment to which it exists.
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There is no universally correct leadership style because of cultural variation. Context has layers.
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When seeking cultural change you must impact culture at the deepest level for it to take hold.
- An outsider can often gain a greater sense of “what” is happening at the deepest level, but they will not know “why”. You do not understand a context if you cannot appreciate a context.
Goal:
- Leaders must understand their own culture well enough to be able to detect where there are potential incompatibilities with their culture and other contexts, and within their culture & their vision.
- Leaders must be able to decipher other contexts well enough to reveal their assumptions, synergies, and incompatibilities.
Assignment:
**Get someone else in your organization & both of you write out a list describing the culture you’re in, compare your list to another person and begin to figure out where your differences came from & what it means about your deeper values.
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Episode 174Also Available On:Change LeadershipApril 12, 2023Leader NotesLeadership is about change.
All leadership is change leadership.
You must be, or become, a type of person to effectively see significant change take hold.
- Commitment to improvement
- Emotional Intelligence, especially communication
- Influence
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Intelligence You must effectively embody to the type of change leader you are.
-
Motional champion
- Development strategist
- Intuitive adapter
-
Continuous improver Some Learned Rules for Change Leadership:
-
Stay alive
- Start where the system is
- Work downhill
- Organize, but don’t over-organize
- Pick your battles carefully
- Light many fires
- You can’t make a difference without doing things differently Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!(We do not share your data with anybody, and only use it for its intended purpose)
Episode 173Also Available On:Four Tools for the Change ProcessApril 5, 2023Leader NotesMain Idea:
Everything can change, but if you don’t know how to effectively lead change you greatly reduce your success rate. You need tools to help you with the change process.
The greatest tool you have at your disposal is a clear, flexible, behavior-focused, change process.
– Change is about behavior. It is deeper than that, but it must it never different from that.
John Kotter’s Change Process* Increase Urgency * Build the guiding team * Get the vision right * Communicate for buy-in * Empower Action * Create short-term wins * Don’t let up * Make change stick
Assignment: Build a pathway to the future you desire focused on behavior that is different and be willing to abandon it.Influence is essential for change leadership, know how you gain influence.
– As a leader your role is to make the right decisions, you gain influence by doing the right things the right way.
Influence is essential for change leadership, know how you gain influence.
– As a leader your role is to make the right decisions, you gain influence by doing the right things the right way.
Assignment: Begin focusing now on how you can increase the cards in your hand so you can play what will win.
Key Metrics will aid your change, but they are not the change.Utilize data that points to “why it is changing” and “why it is changing now”.* Focus on Understandable Factors * Use measures that are fair and appropriate * Use data that is connected to the future you want to create.
Assignment: Determine the data points that could be useful in clarifying the change and begin researching that.Share This Podcast!Never Miss A Thing!(We do not share your data with anybody, and only use it for its intended purpose)
Episode 172Also Available On:Everything Can ChangeMarch 29, 2023Leader NotesMain Idea:
Everything can change, but not everything can change equally easy. Before setting about in an undertaking of change, you need to understand the dynamics that make change difficult or easy.
The 8 Dimensions of Readiness
1. Trustworthy leadership
2. Trusting followers
3. Capable champions
4. Involved middle management
5. Innovative culture
6. Accountable culture
7. Effective communication
8. Systems thinking
Force field analysis: identify the driving & restraining forces to change.
How to Ready an Organization for Change:
1. Creating a crisis.
2. Develop a vision that creates dissatisfaction with the status quo.
3. Finding a champion of change leader who will build awareness of the need for change and articulate the vision.
The essential first two steps of the change process are discerning the organization’s readiness and then readying it for change.
The Simplest Way to Understand the Process of Change
– What doesn’t work: Data, Think Different, Change Behavior.
– What Works: See, Feel, Change.
– Most of the reason we don’t change is because of deeply held emotion, not logic. If we’re going to create change, we must operate the same way.
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Episode 171Also Available On:Courageous FollowershipMarch 22, 2023Leader NotesMain Idea: The courage of a leader lies in their ability to take risks. The courage of a follower lies in their ability to choose when to follow and when to disobey. An act of loyalty when everyone else seeks mutiny may be that expression of courage in the same way that walking out may be the act of courage when everyone else is choosing loyalty.
There is no leader who will never need to be checked.
Your obedience can be helpful and your obedience can be destructive.
– Destructive obedience is characterized by:
1. Blindly accepting the authority’s definition of the situation. Responsible followers can become victims if they must take on the role of whistleblower.
2. Allowing a shift in responsibility to take place from follower to leader. There are no innocent bystanders, only silent colluders. There are no innocent bystanders, only silent colluders.
You need to know how to fire your boss.
Closing Questions:
1. Am I willing to check my leader in a healthy way?
2. Am I maintaining personal agency and independent thinking while following well?
3. Have I evaluated whether or not I should stay in terms of “can I still add value” or “Am I able to keep following well”?
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Episode 170Also Available On:The Fundamentals of FollowershipMarch 15, 2023Leader NotesMain Idea: The fundamentals of following are good in and of themselves, but they are also the fundamentals of leadership because great leadership will learn how to create great followers.
Follower must know how to give support to their leaders.
Followers must know how and when to give feedback to the leader.
Followers must know how and when to give feedback to the leader.
– Followers must tell leaders how they feel, and how intensely they feel about the issues concerning them.
The follower must never put himself in competition with the leader.
Closing Questions:
1. Am I giving frequent feedback to my leader at an appropriate time?
2. Am I aware of how my leader feels about my level of contribution?
3. Am I doing anything that it is not in the best interest of the organization?
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Episode 169Also Available On:Not Second RateMarch 8, 2023Leader NotesMain Idea: One of the most important contributions you can make to the mission of your organization, and one of the most overlooked aspects of healthy organizations, is knowing how to follow well.
While you will have opportunities to lead, you will always need to know how to follow.
One of the reasons we have dismissed “followership” is because we don’t understand that there are different types of followers.
Following well must be defined in terms of level of contribution, not blind disobedience.
Blind following is not good followership.
Closing Questions:
1. How good does a leader have to be for you to get on board?
2. How poor can a leader be and you’re still able to make a positive impact?
3. How quickly can you identify when you become a negative influence instead of making a positive impact?
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Episode 168Also Available On:Glutton for PunishmentMarch 1, 2023Leader NotesThe antidote to “capping out” is being a glutton for punishment.
You need to be a glutton for punishment (delight in it) in one area in particular: Feedback.
The feedback you need to go to the next level will come from your critics, not your fans; because while your fans will see your strengths, your critics see your blind spots.
Your desire to be good must exceed your desire to feel good.
Be secure enough in your identity and ability that feedback won’t wreck you.
You don’t have to drastically change who you are to shore up your blind spots.
Being aware of your criticism doesn’t mean you surround yourself with your critics.
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Episode 167Also Available On:How To Lead Like YouFeb 22, 2023Leader NotesIf you listen to one speaker you’ll sound like that speaker, but if you listen to 1,000 speakers; you’ll sound like yourself.
In Leadership we don’t always have the access to thousands of leaders to help us model our leadership off of.
For most of us, we don’t learn about ourselves from those we lead under. We simply attempt to emulate their strengths and avoid their weaknesses which rarely results in effective leadership.
They can lead how they were called to lead better than you can lead how they were called to lead.
The Styles of Leadership:
– Democratic: Team-Building
– Authoritarian: Heavy Hand
– Coaching: Developer
– Transactional: Win-Win Scenario
– Transformational: People developer on steroids
– Laissez-Fare: Permission
1: How did you lead before you knew how to lead.
- What Leadership Skills/Activities are you drawn to?
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Episode 166Also Available On:The Sweet SpotFeb 15, 2023Leader NotesWhen you make one thing better you typically make something else worse.
Thomas Sowell, “There are no solutions, only tradeoffs.”
Helpful Steps
1. In every decision identify what you’re gaining and what you’re giving up.
2. Identify your priority and not just your pain point.
3. Choose to take the mission further and not just to make your life easier.
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Episode 165Also Available On:The Year of Hard ThingsFeb 8, 2023Leader NotesMost of the pain is in the in-between.
The pain is in the purgatory.
When my identity is in doing hard things, hard things become an opportunity and not an obstacle.
Telling myself that hard things are the norm has made doing what is most difficult actually enjoyable.
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Episode 164Also Available On:How to Actually Develop Leaders: Part TwoFeb 1, 2023Leader NotesLeadership development is a process that consists of 4 key elements:
1. What do you need a leader to do?
2. Who do you need a leader to be?
3. How do you identify a Leader?
4. How do you help them grow into what they are called to become?
5 things we use to identify leaders
1. Relational Proximity
2. Calling out Gifting
3. Engage in Vision-Focused Conversations
4. Rally
5. Debrief
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Episode 163Also Available On:How to Actually Develop Leaders: Part OneJanuary 25, 2023Leader NotesLeadership development is a process that consists of 4 key elements:
1. What do you need a leader to do?
2. Who do you need a leader to be?
3. How do you identify a Leader?
4. How do you help them grow into what they are called to become?
Leadership is not an identity, it is an action. When someone is consistently competent in that action we ascribe to them the identity.
When you know what you need a leader to do, it clarifies who they need to be.
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Episode 162Also Available On:Development is an eventJanuary 18, 2023Leader NotesWhile leadership is consistent influence leveraged towards a vision, development is an event.
Three Requirements for Development:
1. You have to know where you’re good & bad, and where those on your team are good & bad
2. You have to have a vision for the details.
3. You have to want them to be better more than you want to feel good.
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Episode 161Also Available On:The top reason to step out of leadershipJanuary 11, 2023Leader NotesThe top reason to step out of leadership is you don’t see a way for the future to be better than the past.
– Leaders who don’t see a better future will create a worse future.
– Leaders don’t have to be optimists, but they must be optimistic about the future.
– If you don’t see a way for the future to be better you’ll always attempt to bring us back to a present that doesn’t exist.
How to have a better view of the future.
– Assess your organizations strengths & opportunities
– Write our what is lost if you no longer exists.
– Discover who is thriving.
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Episode 160Also Available On:MentorsJanuary 4, 2023Leader NotesThought 1
– There are different types of mentors: Professional (Skill/Career), Personal (Life/Integrity).
– Do you want to be a mentee or an apprentice?
Thought 2
– Some of your best professional mentors will come outside your field.
– Your best personal mentors will always have a decade on you.
Thought 3
– Don’t ever ask anyone to be your mentor, ask them if you can take them to lunch.
Thought 4
– Mentors are shortcuts.
– Books are great mentors.
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Episode 159Also Available On:Better than a Resolution ListDecember 28, 2022Leader Notes– Targets should not become the focus instead of progress, improvement.
– Bucket List: Things you want to accomplish before you die. Resolution: Things you want to accomplish before the end of the year.
– Curious List: All the things I want to know something about.
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Tool 1: Don’t do less, do different.– If your work is mental, to re-charge you must do something physical. If your work is physical, to re-charge you must do something mental.Tool 2: Distance Your Work– If we need to disconnect, which we do, we must make it harder to work.Tool 3: Find an activity you get lost in– Mindless easy activities do not release your burden. It takes energy to engage in what will lighten your load.
As we expand our grasp of emotions we have a better way of understanding, and dealing with in healthy way, what we’re feeling.Burnt-Out: Syndrome conceptualize as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed that is characterized by: energy depletion, increased mental distance, or feelings of cynicism related to one’s job.When we are lazy in the diagnosis we are usually wrong in the treatment.The key question: What’s really the issue and not just the buzzword that everyone is using right now?Recommendation: Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
You are better at seeing close up or far away.You need to be aware of how far into the distance you can see.Your vision and focus should work like a lens.The Rhythm:– Get involved in the details to increase your up close vision.– Lead at altitude to increase your distance vision.
Step 1: Create Alignment – Clear Teaching on ministry philosophy – Elevated Guests, Baptism, Serving (Create Cultural Symbols) – Defined discipleship process – Clarified our church values.
Step 2: Get Input Email to the whole staff & Board – What is working great? – Are there any fires that need put out? – 3 month, 1-year, 10-year expectations?
The Listening Experience: – 4 groups, 70 people, staff as guides. – Closed Business: Businesses close all the time, and so do Churches. Some Churches even stay open while being functionally closed because they’re no longer accomplishing their mission. If we were to close, why would that be? – Field: Imagine we were starting all over again: what would we do? What would we do different? – Outside a High School Football Game: If we were going to reach all these people what would we do? How would we reach all these people? – Another Ministry: What would we do if we had unlimited resources? What would we do if we had no resources?
Step 3: Vision Group Prep: – Outlined the process – Prepared a report from the listening experience focusing on: Issues that need addressed, the heart of our Church, and opportunities.
Starter Questions – What was one of your most meaningful experiences in Church? – What were some of your thoughts on the “heart of highland park” report? – What should we not pursue, what should we be sure that we don’t accomplish if we didn’t have a vision? Titled: “Not This” – What could we accomplish in 20 years? Titled: “This”
Groups of 3-4 – What 2-3 projects or focus points do you believe we should focus on over the next decade? – Why? What is the result/outcome of these projects.
Solo Project: What do you think we must accomplish in 2-3 sentences?
Large Group – What are we seeking to do? – Why are we seeking to do it? – How will we measure it?
Principle 1: Create as much input as you possibly can.
Principle 2: Set the vision with the largest group you can.
Principle 3: Set the Standard for the Vision
Principle 4: Work in this pattern: Problem, Focus, Metric, Inspiration
You can kill yourself before you start by doing one of two things: – Doing too much work on your own. – Doing too little on your own.
Doing too much means no one else can own the vision. Doing too little wastes time & risks the true vision.
A Healthy Dynamic – You should be clear on what the vision is not. – You should be clear on your process: How will you arrive at the vision.
The process you use is how you get someone to lean in instead of rolling their eyes at “vision”.
Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.”
Reason 1: Vision enables us to see, do & become more.
Habakkuk 2:2, “Write the vision, make it plain, so that he may run who reads it.”
Reason 2: Vision grants individuals agency.
Reason 3: The output of the vision process is unity. Unity is not the prerequisite, it’s the output of the work on & towards the vision.
Some things should be left as they are because if they improve it will cause more problems or injury.
The unfocused leader sees every improvement as a step forward, the focused leader takes strategic steps forward in quality only in areas that they want to build upon.
Not every improvement is a step forward. You might create a monster you didn’t want, and you might make something that needed to die harder to kill.
Be cautious, be wise, about what you improve & do it strategically.
Comfort and Growth are mutually exclusive.
You cannot help someone who doesn’t want growth want growth.
Don’t allow Comfort to be the settling point for your team.
People who desire growth will just find somewhere else to grow.
You’re never full comfort or full growth, always a balance.
Episode 149 Also Available On: Apologize October 19, 2022 Leader Notes You don’t need to apologize if you’re a dictator. You need [...]
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Character over competence.
5 Virtues that I think ensures you’re an effective leader:
Empathy -Basis of communication -Empathy is the key to grasping “context”
Humility -The awareness that you’re not there -Emphasis on teach ability
Love -the great motivator, action -leaders who love don’t have to be inspired, there’s something greater driving them
Calling -Emphasis on Vision -Know why, it’s easier to see the future
Courage -The willingness to live into it.
Idea #1: Your perspective is the product of your identity Idea #2: Your identity is the product of your behaviors, not your beliefs. Idea #3: The foundation of all growth is personal responsibility. Idea #4: The enemy of all growth is victimhood.
Episode 145 Also Available On: 3 Lies in Ministry September 21, 2022 Leader Notes Lie #1: What you win them [...]
1: Don’t ask someone to let go of something until they can hold onto something else.
2: Be more focused on culture than systems
3: Use cultural evidence to determine systems pace
Plagiarism: The practice of taking someone’s work or ideas and passing them off on one’s own.
What we are saying 1. Ideas do not come out of a vacuum, they come out of a culture. Frank Moore, “No preacher is greater than the tradition itself.” Your perceived originality is overhyped.
- As you’re learning to turn the faucet on, you might need a clear springboard to get to your own idea. Where people get in trouble: They make no effort to make it their own.
Originality is overstated.
You have to copy before you can be original, you have to know the moves before you can make up your own steps.
Episode 141 Also Available On: Turn the Faucet On August 24, 2022 Leader Notes Turn the Faucet On: - Release the valve, [...]
“Some people say, ‘Give the customers what they want.’ But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do.” – Steve Jobs
4 Keys 1. When designing a system, ask: Does it make it easier for us, or those we are serving? 2. When utilizing technology, ask: Is it cool, or does it actually aid our vision? 3. When changing an environment, ask: Am I tired of it, or are they tired of it? What have I become blind to? 4. Stay Relationally Connected to those who are disconnected from faith and then don’t do what they said, do what they really need.
Your approval rating can be a poor indicator of if you’re a healthy leader.
When you think of who needs to change, which comes first: You or them?
Healthy leaders know the change begins with them. Toxic leaders assume the change begins with others.
Healthy leaders think personal transformation. Toxic leaders blame others.
The healthy leader is the scaffolding for the people.
The followers are the scaffolding for the toxic leader.
Episode 138 Also Available On: Attacking Arrogance August 3 2022 Leader Notes Arrogance eliminates the space for others and for [...]
Satire Culture flattens people because they don’t want to become the joke.
To combat this more of your identity needs to be built on your desired contribution than your criticism.
Personality testing is great when it is a tool, not a crutch.
Your lack of confidence may actually be your issue, and your confidence can be developed like anything else.
Not all effective leadership is good, positive, healthy leadership.
The most important leadership questions isn’t what can you do, or even what do you want to do, but who are you?
The size of your impact comes from you ability, the quality of your impact comes from your identity.
It is not the ends that separate good and evil, it is the means.
2 Questions to help determine the quality of your leadership, not the ability of your leadership. 1. When you’re squeezed, what comes out? 2. When you look at yourself, what story do you tell?
We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
What you see flows from your essence – what you see is who you are.
- When you make it look easy, you won’t be celebrated, because it looks easy.
- When you make it look easy, others are able to focus on the impact, because they’re not looking at the effort.
- When you make it look easy, amateurs will tell you they want to do what you do, professionals will ask you how you do what you do.
Be selfish about your personal growth. – Be selfish about putting yourself in positions in which your character & competency will develop.
Be selfish about your personal growth, then use that growth to benefit others. – Don’t just use it for personal gain, pass on what you learn. – In doing so: Your act of selfishness will become the most generous thing you can do.
Look at where something leads and not just what it is.
Be selfish at the right time.
From Team Members: “We’re bad at communication.” From Leaders: “We struggle with execution.”
Most organizations lack a sense of “this is what we’re attempting to accomplish.”
What is happening is not the primary issue in communications, most communication complaints are because people don’t know why something is happening.
A bad coat rack is a great culture.
Hook: Something you can stuff hang on.
A hook turns a moment into a culture. Stays accessible, adds depth.
Episode 131 Also Available On: A Better Guide to Goal Setting June 8, 2022 Leader Notes Why we set goals: - To [...]
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Audacity has two definitions 1. A willingness to take bold risks. 2. Rude or disrespectful behavior.
To Lead is Audacious. To want to lead is audacious.
To lead itself is audacious. The question will be how far into audacity are you willing to go.
Creativity is 3 things 1. Creativity is solving common problems with unique solutions. 2. Creativity is solving unique problems with common solutions. 3. Creativity is solving unique problems with unique solutions.
Things to know about creativity: 1. Everyone can imagine. 2. Imitation precedes innovation. We often have to do what everyone does before we can do what we uniquely do. 3. Be willing to be bad.
Leader Notes
Get Rid of Authority – Not tasks, authority and decision-making power. – There is a right time to get rid of authority, don’t just pass it off blindly and flippantly.
Get Rid of Accessibility – You release accessibility as it is necessary, not desired. (When you “have to” not at the start when you want to.)
Get Rid of Credit – If you want to build a great organization and not a “cult of personality” you have to get rid of credit.
The bigger you get the less people are on the same page in regards to the past, present, and future.
When less people are “in the know”, what is “in the know” needs to become less.
Complexity is the enemy of culture.
What your goal is: memorable. 1. Easy 2. Obvious 3. Repeatable
Questions: 1. Values: How many are there? How are they repeated? How often are they repeated? Are there stories that are connected to them? 2. Strategy: Can you draw it? Can you draw it and it all looks the same? 3. Vision: If everyone on your team wrote down 4 sentences to “What are we trying to accomplish?” How close would their answers be? How about the organization as a whole.
You can’t really improve until you start to eliminate (release).
Key Part of the Strategy: Focus on Momentum
You don’t focus on improving everything, you focus on improving what is essential to your momentum, begin eliminating outside that.
Fire Bullets, then Cannonballs.
Don’t just improve the quality, improve the quality around momentum and release programs that aren’t momentum contributors.
3 Basic Categories:
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What needs improved?
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What needs simplified/clarified?
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What needs released?
To make an improvement isn’t complicated, but to go to another level is.
Switch the thinking from “Symbols are what you inherit” to “Symbols can be what you create”.
Symbols communicate what is valued.
Resistance to change comes because we now tilt away from something we currently value and towards something we don’t.
The Power of the Symbol is in its felt meaning. The deeper the symbol, the deeper the meaning.
Focus on playing the role that is needed instead of the role that is familiar.
The Roles: The role of the coach is to elevate performance of the group. The role of the counselor is to create clarity on where clients are, where they want to be, and how to get there. The role of the consultant is to provide insight that creates actionable improvement. The role of the manager is to align individual actions with overall goals and provide accountability to those actions.
You need to know which role you’re in and play the ones that’s needed not the one you like the most.
Virtues like ambition, courage, vision, work-ethic have become highly distorted by our current state of struggle.
The baseline has fallen and is now significantly burdened.
Virtue is now met with skepticism. Courage is now met with cynicism. A desire to be healthy is viewed as over the top. A desire to make an impact is viewed as over the top, why aren’t we good enough.
A message for the person who is ambitious and driven: For all the criticism you’ve received on your ambition, your courage and drive, it’s still too low. As the baseline keeps falling, what you previously thought you could do is still lower than what you can actually do!
The conversation doesn’t mean that you’ll accomplish what you set out to do, but the absence of that conversation ensures that you won’t.
Great Leadership: 1. Great Leaders can identify which outside inputs enhance and distract from the most important conversation. 2. Great Leaders can engage in the outside conversation without bringing it into the culture.
Application: 1. Quit saying, “Oh, we’re just talking”! 2. Be aware of the conversation 3. View conversation as the most powerful culture shaping tool you have.
The Price of Impact is criticism.
Sociopath: no regard for others’ rights or feelings, lack empathy and remorse, will lead to exploiting and manipulating others for personal gain.
Key Tips:
– Know You’re Going to Get Hit – Anticipate the Reasonable Response – Stay Connected to the Struggle
God will take you through a process.
3 Things Cyclically 1. Collect 2. Discern 3. Pray
You just keep going through that over and over again.
Prioritize the perspective that is aligned with your purpose, not your perspective.
Everyone will tell you what they think you should do. Accept it, and then do what you need to do.
The Trap of Experience is to universalize what is unique.
To universalize what is unique is to dismiss all other data other than what you have experienced personally.
We sometimes underestimate the level of our ignorance. This Is dangerous because you’re: 1. Wrong 2. Stuck
The greatest source of your wisdom is your awareness of your ignorance.
There is nothing that exists that is all bad. Don’t turn it into a game.
Burnout: State of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.
Burnout isn’t a medical diagnosis (Mayo Clinic), could be a number of factors like depression coming together that creates what we call burnout.
The difference between burnout and stress is that burnout is extended stress that can’t be lifted. Even when the stressors are all gone, the stress is the same.
Episode 114 Theme It February 9, 2022 Also Available On: Leader Notes Why Theme Your Year? 1. Keeps us from [...]
Brave is Reactive, Bold is Proactive.
When you have the title, you must value the impact more than the title.
Bold Leadership 1. Intentionally challenges the Status Quo. 2. Is more focused on opportunity than obstacles. 3. Is willing to be wrong.
Leader Notes:
John Maxwell, “Trust is change in your pocket.”
Non-Leaders define themselves by their authority not by the permission of the people.
There is a world of difference between “I can do this because I have the right to,” and “I know some people won’t like it, but I still believe it’s worth it because this is for the best.”
The goal is not credibility, the goal is impact.
Applications for Development 1. Gain an awareness of the change in your pocket: How do people respond when you propose change? Are they pushing back on the change, or are they pushing back on you. 2. If you have a staff, have this conversation. 3. Pick your battles.
Who you are is more important than what you accomplish. Leaders will not change their identity for the sake of a short-term gain.
Leaders view financial profitability as one factor, among many factors, that contribute to ultimate success.
Think Pony’s.
View Culture as Fluid & Fixed.
An over-abundance of options creates paralysis. An over-abundance of information does the same.
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Don’t underestimate the difficulty, and the significance, of a first step.
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Ask, “What can lead people to actually do.”
The life that you create is first created in your thoughts, so if you’re not thinking like a leader you won’t lead.
Book, “The Score Takes Care of Itself” – Bill Walsh Quote, “Culture precedes positive results” – Bill Walsh
Event + Response = Outcome.
Leaders are very distrusting of an unexpected win.
How? – Obsess about habits. – Make your energy in the process match your energy for the event.
List #1: What can you not fail at? – This list should be short, and it defines priority.
List #2: What do you want to do?
List #3: What should you not do.
Tip #1: Prep for Rest
Tip #2: Don’t Waste your Rest
Tip #3: Don’t Interrupt it for everything
The further removed you are from a typical response, the more frustrated you will be by a typical response.
Help your team learn to respond like a great leader, expect them to respond like an average person.
Buy-In is the shared ownership of an idea or initiative.
It is lifeless to have something that you spend 1/3 of your life at that is just a means to an end and you really don’t care about it.
The #1 factor for why you’re not gettin buy-in is you never give anyone else an opportunity to have ownership.
Key question: What can I create ownership of that is meaningful?
Calling is the undeniable connection between human activity and divine purpose.
Calling will only be sustained by two sources: your confidence or your faith.
Calling stands at the intersection of Your God-Given ability, what you deeply care about, and God’s purpose
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Most people look for an existing solution or idea instead of attempting to create a solution or idea.
Most people think they can’t create a solution or come up with an idea because they’ve never devoted more than 5 minutes to it.
As the world becomes more scattered and impatient the ability to think deeply and think critically is a massive advantage.
You have to be willing to be bad at something first in order to become good.
Temper: Neutralizing or counterbalancing force.
How you feel it’s going is not an accurate indicator of how things are.
While your frustration is a good thing (leader), frustration is an emotion, and emotions aren’t good indicators of our reality.
Keep the desire to improve constantly grounded in an accurate reality.
Your untempered frustration could be disastrous.
Three Sources to Temper (Counter-Balance your Frustration): 1. Statistics 2. Stories 3. Someone Else
Make the best of your frustration instead of allowing your frustration to get the best of you.
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Continuously Adjust the Rubber Band.
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Pinpoint what.
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Know when the team needs me present, and when they need me to be ahead.
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Don’t be frustrated by the fact that I feel frustrated.
The mark of a great leader is they’re not frustrated by the same thing two seasons in a row.
The Leadership Perspective: I’m always figuring out a way to make it better, and I always think I can do it better.
If I’m not frustrated by something I can’t make it better.
You should be frustrated by your lack of frustration.
Spend more time dreaming, imagining, vision-casting, seeing what others are doing that you could do.
If you want to create context give stats, if you want to create momentum tell a story.
We don’t watch or hear stories, we enter into them.
When you hear stories of what people have overcome it creates confidence.
Why you should share your story? – You’ll become aware of how far you’ve come. – You’ll become aware of what you need to begin, change, edit out. – You’ll encourage someone.
The same elements that present in a strategic plan are pivotal for a story.
Portable and compelling matter. Focus: Turn your strategic plan into a story.
Everyday ask: What do I want, Why does it matter, what will keep me from it?
Strategic Plans give clarity and context, but stories are portable and compelling, change your plan to a story.
Principle 1: The Transformation is what matters.
Principle 2: Your voice is the soundtrack of the story.
Principle 3: Move your starting line as close to the finish line as you can.
Principle 4: Details make the story fun, but don’t take unnecessary paths.
Principle 5: When the movement stops, I’m out.
Principle 6: Anyone can be the Hero, but you.
When you hear story you need to think: Transformation.
We want to know how your life transformed you without you realizing it.
You tell their story of their transformation & how it transformed you.
There is a disconnect between activity and impact.
Your job: Connect the Dots.
It’s only when you connect the smaller win to the larger picture that your’e leading, until then you’re just telling a story.
Every great story has a relatable and admirable protagonist.
The Error: Most people make their communication about them. As an individual, as a company.
The Goal: Position your communication to make them the protagonist.
Start with why — how great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek https://youtu.be/u4ZoJKF_VuA
In Narrative the obstacle reveals the purpose behind the desire.
People can learn from a point, can accomplish a goal, but can find themselves within a story.
Your role as a leader is to find & tell the better story that is taking place.
I’d rather have missing details, than an incoherent story.
The awareness of the difficulty doesn’t make it less difficult.
The awareness of the difficulty should change how we prepare for it.
Create expectation for how long the current circumstance will be difficult, ensure you overestimate it.
Don’t look back, look forward.
Seek out people who have been through what you’re going through, not people who are going through what you’re going through.
If I’m never overreaching I’m probably not progressing.
Recovery comes after exertion.
You should be overreaching from time to time. It’s good to deliberately hit empty from time to time, hitting empty allows you to grow., but don’t continuously run yourself into the ground, you should not exhaust yourself over and over again.
Leadership development is an action- not a system, not a value, an action.
Pastoring is about being present, leadership is about being absent.
I don’t need to do what I can do, I need to do what only I can do based upon position and skill-set.
If I’m not encouraged everything I do will be diminished.
We reproduce not what we want, but who we are. If we are discouraged, the impact will be significant.
If you are discouraged, that’s a problem. And no one else can keep you encouraged other than yourself.
Leisure Time: The time when someone is not working or occupied; free time. Leisure Activity: What you engage in when you are away from your everyday responsibilities.
We’re engaging in more and more activities that are not our responsibilities but aren’t refreshing.
As you’re doing what you don’t have to do ask: is this making something better, or is this helping me feel better?
Leaders know what’s rewarded is repeated.
Don’t do something just because it’s rewarded, decide if it’s worth it.
Don’t do it for the gold star, do it because you decided it’s worth it. Be your own motivation.
Good leaders know when to be absent and when to be present.
Key Question: What do you need from me?
Key Phrase: Here’s what I need from you.
Leaders open the door to this conversation.
We have so emphasized leading well that most of us have no idea how to follow well.
Good followers strive to gain influence which comes from personal contribution to the team goal.
The only thing worse than someone who doesn’t make a contribution is the person who values a personal win even if it comes with a team loss.
Practices 1. Clarify for your team what you celebrate, then let your team celebrate it in each other. Break down that idea. 2. What’s rewarded is repeated.
We have so emphasized leading well that most of us have no idea how to follow well.
Good Followers think overall impact while focusing on personal responsibility. – Without it we create silos. – Without it we create suspicion. – Without it we stunt the growth of future leaders.
You need ways of allowing your team to give input to the macro-vision, while being held accountable for what they are responsible for.
Leaders need to create followers.
The Best Leaders make the best followers.
The Follower understands it’s not about you, but it starts with you.
The True Leader understands they lead in how they follow, and when they follow they can lead.
The mark of development is movement.
The 3 Movements: Move Up: Most obvious – Promoted or Doing different things in your job. – If they’re doing the same job, in the same way, with the same impact- development hasn’t taken place.
Move Around: – Development will either create clarity on current skills or awareness of new skills that will lead to different positions. – Don’t let people be stuck: in or behind!
Move Out: – If you’re wanting to know if development is taking place you need to ask: What’s different? Is this a good thing, or not. – If it’s the same: there’s no development.
What You Have to Do: – Regular meeting Time: Frequency of meetings changes based upon size of the gap. – Desired Level & Current Reality. – Clear Conversations around those two & the progress you’re making: goal fo the conversation is to help them close the gap.
Functionally 1,000 conversations – Here’s where you are – Here’s where you hit the bullseye: keep doing this – Here’s where it’s falling short: might need to think different, develop a skill, etc.
Values Needed: – Trust – Clarity & Honesty – Pathway to Get There
The reason why you’re not further isn’t a skill set.
Most of the things that hold us back are good things that become misapplied contextually.
Where it will fail: You: Unclear Them: Lack Growth Mindset
Information is no longer transmitted relationally.
We develop like the internet doesn’t exist and information isn’t accessible.
We must shift from “teach them something” to “help them become something”.
The Developer is not an importer of information, they are a shaper of character.
To Develop in the 21st Century you need 2 things: – Proximity – Intentionality
Have a goal greater than being entertaining.
One of the greatest impacts that you can make when you have a microphone is shaping culture, and I believe one of the easiest ways to shape culture is through public speaking.
One of the greatest impacts that you can make when you have a microphone is shaping culture, and I believe one of the easiest ways to shape culture is through public speaking.
Your preparation must ensure that you don’t just say what you want to say, but you say it how you want to say it.
Make your tone mirror your desired culture.
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Prepare to not be boring.
Pro Tip: Count the number of people in the room and multiply it by the time you are spending speaking. Take the time you are consuming into consideration when you’re determining your preparation level.
Prepare in a way that allows your personality to come through.
You know what you’re saying and how you want to say it.
Your Introduction is everything.
Your Energy will cover a multitude of problems.
Stories add life!
Episode 70 3 Questions For Public Speaking March 3, 2021 Also Available On: Leader Notes Leadership will eventually come with a microphone. [...]
Everyone likes the change they initiate.
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Think Like a Car – The driver knows the direction. – Focus on purpose: We obsess over what is changing, start obsessing over why it is changing
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Think like a Transformer – You might need to speed up the change! – Quit Comparing: Comparing your present life to your past life is a losing proposition: Comparing adult life to kids life.
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Think like Viktor Frankl – The last of all human freedoms: to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” Viktor Frankl
Side One: Clear is Kind – Clear is kind, but it’s not ruthless.
Side Two: Clear will Ruffle Feather – Clarity is kind, but clarity is rarely met with kindness.
Side Three: Clarity is the only thing that can invoke passion. – People do not get excited about a general direction, but a specific destination.
Don’t be ruthless, but don’t be vague.
Episode 67 Why your vision is stuck February 10, 2020 Also Available On: Leader Notes You must create clarity, but if [...]
Episode 66 3 Habits of Healthy Leaders February 3, 2020 Also Available On: Leader Notes If you’re effective, but not [...]
The effective executive gets the right results. Their focus is on output and outcomes, not inputs and work flow.
The most important decisions you will make are about priorities and people.
Priority Decisions: Priority Decisions become far easier and fewer with a framework. Framework Leadership by Kent Ingle, President of Southeastern University. To effectively make priority decisions you need thinking time.
People Decisions: “People are chess, not checkers.” Marcus Buckingham Character and integrity do not accomplish anything, but their absence faults everything- character isn’t a plus, it’s a non-negotiable. – Peter Drucker
Decision Principles: Know what end you’re working towards. Know what action needs to be taken. Include Communication within the decision itself.
There is no resource that is more finite than your time; which means there is no resource that is more valuable than your time.
You can’t know where your time is going without a “time budget” and “time audit”.
Step 1: Create a Time Audit: – Your goal is to deploy your time to outcomes, not inputs or problem solving. – 4 Tiers of Effectiveness
Step 2: Actively Eliminate Time Wasters
Step 3: Chunk Your Time
The effective executive gets the right results. Their focus is on output and outcomes, not inputs and work flow.
Your lack of weaknesses can’t get anything done, they simply won’t create other problems. Only your strengths can make an impact.
To get strength one has put up with weaknesses- strong people always have strong weaknesses too.
“In every area of effectiveness within an organization, one feeds the opportunities and starves the problems. Nowhere is this more important than in respect to people.” – Peter Drucker
“In Human affairs, the distance between the leaders and the average is a constant. If leadership performance is high, the average will go up.” – Peter Drucker
Effective Executives make the strengths of their boss productive.
The effective executive gets the right results. Their focus is on output and outcomes, not inputs and work flow.
How Effective Executive’s Focus on Opportunities: -They ensure that problems do not overwhelm opportunities. - They put their best people on opportunities rather than on problems. - Problem solving prevents damage, it doesn’t produce results. We become focused on problems and input rather than opportunities and outcomes because it’s easier.
If you’re focused on outcomes you can work hard and still come to the conclusion that you contributed nothing.
Seeing Opportunities: - Positioning for the future. - Seeing gaps in what is delivered today. - Knowing what improvements to make to maximize impact.
How to wrap up the year.
More important than goals is clarifying lessons and setting intentions.
How to do it: 3 Key Questions What was a win?
What did I learn? – What’d you learn about yourself? – What wisdom did you gain?
What will I do different? – Identity and intention are far more important than goals.
You can take 2 hours, or you could take 10 minutes, but do something.
Why you don’t lead at home:
Because you don’t adjust to change of pace & maturity. Your ego is in the way: you only want to command and not to serve. You might be lazy.
You are replaceable in every environment, don’t fail to lead in the one environment where you’re not.
A powerful idea: Make your decisions based upon maximizing future joy.
- If they’re not a fit culturally or skill-wise, they’re not going to be fulfilled long-term.
- We violate ethics because we lose long-term perspective and isolate the immediate.
- Another frame: What is the wise thing to do? Wisdom is about joy.
Joy is communal. The nature of leadership is to become isolated. To be lonely.
The key to joy in leadership is a generous leadership: - Be generous with your time. - Be generous with your authority. - Be generous with information.
There is no job that will give you joy. One of the greatest things impacting your joy is a feeling of helplessness.
- We act contrary to what we feel we should do.
- When we do we begin to see the world in a way that justifies our action.
- This affects our worldview creating behaviors that become character traits, and provokes others to do the same.
I believe one of the clearest culprits is a feeling of helplessness, which is a feeling that we strengthen with our own actions.
We’ve fundamentally misunderstood why we lead.
If profit is your purpose you’re always going to struggle for passion.
The purpose of leadership is to increase joy.
From Simon Sinek, “So many leaders, even some of the best-intentioned ones, often ask, “How do I get the most out of my people?” This is a flawed question, however. It’s not a question about how to help our people grow stronger, it’s about extracting more output from them. People are not like wet towels to be wrung out. They are not objects from which we can squeeze every last drop of performance. The answers to such a question might yield more output for a time, but it often comes at a cost of our people and to the culture in the longer term. Such an approach will never generate the feelings of love and commitment. A better question to ask is, “How do I create an environment in which my people can work to their natural best?”
What you need: The right decision at the right time in the right way.
The 3 Components:
The right decision: Obviously making the right decision matters. Tons has been written on making good decisions so we’re not jumping into that here. Just press this: Decision making is a skill, it can be developed, but you might not be good at it yet. The right time: It’s not always the right time to make decision. You can make it too early- which we’ll dive into in process, you can also make it too late and miss the opportunity. The timing of the decision matters.
In the right way: Process matters. Who contributes, who is heard from, has appropriate research been done or are you just going on your gut, who all is involved in making the decision.
The best decisions involve all 3, but you can get away with just doing 2 out of the 3.
How to grow courage. What is worth it whether it works or not?
Courage is like a muscle
Strengthened over time. Big moment courage comes from small moment courage. Simple Practices that gain courage
Speak when it’d be easier to overlook.
Listen when you would rather yell. Stay when it’d be easier to go. Go when it’d be more comfortable to stay. Slow down when you want to just keep going faster. Go faster when you’ve been steady at the same pace.
What is the difference between stupidity and courage? - The difference between stupidity and courage isn’t wisdom, it is conviction. - Stupidity shuts its eyes, courage sees everything. - The difference between courage and stupidity is subjective: It’s based upon you and what is worth it to you.
You need convictions if you’re going to have courage!
We often define reckless as courageous. Individuals view disagreeable as courageous. Courage is the excuse for the person who is truly arrogant.
Definition: The ability to do something that frightens one. Strength in the face of pain or grief.
For it to be Courage: You must know what’s at stake. You must know who will be impacted and how. Knowing that, you’re willing to move forward anyway.
Courage establishes you as a leader.
The risk of Leadership: 1. You might be wrong. 2. You might be alone. 3. You might be criticized.
Leadership is established through a very simple practice: Embrace the Obstacle.
The Leading Hope Manifesto:
- We want to increase the impact of your leadership.
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We want to aim the impact of your leadership.
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Leadership is a privilege and a sacrifice. But I believe the sacrifice of leadership is the privilege.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “I have a piece of bread to share with you for me.”
Your leadership will have an impact, you’re going to lead them towards despair, or you’re going to lead them towards hope; we want you to lead them towards hope.
Everyone has 20 minutes to learn to become a better leader. Make it Count!
Your actions should change based upon the season you are in.
If you don’t know the season you won’t maximize the moment & you’ll be unprepared for the next season.
Two Notes: I take my vacation very strategically; it’s going to be about the same weeks every single year. I build development early into my workweek so I don’t cloud my thinking later in the week with messages.
How to Identify the Season: What is the cycle of your work? Are we in conquest or consolidation? How long is this season?
In light of your future desires, what is the most significant thing that could happen this season?
Order determines capacity.
When your life is focused on things that don’t matter, you will feel & be overwhelmed.
Two Notes: When I put the big blocks in first I literally can fit more into my life. When small blocks don’t fit, it’s not a big deal.
Your capacity in one season is not necessarily your capacity in the next.
We increase our capacity through a rhythm of Rev Up, and Focus In.
How to know you’ve hit the ceiling: 1. Things start falling apart & you’re unaware of it. 2. Your strengths are no longer activated. 3. You can no longer see the declining cycle of your energy.
What this Rhythm Does: 1. Rev Up phase forces you to increase some of your capacity skills. 2. Focus In phase forces you to deploy those skills at the areas of highest leverage: you don’t leave them behind, you still apply them, you just focus them for a greater impact.
Think like an architect, not a victim.
- Physical Capacity = Energy
- Mental Capacity = Edge
- Spiritual Capacity = Purpose
Steps: Think like an architect. 1. What do I care about doing that I’m not currently able to do? (Question of Purpose) 2. What do I need to be able to do that I’m not currently able to do? (Question of Physical) 3. What do I need to know about what to do or how to do it that I don’t currently know? (Question of Mental)
The enemy of capacity is comfort.
- Whining is incompatible with personal growth.
- If you’re never overwhelmed, you’ll never learn to develop and rely on your skill.
- Before you’re capable of more, you’ll be overwhelmed. Don’t give in to comfort, embrace the pain and watch your capacity increase.
Desperation will open up doors that complacency will keep shut.
Everyone thinks they’re at human capacity until someone shows it can be done.
Two ways to look at it: 1. I’m full. Too many blocks in my container. Need “balance”. 2. I’m full. My container is too small for all the blocks. I need a bigger container.
You do have a ceiling, you don’t know what it is, your ceiling is probably much higher than you think it is.
This week we took some time to talk to our team about developing trust.
Our desire is that you would see this is a messy, complicated process that everyone responds to differently. Listen to the full episode to hear the unique perspectives that may be mirrored within your context.
Thank you for listening to Leading Hope!
Episode 42 Trust Code August 19, 2020 Also Available On: Leader Notes In this episode we continue to get an inside look at the on going process [...]
In this episode you will get an inside look at the on going process of developing trust and: - Learn from our struggles & successes. - Help you see not everyone responds to this work the same, so we’ll get a cross-section of different personalities. - Don’t want you to think this is a single meeting (the greatest error anyone could make!)
Questions answered by the Team: 1. Describe our Team Pre-Trust Work and on the other side of all the initial work? 2. What were some key moments, exercises, meetings when it comes to trust? 3. As we went through some of those, what were you thinking, what were you feeling? Take us into your thoughts. 4. How would you describe the process to someone else of developing trust within our team?
As a leader your primary focus should be developing trust within your team.
Trust is complicated. You’re looking for a Team that is predictable.
- The level of confidence in your team according to your execution, thinking, and motivation.
- The lower level is a commitment to completion, the higher level is a commitment to process.
- The lower level is a commitment to the vision, the higher level knows why they are committed to the vision.
Trust makes everything quicker. Trust is a strategic advantage. Slow isn’t fun. Trust is a cultural advantage.
Q: How about advice or suggestions on coaching or leading up? Don’t think this topic has been discussed on the podcast. Examples always help! I enjoy what you’re covering. Keep it up! Q: Where have you seen the biggest change/impact from your leadership development focus at Be Hope? Q: I have an employee that has been identified as having leader potential… he seems to want to be at leader status but isn’t necessarily putting in the work to get there… I have offered him a variety of different opportunities but I don’t feel the initiative is there. You mentioned in one of the podcasts that if people keep denying the opportunities that you have presented to allow them to advance then you stop asking. The questions: 1. Do you tell people that if they continue to deny opportunities then you’re going to stop asking them to do things? Would this be a one on one taking point? 2. Am I just offering the wrong opportunities? 3. Is there some consideration I should make in changing the way I facilitate the opportunities? Q: Is there a leadership checklist? What I mean by that is if you feel like your team is doing well and you’re trusting their choices but you want to make sure that everyone else feels the same what do you do? I often do one on one meetings with each staff member usually at least quarterly and I always ask for feedback on my leadership and what I can do better and very rarely does anyone give me an answer…. and I don’t think that’s because I’m doing a fantastic job all the time. Our company is going to roll out some sort of 360 manager survey that all staff will receive so that will be helpful but without that what do you do? Q: You seem to have the ability to take in a lot of ideas and suggestions and quickly process them and get to the root concern, or the core ideas that needs to be addressed. How did you learn to do that? Q: What are you listening to and reading that excites you? Q: What should the church be doing differently to draw men out of isolation and into becoming the godly leaders they are designed to be at home, work, and the community?
The great separator between mediocre and great isn’t intention but execution. You don’t just need a get it done person, you need a get it done system!
4 Disciplines of Execution: - Focus on the Wildly Important. - Act on the Lead Measures: Influenceable & Predictive. - Create a Compelling Scoreboard. - Create a Cadence of Accountability.
Why We Don’t Do Execution Well: - We don’t know what we’re working towards. - Task Completion isn’t public. - Beneath You, You’re big Picture:
Why Not Teams? - Speed is their highest value. - Don’t Like People. - Love Glory.
Why Teams? - Longevity - Wisdom - Better Development: Helping people see a level ahead. - Joy
Basic Common Thoughts: - Culture before Competency - Speed of the Leader, Speed of the team - Great teams compliment, poor teams compete
How to Think About Teams: - The team is ineffective if the role is more important than the goal. - Unhealthy People can’t survive on a healthy team. - Great Teams have the highest levels of Trust.
What is a system: How we seek to accomplish our vision.
Key Pieces to Systems Thinking: - Never stop at symptoms. - Look for High-Leverage. - Easiest to improve on the good, not to eliminate our weakness.
Further Reading: Systems Talk from Andy Stanley Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline
Culture is what is normalized in a group.
Three Truths of Culture: 1. Creating what is normal has the greatest impact on your future. 2. Creating what is normal is complicated. 3. Culture requires constant attention, just because it’s normalized doesn’t mean it’ll stay forever.
The Key Levers to Creation: (Think back through family dynamic) 1. Values 2. Leadership 3. Attention
Further Learning: Edgar Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership Ben Horowitz, What you do is Who You Are
Vision is the address of the destination that you intend to go to.
Three Components: Clarity Commitment Communication
If you don’t have a vision, then you’re not leading- you’re just wandering around.
From Leading Leaders to leading organizations.
Make it broadly applicable – could be small or large and need these skill sets.
Key Idea: – Your chief job is creating a leadership development culture: Moving from Management & Leadership to Culture Shaping – Next Series: Basics of Leadership: Systems, Culture, Vision, Communication
How You do It: 1. Create Clarity on What it is: Terminology, Behaviors, Wins. 2. Clarify Expectations Towards It: Job Description 3. Create Rallying Points around it: Team Night 4. Praise & Empower the Heroes of it: People who do it naturally will slide to the background.
Danger: – You cannot allow front-line manager to clog the pipeline. Be on the lookout for where it stops: Develop up, or Move Out. – If you don’t: You’ll lose your best people, frustrate individual contributors, stop the pipeline.
Note: Just one aspect of culture, going to get into that next month series on the basics of leadership.
What the Role Is: Focusing on the People Side, not financial or other resources.
Manage Your Direct Reports: You are still a manager (have direct reports), you need that skill set. 1. Your danger is that you manage the people who your direct reports manage: Create Chaos & Frustration, Blame your managers when it’s you. 2. Encourage publicly, Clarify priorities and give coaching in private.
Develop Future Leaders: Yes, you need pour into people who have the potential for great impact, but you’re not smart enough to know who those people are. “Gather many to find one.” Chris Hodges
Micromanage Details, Not People: Need a complete understanding of the business model. Howard Schultz & Starbucks An idea: Less is more You will not have less work. But you should have less work assigned to you (if you don’t you managing people 2 levels down— your work can be proactive. The more “things” you are doing, the more you are taking out of the hands of others. If they can, they should.
The Idea: Leading Others is the work of a manager. Manager is not a cuss word—> matters. When we have leaders but not managers we can “take ground” but we don’t know how to keep what we have. Sustain success.
The Role: Setting Key Priorities. 1. Monitoring, Problem Solving, Communicating) 2. Address Micro-Management: You’re probably not! 3. Note: Must be involved in their work! Holding Accountable: 1. The equivalent to you’re now a parent: you’ve got to get yourself ready in the morning and someone else. (Most leaders at this level who fail say “I don’t want to parent my employees, I already parent my kids”, well, you have to). 2. Key piece is most of our progress is stunted because we weren’t great at being accountable to ourselves. But the issue is most managers are unwilling to hold anyone else accountable. 3. Don’t rely on your position to push people, but don’t abdicate your position. (Find other ways to motivate, but don’t settle for less than the standard). Getting Better 1. As a manager you most importantly a coach—> you must help people take steps forward. 2. Where the leadership piece comes in: throughout all of these you can fulfill those roles with a diminishing or empowering posture. One that teaches people to follow orders (follower) or teaches people to think through problems and create leaders. 3. Two guides: (1) People come with solutions instead of problems. (2) You ask questions instead of giving orders. Two Dangers: 1. You manage everyone the same: everyone is unique. 2. You focus on personal productivity instead of team progress and the development of others.
Maxwell’s 5 levels are about growing your influence, (5 levels of leadership) I want to talk about as your position changes. Acknowledge that as we progress there are other skill sets that are vital: resource management, but we’re going to focus on the people side.
Foundational Skills: Discipline: Show up on time, do what you say you’d do. Positivity: Pessimists don’t change the world. Resilience: Because circumstances will be difficult and where you learn to not blame circumstances. Desire: Will it be to make an impact or to be known. What is Gained: Internal Standards (Greater than what any boss would put on you)
Excellence: You’re good enough is higher than other’s. Personal Development: Not willing to settle in, not waiting for others to develop you. – We don’t have sponsors of education because everyone has access to resources. – Some people need 1-on-1, often I’d rather have a book. Getting the best of their thinking, not casual. – A Note: When you’re “just” leading yourself- take every opportunity that comes your way. If you don’t have kids quit talking about balance. Impact: Fulfilled, but not satisfied. Energy: Flows from personal health.
The entire idea of flattening the curve is to see the danger that is coming, and how to minimize the losses so that you don’t overwhelm the system. There are some trend lines that you can reverse, and there are other trend lines that you have to figure out how to weather the storm.
Key Lesson: What are the trend lines in your life? – What can you avoid? What can you minimize? What good, can you increase?
Important note: If it isn’t working, or it’s not going to work- the path forward is doing something different. It may feel backwards, but it’s forward.
Identifying trend lines: – COVID-19: Changed the environment. This is how everyone is behaving and the trend lines, let’s change it. – 2 Pieces: You, Your Environment. Business, Your Industry. Stock & Stock Market. – You need to know what direction you’re headed. – You need to know what direction everything’s headed. – If you’re a decent stock, in a market that is booming—> you’ll do great. Vice versa. (Now the rest of life) – Explained: We get that for business, but we don’t seem to for the rest of our lives. – Around when I hit 30 I gained about 15 pounds. I was the same, but metabolism slows down. Not just mine, everyone’s! Maintaining the same habits, in a declining environment is going to be a problem. I didn’t see it coming; I should’ve, but I didn’t. – We do a decent job of seeing where we’re headed, but not how our environment is changing.
Environment Trend Lines: – Relationships: 7-year-itch – Business: Declining or Emerging Market – Population Growth of the area – Health: You’re getting older, what adaptations do you need to make. – Personal Finances: What expenses aren’t current but are coming?
2 Statements: – Don’t be the person who assumes your actions don’t matter because your environment is getting better. (Jack Welch Growth Assessment) – Don’t be the person who assumes your actions will overcome any environmental hurdle.
Episode 28 PPE for Leaders May 13, 2020 Also Available On: Leader Notes It's essential to have PPE for front-line workers. Too dangerous for them to [...]
The Organization of the future looks different. We’re not just talking about how to be an organization of the future, we’re talking about how to be an organization in the future. If you’re not positioned to succeed in the future, you won’t exist in the future. We wrongly assume existence.
Essential: Purpose that is clear. Purpose that is compelling. – Example: Realtors response to “essential personnel” Agile: Shift in Crisis & still fulfill purpose. – Some Restaurants shut down, others boxed meals & thrived.
What to do: Essential – Build Purpose into everything you do & Make it matter (The way you say it) – The question- Does it matter? Agile – Cash – Communication: Direct lines where you need it. – Digital: Human & Digital should reinforce each other
What we’ve been able to see is this amazing display of leadership test cases play out before our eyes. We’ve seen through the governor’s how states have responded to the Coronavirus crisis, what works and what doesn’t.
Point 1 – What Works: Good Data – Dewine, “Anytime I made an error, it was because I didn’t have good data. So I made a commitment to have the best data possible in my decisions.” – What Doesn’t: Assumptions – Subtext: Humility Works, Arrogance Doesn’t. – In a crisis, arrogance is death.
Point 2 – What works: Timetables w/ flexibility – What we saw: 14 Days to stop the spread, 30 days to stop the spread- then we’ll re-evaluate. – We’re doing this for at least this long; then we’ll do what we need to do. – What doesn’t work: Lack of Clarity within the uncertainty. – Example: Taking a walk with my kids; can’t tell them we’re just walking. Have to give a destination. – Example: Our team, this is what we’re doing for now. 100% in, and it will change. – Subtext: Clarity & Agility work, frustration doesn’t. Point 3 – What Works: Clear, Consistent, Calm Communication – Daily deposits of data & purpose. – Reminding people of key behaviors & why it matters – You can declare a state of emergency without a tone of emergency
Episode 25 Be Honest April 22, 2020 Also Available On: Leader Notes This the oddest word of encouragement that you will ever hear: “If you’re losing, [...]
The plans you laid, will probably not be the ones you execute.
How to pivot:
- Don’t Neglect Initial Planning: “Plans are useless, but planning is essential.” Dwight Eisenhower. Your plans should define your actions, not deal for every possibility. Don’t neglect planning because they’ll change- you’ll always be further ahead than having done nothing.
- As part of your planning, prepare people to pivot: Create an expectation that we don’t fully know what to expect. Prepare your team to pivot. Dodgeball Tournament Example.
- When you pivot, get input: If things are so in flux that your plans need to change, you better get input from your team as they change.
Your Perspective: You’re not smart enough to know everything that will change, but initial planning will get you ahead. You’re not smart enough to know everything that needs to change, so pivoting at the right time will get your further ahead.
Episode 23 Communicating Through Uncertainty April 8, 2020 Also Available On: Leader Notes The problem with communicating in uncertainty is that communication is about clarity. Give mock “We’re going [...]
Using the metaphor of putting your oxygen mask on first, what do you need to take care of first before you do anything else? 1. Encouragement Level: You must be able to see the good that can come out of this (even if there isn’t much). 1. Can’t lead towards hope if you don’t have hope. “Leaders define reality and give hope." 2. If you don’t have hope: get it- call someone, personal rhythms, pray like crazy. 2. Thinking Clarity: Use your emotions, but don’t be emotional. Goes hand in hand with encouragement. 1. Leading or Responding. Have a Plan or trying to avoid the worst. 2. 2 Questions: 1) What are you afraid of? 2) What would fear lead you to do? 3. Team’s Pace: Relate to quickly changing nature of COVID-19; if you can’t make decisions at the pace of change you will always be behind. 1. Relate to advice to church planter to not change anything for a year. 2. Have to adapt your typical workflow. (Example: Tornado- 3 a day meetings)
You’ve heard the phrase “Never Waste a Crisis”, but here’s what you shouldn’t waste.
The opportunity to clarify what matters most: Have to cut out what is not mission critical. Live on 80/20.
The perfect climate to change our habits: Everything is determined by our behaviors; but behaviors are the hardest to change because they are habitual: they are what we naturally do. But now, the pattern has been changed, perfect time to establish new habits. – Our habits: Online Engagement, Online Evangelism, Online Giving, Neighbor Connection. Establish Leadership: Connect, Clarifying, and Taking People somewhere. You can cement & further establish yourself as a leader. (See 1st series on Resilience: Don’t complain that it’s hard, this is why we need leaders and what establishes leaders)
Criticism sticks the most when it comes when you didn’t expect it. So while most of the discussion around criticism is about responding, we want to talk about preventing. The easiest way to prevent criticism is to do nothing, but that’s obviously not our strategy. Be active about seeking out feedback loops in advance. – People you trust their opinion & their intention (not their loyalty). – Regularly inviting feedback on specific issues & your blind spots “what do you see from your unique perspective that I might not?” The #1 job of a leader is to stay encouraged.
Imagine it that criticism is a game, I know not a fun a game, but we want to shape how you think about what you’re doing. We often think of criticism as dodgeball. People are throwing stuff at you, and you’re trying to avoid it. But remember, the goal is not to avoid criticism, it’s to grow. So what if we thought of criticism as baseball, instead of dodgeball. Here’s how it would reframe how we thought: 1. Instead of throwing stuff at us, they were throwing it to us. 2. When they threw it to us, we had a choice on what to do with it. You get to evaluate the “pitch” and decide how you respond: Our Choice: 1. If it’s not worthwhile, not helpful, not from a healthy source- don’t swing! Don’t respond. Don’t get agitated. You don’t have to swing at every pitch that comes your way. If you swing at a pitch in the dirt you’ll strike out. Don’t wrestle with pigs, you both get muddy and the pig likes it. Don’t give it time: If someone isn’t on your agenda, don’t put them on your calendar. 2. If it is worthwhile, if it is helpful, if there is something to be learned: swing. Engage with the criticism. Learn something. Not to take the metaphor too far; but you’re engaging the criticism, not the person. Closing Word: You have a choice in how you respond to criticism. Not all criticism is equal, so don’t treat it as such.
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Everyone deals with criticism. Some of it is direct, some of it is through anonymous feeds, some of it is from unlikely sources.
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We need to redefine the goal of criticism, the goal of criticism isn’t to avoid criticism. It’s to grow. If you are shut off to criticism you are shut off to feedback that propels you forward. You can’t just seek to avoid it, you have to seek to grow.
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What we’re seeking to cultivate is tough skin without developing a hard heart. We’re seeking to handle criticism in a healthy way without giving way to cynicism.
Everything we’ve dealt with up until now about ethos has been topical treatment.
The truth is that ethos, personal culture, is a matter of the heart. There is nothing that changes your spirit more than relationships, think romantic relationships, new friendships. Because relationships shape our personal culture more than anything else, the one relationship we have to have in our lives to change that in a healthy way is a relationship with Jesus. A relationship with Jesus changes your spirit changes your soul more than anything else in the world.
What to know: - A topical treatment to ethos will only go so far, sometimes you need steroid, something internal. - Personal culture is a matter of the heart. - Faith has an ethos, because faith is a relationship.