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4 Signs You Might be on Leadership Steroids

August 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It seems to be a final chapter in a complex, controversial story.

Seven-time Tour de France champion, Lance Armstrong, has announced he will no longer attempt to defend himself against years of steroid use accusations.

In response, The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has announced their intention to strip Armstrong of those victories.

Did Armstrong cheat his way to all these victories?

Image via iStockPhoto.com

I have no idea. And my point here is neither to defend nor condemn him.

Rather, I want to shine a spotlight on the over-arching issues of those who attempt to take shortcuts on the way to achieving results, because it can be a tremendous temptation in leadership. I call these temptations “leadership steroids”.

What do these look like? Here are four of the most common signs you might be taking leadership steroids…

1.   You are building an organization without building consensus
If your goal is a solid, healthy organization, you can’t get there without methodically creating a groundswell of support and understanding.

This can be slow going, but it’s necessary for long-term organizational health.

2.   You are talking about change without talking to stakeholders
Whether or not your even recognize it, your organization has a vital sub-set of people who must support any significant change.

These are the stakeholders; people of influence who ultimately drive the vision forward.

And before you even think about implementing significant change you must get these people on board.

3.   You are challenging your people without challenging yourself
Want to take your people on a journey of personal sacrifice, growth or change?

You must set the pace.

It may seem obvious, but it’s incredible how many leaders try to challenge their people to, for example, move toward personal financial health without making any effort to clean up their own financial affairs.

4.   You are seeking a breakthrough without seeking God
You’ll never be entrusted with a God-sized vision without spending slow, unhurried time with God.

Moses and Jesus both spent 40 days alone with God before setting out on their respective missions.

Don’t expect to microwave this part of your leadership journey.

If you’re going to achieve long-term leadership results, resist the temptation to succumb to the lure of these leadership steroids.

It might take longer, but you’ll never be stripped of your results.

What leadership steroids have you faced?

Filed Under: Featured, Leadership, Sports Analogies, Temptation Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

3 Challenges Tithing Won’t Solve

July 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you’ve been in church leadership for any length of time, then at some point you’ve been in the “financial crunch” meeting; that gathering of leaders who meet to discuss the budget shortfall.

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Inevitably someone will say with almost prophetic resonance, “We must get everyone to tithe,” and in all likelihood many around the table will voice strong agreement.

How do you respond to this? This is when you must seize this teaching moment and help them see beyond the tithe.

Specifically, you must teach your leaders that there are at least three financial challenges that tithing will not solve.

1.   Tithing will not solve the inequality of giving challenge
As John Maxwell has pointed out, the Pareto Principle dictates that the 80-20 rule will always be present.

You must teach your leaders that even if every single person in your church were to tithe you would still find that 80% of your giving comes from 20% of the people, because 80% of the money in your church is held by 20% of the people.

2.   Tithing will not solve the Kingdom return challenge
There is a tremendous temptation to attribute decreased giving to disobedience to the biblical “rules” on tithing.

However, for many people, if they don’t believe their local church is providing an optimal Kingdom return, they may well slide some of that giving to other ministries.

Your leaders must learn that your people may well be tithing; but they may simply no longer tithing to your church.

3.   Tithing will not solve the culture of generosity challenge
In Exodus 36 God’s people were so lavishly giving to the work of the Lord they had to be told to stop; there was too much coming in.

You don’t get to that level of heart-felt generosity in your church by brow-beating your people into tithing. Help your leaders understand that this kind of generosity flows out of hearts that are fully devoted to Christ and fully sold-out to your church’s vision.

To change the financial trajectory of your church you need your key leaders on board, which is why it’s so important to seize these teaching moments.

Your first step may well be to help them see beyond the tithe.

What are the principles that you have taught when leading through a challenging financial season?

Filed Under: Church, Culture, Featured, Stewardship Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How to Avoid Painting Yourself into 4 Common Leadership Corners

May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

How often have you found yourself facing a leadership challenge where you asked yourself, “How did I get into this mess?”

Unfortunately, sometimes the answer is that you may have put yourself in that position.

I call this “painting yourself into a leadership corner”.

Image via iStockPhoto.com

And the best way to deal with these challenges is to avoid putting yourself there in the first place. Here are four of the common corners that church leaders often paint themselves into, and a few ideas for how to avoid them.

1.   The My-door-is-always-open corner
Granting such unlimited access to everyone in your church is a noble-sounding sentiment, and can possibly be managed when your church has fewer than 100 people. But good luck with this when your church grows to 1000 or more.

Effective leaders must be strategic about where, when, and with whom they invest their time.

2.   The Let’s-put-up-a-memorial-plaque corner
Church leaders love to recognize “fallen saints” by sticking a plaque honouring their memory on a piano, a pew, a classroom or entire wing.

But if you need to renovate, I wouldn’t want to swing that sledge hammer through a memorial plaque. And neither should you.

Find ways to honour the past without limiting your future.

3.   The You-deserve-a-raise-today corner
Rising stars need to be recognized and rewarded with appropriate increases in compensation, with added responsibilities, and with titles that reflect their responsibility.

But proceed with extreme caution when doling out such recognition. Because while it’s easy and fun to hand out these rewards, it’s almost impossible to pull them back. A premature promotion can come back to bite you.

4.   The Let’s-call-this-the-FIRST-ANNUAL corner
Don’t give away your calendar.

There is no upside to calling something a “First Annual” anything. Nor should you announce a feature in your weekend services will happen “the first Sunday of every month”, nor any other declaration that will hand-cuff your planning calendar.

Each of these promises can have short-term gains but often result in long-term pains. So be very wise about issuing these kind of public promises.

Because leadership is a lot more fun when you’re not painted into a corner.

What leadership corners have you found yourself in, and how did you get out?

Filed Under: Church, Effectiveness, Featured, Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

What Leaders Can Learn from Quarterback Efficiency

November 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

What is your “What do you think?” to “Here’s what I think” ratio?

Do you have a sense for how often you ask for input, compared to how often you offer your own?

Tom Brady You see, just as effective quarterbacks pay attention to their touchdown to interception ratio, great leaders know the importance of their “What do you think?” to “Here’s what I think” ratio.

In football, the touchdown to interception ratio is part of a quarterback’s passing efficiency rating. Quarterbacks and coaches pay meticulous attention to it. Three touchdowns thrown in a game might seem great, but if five interceptions are also thrown that indicates a very poor outing.

This is why Tom Brady of the New England Patriots is considered by many to be the greatest quarterback of all time. Of all quarterbacks who have ever thrown at least 2000 passes, no one has come close to matching his touchdown to interception ratio (a 2.53 ratio, meaning for every interception he has thrown, he has thrown 2.53 touchdown passes).

In the same way, I’m learning how important it is for leaders to know and to pay attention to their “What do you think?” to “Here’s what I think” ratio.

Pay attention to how effective leaders talk and I think you’ll see what I mean.

Great leaders certainly cast vision, share insights, and make bold statements. But they seem to be just as focused on seeking the input of others.

I am so committed to growing in this area, that for the rest of 2011 I have set a goal for myself to ask “What do you think?” at least 10 times a day. Whatever I’m working on I’m going to “up my game” by going out of my way to seek this kind of input from teammates, board members, and a bunch of smart people I know.

Are you willing to take the challenge? Why not join me in the “What do you think?” challenge for the next two months. It will be stretching, but I predict it will pay off.

What do you think?

Filed Under: Leadership, Sports Analogies Tagged With: , , , ,

A 15 Minute Solution to Your Complex Problem

August 9, 2011 By 5 Comments

Do you have a complex problem that needs to be solved quickly? Consider using “Reason Meetings.”

I first learned about Reason Meetings in my years as an executive pastor in a large church, and I quickly became a fan of their effectiveness.

Just as the name suggests, a Reason Meeting is held because there is a particular reason; there’s a certain problem that needs to be addressed and needs to be addressed quickly.

It’s comprised of people from different parts of your organization, from different levels within departments. A Reason Meeting can feature a combination of department heads, middle managers, clerical staff and custodians.

They come together, usually on short notice, to brainstorm about a particular issue or problem. It’s a quick, energetic, results-oriented dialogue with a group of people who might never gather again in the same way.

This week a serious challenge landed on my desk, and I realized that we had about 24 hours to come up with a solution. After 30 minutes racking my brain without success, I tried a different approach. I took out a sheet of paper and wrote down the names of the people in our organization who were the most affected by the issue, or who would likely have the greatest interest in seeing it resolved.

I walked through our building, stopped at each of their offices, and said, “Hey something’s come up that I could really use your help with. Can you give me 15 minutes right now?”

We quickly assembled, I laid out the issue, and then watched them perform. The energy was high, the conversation solution-focused, and the pace was brisk. Within 10 minutes there were half a dozen tremendous options on the table.

To maximize their effectiveness bear in mind that Reason Meetings:

  • Work best in “short bursts”; 15 minutes is optimal.
  • Should be used sparingly.
  • Should be used only for brainstorming; not assigning blame or follow-up tasks.

If you’re facing a complex challenge give a Reason Meeting a try. You may find the solution to your challenge is just 15 minutes away.

Do you have other ways of tackling complex issues on a tight timeline?

Filed Under: Action, Leadership, Ministry, Results, Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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