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Want to Be a People Developer? Look for Their Beach Ball

April 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“If a leader is going to develop people, you have to learn about their beach ball.”

That was a bit of leadership coaching I received years ago from a trusted mentor, and today, more than ever, I believe this is a critical piece in the arsenal of every leader.

The beach ball analogy is fairly well-known. It speaks of a person’s core strengths, gifts, tendencies and passions.

A person on your team may be in a role in which their “beach ball” is submerged, but if you pay attention you’ll see it pop up above the surface of the water. It just can’t be helped.

MosesThe job of the leader is to be on the look-out for the beach balls which pop up among the members of the team, then to steer the development of that person in a direction which will allow those strengths and passions to be fully leveraged.

Case in point; look at the life of Moses. Moses’ beach ball was to free the oppressed. He couldn’t help himself. Try as he might to keep that beach ball submerged, it just kept popping up.

While he was still Prince of Egypt, Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave. Something inside Moses snapped, and he killed the oppressor. His beach ball had just surfaced. (Exodus 2: 11-12)

Later at the well of Midian he witnessed a group of shepherds harassing the daughters of Reuel. And again Moses’ beach ball popped up causing him to come to their rescue. He couldn’t avoid it. (Exodus 2: 16-17) Moses was “wired” to free the oppressed.

No wonder God nominated him to free His people. Freeing the oppressed was already in Moses’ “DNA”. That was his beach ball.

Look at your team. If you are committed to developing them to their fullest potential, here are three questions you need to ask:

  • What core strengths, gifts and tendencies keep popping up?
  • What would happen if we could leverage more of that strength?
  • What would it take to make that happen?

But by paying attention to Moses’ beach ball, God delivered a nation.

Just think what He could do in your organization.

How do you identify and develop the beach balls that pop up among your own team?

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , ,

How Great Questions Can Yield Great Results

February 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Great leaders ask great questions. And these great questions lead to great results.

My thinking in this area was recently sharpened by reading an outstanding post in the Harvard Business Review, The Power of the Right Question. In this insightful piece, Scott Anthony suggests that a leader “should spend roughly six times longer generating a killer question than positing answers.”

When I was on staff at Trinity Baptist Church as executive pastor, I was able to see the power of the right question masterfully leveraged by our lead pastor, Tim Schroeder.

How Great Questions Can Yield Great ResultsOn one occasion our lead team was planning for the upcoming Easter weekend. The question on the table was, “Should we do our usual Saturday night service on the Easter weekend, in addition to our Good Friday and Sunday services?”

Tim allowed the conversation to develop for some time, before chiming in.

“Team, let me suggest a different question,” he tossed out. “Instead of asking whether or not we should do a Saturday service that weekend, let’s wrestle with this; ‘How can we maximize the impact of Easter weekend?’”

That question brought the energy and passion in the room to a whole new level. Ultimately the question led to our church moving our Easter services to our city’s largest outdoor venue, creating a “buzz” like nothing we could have imagined.

It all started with the right question.

(I can’t even remember whether or not we did a Saturday service!)

How do you know if you’re asking the right question? From what I’ve seen, the right question will:

  • Inject passion into the dialogue,
  • Create a sense of fulfillment of your vision,
  • Instil energy in your people.

To develop that kind of questioning skill, try Scott Anthony’s suggestion, spending six times as much effort generating “killer questions” as producing correct answers.

I believe the results will be well worth it.

What’s the best leadership question you’ve used to inspire great results in your team?

Filed Under: Leadership, Results Tagged With: , , , ,

The Most Important Work of a Church Elder

March 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A funny thing happened on the way to the elders meeting at church this week. We didn’t have “quorum.”

The dictionary defines “quorum” as: The minimal number of officers and members of a committee or organization, usually a majority, who must be present for valid transaction of business.

Without quorum it meant no motions. No resolutions. No adopting minutes, approving agendas or voting. All that was left for us to do was the most important work a church elder is ever called upon to do.

As vice-chair of the board it had fallen on me to lead this month’s meeting and as the small remnant of the board gathered around the table it was clear that several were wondering, “Without quorum what can we do?”

I began by asking this question. “When you think of the spiritual welfare of our congregation, what is your hope for our people?”

That opened the floodgates. “I want them to know what it is to be fully alive in Christ,” said one. “Oh that they might be used by God in ways they’ve never even imagined!” said another.

After several such dreams were shared I said, “If we were to pray that God would realize these hopes in the people of our church we would be doing about the most important thing we ever get to do as elders.”

And so we prayed. We prayed with urgency and passion. Names and faces of our people came to mind, prompting us to pray with even greater earnestness.

When we were done I commended them for having performed the greatest task that an overseer of a church is ever called upon to do.

And to think we pulled this off without quorum.

What would you list as the most important functions of an elder or other church leader?

Filed Under: Community, Leadership, Random, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Oh Canada, What a Responsibility

February 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

As I prepare for the last leg of my journey, which has seen me connecting with international church leaders in Frankfurt, Germany and here in Atlanta, GA, I make my way home with two powerful symbols dominating my thinking.

The first, and by far most important, is the cross. At every turn I was confronted with compelling reminders that we live in a world in desperate need of the gospel. From the passion of Christian brothers like Oscar Zamora from Peru, Gerry Couchman of South Africa and Karlheinz Zimmer of Germany, I was reminded over and over that in every corner of the world the message of Christ’s love is needed now more than ever.

But another symbol has taken on a new importance for me too. That is the Maple Leaf.

The warmth and respect with which Canada’s reputation is received worldwide is striking. As an American friend involved in international ministry said, “How I envy the way Canadians are received in every part of the world.”

But then he added seriously and, I believe prophetically, “You have a great responsibility to steward well your nation’s international reputation. You must use that reputation to advance the gospel.”

We may be citizens of Heaven, but temporarily God has given us a Canadian passport. As I hold this passport in my hand, about to board my flight home to Canada, I find myself asking “How is it that God would have me steward the symbol of the Maple Leaf in order to advance the powerful symbol of the cross?”

Has God ever stirred within you a sense of responsibility to leverage your Canadian citizenship to advance the gospel beyond Canada’s borders? How?

Filed Under: Canadian, Community, Joy, Leadership, Missional Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Urgency Renewed…at 37,000 Feet

February 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I’m somewhere over the north Atlantic en route from Calgary to Frankfurt in the middle of the night. The Air Canada A330 lights are dimmed. We’re supposed to be sleeping now. The in-flight entertainment system has crashed. I’ll have to find out later who wins the Frost-Nixon debate.

I should be sleeping. But instead, my mind is swirling.

Strangely, I’m not looking ahead to the three days of Willow Creek Association meetings coming up this week. Instead, I’m looking back over the past five hours of travel. And I’m seeing the faces of the people I’ve encountered today.

The waitress in the coffee shop in the Kelowna airport. She seemed distracted; something worrying her.

The airport security people; sharing some secret joke as I was processed through.

The friendly, talkative guy sitting next to me in the Calgary Airport restaurant.

And these couple of hundred people sitting here in the darkness, making our way together to Germany. Each with a story. Each with a destiny.

I wonder if God is bringing all these faces back to mind to help prepare my heart for these meetings. You see, at this gathering of the leaders of Willow Creek Associations from around the world, we will be praying over and discussing how to more effectively equip churches to reach even more people for Christ.

And I’m realizing that those who need to know the love of Christ are not anonymous people wandering around out there.

It’s the waitress in the coffee shop. It’s the people working in the airport security area. It’s the guy in the restaurant. It’s these fellow passengers.

And perhaps what God is trying to get through to me is simply that His love for these, and all people, is deeper, wider, purer and stronger than I can possibly fathom.

These meetings just took on a heightened sense of urgency.

How do you re-ignite passion when you find yourself heading into yet another ministry-related meeting?

Filed Under: Leadership, Missional, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,