7 Ideas to Help you get the Right Things Done

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7 Ideas to Help you get the Right Things Done

Monday, January 21, 2013

Getting things done isn’t as easy as it sounds. A lot of people have grand ideas, but few ever see those ideas materialize. Often the gap between ideas and reality is found in the art of execution. But how do you know what to go after first? Here are 7 ideas to help you focus on getting the right things done.

1. Am I the only one who can do this?

Contrary to what you may think, you can’t do everything. And even what you can do, you can’t do as well as you think you can. There are probably some things that other people in your organization can do better than you. Let them do it. Free yourself up to do the right things.

2. Do I have to do this right now?

If the answer is no, then the obvious answer is don’t do it. Surprisingly enough many things we’re doing wouldn’t be missed if simply stopped doing them.

3. What gets me the furthest the fastest?

If you’ve got 5 things you could do today but you’re not sure which ones you should do today then ask yourself this simple question, ‘Which one of these things gets the organization and me the closest to the mission today?’

4. What do I repeatedly do that’s a waste of my time?

A reoccurring problem is a waste of everyone’s time and is usually a symptom of a systems problem.

5. What do I do that wastes other people’s time?

If you’re not sure the answer to this one, then this may be the most powerful question you ask your team this week. Simply ask, ‘What do I do that wastes your time?’ Then listen.

6. Does this get me where I want to, or need to go?

If you do this now will it move you closer to the mission? If not pass and move along to the next thing you need to do.

7. Not everything on your list needs to get done

You’re never going to get everything on your list done that you want to. So why not decide to at least start getting the right things done?

Posted in Leadership

Engaging the Givers in your Church Part-2

Monday, January 14, 2013

Yesterday I posted the first three ideas and principles in this list to help you engage the givers at your church more effectively. Below are the next three as well as some recommended resources to help you along the way!

4. Personal Touch

Please hear me clearly; this conversation isn’t about wanting something from people. This is about wanting something for them. This is about investing yourself in people, and that doesn’t happen from a distance, but rather up close and personal. For a giver to trust a church with their money is a sacred thing. And people trust people before they trust an organization or a church. This is why you need to intentionally spend time with givers. Trust is built up close and over time. Simply put people trust someone they can touch more than someone they sit in a big room and listen to.

5. Give them Specific Projects to give to

People who have the ability to give significant financial gifts to advance the ministry of your church are looking for a return on their investment, and rightfully so. In every other area of their professional lives they are making wise and strategic decisions about where to invest their resources. Rarely do they blindly give money hoping for a good return without investigating how it is going to be used or what it is going to be spent on. Give them the opportunity to give to specific and strategic projects that advance the mission of the church where they will see the result and return on their investment. People don’t give to general pleas, but specific projects.

6. Remember Giving is a Gift

In the church we often have plans to develop and help place people in an area where they can use their gifting to advance the ministry of building the Kingdom. An obvious example would be utilizing someone who has a teaching gift in a teaching role. The Scriptures teach us that giving is actually a gift. In Romans 12:6-8 the Apostle Paul writes the following:

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”

This means that there are some people who have this gift in your church, and some who don’t. I’m not saying every believer shouldn’t be generous. For example: just because your gift isn’t evangelism doesn’t mean as a believer you shouldn’t share your faith. The point is how are you identifying, developing, and putting people with this gift in your church in a position to use and be successful advancing the mission of the church with their gift of giving?

Looking for resources to help you engage givers more effectively at your church? Here are two great organizations that partner with churches to help build a culture of generosity and two great books that every church leader should read about generosity.

Generis Generis is a team of experienced guides who walk with churches and ministries of all shapes, sizes and personalities to develop generosity – a generosity that permeates the culture. They have been guides for churches and Kingdom focused non-profits in matters of stewardship, generosity and fundraising since 1989 (which means they have some success and experience behind them).

Giving Rocket Giving Rocket helps churches have more money for ministry by increasing church giving. They help you fund your vision, not with guilt built into the worship service, campaigns that take over the calendar or fundraisers that act like Band-Aids. They are all about increasing regular church offering – the kind of giving that makes ministry happen every week. Check out their site for great resources, consulting, and coaching opportunities.

And now the Amazon links (what would we do without Amazon?) for the two books I mentioned: Funded and Free and Contagious Generosity

Posted in Leadership

Engaging the Givers in your Church Part-1

Sunday, January 13, 2013

When it comes to engaging major givers in the church a majority pastors feel uncomfortable at best. Many pastors don’t know how to approach the subject and are afraid of saying the wrong thing. While churches have often built elaborate strategies to help people take steps in their spiritual journey and grow in their relationship with Jesus; they usually resort to a “just preach the Word and hope things work out” approach to giving. The problem is hope isn’t a strategy. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Here are first 3 of 6 ideas and principles to keep in mind when engaging the givers in your church.

1. Keep Track of Givers

I’ve heard it said in churches that the pastor shouldn’t know who is giving what. After all, didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 6:3, “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Well yes He did…but it had more to do with the motive of the giver than anything else. What we have a tendency to forget is Jesus also clearly observed (along with everyone else), and went so far as to point out the actual dollar amount that a widow gave in Mark chapter 12. Now I’m not saying we should parade givers in front of the church to let everyone know what everyone else is giving but someone should know. After all if you don’t know who is giving, then it’s going to be pretty difficult to engage them at any level.

2. Say Thank You

You’d be surprised how far a simple thank you will get you, and sadly how few churches ever say it. A simple way for pastors to engage the givers in their church is to have a list of givers generated each week and write a hand written thank you note. The list can be of the top 10 or 20 givers that week, the top 20% each week, or simply set a dollar amount and each person who gives over that amount gets a note.

3. Give them Inside Information

Another simple way to engage givers at your church is to occasionally do small, intimate, invite only gatherings. Moments like this give you the opportunity to share wins and success stories (stories like this build culture by the way), have personal face-to-face conversations, share vision, and share inside information about steps that are being taken in the near future to accomplish the vision.

I’ll post the other 3 ideas tomorrow. In the meantime I’d love to hear your thoughts and experience with engaging the givers at your church. Leave a comment!

Posted in Leadership

The Why of Leadership

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

I’ve read a lot about how to lead… how to lead teams…how to lead through change…how to lead courageously…how to lead spiritually…even how to lead like Jesus. Some authors make a very good living on writing this stuff and we’ve benefitted from their wisdom. Great guys like: Patrick Lencioni, John Maxwell, Bill Hybels and Andy Stanley have given us great tools for how to best lead our organizations or churches in any climate.

But why do we lead? What’s the goal of our leadership?

Ever since I was a kid, leading is just something that came naturally to me. Whether it was in playing games at recess or taking the initiative on a class project, leading was just something I did. I can’t say my motives were always good or that I knew how to get the most out of people, but I never questioned why I should lead.

The answer has to be more than just to get something accomplished. There’s more purpose to leading than getting people to complete a task.

Recently, a statement the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy caught my attention like never before. He urges Timothy to stay in Ephesus and instruct men there not to teach strange doctrine or pay attention to myths and endless genealogies (1 Timothy 1:3-4).

Then, in verse 5, he says the “goal” of this leading, the purpose, the WHY is:

1. Love from a pure heart

God wants His people to grow in love for Him and for each other. As leaders we need to inspire and influence the people we shepherd to have a genuine love for each other as well as the God we serve. We should be modeling for our people what pure motives and selfless love looks like.

2. A good conscience

People need to know the Truth. And they need to know how to live according to that Truth. More than ever, in a culture of moral relativism, the people we lead need guidance on how to live a godly life. This takes courage and boldness on our part. It may require a difficult conversation. It may require sacrificing competency for character.

3. Sincere faith

Faith wavers. We should be an anchor when the storms of doubt come. As leaders we need to remind ourselves, and the people we lead, of God’s unfailing faithfulness.

I believe that this ought to always be our goal for the people we lead. No matter what the mission statement, vision, core ideology, process, purpose, etc – we lead to influence people in the direction of these three things. No matter what vision God has given us to inspire our people, we should also be inspiring them to grow in love, to keep a good conscience and trust in God at all times.

This is a guest post by Matt Thompson who serves as the Worship Pastor on the Sun Valley Community Church, Gilbert Campus. To keep up with Matt you can connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.

Posted in Leadership

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