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Are You a “Big L” Leader?

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

People don’t just become “Big L Leaders” overnight. It’s not something that can be learned by reading books or by going to conferences. They learn to lead by leading. Want to know if you’re on your way to becoming a “Big L Leader”? The following six characteristics will help you in identifying “Big L Leaders.”

#1 They Have a Proven Track Record

They’re not a novice. They’ve built something and have demonstrated the ability to deliver.

#2 They are Driven

They have a forward lean and a bias towards action.

#3 They can Lead Through Conflict

They have the internal fortitude to endure the personal attacks and pain that comes with conflict. They lead through it by bringing clarity to the chaos.

#4 They don’t Delegate Tasks they Empower Leaders

Delegation is telling people what to do every step of the way and then having them report back after every step. Empowerment gives people both the position and authority to choose their course while remaining responsible for outcomes.

#5 They Lead through Vision

They can rally people around a vision and build a culture.

#6 They Embody Organizational Values

They lead with moral authority and make decisions through the filter of the values of the organization.

Posted in Leadership

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A Leadership Conversation with Tony Morgan

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Recently Sun Valley, the church I serve at, brought in Tony Morgan the Founder and Chief Strategic Officer of The UnStuck Group, to do some Leadership Training with the team. He spent time with our Executive Team, our Board and then he spoke at our monthly Staff Training that we do with Staff from all three of our campuses. Here are some of the take aways from the conversations that have broader implications for pastors and church leaders:

  • It’s possible to be doing the work of God, but not doing the work that God has called us to do (see Acts & the food distribution v. preaching God’s Word and prayer etc.) – when they got focused on what they were supposed to be doing the Gospel took ground and the church had a bigger impact
  • Church Leaders have a tendency to hold on to too much for too long (i.e. Moses & Jethro)
  • Leaders need to help people think about outcomes rather than execution
  • Span of care issues: do I know what people on my team are celebrating in their lives, challenges in their lives,
  • You know you’re managing too many people: when you can get the tasks done but don’t have time to focus on the discipleship, development, and knowing the team
  • Young leaders don’t learn to lead by reading books and going to conferences. They learn to lead by leading.
  • Delegation is telling people what to do every step of the way and then having them report back after each step for the next step. For people who want to serve, delegation is a good approach.
  • People who are wired for leadership…if all you ever do is delegate tasks you’ll lose them because they need to be empowered to pick the route to the destination from point A to point B.
    • You can empower when you have clear boundaries (mission, vision, values, strategies, expectations, etc.)
    • The clearer you are on the boundaries and the outcomes the easier it is empower people
  • Leaders don’t respond to platform pleas to serve but a personal ask and a personal challenge connected to the overall vision
  • We aren’t equipping people to do our work, we’re equipping people to do God’s work
  • If you’re waiting for you boss to help you go to the next level you’re probably not a next level leader because leaders initiate their own growth
  • “I wasn’t there to be their boss. I was there to help the players get better.” Tony Dungy, former coach Indianapolis Colts
  • With larger churches the person leading the Creative Arts area is not creative, they’re a leader/manager keeping the process moving forward. They understand/can relate to the artists but aren’t an artist. They’re primary role is to equip and lead the team.
  • 3 Areas that Growing Churches have the Potential to Derail:
    • #1 The Health of the Leadership Team
    • #2 The larger you get the more focused you have to get (strategy, programming, communications)
    • #3 Money – generosity/stewardship, funding the ministry
  • As the church grows the role of the Board needs to shift to freeing the staff to lead and live out the vision
  • Boards get into trouble when they start getting into the strategy, decision making & execution side of things
  • How do you know you’re ready for the next site (multi-site)?
    • #1 Intentional Leadership Development Strategy: who is the next campus pastor, children’s pastor, worship pastor, etc.
    • #2 Reproducible Systems: Written down systems, core strategies, processes and best practices
Posted in Leadership

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5 Articles to Help You Make Vision Real

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Craziest thing just happened. You helped make the month of August the highest trafficked month on Helping Churches Make Vision Real! If I haven’t said it lately, thank you! It’s fun to see the comments and interaction through social media each month about the content and articles that are posted here! It’s always good to hear that the content is helpful! So thank you for connecting with me through the content on this blog! You made these the top 5 Posts from this last month. If you missed out on any of them, here they are all in one place for your convenience!

1. What the Church can Learn from Southwest Airlines about Volunteers

I was recently on a Southwest Airlines flight and witnessed one of the most amazing volunteer moments I’ve ever seen. When it came time for the midflight snack of pretzels and peanuts a woman on the flight stepped up and volunteered to pass out the snack. And here’s the amazing thing…they let her! No application, no waiver, and no complex training classes. They simply handed over the basket of snacks and said go for it! Watching this whole thing go down I couldn’t help but think about how difficult we make it for people in the church to volunteer. Here are a couple of observations from that moment that I think are worth the church considering.

2. A Large Multisite Church in Phoenix is Looking for a Campus Pastor

I’m pleased to announce a new Staff Search. Sun Valley Community Church, is beginning a search for a Campus Pastor to serve on our Tempe Campus. Sun Valley began as a church plant in 1990 in Chandler, Arizona. Over the years Sun Valley has grown into a large mult-site church in the Phoenix metro area. Currently there are three campuses located in Gilbert, Tempe and Casa Grande with a total weekend attendance of over 5,500 people. Sun Valley was recently named by Outreach Magazine as one of the top 10 fastest growing churches in America. The Tempe Campus is the result of a merger in October of 2011 with Bethany Community Church. In the merger Sun Valley acquired a 16-acre, 8 building campus with over 100,000 sq. ft. under roof. Since the merger the campus has doubled in attendance and at present attendance is over 1,000. When fully utilized the campus capacity will accommodate 7,000 people. Sun Valley was recently featured in a new book by Leadership Network about church mergers: Better Together: Making Church Mergers Work. To learn more about that story click here Part-1 and Part-2.

3. A Leadership Conversation with Larry Osborne

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in a post entitled “Making Small Groups the Hub of Your Ministry” that I recently had the opportunity to spend some time at NorthCoast Church with Larry Osborne and his team to talk about Leadership and Small Groups. If you don’t know already, NorthCoast is an outlier when it comes to small groups and you need to get to know these guys. While the norm across the nation is hovering at about 50% of weekend worship attendance in groups, NorthCoast is shattering that norm and boasts just over 90% of their weekend worship attendance in groups. That was enough for us to get on a plane and spend some time learning from these guys. While that original post focused on Small Groups these are some of my take aways from the conversation that had broader implications for pastors and leaders.

4. Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit

If you missed the 2013 Global Leadership Summit, then you missed some great content, great speakers, and incredible ideas that have the potential to shift your thinking when it comes to leadership. This really was one of the best Leadership Summits I can remember. But no worries! Now you’ve got all the notes to every session right here at your fingertips for free! Hope you enjoy!

5. Leadership Lessons from a Family Vacation

Like many families this summer, we did a family vacation. Lisa and I had the opportunity to take the kids (all 4 of them now) for an incredible week in the mountains! Like any leader, it’s tough for me to just “turn it off.” So…upon reminiscing, here are five leadership lessons that parallel our time together we had as a family this summer.

Posted in Leadership

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Bringing Clarity to the Language of Organizational Leadership

Sunday, September 8, 2013

One of the most frequently reoccurring conversations I get into in helping churches focuses around building organizational health and alignment in churches. Often times in those conversations confusion surfaces over language such as Mission, Vision, Goals, Strategy, Structure, Core Values, and Systems. So here’s an attempt to help provide some clarity and a framework to some of the most influential conversations you may have as church or organization.

1. Mission:

Answers the Question: Why do we exist?

This is the timeless answer to why your business, organization or church is on the planet in the first place. For those of us in church-world we don’t get to pick our mission, Jesus did that for us.

2. Vision:

Answers the Question: Where are we going?

This is the next hill that needs to be taken. Organizational vision typically changes every 3-10 years. Vision changes because once you get there and have taken then hill, there’s always the next hill to take.

3. Goals:

Answers the Question: How do we get there?

Goals are actionable and attainable steps or objectives to be met that move the organization in the direction of the vision. You know you’re winning and moving in the direction of accomplishing the vision when you are meeting your goals!

4. Strategy:

Answers the Question: Who does what next?

Strategies are the decisions that need to be made to coordinate the application of the resources (people, time, money, information and other assets) of the organization to meet the goals.

5. Structure:

Answers the Question: How do we organize ourselves?

This is the way you intentionally put together all the various parts of the organization to work together in order to support the strategies.

6. Core Value:

Answers the Question: How do we behave?

These are the core beliefs that drive how the people in the organization interact with one another and the organization as a whole behaves towards others outside of the organization.

7. System:

Answers the Question: How do we reproduce it?

Essentially systems are made up of complex independent parts working together to perform a function (for example think skeletal system or solar system). For our purposes building a system is the art of connecting the Core Values, Structures, Strategies, Goals, and Vision to work in alignment that builds a culture that leans towards accomplishing the Mission.

What are some other definitions of these terms that you’ve heard that may be helpful to the conversation? Leave a comment!

Posted in Leadership

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Are You Doing Things or Getting Things Done?

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

You’ve heard before. I know you’ve felt it before. In fact you may have even said it before. No one can do it as well as you can do it. And if you want it done right (the way you think it should be done) then you better go ahead and get your hands dirty and do it yourself.

There’s an incredible inner tension that leaders must manage. Leaders have an acutely accurate picture in their head about what the future should look like. That’s why they’re leading in that direction. But to get there, they have to trust that picture to others.

It’s not bad to do things. After all, someone has to. Or else they won’t get done. But effective leaders know their role is to be more concerned about getting things done than doing things.

When a leader doesn’t manage this tension well and begins to drift towards doing things, instead of getting things done, bad things begin to happen.

1. Progress Slows to a Crawl

When you have to do everything, guess what, you end up doing everything. And one person can only do so much. When the leader refuses to trust and empower others they themselves become the lid on the vision.

2. The Organization Turns Inward

When the leader becomes consumed with day-to-day efficiencies and operations they’re consumed with the problems of today as opposed to the opportunities of tomorrow.

3. The Culture Turns Toxic

When the leader has to have their hands on everything, be in on every decision, and have their way the team will become acculturated to pleasing the boss as opposed to executing the vision and all sorts of dysfunction will set in.

4. Your Best People Leave

High performers want to be a part of meaningful work and making meaningful decisions that move things forward. If they are given responsibility without authority, or worse not trusted with either they’ll leave in a heartbeat. One of the ways to keep your best leaders is by letting them lead. The real downside when this begins to happen is what you’re left with is yes-men and people who are content to sit by and watch you do everything.

Posted in Leadership
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