Helping Churches Make Vision Real

Catalyst One Day Introduction: by Andy Stanley

Sunday, January 27, 2013

This week I’m going to be posting my notes from Catalyst One Day. Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel did an incredible job tackling what Patrick Lencioni has called, “The single greatest untapped opportunity for improvement and competitive advantage.” Building a healthy organizational culture.

New to Catalyst One Day? Catalyst One Day is an opportunity to hear the nuts and bolts of leadership, up-close with Andy and Craig. The event features dynamic worship, idea-inducing Q&A, and candid conversation between Andy and Craig.

Want to grab more Catalyst Resources for yourself and your team? I’m giving away a brand new copy of “The Power of Momentum” a 4-part video teaching series from Andy and Craig. Just sign up here and I’ll let everyone know who the winner is next week!

Hope you enjoy the notes and I’d strongly encourage you and your team to catch a One Day coming soon to a city near you!

Andy Stanley: Creating a Healthy Organizational Culture

Church culture should be so stellar that people in the market place would want to work at the church because the local church should be the greatest place in the world to work not just on Sunday but through out the entire week!
Every organization has a culture.
Culture is the personality of the organization.

5 Insights about Culture

Posted in Leadership

How to get Different Solutions

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Getting different solutions isn’t always about looking for new ideas but sometimes just looking at the same things differently. But looking at things differently and changing your perspective usually means getting outside of your tribe. After all if what you were doing were working you wouldn’t be stuck and you’d already be heading where you want to be going. One of our biggest problems is that we have a tendency to surround ourselves with people who are just like us. People who think like us, dress like us, talk like us; they even believe the same things we believe. That’s why we allow them to be close to us. But getting different solutions means going to new sources. Here are 6 ideas to get outside of your tribe and get different solutions:

1. Invite the Wrong People to the Meeting

Instead of inviting the same old people to the meeting who have the same old ideas, change up the invite list. Bring in people from a different generation, background, or layer of the organization. I guarantee you’ll walk away with different ideas.

2. Make a new Hire

Any time you make a new hire from the outside you’re bringing in a wealth of new and different experiences and ideas. Go to work in the first 3 months of mining those ideas. Let them have a look at everything you do and encourage them to question ‘Why do you do it that way?’

3. Chase until you get Caught

Make a list of people that you respect who have different abilities and gifts than you, who have been successful in their field, and then chase them this year (don’t stalk them). You’d be surprised how many successful people are generous with their time when it comes to investing in others. Remember leaders don’t go looking for people to invest in, leaders press into people who press into them. This may mean investing some time and money, but the ideas and personal growth that you experience will be well worth it!

4. Take a trip to Disney World

Go and visit leaders from different industries and learn what principles can be transferred back into the area you’re leading in. A Chic-fil-A Executive once told me that they don’t look at other fast food companies to learn from, they go outside their tribe to other global industry leaders to learn from.

5. Engage a Good Consultant

Bringing in an outside experienced professional with fresh eyes and different questions is a great way to help you begin to think differently. I know some great consultants at TonyMorganLive (the consulting group I’m involved with) that love the local church and want to see you win, that I’d highly recommend.

6. Move your Workspace

This is a simple step you can take this week. Take a day and move your workspace to a coffee shop, a cabin, a park or any place other than where you work every day. You’d be surprised how a change of scenery can make you think and act differently.

Posted in Leadership

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

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Catalyst One Day Introduction: by Andy Stanley

How to get Different Solutions