Top 5 Posts from May

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Thank you for making the month of May an incredible month on Helping Churches Make Vision Real! It’s so encouraging to read the comments and see the interaction through social media about the content and articles that are posted here! It’s encouraging to hear stories about how different posts have been 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 “5 Reasons it’s Good When People Leave Your Church”

What if I told you that people leaving your church can actually be a good thing? Maybe even the best thing? In this post I share 5 reasons it’s actually good when people leave your Church.

#2 “Church Boards Gone Wild”

If you’ve led in a church for any length of time you can probably tell some stories of experiences you’ve had with dysfunctional Church Boards. In this post I share the 4 stages of growth that a Board goes through and what they should be doing at different stages of church growth.

#3 “Chick-fil-A Leadercast: Andy Stanley”

If you missed the Chick-fil-A Leadercast then you missed out on some great content! But no worries you can catch up quick. I posted my notes and thoughts from each of the sessions! In this session Andy Stanley shared 3 questions that bring simplicity and clarity to leadership.

#4 “Do Denominational Labels Matter Anymore?”

It used to be that whatever denominational label you wore provided some clear context as to who you were and where you were coming from. Not so much anymore. In this guest post by my friend Matt Willmington we take an honest look at this tough question.

#5 “Avoiding the Multisite Mothership Syndrome”

Originally written as a guest post on TonyMorganLive, I share 5 key things I’ve learned about leading in a multisite church environment.

As a bonus check out “10 Questions to Answer Before You Begin a Building Campaign at Your Church” a guest post by my friend Luke Simmons that got a lot of traffic this past month as well!

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Chick-fil-A Leadercast 2013

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

If you missed the 2013 Chick-fil-A Leadercast, then you missed some great content, great speakers, and incredible ideas that have the potential to shift your thinking when it comes to leadership. But no worries! Now you’ve got all the notes to every session right here at your fingertips for free! Hope you enjoy!

1. Leadership Made Simple

Andy Stanley, Author and Lead Pastor at North Point Community Church walked through the fact that growth creates complexity which requires simplicity and taught 3 key questions that need to be answered to simplify leadership.

2. The Power of Focus

David Allen was named Forbes’ Top 5 Executive Coach and author of “Getting Things Done.” Crisis evokes focus on a very specific outcome which charts your course of action.

3. Necessary Endings

Dr. Henry Cloud, best selling author and leadership consultant tackles the psychology behind the work we do and what keeps us from simplifying things in the workplace.

4. The Difference between Simple and Simplistic

John Maxwell, best selling author and leadership expert walks through the differences between being simple and simplistic.

5. Getting High Performing Leaders to Work Together

Duke University and Olympic Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski talked about getting high performers to work together on a team to get great results.

6. An Interview with Leadership Giant Jack Welch

Any time you get to learn first hand from a leader like Jack Welch it’s gold…and this interview was no exception. Here are some of my notes from Fortune Magazine’s Manager of the Century, Jack Welch.

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Chick-fil-A Leadercast: Jack Welch

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Any time you get to learn first hand from a leader like Jack Welch it’s gold…and this interview was no exception. Here are some of my notes from Fortune Magazine’s Manager of the Century, Jack Welch,

In businesses, people want to run big things. Leaders are reluctant to prune things and let go of things because when you prune things they get smaller.
It’s absolutely critical that each of your direct reports know where they stand with you as their leader/manager
The cruelest form of management is not being clear and candid with your employees
If you don’t like people then being in the people business is a terrible job

You find a generosity gene in every great leader:

They love to give raises
They love to give promotions
They love to give more responsibility
They love to see you grow

The 3 C’s:

Self Confidence: As the leader pour this into your team everyday.
Simplicity: This leads to clarity and only self confident people can be simple.
Speed: If you get this, you win the game.

The team that fields the best players wins
Key question to ask about change: “What’s in it for them?”
A budget review is just a personnel review with numbers
When you say something is important, back it up with your best personnel
You can give 1,000’s of speeches as a leader but one personnel move can really show where your values are
Make your boss smarter than he was before the meeting
Managers need to take care of their best people so well, they don’t want to leave

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Chick-fil-A Leadercast: Coach Mike Krzyzewski

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Listening to Coach Krzyzewski the legendary basketball coach at Duke University (no matter what you think about Duke) talk about getting high performers work together as a team and get great result out of them was incredible!

In order to learn you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone
A leader is someone who puts their people in a position to succeed at a consistent level and they build a culture and environment of success
There’s no job that a leader should be too big to do

Simple Leadership practices that change everything if you do them:

The most important thing about leadership is communication
Always tell the truth (you can’t “wonder” about what other people on the team are doing or saying)
Expect to hear the truth
Take immediate action (deal with what’s going on instead of trying to figure out what’s going on)
Trust (the most important part of leadership). If you don’t trust and if you don’t have trust 2 is not better than 1.

Getting high performing leaders play together:

Don’t leave your ego at the door (be you)…but develop a collective ego as a team
Establish permission to play standards
Rules don’t lead and rules often times are not owned by the people being ruled. But standards are how we do things all the time.
Standards are internally owned while rules are externally enforced

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Chick-fil-A Leadercast: John Maxwell

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

As always John Maxwell put out some great content this year to chew on. Here are some of my take-aways:

“The business schools reward complex behavior, but it’s the simple behavior that makes you effective in life” Warren Buffet

There is a difference between a communicator and an educator. A communicator takes something complicated and makes it simple. An educator takes something simple and makes it complex.
It isn’t easy to be simple, but it is effective.
It is easy to be simplistic, but it isn’t easy to be simple.

Simplistic = shallow and fast: “Experience is the best teacher”
Complex = deep & slow: “Experience isn’t the best teacher because how many people do you know who are getting older but aren’t getting better?”
Simple = deep & fast:

Add: value to people. If you really want to be a leader then add value to people every day.
Subtract: your leadership landmines.
Multiply: your strengths by developing them
- Confidence doesn’t replace skill
Divide: your weaknesses by delegating them

A leader is like a quarterback. They don’t get paid to run the ball but to get the ball to the right players.

Posted in Leadership