Tag Archive - coaching

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How to Coach the Best Performance out of your Team

Sunday, September 16, 2018

I wish coaching could solve every staff performance issue. I wish a little post game conversation would always turn into great results. I wish getting some team members a few more, “game like reps,” would improve their performance. I wish.

Unfortunately, coaching isn’t always the solution. There are some team members who can’t or won’t receive coaching and need to be coached out instead of being coached up. But how do you know how to respond to each unique team member?

High Performers

Some high performers not only produce great results, but they welcome and respond to coaching. They’re always looking for ways to grow and improve their game. They have the talent required to perform at a high level and the character necessary to receive coaching and respond well. These team members are fun to coach. They’re the kind of people who do a lot with what you give them, and then ask for more. These people just need you to empower them and keep coaching them up.

There are some team members who are insanely talented and have the capacity to deliver great results but lack the character necessary to receive and respond well to coaching. They may be a great talent but have really poor chemistry with the rest of the team. These are the kind of team members that you need to intervene with quickly and keep on a very short leash. They need to be provided with clear and quick consequences or they can mess up the entire chemistry of the team. No amount of competency can overcome a fatal flaw in character.

Low Performers

Not every low performer needs to be coached out. There are many factors that impact poor performance. They may not have been given the right resources to succeed, they may have been placed in a role that doesn’t play to their strengths, or they may simply be young and inexperienced. If they have the character it takes to receive and respond well to coaching and have good chemistry with the team then coach them up instead of coaching them out.

Sometimes you can’t avoid coaching a team member off of your team. It’s part of your responsibility as the coach or leader to not allow low performers to remain low performers. If a team member is constantly shifting blame to other people or circumstances for their poor performance, if they have a poor attitude, if there is poor chemistry with the team, if there is a character problem, if they don’t respond well and respond quickly to coaching it’s probably time to coach them out instead of coaching them up.

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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It’s Time for the Church to take a Different Approach to Leadership Development

Sunday, August 12, 2018

There are three prevailing thoughts about leadership development that I’ve been noticing in churches across the country.

First, churches are complaining that their leadership bench has become pretty thin. If God gave them a new opportunity they’re not sure they’ve got the leadership depth to say yes. I get this, I’ve also observed that the leadership bench in the American Church is becoming pretty thin. It really concerns me.

Second, churches are scouring the landscape for an off-the-shelf solution like a class or some curriculum that they can use to magically build a deeper leadership bench at their church. This one is frustrating for me. Yes, there are leadership principles that can be learned and content that can support leadership development but, when are churches going to wake up and learn that leadership development doesn’t happen in a classroom?

Finally, I’m seeing more and more churches hire young, inexperienced, and untrained staff members who attend and love their church but have no bible training or ministry experience. Then they basically throw them to the wolves and hope they’re going to somehow magically work out.

I think it’s time for churches to take a different approach to leadership development.

Optimism

You can’t play a good game with a bad attitude. It’s a true statement when I encourage my 10-year-old son with those words before a practice or game and it’s a true statement in church leadership. Your attitude is a small thing that makes a big difference and when it comes to leadership development in the church it can be the difference between you developing a deep bench or starving your church of good leadership. You’ll always find what you’re looking for and if you’re looking for deficiencies you’ll find them. A critical spirit is a guaranteed way to discourage and put a lid on growth in others. Leadership development is optimistic by its very nature, because you’re helping someone become something that they’ve never been before, and while blind belief won’t make them become a leader they’ll never become a leader if you don’t believe they will.

Encouragement

You’ve probably read about social experiments that have been done to test the correlation between expectations and performance. In one such study teachers were told that a group of students they had in their classroom had tested incredibly high at the beginning of the year. However, these teachers were duped. These students weren’t gifted, but the fact that the teachers believed they were influenced the way the teachers viewed and behaved towards the group of students. When tested at the end of the year the students that the teachers believed were gifted actually outperformed the rest of the class. Sometimes people behave the way you treat them. If you want to build leaders, then start treating them like leaders. Encourage them through your words, actions, attitude, and approach to become what they’re not.

Opportunity

The thing about leadership is you can’t learn it in a classroom. Leadership development is an immersive, hands on learning experience. To get better at it you’ve got to get reps. The first ministry leadership opportunity I ever had scared me to death. As a freshman in college my pastor asked me to teach a Jr. High Sunday School Class. He saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself and took a risk on a young guy. It paid off, and the next opportunity came along, and the next. That’s leadership development. You throw a young promising leader in the deep end of the pool and see if they can swim. If they don’t make it, you jump in, make sure they don’t drown, coach them up and give them another shot. If they do make it, you coach them up and throw them into a bigger pool.

Coaching

So, what do you do after you give a young promising leader an opportunity to have some responsibility? You coach them up. Coaching involves turning on the game tape and reviewing how things went. Great coaches reinforce what went well and redirect what didn’t. They start with reinforcement because they know that’s how consistent culture is built. What gets noticed and celebrated gets repeated. Then when it comes to parts of the project that didn’t go as well good coaches assume the best intent and redirect what went wrong.

Posted in Leadership

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New Leadership Coaching Networks this Fall from the Unstuck Group

Sunday, July 22, 2018

It’s Time to Take Your Next Steps as a Leader

Leadership Coaching Networks with Tony Morgan and The Unstuck Group equip you with tools, best practices & peer support to help you lead more effectively.

Now Reviewing Applications for Fall 2018
This fall, we’re inviting you to join Tony Morgan and the team for a coaching experience to help you lead an unstuck church.

Two of our most popular coaching network topics—Unstuck Church and Unstuck Multisite—are back this fall, with cohorts in multiple locations. But we’re also introducinga brand new coaching network to help you build healthier, higher performing teams. Learn more and apply below.

Each of our Fall 2018 Coaching Networks is a 7-month, collaborative coaching experience that includes 3 group gatherings, 2 exclusive webinars, 2 one-on-one coaching calls and ongoing access to a private Facebook Group.

Space is limited! We will only accept 7 churches in each cohort. Read on to learn more about each network.

Ask yourself a few questions:

  • Where do I feel stuck? 
    If some aspect of ministry leadership has left you feeling stuck, you’re not alone. That’s the whole reason why we do these networks! We will equip you with what we are learning is working in churches across the country. And we’ll help you put what you learn into action.
  • Do I know my next steps to grow in effectiveness as a leader?
    Effectiveness is developed, not gifted. Even champion athletes have a coach. Inviting an outside perspective is the best way to pinpoint the areas where you need to grow and take a next step.
  • Am I being discipled myself?
    Teaching, modeling and coaching—according to Scripture, it takes all three to make disciples. Churches and ministries routinely rely too heavily on teaching. Books, conferences and podcasts provide great teaching and models, but where are you being coached?

We’re only reviewing applications at the early bird rate until Aug. 3. Take a look at the networks and feel free to email with questions.

Join a network of 350+ other church leaders who have participated in one of Tony Morgan’s coaching networks. You get priority access to Tony and other consultants from The Unstuck Group—during the coaching network and beyond.

But can we be honest? That’s not even going to be your favorite part.

We probably haven’t stressed enough the value of the peer network in years past. We always ask for feedback from participants at the end of the experience. Every single time, participants tell us that the community they built with fellow church leaders was a defining component.

We’re leaning into that this time. Can’t say why we didn’t think of this sooner—We now have a private Facebook Group to connect our coaching network participants and facilitators for ongoing community and access even after the network ends.

Posted in Leadership

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How to Lead and Keep “Big L” Leaders on your Team

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Great parents know that you don’t parent every kid the same way. Great leaders understand this principle, and because of it they don’t treat everyone on their team the same way. “Big L” leaders are a different breed. Not only have they been gifted with a greater leadership capacity, but they’ve worked at perfecting their craft. You can’t lead these kinds of leaders the way you lead everyone else on your team. If you do, you won’t keep them on your team. They need something different.

Leadership

This may sound obvious, but you can’t keep these kinds of leaders on your team without offering them serious leadership. They will challenge your personal leadership capacity more than any other person on your team. These kinds of team members crave a compelling and clear direction. They respond to strong leadership because they’re strong leaders. You can shoot straight with them because they’re mission focused just like you.

Empowerment

Don’t try delegating tasks to these leaders. If you do they’ll feel micromanaged and leave you. They need the position and authority to go and make real decisions and execute to objectives. Don’t tell them what to do, tell them where you’re going, and then let them lead there.

Coaching

“Big L” leaders are personally secure, and they can accept coaching. In fact, reviewing the game tape and looking for opportunities to improve the next play doesn’t bother them at all. They want to get better.

Resource

These kinds of team members need to have the resources to do their job. Don’t give them a big challenge, point them in a clear direction and give them the authority to execute without resourcing them to accomplish the vision. If you don’t resource them they won’t take you seriously.

Challenge

These kinds of leaders aren’t afraid of being challenged. They’re need something big to chase. In fact if you don’t give “Big L” leaders a steady diet of fresh meat they’ll go hunting somewhere else.

Posted in Staffing

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New Coaching Networks with the Unstuck Group just Opened Up!

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Take Your Next Steps as a Leader

Leadership Coaching Networks with Tony Morgan and The Unstuck Group equip you with tools, systems, best practices and peer support to help you lead more effectively.

We are now accepting applications for Spring 2018 Coaching Networks

“Leading an Unstuck Church”
AND
“Leading Unstuck Multisite Church”
*Both networks are available in Atlanta and Dallas

 

This 7-month, collaborative coaching experience includes 3 group gatherings, 2 exclusive webinars, and 2 one-on-one coaching calls. This network is best suited for senior pastors, associate pastors and executive pastors. You will register a team of two and participate together.

Space is limited! We will only accept 7 churches in each group.
follow this link to apply

Note: The application deadline is April 11.
Apply now to take advantage of our early bird rate!

Posted in Leadership
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