Ron Edmondson » Leadership

Structure Can Impede Progress

Ron Edmondson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:00:39 +0000

Recently I received a question about a post entitled “7 Enemies of Organizational Health“. One of those “enemies” I listed as “structure”. The person’s question was, “Are you referring to micromanagement?” He went on to say that we need structure to prevent organizational chaos.

I answered.

Well, yes and no. Micromanagement is an impediment to organizational health, but really I simply meant structure. Let me attempt to explain.

I do agree we need some structure, but not for structure sake, but for progress sake. And there is a difference.

I see it as similar to the concept of grace, freedom and the law. We don’t need laws if we are bound by grace. Grace is actually a higher standard than the law. But, we have to have an established order in our world for progress. It is a wicked world and we could never get anything done without some sense of structure.

In an organizational sense, think about it, if we all did the right thing we wouldn’t need structure. But structure allows for progress. When structure becomes a problem…when it gets in the way…and the kind of structure I was referring to in my post…is when a well-meaning structure impedes progress.

Consider this example:

Imagine a rule that says everyone has to be in the church office from 8 to 5. So, because I want to respect authority, I obey the structure and am dutifully at my desk from 8 AM to 5 PM. The fact is, however, that I work best at 6 in the morning out of the office. Sticking to the structure in this case would limit my ability to be at my best. At the same time, because I’m following the structure, I may not go to the emergency hospital visit at midnight. After all, office hours are over by then.

The bottom line is that structure should enhance not impede progress.

Structure should never get in the way of accomplishing what God plants in your heart to accomplish.

Do you follow my reasoning? What would you add to the discussion?

3 Ways To Remove The Pain From Preparing A Weekly Sermon

Ron Edmondson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:00:33 +0000

This is a guest post by my friend Casey Graham. Casey is one of the most innovative church leaders I know. He is passionate about Kingdom building and helping those who desire to Kingdom build. I haven’t seen any project of Casey’s yet I can’t support.

Here’s a word from Casey about a new project to help pastors:

After talking to hundreds of preachers, we’ve found most preachers love preaching, but the grind of preparation can often become a pain. Here are three things we’ve seen.

Here are 3 Ways To Remove The Pain From Preparing A Weekly Sermon:

1. Great preaching comes from a great preparation system. Perry Noble doesn’t prepare in a vacuum. He has a team at NewSpring Church that helps him prepare. Perry will talk about how this works at the PreachBetterSermons.com FREE online event on March 15th.

2. A Preparation day is better than feeling like you have to prepare all the time. Andy Stanley sets aside every Wednesday to prepare messages, and his team helps him keep this time guarded. While Andy is gifted, his commitment to preparation helps make his messages memorable. Andy will talk about the structure of his preparation day on the Preach Better Sermons online event.

3. Developing a sermon planning system takes the pain out of preparation. There are things you can do on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis that will dramatically improve your preparation time and help you deliver better messages. Helping you put something like this into place will be a part of the free online event.

Make a commitment to be a better preacher. Sign up for the free online conference. Here are the details.

Date: March 15, 2012
Time: 1pm – 4pm EST
Speakers: Andy Stanley, Perry Noble, Louie Giglio, Dr. Charles Stanley, Vanable Moody, Jeff Foxworthy. The event is being hosted by Jeff Henderson.
Registration: Free sign up at preachbettersermons.com

Are you there? I am. Thanks Casey!

7 Enemies of Organizational Health

Ron Edmondson — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:20:03 +0000

I love organizational leadership. I especially love leading healthy organizations. I have been in both environments…healthy and non-healthy. I prefer healthy.

If truth be told, I’ve probably been the leader in both extremes. Along the way, I’ve observed a few things which can be the enemy of organizational health.

Here are 7 enemies of organizational health:

Shortcuts – There are no shortcuts to creating a healthy organization. Success is not earned through a simple, easy-to-follow formula. It takes hard work, diligence and longevity.

Satisfaction – Resting on past success is a disruption to future organizational growth, which ultimately impacts organizational health. When the organization gets too comfortable, boredom, complacency and indifference becomes more common.

Selfishness – Organizational health requires a healthy team environment. There’s no place for selfishness in that equation. When everyone is looking out for themselves instead of the interest of the entire organization, the health is quickly in jeopardy.

Sinfulness – This one is added for those who feel every post mus be spiritual. (Just kidding.) Seriously, healthy organizations are not perfect, but whether it’s gossip or adultery that ravages through the integrity of the organization, when moral corruption enters the mix, the health of the organization will soon suffer.

Sluggishness – Change is an important part of organizational health. In a world that’s changing rapidly, organizations must act quickly to adapt to change when needed. Some things never change, such as vision and values, but the activities to reach them must be fluid enough to adjust with swiftness and efficiency.

Stubbornness – Let me be clear. There are some things to be stubborn about, again, such as vision and values. When the organization or it’s leaders are stubborn about having things “their way”, however, or resistant to adopt new ways of accomplishing the same vision, the health of the organization will suffer. Most people struggle to follow stubborn leadership, especially when it’s protecting self-interest rather than organizational interests.

Structure – Okay, I’ll probably get in trouble for this one, even in the organization I lead, but it’s true. As much as we need structure, and even though I’m working to add structure to our organization, structure can get in the way of an organization being healthy. When people feel they are being controlled, progress is minimized and the growth and health of the organization stalls.

What would you add to my list?

Great Leaders Hold People to High Standards

Ron Edmondson — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:02 +0000

I make no apologies.

I continue to challenge the people I lead. I expect a lot of them. I try to be fair. I’m a strong advocate for family time. I embrace the flexible workplace. But, I am always pushing people to be better. I challenge people to live up to their full potential and I’m dissatisfied with a mediocre performance.

(You can read the non-negotiables to serve on my team HERE.)

Please note, I’m not there yet, but I’m striving to be a great leader.

There is a huge difference in challenging people to live up to expectations and being a controlling leader.

Great leaders hold people to high standards.

Jesus held people to a high standard. He didn’t like half-hearted devotion. Why should we?

(BTW, I wrote about controlling leadership HERE and HERE.)

An Elementary Approach to Facing Conflict

Ron Edmondson — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:00:49 +0000

I’ve seen a lot of conflict in my life. From parents and couples in my office for counseling to employment situations where two people can’t get along. I’ve even seen a fight in the grocery store because someone thought someone else cut line.

As an observer, I’ve learned a few things about facing conflict. Primarily, I’ve observed that the way one person responds often determines the way the other person responds. That makes sense, doesn’t it?

When you are backed into a corner and facing potential conflict you can come out fighting, or you can be smart about it, plan your response, and help turn the situation for good.

In fact, the secrets of facing the fire of conflict should be elementary.

Here are 3 steps when backed into a corner:

Stop

Stop and think. What is the best approach? What do you really want to accomplish? Based on that, how should you respond? The opening moments are always critical in any conflict. You can quickly back someone or yourself into a corner. Cornered people move into a self-protection mode, fail to react rationally, and the sense of what’s best is lost. It requires practice, but take adequate time to plan the best way to approach the other party. It may require you being silent when your prone to speak, but this one step often avoids much of the unnecessary and unproductive conflict. (As an example, Jesus took time to make a whip before driving the money changers out of the temple. John 2)

Drop

Drop the right to win. When you come into a potential fiery situation with a have-to-win attitude you cloud your ability to work for the best results. Self-centeredness always gets in the way of healthy conflict. Be humble and agree that you are going to do what is best, even if that means you don’t get your way. This doesn’t mean you give in to the other party, but the goal in conflict should not be to win personally, but to reach the best solution for everyone.

Roll

Roll out the best approach. I realize it takes two or more people to make this happen, but when one party is willing to do the first two it makes accomplishing the best so much more likely. Go into every potential conflict with a humble desire for the best solution to be accomplished.

Avoid an unnecessary fire. Don’t come out swinging.

Stop, drop and roll.

Be honest, how are you at holding your tongue when needed?

Share the why as you share the what…

Ron Edmondson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:52:33 +0000

When you are leading people…

When you are introducing change…

When you want people to follow…

When you want buy-in to the plans…

When you want to build or maintain momentum…

When you are experiencing growth…

When you are experiencing decline…

Don’t bother with the what…

Unless you share the why…

People won’t hear the what as well unless they know the why…

You’ll face resistance…

They’ll be separate agendas…

The vision is clouded…

The motivation is absent…

Paint the why…as you share the what…

Be honest, are you less likely to want to do the what if you don’t know the why?

Start With You

Ron Edmondson — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:00:34 +0000

When you’re having trouble communicating…

When you can’t get children to respond appropriately…

When your team isn’t cooperating…

When the marriage is struggling…

Before you address the problem with the other person…

Ask, “What’s wrong with me?”

First…

What in you needs changing?

In what ways are you contributing to the problem?

How could you communicate differently?

Before you address the problems with others…

Look inside yourself…

Obviously, as a child of God, we start with God, allow Him to examine our hearts and shape us into His image, but in my experience, we often we look at the other person first…and think it’s all about them. I think we have a responsibility to humbly consider our own shortcomings. Many times, if we will look at ourself, we’ll either find the problem or we’ll find a better way to address the problem.

Get to know the person in the mirror…

Before you criticize others…

Could this principle change the way you lead?

7 Marks of a Great Leader

Ron Edmondson — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:00:24 +0000

There are some characteristics which set a great leader apart from mediocre leaders. Great leaders are multidimensional. While continuing to improve, great leaders have achieved certain markers in leadership.

Here are 7 marks of a great leader:

With humility, surrendering your way when it’s not the best way

With intentionality, continuing to learn and grow as a leader

With compassion, considering the needs of others ahead of your own

With integrity, never separating character from your definition of quality or success

With passion, the ability to rally a team and articulate the path to victory

With vision, seeing things other can’t see or are afraid to pursue

With strength, having the discipline to follow through on commitments

I’m not claiming all great leaders excel in each of these areas, certainly not that I have, but there should be a certain level of accomplishment, a progression towards each of them or at least a desire to do so…to be a great leader.

What markers did I miss?

7 Signs of a Weak Leader

Ron Edmondson — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:00:39 +0000

A youth pastor emailed me recently. He’s frustrated that his pastor continually caves into pressures of a few leaders in the church. They are not supportive of the youth ministry, even though it’s the fastest growing area of the church.

The complaint they have? The ministry is costing far more than it brings into the church. Young people are coming to the church in growing numbers, but without their parents. Young people don’t usually contribute to the church, so it’s causing an issue with some of the deacons. The pastor was involved and supportive in the expansion of youth ministries and the church is financially sound, but a few deacons consider it an “unprofitable” ministry.

The pastor’s solution? Cut back on the youth ministry expenditures to keep the deacons happy.

I’d love to tell you this is an isolated issue, but I’ve written about these type situations before. Obviously, I don’t have all the facts, but based on what I do know, it sounds like the pastor is a weak leader.

Have you ever known a weak leader? They’re usually easy to spot.

Here are 7 signs of a weak leader:

Runs from conflict

Hides all flaws

Never admits a mistake

Quick to pass blame

Pretends to be in control

Shies away from difficult decisions

Appeases critics and complainers

What would you suggest this youth leader do?

Have you ever worked for a weak leader? Do you have any to add?

3 C’s of Successful Leadership

Ron Edmondson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:10:38 +0000

To succeed as a leader you need to succeed at character, commitment and competence.

Character – Character is who you are when no one is looking. It’s your level of honesty and integrity, and the way you deal with pride and humility. Character admits personal failure, isn’t fake, and has genuine concern for others. Character determines who will trust you enough to follow you.

Commitment – Commitment is what keeps you going when everyone else is quitting. That’s what leaders do. Leaders spur momentum in times of trepidation. Leaders take people where there know they need to go but are afraid to do so or don’t know how. All leaders will sometimes slip and fall, but a committed leader gets back up, searches for the light at the end of the tunnel, and moves forward again. People follow leadership with commitment.

Competence – Competence is the wisdom to know when to say what needs to be said and when to do what needs to be done. A competent leader is always learning, whether through books, conferences, or other people. It’s being willing to learn even from those one is supposed to be leading. It’s not knowing all the answers, but knowing the importance of bringing the right people to the table of decision. Competence is gained by experience, over time, where the leader can exude confidence others are willing to follow.

Recently I tweeted the subject of this post: To succeed as a leader you need to succeed at character, commitment and competence.

I instantly had a great reply from one of my Twitter friends:

@RonEdmondson David failed in character, Peter failed in commitment and Moses failed in competence. God shows Himself strong in our weakness.

My answer:

Great point. But all of them succeeded in their area of weakness too…in the end. David recognized his failure, Peter renewed his faith, and Moses delivered on his calling. With God all things are possible.

To succeed as a leader you need to succeed at character, commitment and competence.

Can you add a “C” to my list? What makes a great leader?