I once asked one of my mentor pastors, (make sure you have one of those) who is in his 90′s now, how he was able to implement major changes in a large, traditional church. (If you’ve never tried it…trust me…it’s not easy.) He had a history of successfully leading churches and I knew he had surely faced opposition to change.

His advice was simple, yet profound.

After he had prayerfully decided change was needed, he said he always laid his groundwork first. Before he took an item to the church, or even a governing body (in this case a body of deacons), he always had meetings with key people to introduce the change, gain input, and solicit support. He asked himself, “Who is influential within certain circles? Who can ‘kill the deal’? Who can ‘make it happen’? Who can make the change even better?”

Then, using some of the ideas generated and the support already built, he attempted to implement the change.

I’ve never forgotten that advice.

Sometimes the meetings before the meeting are the most important.

When you are convinced change is necessary and prayerfully landed on a direction you feel is best, build a core group of supporters for your idea first. Flesh it out with people you trust and who are influential with other people. Even be willing to adjust your ideas to make them better and stronger. Then attempt to tackle the change.

You’ll find yourself with a greater success rate.

What tips do you have for implementing change?

(Art work courtesy of me.)

One qualification to be an effective leader, especially at a senior level, is the ability to see beyond the organization’s current path.

Effective leaders appear to have a unique perception ability…

• A leader’s view goes beyond what’s expected to sense and prepare for the unexpected…
• A leader looks outside the norm to attain untapped potential and seize opportunities…
• A leader observes what needs changing to stir enthusiasm and fuel momentum…

I’m not sure whether it is by discipline or by personal wiring, but a leader has an ability to see beyond the scope of things as they currently exist. He or she appears to see things others simply can’t see or aren’t looking for. It’s a keen sense of awareness, which in my opinion, seems to exist with all effective senior leaders. It’s obviously not an ability limited to the senior leader, but it is critical with this position of leadership.

Without the ability to work from this perspective, in my opinion, the leader’s potential is limited.

Give me your thoughts. Would you agree?

It was the busiest day of my week. I was prepping for Sunday, had a packed calendar of meetings, and had over-committed my time for the week. I knew I needed to find time to exercise (I’ve wrote about that principle HERE), so I slipped into the gym when I thought it would be least crowded. That hour visit turned into a two hour experience. I exercised very little, but I was able to invest in a young man who needed some life direction. He emailed me later to tell me how important our conversation was to him and that he felt God intended for us to meet that day. I think he was right.

Over the years, I’ve learned a few things about God appointments…

God appointments seldom find their way on a calendar…

• They happen while standing in line at the supermarket…
• They may occur while studying at a coffee shop…
• They show up in random encounters…

God appointments have a “mind of their own”…

• They don’t care about a schedule…
• They aren’t concerned with being an interruption…
• They never appear to be planned…

God appointments can be missed…

• As busy and effective leaders, our schedules are often full…
• Sometimes we rush from one meeting to another…
• We may overlook the most important part of our day…

Keep the eyes to your heart open today for the God appointments…

Make this post better: Share the last time a God appointment came your way.

I encounter many leaders who claim to be good at delegation, but are frustrated with the results they receive on delegated projects. Of course, they often claim innocence, feeling they have done their job by delegation. The blame then naturally shifts to the delegate.

The problem, however, in many cases, rests not with the delegate, but with a leader’s failure to delegate properly. There are certainly times when the delegate drops the ball and doesn’t follow through with the task (which I believe is often one of the reasons listed below), but in my experience, the failure of delegation most often rests with the leader:

Here are 5 reasons delegation often fails:

There was no accountability provided in the delegation process. When someone receives a project, they need to be given a timeline for completion. They need a system of follow up, measures of accomplishment or benchmarks towards completion. A predetermined win is clear and understood in healthy delegation.

The leader dumped instead of delegated. I have written about this previously, but if the leader had the responsibility to delegate the task, then he or she retains a level of responsibility to check in periodically with the delegate’s progress. There’s an element of partnership in a healthy delegation process, where the leader remains close enough to assure completion.

The delegate was not properly trained. Assuming someone knows how to do a task and can figure out their way on their own isn’t only naive it’s unfair. Questions need to be asked and information given on the front end to make sure the person has the ability to complete the task or the ability to learn along the way. This may involve the leader spending more time in the beginning phases of a task to ensure completion is attainable by the delegate.

Adequate resources were not in place. It’s difficult to expect someone to complete a task when the leader hasn’t given the proper tools for the job. Sometimes anxious leaders delegate a project too soon, before the team is ready, either in structure or in resources.

The wrong person was chosen for the task. Let’s face it. Not everyone is up to every task. Many times when delegation fails because the leader picked the wrong person for the job. Selecting the best person on the front end or reassigning when an improper fit is discovered is critical to assure completion of a task.

Do you have delegated projects that didn’t get completed this past year?

Could one of these be the reason? If so, who needs to take responsibility for the failure?

“Everything rises and falls on leadership” – Dr. John Maxwell

What other reasons do you see for the failure of delegation?

Never let them see you sweat…

Or, so they say…

Apparently the phrase, “Never let them see you sweat” came from a 1984 Gillette company deodorant commercial. I looked it up so I could give proper credit in this post.

It’s a great phrase. When I was younger, it was a popular cultural saying in some circles. The idea was used for much more than a deodorant. If you want to really be a man…never let them see you sweat. If you want to display courage…never let them see you sweat. If you want to lead well…never let them see you sweat.

Sadly, that phrase or mindset has carried over to some schools of leadership today. Many leaders are afraid to be discovered for their inefficiencies and shortcomings.

Here’s the bottom line with leading well today:

You better let them see you sweat!

Leadership today is more about being real with people. It’s admitting failure. It’s being transparent about weaknesses. It’s not covering up flaws…it’s exposing them so others can learn from them. It’s being willing to say, “I don’t know how” or “That’s not my area of expertise.” It’s even a willingness to say, “I’m afraid” or “I need help with this one”.

Here’s my advice: Wear your deodorant for underarm protection, but when it comes to authentic leadership, it’s all about the sweat! Let me be clear. I’m not suggesting you don’t try your hardest, you don’t put your best foot forward, or that you constantly complain about not being able to keep up. People want to follow confident, capable leaders. I am suggesting you don’t try to be someone you are not and be honest about who you really are. Learning the difference is part of being a good leader these days.

What are some ways you know a leader is authentic these days?

I’m the old guy on our team, so young whipper snapper leaders like Ben Reed, Adam Bayne and Brandon Reed love to mess with me at times.

Brandon loves to point me out in emails as the old guy, Adam recently squirted me with a super-soaker water gun (in front of a crowd of people), and Ben tweets funny things he thinks I say.

Recently Ben Tweeted, “Just heard @RonEdmondson say, “The reality is the reality.” #ProfoundWisdom”

Punk!

I’ve got more where those came from…just so you know!

Here are some true sayings that are true:

• It is what it is…
• If you get in the water you’re going to get wet…
• You can only see what you can see…
• If you touch a hot stove you’re gonna get burned…
• You can only do what you can do…
• If you ain’t got it…you ain’t got it…
• You didn’t lose it if you never had it…
• The truth is the truth…
• A lie is a lie…
• You’ll end up where you’re headed…

I know…deep right? You’re mesmerized, aren’t you?

Seriously, the older I get, the more I realize that no matter how many truths we think we know…we don’t always really know them.

One of my most quoted favorite verses in Scripture is Ecclesiastes 11:3:

If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or the north, the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

Sometimes the obvious truth is the deepest truth. After all, if it’s true…it’s true.

Listen to me young leader…there’s wisdom in them there words.

What would you add to my list? What’s an obvious true saying that is true?

I get asked a lot by young pastors what leadership books I recommend. It seems they didn’t learn leadership in seminary. Pastors get into the administration of a church and quickly discover they need help learning to lead.

It should be noted that I don’t do “favorites” normally. I learn from everything, so I seldom have a list like this compiled. I do, however, recognize the importance of learning and these books have helped me, so when I was asked recently I decided to compile a list.

Here are my top 10 leadership book suggestions for pastors:

The Secret, by Mark Miller

Built to Last, by Jim Collins

Made to Stick, by Chip and Dan Heath

Switch, by Chip and Dan Heath

Axiom, by Bill Hybels

Leadership is an Art, by Max Dupree

Next Generation Leader, by Andy Stanley

21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John Maxwell

Good to Great, by Jim Collins

How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie

This is the kind of post that only gets better with the comments, so be sure to read them and add your own. We’ll learn from each other.

What did I miss?

What would you add to my list?

Which of these are on your list?

Back in September my friend Greg Darley, with BackStage Leadership, asked me to do a guest for the BackStage Leadership blog. He gave me the title…If I could do my 20′s over again…

Here’s an excerpt from that post:

I’m 47. I’ve done a few things right and a lot of things wrong. I spend a lot of time these days, for whatever reason, reflecting on days past and wondering what life would be like had I reacted in different ways earlier in life.

If I had my 20′s to do over again, for example, I would:

Start saving 10% of my income – I was already a tither, but I wish I had tithed for my future also. I’d be a wealthy man today, in spite of some financial setbacks I’ve had in life.

Have a long-term vision for my life – I’ve learned now that where I want to end up is greatly determined by what I do. It sounds like common sense, but at that time I wasn’t thinking that far down the road.

You’ll find the rest of my advice HERE:

What would you do differently if you could repeat your 20′s?

It was a hard years as a leader in some ways. So much for having an “open door policy”. This year several members of our staff told me where I was letting them down. Next year I’ll close the door.

Not really, but this was a year, like many before, where staff members said to me, “I have a problem with you.” They may not have used those exact words, but the point was clear; I’m an idiot at times. There is room for improvement with any leader, and maturing leaders welcome instruction from the people they are trying to lead.

I realize some would question me for allowing such correction from people I’m supposed to lead, but most of the time when I’ve been corrected by someone I’m supposed to lead, I deserve it, but anytime an associate is brave enough to rebuke an employer, you can be assured he or she is either:

• Desperate and willing to do anything
• Ignorant or doesn’t care
• Feels welcome to do so

In my opinion, good leaders work to live within the third option. I’m hoping that’s the reason in my situation.

Here are 7 ways I welcome correction by the people I lead:

An open door – This is more than keeping the door to my office open. I try to make my schedule available to the people I lead. In addition, my team knows I consider responsiveness to be of the highest value.

Include others in decision making – If a decision affects more people than me, then I want more people helping to make the decision. This is true even if it’s a natural decision for me to make. The more I include people in the decision-making, the more likely they are to want to follow the decisions made.

Ask for it – Consistently, throughout the year, I ask people to tell me what they think. It’s a risky move, because many will, but it’s invaluable insight. (I’ll help your team do it too. Details HERE.)

Admit mistakes – It’s important that I recognize when decisions made are my fault.

Take personal responsibility – In addition to admitting fault, I must own my share of projects and responsibility. The team needs to know that I’m on their side and in their corner.

Model it – It’s one thing to say I welcome correction, but when correction comes, I must model receiving it well. If I overreact when correction comes, I’ll limit the times I receive it.

Trade it – The best way to get your team to offer healthy correction of the leader is to create a relationship with your team where there is mutual correction. The goal is not for the leader to receive all the correction. The goal is for correction to be applied where correction is needed.

Receiving correction is difficult for anyone, perhaps seemingly unnatural for most leaders. I believe, however, that when leader is open to correction, his or her team will be more willing to follow the leader wherever he or she goes.

Leader, are you open to correction?

Is your leader open to correction?

Recently I had the opportunity to meet and later interview Claire Diaz-Ortiz. Claire leads social innovation at Twitter, where she has worked since 2009. She wrote Twitter for Good: Change the World one Tweet at a Time and is a frequent international speaker on social media, leadership, and social change. Claire began using Twitter in 2006 while living in a Christian orphanage in Kenya.

Claire holds an MBA and other degrees from Stanford and Oxford, and is the co-founder of Hope Runs, a non-profit organization operating in AIDS orphanages in Kenya. She also owns Interwebs Publishing and Saving Money Media, a blog network that has been helping families live better on less since 2008.

Here’s an interview with Claire Diaz-Ortiz:

Claire, tell me what it is you do for Twitter. What’s your role?

I lead social innovation and run the Twitter for Nonprofits program. I spend my days working with non-profit organizations, foundations, and philanthropic leaders — including religious organizations and religious leaders.  I love chatting with anyone who wants to use Twitter to make a difference in the world around them.  

Can you give an example of how you’ve seen Twitter being used for good?

One of my favorite latest stories is about @NickKristof live-tweeting a brothel raid. Information is power, and when we become educated about the realities around us we are more likely to get involved in making a positive difference. Twitter is all about open information, so it’s a great tool to use for this purpose.

Do you have any advice for the Twitter newbies or even for those of us who have been doing this a while? How can we make our experience even better?

I teach the T.W.E.E.T. framework in my book, Twitter for Good, and I really believe it works. Newbies and old hats alike can benefit hugely from creating a Twitter strategy, which is something I talk about a lot. Why are you on Twitter? Are you trying to meet new folks? Are you trying to build a movement? Are you just here because your boss made you sign up? Figuring our why you’re on Twitter is the first to figuring out what you aim to achieve on the platform.

What is the number one thing you see Twitter users doing wrong, that keeps them from being effective on Twitter?

Social media is not press release media. Don’t think of Twitter as one more way to tell people about your cool stuff. Twitter is about relationships, and you’ll win by building them.

I’m just curious, for someone who works at Twitter, do you still use other forms of social media? Do you recommend this? If so, which ones?

Absolutely! I’m a social media nut and my latest obsession happens to be a little thing I like to call Pinterest.

Thanks Claire!

What an amazing influencer Claire has become. You can read more about her and her journey of “mistaken grace” at ClaireDiazOrtiz.com or via @claired on Twitter.

How have you seen Twitter used for good?