(Update: You can read the results of this post HERE.)

If you have read my blog for more than a year, then you know that one of the personal leadership development tools that I use is the process of allowing our team…that I lead…to anonymously evaluate my performance as a leader. You can read the post on last year’s evaluation HERE. In the related posts, you can see some of the previous year’s posts on this process. I share this process here to encourage this step of leadership development and for accountability and transparency purposes as a leader.

Well, it’s that time of year again. The team is currently evaluating me. I always get nervous about the responses, but perhaps this year more than ever. It’s been a crazy year personally and professionally, so I’m anxious about what they may say, but we have a great team and so I know they will be gentle.  (Hopefully they read this blog! HA!) My only encouragement to them is that they consider the differences of those on the team and how that alters my leadership and that they are helpful, not vindictive, in their answers. I do it anonymously through Survey Monkey to help them be more honest in their answers.

(more…)

We went to a fairly new restaurant recently as a family…

It was new enough to have the opening bugs worked out, but still new to us…

We were seated quickly…which was a plus since we were hungry…

We instantly fell in love with the great atmosphere…

They had a nice menu…and the prices were reasonable…

We ordered…and waited…and waited…and waited…

We had a hard time getting our drinks refilled…

Our waiter never seemed to remember things we asked for…

The owner walked through the restaurant several times, but never smiled…never connected with anyone…

Overall, we had poor customer service...

Then our food arrived…
(more…)

In any relationship, there comes a time where it’s necessary to say things which are difficult to keep the relationship strong and make it better. This is also true in a healthy team environment.

For me personally, that often involves having a hard and challenging conversation with a team member…someone I love being on the team, but know they need correction in an area that is affecting the team. These are always discussions I’d rather not have, but I know are necessary for the continued health of the relationship, the team, and the individual.

Over the years, I have had many of these issues which required “tough love” to address them, but dealing with problems like this have included me having to say things such as:

• You’re too controlling as a leader…
• You can be perceived as a jerk to people…
• Your personal life is dragging down the team…
• You have body odor…
• You’re making unwise decisions…
• You are non-responsive…
• You don’t know how to take constructive criticism…
• You are moving too fast…
• You are moving too slow…
• You are uncooperative…

I should note that not all of these have been said with my current team…for example, to my knowledge no one on my team has body odor…thankfully, but through my years in leadership, I have had to say each one of these statements to someone I was supposed to be leading. Those conversations, as awkward and uncomfortable as they were, always proved to be good for the team and the team member. There have been times when someone needed to have similar “tough love” conversations with me and those discussions always made me better, as difficult as they were to receive at the time.

I have learned 5 principles for dealing with those times as a leader:
(more…)

There is often a difference in…

Knowing…

And…

Doing…

When it comes to right things…things we should know and do…

It’s true for all of us…some more than others…

You can know the right things to do…and never do the right things…

In my experience, not doing is often a bigger problem than not knowing…

Many people who know never do…

Yet…

The margin between knowing and doing may determine the degree of success you attain…

Understanding your margin sets you up to address the problem…

What is the current margin between your knowing and your doing?

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity. Proverbs 17:17

Wounds from a friend can be trusted… Proverbs 27:6

rebuke |riˈbyoōk|verb [ trans. ]
express sharp disapproval or criticism of (someone) because of their behavior or actions

Years ago in high school, I had a friend tell me I was hanging out with the wrong people. I listened to the advice, switched my sphere of influence, and looking back, it’s one of the best decisions I ever made, considering the different paths our lives took.

That’s only one example. Thankfully there have been many other times a friend loved me enough to help me see the mistakes I was making. Usually I knew, but the rebuke challenged me to alter my ways. I’ve had to “return the favor” many times.

There are times when you have to rebuke a friend, in order to be a true friend. Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is to tell another where he or she is doing wrong. You may be the only one who cares enough to point out what everyone else sees, but refuses to address.

If you choose to accept the assignment of rebuking a friend, you should be sure you are correct in your assessment, you should pray through the correct timing of your approach, and you should address the person and not others to keep from spreading gossip.

When that time comes, here are 5 ways to rebuke a friend:

Be loving - As we should do with everything, rebuke should come in the context of a loving relationship. In fact, one standard might be to not rebuke people you don’t love.

Be truthful – Don’t dance around or use subtleties when addressing the issue. State the problem as you see it.

Be helpful – Be willing to walk through any necessary recovery with the friend or help them process where they are in life.

Be purposeful - The rebuke should not be vindictive in nature or driven by jealousy or selfish interests. The betterment of the friend should be your sole objective.

Be redemptive – Be willing to extend grace and forgive the friend for any wrong done. Make sure he or she knows you are still in their corner.

Help me with this post:

What would you add to my list?

Have you ever had to rebuke a friend?

If you are messing up…would you rather someone tell you…or mind their own business?

Do you have a friend you can count on to rebuke you if needed?

Leaders create capacity in an organization so the organization and people can grow…

That’s what leaders do…

Great leaders:

Paint the void – Allow others to see what could be accomplished…

Empower the team – Give the tools, resources and power to accomplish the task…

Release – Let go of the control so others can lead…

Repeat - As often as possible…

If you are always the doer and never the enabler then you are not a leader. More than likely you are simply an obstacle of all your team could accomplish if you got out of the way.

When the leader leads the way for others to lead, the organization and the people in the organization increase their capacity to grow.

Are you leading or are you in the way?

I was talking with a church recently that had explosive growth, but things have slowed.  They wanted to know why they were not growing any longer.

I decided to share my quick answer here.

Obviously, God is ultimately in charge of a churches growth.  There are times where God is giving a season of rest and preparation for a church for something to come. In some situations, God may have even taken His hand from the church.

God is into church growth, however. It’s our mission as believers to produce disciples and our model example of the first century church was a growing church, so outside the God factor, there are usually reasons for stagnation in a church. Because the church is an organization made up of people, these reasons are often similar to those you may find true as to why growth stalls in the life of an organization also.

In my experience, the reasons are for getting stuck and/or halting growth include:

You get comfortable…It’s okay to be comfortable, but when you hang out there too long, it can be dangerous, because you stop trying new things to spur growth and excitement.

You quit dreaming…Dreams inspire, challenge, and grow people and organizations. You’ll never dream bigger than the dreams God has for you or your church.

You stop taking risks…You can’t succeed at anything without a measure of risk. Playing it safe never grows anything. The call of God always involves risk-taking.

You start maintaining…When you fall into the mode of protecting what you have, you’ll be less likely to encourage growth for fear of losing ground.

You fail to walk by faith...Especially for the church…we are a faith-based organization. If you aren’t walking by faith in what you are doing…it’s impossible to please God. (That’s Biblical…look it up!)

Obviously there is so much more to this issue and to each one of these answers.  These are general responses and there are specific issues with every church or organization. Hopefully thinking through each of these as a paradigm for brainstorming may help trigger thoughts towards actions which can spur future growth.

What would you add?

I’m excited to be leading a few breakouts at the pre-conference of Exponential Conference this year. Come join me. Partnering with The Sticks network, which attempts to plant and grow churches in smaller communities, I’ll be talking about issues all churches must consider.

My topics this year are:

• 3 Vital Steps Before Launching
• Grow a Church While Flipping Burgers
• Breaking the Small City Code

Take a look at the entire pre-conference line-up HERE.

Go sign up now and come see me at Exponential. You can click HERE to register.

I look forward to connecting with many of my blog and Twitter friends at Exponential!

Are you going?

If not, what conferences are you attending this year?

I love team dynamics and organizational structures. I have written many times about what makes a healthy team, my expectations of team members, and elements to build health into your team. I’m not sure I’ve talked specifically about the characteristics I believe make up excellent team members.

Here are 5 characteristics of an excellent team member:

Needs very little direction – Catches on quickly, learning the leader’s expectations, having confidence in his or her ability, and knowing the vision of the organization well enough to make routine decisions with little or no input from the leader.

Asks specific questions when unclear of an assignment - He or she doesn’t ask general questions, that require full explanations, but rather attempts to figure out the issue on his or her own enough to ask specific questions. This saves everyone time and speeds progress.

Needs very little supervision – An excellent team member follows through on what he or she committed to do with limited oversight.

Recognizes results as part of the reward – While fair compensation is necessary for the health of any team and most leaders can improve on giving praise, the excellent team player does the work to see the results of a project done well, not exclusively for recognition.

Considers the interests of the entire team - Excellent team members look out for good of the whole team…the entire organization. He or she wants what is best for everyone, even if that means they have to personally sacrifice for the win of the team.

I realize, and fully expect to hear, that to be an excellent team member requires an excellent team environment and leader. I can somewhat agree, but not sure I do completely. I have known people who perform excellently on a dysfunctional team. I’d welcome your thoughts on this.

I’m confident there are plenty more characteristics to add to my list. I’d love to hear from you.

In your experience, what makes an excellent team member?

Healthy teams allow every idea a chance to live…

The healthiest teams don’t contain an idea killer…

Healthy teams:

• Brainstorm
• Analyze
• Test drive
• Push back
• Critique
• Debate
• Challenge

Every idea…

But healthy teams remain open-minded about an idea until it’s proven to be a bad idea…

It could be a short process or a long process…

But healthy teams give every idea a chance to live…

Knowing that…

There is value in the collection of ideas on a healthy team…

And…

Some of the best ideas are killed before they have a chance to shine…

Have you ever worked with an idea killer?

Are you one?

(This post contains a main idea…feel free to Brainstorm, Analyze, Test drive, Push back, Critique, Debate, or Challenge.)