3 Common Ways Leaders Miscommunicate
Great leaders are always great communicators, but not always great speakers. Great leaders may not excel with a microphone, but they are able to communicate what is valued and what direction is being taken. Communication and leadership are intertwined and deeply connected. When leaders fumble in execution, culture formation, or rallying a team, the fumble […]
3 Phrases Smart People Should Stop Saying
As I have been driving to Birmingham and back on Sunday mornings to preach at Valleydale Church, where I have been serving as interim preacher, I have listened to a lot of podcasts. Some sermons, some NPR, some HBR, and some random ones too. All really smart people, smarter and more articulate than I am. […]
6 Basic Email Observations from Leading a Team
Few things are as lamented as email and staff meetings. And yet, both are very important in communicating, in ensuring execution, and in keeping work moving forward. They are, however, lamented for a reason. Poorly led meetings and poor email practices waste immense amounts of time and energy. Here are six basic email observations from […]
Take Responsibility for Your Own Feedback
Feedback fuels your leadership development. It helps you adjust what needs to be adjusted, builds confidence, and confirms areas of strength. Without feedback, your growth as a leader is stunted. But what if your boss or leader does not offer feedback? Or not enough of it? This was a recent conversation with a group of […]
Civil Conflict and Battles That Don’t Matter
The head coach of UConn’s football team attempted to declare a rivalry against University of Central Florida and named it the “Civil ConFLiCT” (notice the FL and CT are capitalized for Florida and Connecticut). The two teams play in the AAC conference, with UConn playing in the North and UCF playing in the South (thus […]
The Pain of the Game of Telephone in Leadership
When we have a lot of people around a table for a meal, my daughters often like to play a game of telephone. They find it very funny to start a message and see how it is distorted and changed by the time it makes its way around the circle through multiple people. While a […]
3 Ways to Increase Alignment on the Team You Lead
For alignment to be driven into a culture, values must be seen more than on a wall. They must show up in regular conversations and in training.
3 Reasons to Ask Great Questions to Those You Lead
Genesis 3 and 4 is not about leading a staff or providing leadership to a group of people, but there are implications for us as Christian leaders want to lead others the way God leads us.
3 Leadership Clichés I Never Use
The reason leadership maxims gain traction among leaders is that they are generally helpful. Pithy statements that summarize principles are both memorable and instructive. But not all leadership clichés can be trusted. In the untrustworthy clichés, there are nuggets of truth, but they are overstated or oversimplified. Here are three leadership clichés I never use […]
3 Emails You Should Never Send
In a recent meeting with my leadership team, I shared my concern that email has a tendency to make us less efficient while promising to make us more so. An article from Harvard Business Review prompted the discussion with my team and has caused me to evaluate my own email habits and learn some ways […]