Every ministry, every organization, every team has a culture. There have been numerous illustrations to try and capture what culture is and what culture means. Some have said that the culture is the DNA of an organization. And that just as every living organism has self-replicating material, every organization has a culture that will self-replicate….
Practical Leadership
When to Lead as a Farmer and When to Lead as a Hunter
Farmers and hunters both spend their days working for food they will eat, but how they get their food is very different. Hunters search for food that they will soon eat. They eat what they kill today. Farmers plan, plant, watch over, and harvest at the appropriate time. Their work today shows up months later….
2 Reasons We Ignore Our Weaknesses Instead of Addressing Them
The common leadership counsel to focus on your strengths is wise, with one important caveat. Your weaknesses must be addressed and brought to an acceptable norm or they will overshadow your strengths. Yes, focus on your strengths, but your weaknesses cannot be so overwhelming as to debilitate your leadership credibility. In his book, The Leadership…
A Story of Two Landscapers and One Reminder on Motivating Your Team
Two landscape architects woke up today and essentially performed the same job, executed the same tasks, and worked roughly the same hours. Let’s call these two landscape architects Joseph and Christopher. Joe works for a landscape company and spent his day at the homes of clients of the company, planting annuals and mulching beds in…
2 Views on Hiring from Inside/Outside
A role is open on your team. Is your first inclination to hire from outside your organization or to hire from within? Most leaders have a default position on this issue, where their mind initially goes. They either tend to think first about hiring someone from within or they think first about what type of…
4 Ways to Lead People Who Don’t Want to Be on the Team
Jeff Van Gundy has coached in the NBA and has commentated NBA games (I have always enjoyed listening to him when he does). He is well respected for his understanding of the game and his ability to coach it. He is currently coaching a mix of G-league players in their quest to qualify for the…
5 Speed-Killers for Teams
It is possible to move too quickly, to move too chaotically, and to execute without any semblance of strategy. But moving too quickly is not the problem most teams and organizations face. Much more common is moving too slowly. Even when leaders articulate moving fast and desire to do so, there are common obstacles that…
4 Essentials When Bringing New People on a Team
Growing up in the New Orleans area meant my mom became really skilled at cooking gumbo. It is amazing. While the roux is the part of the gumbo that impacts its taste the most, each new ingredient alters the taste. Add shrimp or crab and the taste changes. Throw in okra or a bell pepper…
3 Reasons Leaders Must Excel at Prioritization
It has been said that management insists on doing things right and leadership insists on doing the right things. While not a fully accurate or helpful statement, as it paints a false dichotomy between leadership and management, it is a common cliché for a reason: We can waste incredible amounts of time doing things right…
7 Small Ways Leaders Can Build Credibility
Credibility is absolutely essential in leadership. Without credibility your great ideas won’t be heard and your big plans won’t be embraced. In the classic work The Leadership Challenge, credibility is offered as the most indispensable quality a leader must possess. I recently wrote about big ways leaders can bolster their credibility, and while those are…