Overwhelming Leadership Muscles for Development
You cannot grow physical muscles without the muscles being overwhelmed. Your muscles need resistance and challenges to grow. The same is true for leadership muscles. In seasons of being overwhelmed, we become eager learners, seeking wisdom from others and vigorously applying knowledge we previously acquired. We often find a gear we did not know we […]
5 Warning Signs a Leader is Leading at “Too High” a Level
Leaders are often encouraged to lead “at a high level.” “Lead higher” is a helpful way to describe rising above the details and the day-to-day operations so a leader can look to the future. By “leading higher,” a leader is able to set direction, remind people of the why beneath the work, clarify mission and […]
What Should a Leader Do When the Team Is “at Capacity”?
A common struggle leaders face is the conflict between wanting to raise expectations that will cost people on the team time and energy while simultaneously hearing from the team that “they are already maxed out” or “they are at capacity.” It is possible that “being at capacity” is an excuse, and it is possible that […]
5 Ways to Lead Effective and Inspiring Church Staff Reviews
Leading someone without offering feedback is cruel because you their hamper development. Feedback is like steroids for development. Over fifteen years ago I began the discipline of giving staff reviews to those who report directly to me. I have learned and grown a lot in that time. This insight from Vanderbloemen Search Group is very […]
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 […]
3 Marks of Humility in Leadership
We tend to despise pride in others and we recognize its destructive power. The Scripture teaches us that pride goes before destruction and haughty eyes before a fall. We long to serve with leaders who are humble, and we are wise to walk in humility ourselves. But what does humility in leadership look like? Here […]
4 Types of Managers (and the Most Effective at Developing a Team)
Peter Drucker once stated that leaders are responsible for future leadership. In other words, one of the essential roles of a leader is to develop other leaders. Of course, not all leaders place a high value on investing in others, and even among those leaders who are committed to developing others, different approaches are utilized. […]
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 […]
2 Views on Hiring Friends
Should you hire a friend to work for you? If you are sitting among a group of leaders and that question is posed, you get a variety of responses, each with a heavy dose of passion. “Don’t hire anyone you can’t let go.” “Life is too short to serve alongside people you don’t like. So, […]
If You Are Not Faithful With Little…
Jesus taught “Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much” (Luke 16:10). The context of the passage is being generous with our Master’s money, but the principle can be applied to other areas of our lives as well. Here is how this […]