2 Indicators You (or Someone on Your Team) Have Not “Owned It”

None of us is perfect. And the obvious implication for leaders and team members is that we are going to make mistakes, disappoint people we serve, miss deadlines, and not always execute flawlessly. A pattern of missed execution is very different from a moment of missed execution. We all have moments of misses. But a […]

4 Ways Leaders Can Express Gratitude to Those They Manage

Max Depree once said that the best people on your team are really volunteers, no matter if you pay them or not. They are volunteers because they can utilize their skills and talent elsewhere and they choose to utilize them on your team. Which means, of course, that you must lead with much more than […]

Three Ways a Disorganized Leader Holds Back a Team

One does not need to be overly gifted in administration to be a leader. Many have made the case that leadership and management are different from one another. Joseph Rost, in his work Leadership for the 21st Century, argues that both leadership and management are essential but distinct from one another. In his view, management […]

Three Indicators Your Email Should Have Been a Meeting

Some meetings could have been an email, but some emails should be meetings. There are times that people, in attempts to handle things efficiently, resort to an email when a meeting would have been more effective. Just because communication is efficient does not mean it has been effective. Sometimes a longing for efficiency can lead […]

Four Dangers of Only Looking at the Future

Last week, I blogged about three dangers of only looking at the present. Wise leaders lead and execute in the current day, learn from the past, and plan and prepare for the future. Leaders must be aware of three spheres of time; past, present, and future, and lead with a view of all three. Many […]

4 Leadership Traits the World Needs

What impact does integrity have on a leader’s performance? Does a leader’s character impact the organization the leader is leading? According to recent research conducted by KRW International, CEOs noted for their integrity led their organizations to higher levels of performance than those CEOs with lower integrity scores. * Employees were asked to rate their […]

10 Characteristics of Magnetic Team Leaders

This is a post by Rick Howerton. Rick is a Discipleship and Small Groups Specialist at LifeWay Christian Resources. This post originally appeared at LifeWay Church Leaders. Oftentimes, when we think of a church leader we think of the ultimate human leader leading the church, the senior pastor. Below the senior pastor on the flow […]

6 Ways to Shift Responsibility

A team of people who shift blame from one person to another, who do not embrace ultimate responsibility, will never accomplish anything great. And a team who collectively tolerates the shifting of responsibility will never fulfill its mission as fully as it could. Of course, no one wants to admit that he/she is not taking […]

Righteous Frustration

In their now classic work, The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner wrote, “More than anything else, leadership is about creating a new way of life. Leaders must accept the responsibility for making change happen.” Leadership and change are inexorably related. When God raises a leader for a task, He often burdens that leader with righteous […]