Pastor + Author
Recently I filmed a 90 Second Leadership video for LifeWay Leadership on this important insight about leadership and change.
I hope you enjoy it!
Click here to watch other 90 Second Leadership videos by LifeWay Leadership.
There are things you’re doing that are causing the train to move (the coal).
There are things outside of your control that are either speeding up the train or slowing it down (hills and air resistance).
And there are things within your control that are slowing the train down (baggage and needless weight).
Try identifying what’s core to your team and what needs to happen to keep things running, like casting vision, celebrating, or having the right metrics.
Then, identify the things outside of your control that are moving your team forward or slowing you guys down, like neighborhood growth/decline, market growth/decline, change in leisure activities, or time of year.
And then identify what’s within your control that could be slowing your team down, like toxic team members, a weak culture, or a lack of planning.
[Read more…] about Don’t Be Dead Weight
Thom Rainer, in his book Who Moved My Pulpit?, couldn’t be more right in his statement here. The fact is, if there’s anything constant in ministry and in life, it’s change. (I wrote an article here on Leading Change in the Church).
When it comes to introducing change, your change initiative will face one of three fates:
[Read more…] about Change or Die: A Few Steps to Effectively Introduce Change
Instead of being on the front lines doing ministry together, Christina took a back seat. Not a back seat in regards to importance, but a back seat in regards to visibility and role.
So over the last year, a regular conversation that we would have while praying and Sabbathing together had been, “What are you going to do when the kids all go to school?”
“Are you going to go back to social work? To counseling? Back to school? Or start something new?”
[Read more…] about A New Chapter and Season
Oh how times have changed…
If we want to read a book, we can download it instantly. If we want to listen to one, we can literally press play the moment after we purchase it. If we want toothpaste, laundry detergent, or a few bananas, we can order it on Prime Now and get it within two hours. And now, with the launch of Amazon Go, we don’t even need to line up and pay the cashier at the grocery store!
Sure, this is convenient, but the unfortunate side effect is that we’ve been conditioned to need, want, and long for change.
Now change isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but change for the sake of change must be avoided. It demoralizes your team, causes unnecessary stress, and is simply unproductive. However, if you have decided that change needs to take place in your life and in your ministry, following this eight-step process that I wrote about in a previous article, is critical.
Now while the likelihood of succeeding in leading change without the eight-step process—or some variation of it—is pretty low, how you view and approach change matters even more.
When burdened with a new idea, or a desire to change something specifically in your life or your church, definitely start with prayer. But don’t move straight to implementation after you say “Amen.”
Now I understand that this is hard to do because of our on-demand, stream-anytime, find-an-answer-to-anything, go-anywhere, and swipe-now-pay-later instant gratification culture.
[Read more…] about The Obscure Link Between Instant Gratification and Change