30 Practices Of Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation: Leadership Quotes From Tom Brady

August 25, 2013 0 Comments

There is a select group of leaders who rise above the rest and transcend their industries and define their generations.  Christianity has transcendent leaders like Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Andy Stanley, Beth Moore, and Mother Teresa.
The business community has Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Donald Trump.  Sports offers us individuals like Michael Jordan, Nick Saban, Michael Phelps, and Henry Aaron.
One of my favorite leaders in sports is Tom Brady, the now legendary quarterback of the New England Patriots.  Because of his team’s three Super Bowl championships, he is the greatest pro football player of his generation.
Recently Brady sat down with Fox Sports 1′s Michael Strahan for a very revealing interview.  As I listened to his comments, I gleaned 30 practices leaders can do to potentially become the best of their industry within their area of discipline.
The following quotes from Brady provide 30 Practices Of Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation:

1. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Love Their Job – “I love the game.  I can’t imagine doing anything else at this point.”
2. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Have Focus – “I don’t have an interest in anything else.”
3. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Have A Strong Family Life – “It’s made me a better teammate.” – On having children
4. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Appreciate Their Industry – “My appreciation for the game is the highest it’s ever been.”
5. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Have Proper Priorities – “You have your priorities and your make your priorities.  My family is 1.  Then football is 1A.  When it’s family time, it’s family time.”
6. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Find Balance – “When I’m playing football, I’m nowhere else.  I’m in the present…How do you find balance?  You live in the present.”
7. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Are Authentic – “On the football field is the only place I can truly be my authentic self.”
8. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Respect The Competition – “Everyone at this level is the best.”
9. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Build Strong Organizations - “You’re talking about some of the best athletes in the world playing a sport they’ve been playing a very long time with the best coaching, the best schemes, the best innovation, the best science.”
10. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Place Team Success Over Personal Success – “It’s about team success.”
11. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Continually Improve – “I’m still trying to find ways to get better.”
12. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Let Others Think About Their Legacy – “I don’t think about it much at all.” – On his legacy
13. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Work Hard – “I didn’t realize how hard it was to do that.” – winning 3 Super Bowls early in his career
14. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Have Battle Scars – “The hardest loss was to you guys.” – The Giants in the Super Bowl ending their undefeated season
15. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Properly Compensate Their Team – “It’s hard to keep a team together because the more you win, the more your guys are going to get paid.”
16. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Value Accomplishment Over Activity – “The thing that’s most important for me is to win.”
17. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Develop A Decision Grid – “Everyone wants to be the most – to be appreciated the most, to be paid the most, to be loved the most, that’s not always life.  You want to win the most.  That’s my priority.  That’s #1 so the decisions from there are pretty easy.”
18. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Remain Consistent - “He’s very consistent.  He shows up to work everyday, his expectations the same.  He never lets up.  He coaches me the same way he coached me my second year.” – on head coach Bill Belichick
19. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Are Humble – “If he can yell at me, he can yell at anybody.”
20. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Must Have Personal Excellence – “I don’t put myself in a position where the coach has to use me as an example.”
21. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Maximize Every Single Moment – “You don’t take weeks off.  You don’t take days off.  You don’t take periods off.  You don’t take plays off.  That’s how he feels you get the best out of your football  team.”
22. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Forget Past Success – “They don’t care what you’ve done in the past.  They don’t care.  He doesn’t care.  The other players don’t care.  The owner doesn’t care.  The only person probably holding on to it is you.  None of that matters because if you want the best out of yourself, you have to keep pushing.”
23. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Must Have Some Luck – “I’m been really lucky to be a quarterback whose been in the same system.  We run plays in practice I’ve literally run a thousand times.”
24. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Are Proactive Rather Than Reactive - “Because we know what we want to do and have an idea where we want to go, we can make the defense react.”
25. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Anticipate – “Offensive football teams can be really good when we start anticipating.”
26. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Are Overly Prepared – “What do I see when I come up to the line of scrimmage?  I see everything.”
27. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Read And Study – “Through the course of film study I get tips.”
28. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Develop Their Teammates – “If you trust your teammate is going to do his job, those are the best teammates to have.  It frees you up to be 100% focused on what you have to do.”
29. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Continually Make Adjustments – “We practice so many times that at the point of execution, subconsciously 90% of it is already done.  So 100% of our brain can focus on the 10% of the adjustments.”
30. Leaders Who Are The Best Of Their Generation Do So For Others – “Why do I want to be the best?  I want to be the best for myself but I want to be the best for the guys I play with too cause it’s not about me.  It’s their journey too and I’m part of their journey.  And why can’t I do everything I can to help them out to.”

Practice these 30 things and you may be the best in your generation also.  What do you think of Tom Brady as a football player and leader?

The Top 10 Leadership Posts I Read The Week Of August 19th

August 23, 2013 0 Comments

Vulnerability is becoming a more and more attractive quality in the best leaders I know.  We don’t have all the answers.  We don’t win every time.  We don’t hit all our goals.  We aren’t perfect.  And the bullets and arrows hurt when they hit us.
Hopefully we learn from it and get better but we do fail.
That is why I love so many of the posts in this Top 10 list.  Several are very transparent and/or discuss failure or tough issues the leaders are dealing with.  These posts will inspire and encourage you.
The following are The Top 10 Leadership Posts I Read The Week Of August 19th:

1. Leadership Lessons From My Family Vacation by Paul Alexander
2. Social Media Perfection by Scott Couchenour
3. A New Day by Eric Echols.  Great post by Eric after his son was diagnosed with diabetes.
4. Millennials Want Impact, Not Platitudes by Joanne Fritz
5. Why I Started Crying When I Saw The Final Cover Design Of My Book Limitless Life by Derwin Gray
6. Do You Have The 5 Elements Of A Powerful Personal Brand by Michael Hyatt
7. Infographic: DNA Of Fortune 100 CEOs by Mike Myatt
8. Social Advocacy & Politics: Storytelling In The Twitter Age by Alan Rosenblatt
9. 11 Key Attributes Of Great Leaders by Scott Williams
10. Matt Hasselbeck, Football, and Evangelism by Pete Wilson

Thanks for reading.  What were some additional great posts you read this week?

5 THINGS CHURCHES NEED TO GET ORDER INSTEAD OF CHAOS

 

5 Things Churches Need To Get Order Instead Of Chaos

August 18, 2013 0 Comments

Would you rather have order or chaos?  It seems like a ridiculous question but believe it or not, pastors and church leaders choose chaos every day.  You see, if your church lacks a system for anything it does at least twice, you will spend significant time organizing chaos.
The world operates on systems.  For instance, your body has 12 systems including muscular, digestive, and circulatory systems.  The United States has a political system.  Even the earth exists as part of the solar system.
Systems are critical to health and life.  And not just to the body or government, but to your church as well.
That is why I’m excited to tell you about a FREE webinar being put on by The Rocket Company on August 20^th at 1:00 PM EST.  Michael Lukaszewski will be teaching you the 5 systems every church must have to be effective.
The five systems every church must have to get order instead of chaos are:

• Administrative
• Marketing
• Communications
• Follow-Up
• Volunteers

I can’t recommend this webinar enough.  Churches that have healthy systems are more effective.  Healthy systems allow you to focus on people rather than problems.  They save you money, time and allow you to operate more efficiently.  Healthy systems provide clarity and give clear on-ramps from what is in your mind to how best to connect that to the congregation.

SHOULD CHRISTIANS SEE LEE DANIELS THE BUTLER?

 

Should Christians See Lee Daniels’ The Butler?

August 16, 2013 6 Comments

Last week I was approached by a well-meaning organization for a private screening of the new film Lee Daniels’ The Butler to help promote it throughout the Christian community.  The individual who initially contacted me was very generous with the number of tickets provided and also arranged to have 50 discussion guides sent to my home church.  I have nothing but the highest praise for how my family and I were treated.
I was expecting a Secretariat-type movie, one full of hope and inspiration.  I had my wife, my 14-year-old daughter and one of her friends with me in attendance.  We were all dressed up and prepared for a special evening.  That is why I type this review with a great deal of disappointment.
First, The Good

• Forest Whitaker who played Cecil Gaines, the fictional (more on that later) butler of seven presidents, should win the Academy Award.  His portrayal of Gaines spanning 70 years of his life is a career-defining role and tour de force performance.
• Oprah Winfrey, playing Gaines’ wife Gloria, should the Best Actress Award.  In addition,Cuba Gooding Jr. (who played a fellow butler) and David Oyelowo (who played Gaines’ oldest son Louis) should battle it out for the Best Supporting Actor nod.
• The contrasting scenes of a disturbing segregated lunch counter confrontation edited beautifully with a simultaneous White House meal being served in the most elegant manner possible showed two different ways in which people were being treated as less than human.
• The best moments in the film for me was Gaines trying to balance his responsibilities at the White House with those in his own house.  This is conflicting because his relationship with his wife and oldest son suffered dramatically because of his level of commitment.  He needed this high level of commitment to ensure a quality of life for his family that kept them out of the poverty he experienced as a child.
• Gaines ability to be subservient, practice self-control, put his family’s needs ahead of his personal desire to state his own opinion, show amazing restraint, and model servanthood at a level few of us could ever match is admirable and inspiring.
• There was also a scene in which Lyndon B. Johnson’s dogs ate off fine silver served by Gaines as he was forced to watch.  This was going on while Gaines own son was locked in jail for fighting for the basic rights we all now share.  Dogs were eating off silver.  Gaines’ son was in jail for wanting to eat at a restaurant.
• One more thought – where in the world was the church during this time period?

If you go see this film, you will never see a better quality of acting.
Now The Bad
Remember, I was invited to watch the film for the purpose of promoting it to the Christian community.  So the question becomes, can I recommend this to Christians?  And sadly, the answer is “No” the following reasons:

• The Liberal Use Of God’s Name In Vain – As a Christian asked to promote an inspirational film about hope and perseverance to the Christian community, I simply cannot recommend any film that uses G.D.  I brought my 14-year-old daughter to the movie.  She heard more GDs last night than she has ever heard in entire her life.
• The Liberal Use Of The “N” Word – The film’s producers will talk about “this is how it was”, or “we want you to see what he overcame”, but the reality is the use of that word is just flat-out disturbing and uncomfortable.  I don’t care who says it and to whom.  I went to the film to be inspired, not squirm for the better part of two hours.
• Nudity – There was a picture of a naked woman hanging in the apartment of a Black Panther meeting.  Remember, my 14-year-old daughter and her friend were there.
• This Is Pure Fiction – Unless you read the background and movie reviews, you are led to believe Cecil Gaines is real individual.  He is not.  This is a fictional film and every president (Democrat and Republican), with the exception of JFK ,was portrayed in as negative a light as possible with no justification.  I’m not calling them perfect but the snippets reminded me of a poor Oliver Stone movie.
• No Biblical References – You have to work really hard to find the biblical truths in this film.  I was expecting much more in this area.  The only reference to Christianity was Gloria Gaines asking for her bible near the film’s end.

In conclusion, if you want to see acting at its very best, go see this movie.  If you want a Christian movie experience you can take you entire family to, you will need to seek other options.
What are your thoughts after watching the movie?

21 Lessons From The Girl Voted Ugliest On The Internet Who Is In Fact Strikingly Beautiful

http://youtu.be/R0OV92Yyl20

As a father of a teenage daughter you constantly guard against bullying and protect your daughter’s self-image.  This is why I love the above video so much.  It contains the inspirational message of Lizzie Velasquez.  Lizzie was born with a disease which prohibits her from gaining weight.
In an absolutely cruel move, online bullies voted her as the ugliest girl on the internet.  When Lizzie accidentally came across an 8-second clip of herself on YouTube giving her that title, over 4 million views had taken place with thousands and thousands of cutting comments.
Showing tremendous perspective and spiritual maturity, Lizzie responds to these attacks in a God-honoring fashion providing us a picture of what true beauty and grace looks like.
The following are 21 lessons gleaned from her speech about over-coming adversity, the value of people, and true beauty:

1. We are often blind-sided by the attacks of others.  Lizzie discovered the picture of herself in the related videos column of YouTube while innocently watching music videos.
2. Attacks on our self-image and self-worth are defining moments.  We should not minimize them.
3. Bullies often create a mob mentality.  It is easy to pile on.
4. Attacks on our appearance hurt deeply.  We try to act tough and as if words of others do not hurt us.  In reality, we are deeply wounded.  Lizzie said, “I literally felt someone was putting their hand through the computer and punching me over and over and over.”
5. As a society, we have lost the value of human life.  She said, “People were giving me tips on how to kill myself.”
6. Attacks on our physical appearance and self-worth often illicit an emotional response.  Lizzie confessed, “I cried my eyes out reading these comments.”
7. Attacks on our physical appearance and self-worth destroy our confidence.
8. Confidence can take a lifetime to build and be lost in a single moment in time.
9. Our natural response is to respond in anger and make our attackers feel bad.
10. However, there is immeasurable power and security that comes from a loving mother and father.  When she was tempted to respond in anger she remembered, “That’s not who I was raised to be”
11. Loving parents can provide a foundation of love and security at an early age that will sustain you for a lifetime.  She said, “I did what my parents told me in kindergarten.  Continue to be yourself and others will see that.”
12. Always have goals and something to shoot for.  Never give up on your dreams.  Lizzie aspired to be a speaker.  We know this because she said, “I realized when I wanted to be a speaker, I was like ‘God, I get you now.’”  Mission accomplished!
13. It is comforting to know struggle is necessary for strength.  ”You made me the girl I am for a reason.  You gave me all the struggles growing up to make me stronger.”
14. Never let others define you.  Lizzie said, “You made me look different so I could see beauty that isn’t defined by the media.”.  She understands Psalm 139:14 which reminds us, “I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
15. Leaders are continual learners.  She acknowledges that “Yes, I am still learning.”
16. We are never more alive than when we are fulfilling God’s purposes in our life.  ”God is working through me and telling you something is the greatest feeling in the entire world.”
17. To find success and meaning in life, Jesus Christ must be placed in the primary position.  Lizzie confirms, “The only way I was able to accomplish all of those things and will be able to the rest of my life is with my faith, my family, and my friends.  My faith is number 1 in my life.”
18. Lizzie now views her illness as a blessing.  She says, “I look now at what God gave me and see a bright flashing billboard that says ‘Blessing.”  And I will always see it as a blessing.”
19. Look to God for help and confidence.  Lizzie knows “God is going to be there to help.  God is going to be there when I’m down and lift me even higher when I’m excited.”
20. Regardless of your circumstances, always be thankful.  ”When you say ‘Thank you God’, all your answers will come to you.”
21. Jesus Christ wants to tell an amazing story through your life.  Lizzie proclaims, “God put you here for a reason and wants you to share that reason no matter what.”

If you are feeling unloved or lacking beauty, bookmark this post and re-visit Lizzie’s video as often as needed.  And never forget that because of Jesus, we all have value.  He thought enough of us to die for us.  That settles it for me.
What are your thoughts of Lizzie and her inspirational approach to life?

3 Things Pastors Can Do To Be More Likable

by: Brian Dodd

August 21, 2013 0 Comments

I have never met a pastor who did not want to be more liked, even loved, by their congregation.  We are all human.  We enjoy relationships.  We want our families to enjoy their church experience. We want people to smile when we enter a room.  We are made for relationships.
Unfortunately, I have also often had conversations with pastors who defiantly told me, “It’s not my job to be liked.  I am a shepherd.  And there are times shepherds must take out their staffs, grab the sheep around the neck, and bring them back to the flock.  Sheep are stupid.”  Those pastors did not last long at their churches.
This post is inspired by and largely taken from the writings of Michael Lukaszewski which you can read by clicking here.  The following are 3 Things Any Pastor Can Do To Be More Liked By Their Congregation:
1.  Be Accessible
As churches grow in size and importance, many pastors begin to shut themselves off from people.  Some of this was absolutely necessary, but part of it was an infatuation with going to the next level.  Some go as far as to put up literal walls up between themselves and the people in their church.
This was not a good decision.
While it is absolutely necessary to put some healthy boundaries in place, creating systems to help you hide is a bad thing.  Email auto responders that make people feel unimportant and green rooms that subtly suggest you’re above the people can become a wall of contention between you and the very people you are trying to serve.  Don’t hide behind systems that separate.
2.  Be Authentic
Dr. John Maxwell says, “If you want to impress people, talk about your successes.  If you want to impact them, talk about your failures.”
Authenticity is the doorway to likability.  If you want people to like you, you’ve got to be real.  They need to know you’re a real person, with real struggles.  Whether they are financial or spiritual or relational, find ways to relate to real life.
You’ll do more when you talk about your mistakes (even the ones that don’t end with a supernatural blessing) than you will with subtly bragging on your victories.
There’s an important principle here.  You don’t need to ACT like you’re on their level…you really need to come down and BE on their level.  We are all equal at the foot of the cross, and being in full-time ministry does not give you special access to God or secret knowledge on how to live the Christian life.
3.  Be Positive
Complaining isn’t attractive, no matter who you are.  Whether you’re complaining about bad customer service, how tired you are, or long lines at Subway, it isn’t endearing talk.  Nobody says, “You know who I like to be around?  People who complain!.”
People want to be around positive people.  Positive people are just simply more likeable.
Be Accessible.  Be Authentic.  Be Positive.  If you do these 3 things, you will be more liked by your congregation.

Repentance = Confession + Contrition + Change

 

"Repentance is essentially what it means to be a Christian," says Driscoll.
Practical Idea: Use this video clip to discuss repentance in your next leadership team devotional.
http://youtu.be/icJgZxT_-Bc

Get mentored by Chi-Hua Chien of Kleiner Perkins, Nancy Duarte and more

Added by Justin Forman on June 5, 2013

Got a note from friends Dave Blanchard and Josh Kwan over at Praxis. Praxis is focused on serving entrepreneurs motivated by their Christian faith to advance the common good. Serving a mix of non-profits and for-profits since it’s inception, this year marks the launch of the Praxis Business Accelerator. The program will select 12 of the top Christian-led companies that are in high-growth, pre-scale stage (some selected ventures will already have a few million in revenue, while others will be in their infancy). The aim is help organizations scale while building up the entrepreneurs that run these businesses so they thrive personally.
Praxis will provide mentorship, shared-faith peer community, access to capital sources, and hands-on support through core mentors in the areas of story, sales and strategy. Praxis is excited to welcome some of the foremost Christ-following leaders as mentors for our 2014 Business program, including Chi-Hua Chien, partner at Kleiner Perkins, Nancy Duarte, founder of Duarte Design, Kurt Keilhacker, founder of TechFund Capital, Sonny Vu, founder of Agamatrix & Misfit Wearables, and more.
Not a typical residential program, the accelerator takes place over 8 months via three events, culminating in a finale at Kleiner Perkins in Silicon Valley. Applications for the accelerator are open now at praxislabs.org.

Category:

10 Ways To Create Churches Angry Millennials Love To Attend

August 11, 2013 2 Comments

I recently had a conversation with a church leader about how to reverse the declining attendance of their 20-somethings audience.  This same conversation is most-likely happening at thousands of churches across the globe.
There has been much information written on this subject.  Most solutions to retaining this generation fall into four categories:

• Creating a new type of creative and more relevant worship service.
• Becoming more cause-minded.
• Incorporating social media.
• Being authentic and real.

While I agree these four solutions are necessary, we need to look even deeper into millennials and how they are feeling.  Many experts feel 20-somethings are apathetic.
I want to propose to you that millennials are not just apathetic.  Millennials are angry.
This theory flows from a September 2013 Fast Company article featuring comments from Nancy Lublin, CEO of Something.org, and Umair Haque, director of Havas Media Labs.  They are experts in helping companies adapt and better understand social change, causes, the needs of millennials and how to more effectively engage them as customers.
Their insights are something all pastors and church leaders can learn from in creating churches angry millennials love to attend.

• Angry Millennials Will Love Churches Who Admit The World Is Broken – Whether it is global economy, the family unit, the church, the inability to find jobs, or society in general, 20-somethings see the world as broken and change is needed.  So how should churches deal with change?  Keep reading.
• Angry Millennials Will Love Churches Attracted To Optimism – Churches that retain millennials provide a sense of hope and can better improve the quality of life for people.
• Angry Millennials Will Love Churches Who Are Rebellious - This is not what you think.  Churches who acknowledge things are broken and the rules need to be rewritten have a greater chance of retaining millennials.
• Angry Millennials Will Love Churches Attracted To Empathy – You must feel the pain those in your local community and around the world.
• Angry Millennials Will Love Churches Who Use Technology To Scale Fast Response – Cell phones and social media have enabled churches to mobilize larger numbers of people to serve those in need faster, cheaper, and more effectively.  New levels of connectivity also make it easier for 20-somethings to provide status updates, comments, and recruit additional friends and resources.
• Angry Millennials Will Love Churches Frustrated With The Establishment - And I’m not talking about just being frustrated with denominations and traditional church practices.  Statistics are showing frustration with the job market, the government regardless of which party is in charge, gun laws, and the quality and cost of education.  Once again, millennials are angry.  This creates a great opportunity for churches who can provide real solutions.
• Angry Millennials Will Love Churches Who Seek Different Types Of Results – Lublin points out young people are looking for a different types of organizations who seek different sets of results.  As an example, she proposes organizations create real positions such as a Chief Community Officer (CCO), Chief Well-Being Officer (CWBO), and the intriguing Chief Not-Being-Evil Officer (CNBEO).
• Angry Millennials Will Love Churches Who Create Opportunities For Them To Be Part Of The Solution – This is an extraordinarily attractive quality of 20-somethings.  They own the results and want to be empowered and given latitude to develop systems which improve the quality of human life for those in desperate need.
•  Angry Millennials Will Love Churches Who Hate “Dumb Consumption” – 20-somethings are attracted to organizations with strong core values.  Core values tell millennials what type of church you want to be.  Millennials want churches who will invest in resources and tools enabling people to be happier and healthier over an extended period of time.  One question church leaders can ask is what percentage of your budget goes directly to ministry and serving the poor and under-resourced?
• Angry Millennials Will Love Churches Making A Real Difference – Lublin made an interesting observation about the needs of homeless teenagers.  Most people think when teenagers arrive at shelters they ask for food.  The surprising truth is these teenagers are asking for blue jeans.  That’s right, blue jeans.  Blue jeans gives teenagers the dignity of feeling like normal kids.  This type of creative thinking is the difference between marginal change and real change.

Lublin concludes by saying, “You have to [change] if you want to stay in business.  You’re listening to your target market, and your target market cares.  They are angry, they’re posting about these things, they’re hungry to have an impact on the world.  If you’re someone who sells or will ever sell anything to these people, you should be listening to them.  That’s basic business.”
Pastors and church leaders, are you listening to the angry 20-somethings in your church?  If so, they will most likely not leave your church.

9 Reasons Good Teams Suddenly Perform Badly

 

Brian Dodd On Leadership HELPING LEADERS FIND SOLUTIONS

 

August 13, 2013 0 Comments

Why do good teams go bad?  The toughest conversations leaders sometimes must have is determining why their good team’s goals and objectives are now going unmet and how to reverse negative momentum.  These organizations have pride and once accomplished great things.  But no longer.
In today’s USA Today, writer Ted Berg looks at four major league baseball teams who have disappointed this year.  His autopsies of these teams provide a great picture for what successful pastors, marketplace leaders, coaches, and those over non-profits must be aware of concerning their team’s declining performance.  You can read his full article by clicking here.
The following are Nine Reasons Good Teams Perform Badly:
San Francisco Giants

• Top Players Perform Badly - When your top talent performs poorly, you’re in trouble.  The Giants once had one of the top pitching staffs in baseball.  This year they rank 12th in the NL with a 4.34 ERA.
• You Start Missing Goals – This is an early warning sign.  Giants manager Bruce Bochy says. “We were one of those teams; when you’re playing well, you win those (close) games. And when it’s on the other side, it seems like it’s a battle to get a break.”

California Angels

• Your Team Has High-Priced Older Declining Personnel – Financial flexibility is necessary for R&D and acquiring young talent.  The Angels have $196 million committed to Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton, two former superstars whose best days are behind them.
• A Lack Of Depth Exists – The Angels have a weak bench.
• No Infusion Of Young Talent – Talented teams are green and growing.  In other words, teams with high performance are continually having an infusion of young talent.  Without this infusion, the team (or church) gets old all at the same time.

Washington Nationals

• Personnel Becomes Unreliable – Poorly performing teams have people they simply cannot count on.  The Nationals’ bullpen has been very unreliable this season.
• Apathy Sets In - Good teams that begin to perform poorly lack a sense of urgency.  Manager Davey Johnson is retiring after this season.  Many feel that a more fiery voice is needed when a replacement is found.

Philadelphia Phillies

• You Lose Talent – Good teams who perform poorly lose top talent.  Injuries have devastated the Phillies this season.
• There Is Lack of Financial Flexibility – Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee, and Jonathan Papelbon are all highly paid and give the team few financial options without a major overhaul.

Top Performers Performing Badly, Missed Goals, High-Priced Declining Older Talent, No Depth, No Infusion Of Young Talent, Unreliability, Apathy, Loss Of Talent, and No Financial Flexibility.  If you have these 9 warning signs, your good team is probably already performing poorly.
Why else do you think good teams suddenly perform badly?

14 Leadership Lessons Everyone Should Know

Brian Dodd On Leadership HELPING LEADERS FIND SOLUTIONS

 

14 Leadership Lessons Everyone Should Know

August 15, 2013 2 Comments

Several times a year I am dispatched to Christian conferences to capture the most important lessons from the event.  Often I put such effort into not missing anything I actually learn nothing personally.  In an effort to improve as a leader, I am revisiting last week’s Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit to apply its lessons.
With that in mind, the following are 14 Brand New Leadership Lessons I Learned In The Last Seven Days from the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.  To read more comments from each person simply click on their name.

1. “There is dignity in choice instead of just being given a bag (for people needing food).” – Bill Hybels.  At the church’s newly constructed Care Center,  people are not just given a bag of food.  They are allowed to select the products to go into the bag.  What a great way to meet a need and provide dignity simultaneously.
2. “Soldiers want to talk about their experience.  They’re not looking for sympathy.  They want their service recognized and respected.” – Gen. Colin Powell.  I put this lesson to work immediately with a member of our Armed Forces.  To read that story, click here.
3. “Who are the happiest celebrities?  The ones with interests in other things.” – Patrick Lencioni.  It is important for leaders to create interests and an identity apart from their work and position of visibility.
4. “When you get stressed you get physiologically stupid.” – Liz Wiseman.  Liz taught me why I personally shut down and become insecure during stressful meetings with high-volume and intimidating personalities.
5. “In the future we’re going to have some great civic centers that used to be churches because the personality left.” – Chris Brown.  Effective succession planning will be the most important issue many great churches face in the next 10 years.
6. “Every single Thursday I quit something…God will drop something in there.” – Bob Goff.  I need to create a Stop-Doing List to create room for God to bring exciting new things into my life.
7. “In business, there’s lots of “No’s”.  NO means ‘next opportunity”’. – Mark Burnett.  Great leaders are irrepressible.
8. “Motivation is a big part of change.  Ability is profound factor in influence.  Those who are best at influence start with ability, not motivation.” – Joseph Grenny.  As a leader I spend a disproportionate amount of time “firing people up” when I should be investing in their skills.
9. “India has so many problems with so few resources.  India can only solve its problems through innovation.” – Vijay Govindarajan.  Creativity is best produced in environments with limited staff, facilities and financial resources.  Necessity truly is the mother of invention.
10. “When you judge yourself for asking for help, you, by default, always judge others when you offer help.  You have attached judgement to help.” – Brene Brown.  Bottom line – I don’t ask for help enough.
11. “When you live for your own generation, you will grow up with your own generation and die with your own generation.  And your vision will die as well…Live for the next generation.” – Oscar Murui.  Healthy churches have a sustainable future by targeting their messaging to 20-somethings.
12. “If you have a chose between those who can but think they can’t and those who can’t but think they can, choose those who think they can every time.” – Henry Cloud.  Optimism is in incredibly attractive in future team members and developing leaders.
13. “The leadership gift enables all the other gifts to flourish.” – Gary Schwammlein.  The success of churches largely depends on their ability to identify, cultivate, and release those who leadership gifts.
14. “Jesus has been at the epicenter of the local church for 2000 years.  He has and will continue to build His church and nobody’s death is going to stop it.” – Andy Stanley.  Many Christians need to relax.  Jesus has everything under control.

What did you learn from these quotes and how can you apply it?

Honor Your Leaders!

By Brett Eastman

---

How publicly affirming your group leaders sets blessings in motion.
As a leadership coach, you have a crucial role in sustaining the small group structure of your church. Without this layer of your leadership, small groups stand on shaky ground for the simple reason that their leaders feel unsupported and therefore unwilling to take ownership of the group and its mission.
To keep this from happening, you need to let your group leaders know that they are most valued people in the life-change process of your church. You do this by honoring them and building them up—in front of the senior leadership of your church.
Rick Warren attended a conference at Saddleback Church with over a thousand small group leaders. He broke down in front of them all, telling them how much they all meant to him. He said, “I can see every one of you taking care of a group of ten kids or five guys in a coffee shop or a Celebrate Recovery 12-step group or whatever it is you do.”
By saying these words, Rick brought value and honor to each of them. Those leaders left that conference ready to pass that blessing down to their apprentices and and every member of their group. This model is based on Jesus’ approach: He focused on the few—and blessed them—in order to reach—and bless—the many.
By establishing this “trickle down” model of honoring, everyone involved in a small group gets cared for and coached at the same time.

4 Things to Remember When Investing in Next-Gen Leaders

Lindy Lowry —  August 15, 2013

LA Church Planting: Part 4: An Interview with Ambassador Network’s Ray Chang
Ray Chang is a church planter and trainer with the Evangelical Free Church of America. With Peter Lim and DJ Chuang, he leads Orange County, Calif.-based Ambassador Network, which works to launch a movement of multiplying, multiethnic and missional churches, both locally and globally. Chang also planted and leads Ambassador Church in Brea, California. As a Korean immigrant growing up in the Korean church followed by internships and leadership positions in the evangelical church, Ray Chang has learned a lot about what it means to invest in leaders. Below, he shares about his church and Ambassador Network and some of those leadership learnings.
Why did you start Ambassador Church and Ambassador Network? What needs were you trying to meet?
I came to the States when I was 6. And when I came to America back in the ‘70s, the Asian-American community was relatively small. One of the challenges of growing up in an ethnic environment has always been, “How does Christ transcend culture?” So often, my culture was the thing that defined me as a Korean or as an Asian. So growing up in that context, serving in a Korean church, I felt frustrated because one of my biggest challenges was that I wanted to learn. I wanted to become a better pastor, I want to become a better leader. But because of my cultural context, there were a lot of limitations to that, whether it was a lack of mentoring or lack of discipling. So I left the Korean church, joined the Evangelical Free Church, and became an intern at EV Free Fullerton. And my eyes were just opened.
I saw ministry of the same gospel being applied in different ways, and it extended my opportunity to live out my faith. So that experience kind of, planted the seeds of, “Hey, what if we had a church that would be for all people?”
After that experience at Fullerton, I got a position as an associate pastor back at a Korean church in Washington, D.C. I remember looking at all of the different embassies and flags of the different nations. So that’s where the name Ambassador Church came from, II Cor. 5:20–that we are Christ’s ambassadors.
And so that became the foundation for planting a multi-cultural church in the D.C. area back in 1996. We had 11 people meeting in our apartment. We really didn’t know a lot about church planning, but in a year and a half we grew to about 150.
We were reaching all these young adults and young couples and college students who had left the ethnic church. They were frustrated in the same ways I was frustrated. We felt the need to be a church that would represent all people, all nations. So the mission statement of our church became “to make and equip disciples of all nationalities as Christ’s ambassadors to all the nations.”
The second transition came in wanting to see how I can now help guys like myself. So at EV Free Fullerton where I served as outreach pastor, we started an Ambassador Fellowship, which was basically a training ground for five seminary students. That eventually became Ambassador Church.
The greatest concern I had was, “Okay, if we’re going to impact the nation, we’re going to have to impact young leaders.” There’s a whole segment of young leaders that will not be impacted, especially in the ethnic context. How do we pick these next second-generation guys and really invest in them? So while there’re a lot of national networks for church planters, a lot of these guys we’re discipling don’t have access to these kinds of networks yet. They have no point of relationship or connection. So it’s really hard for a young, second-generation Korean-American or Hispanic to go into some of these mainstream ministries. I felt like, “Why not take what God has given me, in this city, and see it as a benefit for the kingdom rather than as a curse?”

Growing up, I always struggled with my sense of identity. And I think a lot of kids, especially ethnic Americans, are asking, “Who am I? Am I Korean? Am I white? So I wanted to say, “Look, there’s a whole segment of young leaders out there that are not being ministered to or developed for leadership.”

Ambassador Network really came out of that desire to say, “Look, we want to be a place, a bridge” and connect these young leaders into some of these other things that God’s doing. We want to provide support, development and leadership for some of these kids.
What are you learning about pouring into leaders as a result of the work you’re doing with Ambassador Network and Ambassador Church, as well as your previous experience as a young leader?
Leadership development starts with a person, not a program. I think the No. 1 principle of any leadership development is assessment. You have to understand someone’s calling, their background, who they are. And that’s the uniqueness of the person. It’s like a football player. You can draft a quarterback and make that guy fit the system, or you can look at the player and say, “Okay, how can we make this guy succeed?”
Nobody is where they should be or where they will be. We are all in development. And part of our job as leaders is to help get leaders to go where God wants them to go. So one of the things that I say to a lot of young leaders is, “Look, my job as a pastor is to help you get to where God wants you to be.” And I am that transitional person. So I want to lead you and encourage you along that path. Really in some sense, that’s what discipleship is.
A support system is non-negotiable. One of the things that I’ve found among a lot of young leaders Is that more than the finance tools or a monetary investment in their church, what they need is people investment, life investment.

Young leaders have always told me that they would rather have somebody invest in their life for the long haul versus a paycheck or donation.

It’s about life investment. My relationship with all the guys that we train is an ongoing coaching life relationship. What I never had as a young leader was that life coach who would stick with me all the way through. So I sort of live life with the philosophy that I want to do for someone else what was never done for me. It’s about the person, the individual. It’s about the disciple. We need the models and the learning—that’s all good—but the information is not what’s going to make planters succeed. It comes down to how we invest in them. Leadership development is about life. It’s a long-term commitment, a marathon instead of a sprint.
Ray Chang is one of 75+ leaders speaking at Exponential West Oct. 7-10. Check back tomorrow for part 2 of this interview with Ray Chang, as he talks about the challenges of multi-ethnic ministry and how church leaders can practically overcome these obstacles to plant and grow multi-ethnic and multi-cultural churches.

17 Leadership Quotes From Andy Stanley

Live Blog From The 2013 Global Leadership Summit – 17 Leadership Quotes From Andy Stanley

August 9, 2013 0 Comments

We are heading down the home stretch of the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.  I am extremely grateful to The Rocket Company for allowing me to attend.
The final session included leadership lessons from the incomparable Andy Stanley of North Point Ministries.  You can order his landmark book Deep & Wide by clicking here.
The following are his life-changing lessons:

1. Jesus did not predict a place (church).  He predicted a people.
2. The only thing, the epicenter, for every single one of us is “I am the Christ.  The Son of the Living God.”
3. When Jesus made His promise, He didn’t blink.  He didn’t flinch.
4. Jesus has been at the epicenter of the local church for 2000 years.  He has and will continue to build His church and nobody’s death is going to stop it.
5. In the United States of America, we’ve been a majority for so long we speak with an authority we don’t have.
6. This was their message – You killed Him.  God raised Him from the dead.  Say You’re Sorry.
7. 3,000 became Jesus followers and you know why.  Because Jesus raised from the dead.
8. The central teaching of the church was not something was true.  The central teaching of the church was something happened.
9. Our Savior is so committed to building His church that He will interrupt plans.
10. James the brother of Jesus may be our strongest argument for the deity of Christ.  What would your brother have to do to convince you he is the Son of God.
11. If a guy can predict his death and resurrection and pull it off, I’m with Him.
12. Jesus is The Lord and The Savior of the world.
13. I’m one of those parents who refuses to take kids places too early.
14. In your most discouraging moment, there is a cross hanging over the Emperor’s Gate in the Roman Coliseum.
15. People are going to name their kids Paul and Peter.  They are going to name their dogs Nero and Caesar.
16. One day there will be no Roman Empire but the church of your Savior will be in every nation in the world.
17. You will do profitable things with your life but you will never do something more significant with your life than build Jesus’s church because it is the activity of God on this earth.

Does Your Generosity And Obedience Have Limits?

August 10, 2013 4 Comments

I’m about to share an embarrassing story but one I think most everyone reading this post can relate to.  On Friday evening I was returning home from The Global Leadership Summit and stopped at a local restaurant to have some quick dinner.
As I was going through the line to order my meal, an Air Force serviceman was behind me in line.  He was a pleasant man and dressed in full military fatigues.
It was then I remembered the words of Gen. Colin Powell uttered the prior day at The Summit.  He said, “Soldiers want to talk about their experience.  They’re not looking for sympathy.  They want their service recognized and respected.”  It was then I felt God telling me to buy his dinner.
The previous two weeks have been very expensive and I’m anxiously awaiting the 15th for my next pay date.  There have been school supplies and uniform purchases along with a vacation and some unexpected medical expenses.  But I was OK with that because I could easily handle at $10-15 meal, right?
This was one of our troops.  He would feel respected and I would feel good about myself because I obeyed God and performed a good deed.  It was then I learned a lot about myself and did not like what I discovered.
As I was about to tell the cashier to put his meal on my ticket, I heard the serviceman say, “I would like a family pack for 5.”  I thought, “Lord, was that really you?  I mean, this is not going to be $10-15.”  I could have then walked away and no one would ever know I was supposed to buy that meal.  But God impressed on me a second time, “Yes, I want you to buy the meal.”
It was then I heard the serviceman say, “And I would also like a large slab of ribs.”  It was then a battle in my soul began to wage as I thought, “You have got to be kidding me!”  But I felt God once again say very clearly, “Brian, buy his family their meal.  Whatever you are sacrificing is not even a drop in the bucket compared to what they have sacrificed for thousands of families like yours.  Brian, you also have no idea how much I’m going to bless you back for doing this.”
I literally walked back and forth from the drink fountain to the cashier’s counter several times wrestling with my decision.  And then I heard the manager add, “And we will put the deserts on there a la carte.”
Enough was enough.  At this point I just went ahead and purchased the serviceman’s meal.  The two-minute battle in my heart was now settled regardless of the cost.  I then expressed my sincerest appreciation to the gentleman for his service and asked him to pass my heartfelt thanks along to his family.  He smiled from ear-to-ear, shook my hand, and said a HUGE “Thank You”.
I have several thoughts from this 2-minute moment in my life:

• After all these years and God’s faithfulness in my life, why was extravagant generosity not a reflex action for me?  Why did I struggle so much with the decision?  I should be better than this.
• I’m not even going to miss this that money a week from now.
• Proactively blessing our troops whether in restaurants, airports, or any other environment is the right thing to do.
• What the world sees in our outward behavior and what is happening inside our hearts and minds are often two completely different things.    The world saw a “nice guy” who bought a serviceman’s family a meal.  In reality, I was a guy struggling with selfishness and practicing behaviors which should be reflex actions.
• I can’t thank God enough for His grace.  I have got such a long way to go to become the type of person I truly want to be.

Each of us receives whispers from God on a regular basis.  If you’re like me, sometimes your biblical knowledge outpaces your personal obedience.  I hope next time God whispers something to me, my response will be much more immediate, much more generous, and a lot less selfish.
Can you relate to this story?  Of course you can.  We’ve all been there.

36 Leadership Quotes From Bob Goff and Mark Burnett

Live Blog From The 2013 Global Leadership Summit – 36 Leadership Quotes From Bob Goff and Mark Burnett

By: Brian Dodd

August 8, 2013 3 Comments

Once again, thanks again to The Rocket Company for allowing me to attend the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.  In an effort to help fulfill our mission of helping churches succeed, I will be bringing some of the top leadership lessons from the incredible faculty the WCA has assembled.  Today has been amazing.
Bob Goff left off the afternoon’s final session.  The following are leadership quotes and lessons from his amazing session.  You can get his new book Love Does by clicking here.

1.  We all want to lead strong but we get our signals wrong from time to time.
2. You want to lead really well, every time some asks how are you doing, “Trying to be perfect, like your Father in Heaven is perfect.  Trying to be awesome.”
3. Love God.  Love People.  And Do Stuff.
4. I don’t want a son-in-law.  You don’t want employees.  I want a friend.
5. If I figure out what Jesus made me to do and do a lot of that, I’ll be a leader.
6. Some of us bought a lie that we’re our biggest mistake.
7. You know how you do this stuff.  Just land the plane.
8. If we weren’t afraid in leadership, we could live the life worthy of our calling.
9. I’ve been called to do justice.
10. See people for who they’re becoming.  Not who they were.
11. I don’t what it’s going to be like in Heaven but don’t you just hope Jesus touches you on the nose.
12. Every single Thursday I quit something…God will drop something in there.
13. God wants to blow your minds!
14. Isn’t great for God to use us beyond our ability to get it.
15. You want to get stuff right, just give them Jesus.

Mark Burnett

1. I came here with nothing and discovered what a serious land of opportunity this is…In America, no door is closed.
2. Start a business with the lowest cost possible.
3. Americans will give you a chance…You have to take action.
4. In business, there’s lots of “No’s”.  NO means “next opportunity”.
5. The Bible is a calling…The calling of God, Jesus means you have to get your #$% off the couch and do something.
6. Bill is the first pastor I met across the country that had never heard of The Voice.  We have to get Bill into pop culture.
7. Stop playing defensively and start playing offensively.  Stop apologizing.  Be offensive.
8. We have great credibility and skill in making movie pictures.  This is utterly and completely Holy Spirit. – on 100 million people watching The Bible.
9. This is a nation absolutely built on the Bible and on faith.
10. We came along at the right time in our nation’s history and the church’s history.
11. In Canada, it was up against returning hockey and beat hockey.
12. Choose your companions before you choose your road.  Travel with the right people.
13. Raise up the people in the trenches.  Get rid of the energy suckers.
14. Unresolved emotional conflict and dealing with the wrong people drain the energy.
15. We have a mission.  We have things to do.  We must succeed..Not everybody is the right person on the right team.
16. Everyone on my shows is a duo – creative people with finance people.  They need to coexist and work together.  There is a lot of money at stake.
17. You want to lead big teams – choose the right companions, raise them up, and empower them.
18. I manage from a decent arm’s length.  I don’t let directors push the editor’s buttons on their machine.  The editor is brilliant.  Let them do their job.
19. If someone came to me to pitch a show without a budget and a schedule I would wonder why I hired such an insane person and I would fire them tomorrow.
20. The easiest thing to do in the world is waste money.  How do you put it on the screen so it makes money.
21. Making Christian shows or movies doesn’t give you the permission to make it crappy.

One-on-One Meetings That Work

One-on-One Meetings That Work – Template Download Early in my career, my boss recommended that I meet regularly with each of my direct reports. He knew it would both improve their productivity and improve my relationship and influence with my team members. I thought it was a great idea! And since I wanted the time to be as productive as possible, I spent weeks trying to figure out how to structure the meetings and when to schedule them. Looking back – I wasted a lot of valuable time trying to set up the “perfect” meeting. Which was a futile effort from the outset – because I was going to be part of the meeting – and I’m far from perfect! Let’s face it – we put off a lot of things that we should have started a long time ago. And we excuse our procrastination by calling it due diligence or planning. Let’s call it what it is – fear, anxiety, laziness, inexperience. It really doesn’t matter what we call it – just call it DONE! And get on with it! So I did the one thing that I knew would get me going. I asked my assistant to put the One-on-One Meetings (O3′s) on my calendar. I had two weeks to prepare for them. So, here’s what I did… Purpose I spent some time thinking about my purpose for the meetings. I also envisioned what my team members would like to accomplish in the meetings and what they would value most about our time together. Then I wrote it out - To provide a structured time to coach my team members through the four components of effective leadership (life planning, business vision, business planning, and priority management) and to fulfill one of my core convictions – people are valuable and are worth developing For more detail on this, be sure to download your FREE copy of my eBook, Creating Your Business Vision. It includes tons of practical resources and a step-by-step guide for developing vision for you, your team, or your organization. Regular time Next, I scheduled biweekly, 30 minute appointments for each of my direct reports. I started out biweekly because I wanted to be sure that the meetings wouldn’t be too cumbersome by occurring too often without enough content. I planned 30 minute appointments because you really have to be prepared to get through everything in 30 minutes. I wanted to make the most of our time together – so it was important to me that we structure the meeting to encourage both parties to come into the meeting prepared. Weekly or monthly meetings may work better for you and your team. In fact, my assistant and I meet twice a week for 30 minutes each time. Although we work together closely, the regularly scheduled appointments provide time to slow down and address top priority functions and projects. Use a Template – Download Now Again, you don’t have to have it all figured out right now. Just start with a simple plan for the meeting that prepares you to listen. To help me prepare for O3′s, I developed  a One-on-One Meeting Template. It took months of tweaking to finally get my template into a format that was comfortable for me. You can save all that time and simply download it now by clicking here! Be prepared Preparation is the key to an effective meeting! [Tweet That!] The more time I spend preparing, the more effective the meeting is for both of us. I spend approximately the same amount of time preparing for each meeting as I do in the meeting itself. I review the meeting template and questions prior to each meeting. I also review notes from our previous meeting and the list of projects for the individual. Then I note the specific questions I will ask. This provides a basic outline for the meeting. Listen You will notice that the template is mostly questions – personal questions, project questions, resource questions, follow-up and feedback questions. This is by design – questions prepare me to listen! And we need to listen to our teams far more than we do! Bill Greer, President of Milligan College, once said to me, If you want to help people, listen as long as you possible can before responding. [Tweet That.] We simply cannot be effective if we’re waiting for them to shut up so we can start talking again. These people are trading nearly 200 hours of their lives every month to be a part of what you are building together – what you are becoming together. Are they trading their time for something worthwhile? What are you going to give them today that will change their life forever? If you’re not ready to listen, don’t schedule the meeting. Don’t waste your time and don’t waste their time. Most team members are not interested in listening to their boss talk for 30 minutes (or more). It’s likely they’ll simply sit across the desk thinking about all of the work that you expect them to complete by the end of the day! When you ask your team more questions than you make demands, you’ll be more loved & respected. (Ben Reed) During the meeting I have asked each of my team members to use the following agenda to help them prepare for each meeting. The following is one that I received from Building Champions executive coach Raymond Gleason. Just as my preparation improves the meeting, when they are well-prepared, we both get a lot more accomplished. Accomplishments & Status – Bring a list of all current projects, with one or two sentences describing progress and status of each. Blocked/Waiting on – Note any roadblocks that are currently keeping projects from progressing. Describe the roadblock for each in one or two sentences. To do – Make a high-level to-do list of what you would like to accomplish in the next week Areas to develop – Note areas of personal and professional development and what activities you have undertaken/would like to undertake to develop in those areas. Goal tracking – Review your monthly, quarterly or yearly goals. Note progress – You should be making steady progress toward fulfilling those goals. Action Plans – Record the results of previously established action plans including whether or not they are complete. Make notes and follow up This is where many meetings fall apart – after the meeting is over. Mondays are my One-one-One meeting days – so my meetings are virtually back-to-back most of the day. However, I have scheduled 30 minutes between each meeting to process my notes and thoughts and prepare for the next meeting. I also scheduled an hour at the end of the day to wrap up anything I didn’t have time to complete during the day. I take detailed notes in each meeting on the meeting template form. After the meeting, I record everything that was discussed in the meeting into a database. I use CoachBuilder Partner Edition from Building Champions. I note the action plans and due date for each that we agreed to. I list any items that I will followup with them between now and the next meeting. Then I email the team member their list of action items and due dates. Since I began this process with my team, I have seen remarkable improvements in each individual. And I am improving! Our meetings aren’t perfect, but they’re far more effective than they used to be. Get Started To get started today, download the One-on-One Meeting Template. This template is the most searched item  on my blog from internet search engines and has been downloaded 1000′s of times since 2009. It’s a simple form that you can use immediately to prepare for O3′s and for taking notes while you’re in the meeting. The download also includes tons of questions to plan O3′s for individual team members. Question: Tell us about your experience with One-on-One Meetings – Are you just getting started? What’s working for you? What challenges have you faced? Share your thoughts in the comments.

You just finished reading One-on-One Meetings That Work – Template Download! Consider leaving a comment on my blog.