Leadership & Market Place Ministry

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

3 Practices Of Teams Who Are Going To Fail

Leaders often talk about indicators of success. Those conversations are very insightful but so are the ones which identify why great organizations, great churches, and great teams fail.
Recently, the San Antonio Spurs soundly defeated the Miami Heat four games to one. ESPN statistician John McTigue wrote an article after Game 4 entitled, “What Has Gone Wrong For The Heat.” His analysis provides a clear understanding why you may be failing as well.
Using the Heat as a case study, the following are 3 Practices Of Teams Who Are Going To Fail:
1. You Are Going To Fail If Barriers To Success Are Not Removed – Leadership always has challenges. Therefore, talented team members require guidelines, not rules. They need to have bureaucracy removed from their path. High-capacity individuals need freedom to create and advance the organization’s mission and vision. Even your top performers will suffer from decreased production if significant enough barriers are placed in their way.
Take LeBron James for example. Though he had a great series, things became much more difficult when Kawhi Leonard assumed primary responsibility for guarding him during Game 2. Notice the impact:
Leonard guarded James on 49% of the Heat’s possessions in Game 1, 54% in Game 2, 65% in Game 3, and then 71% in the Game 4 blowout victory. During Game 4, James attempted only two shots in 17 touches over 24 possessions when guarded by Leonard. Against other defenders, James attempted five shots on 13 touches over 11 possessions.
Furthermore, James did not even touch the ball on 35% of the Heat’s possessions when guarded by Leonard. This is in stark contrast to 26% when guarded by others.
Successful organizations proactively remove the barriers which limit the freedom and success of top performers.
2. You Are Going To Fail If You Have No Depth – James did everything he could to lead the Heat to victory but received little support from his teammates.
In Game 3 for example, Chris Bosh had only 12 touches after averaging 39.5 in the first two games. Dwyane Wade looked old during the series. He shot 2-for-10 in Game 4. Usually reliable shooters Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis were a combined 4-for-13 in drive and dish situations through four games. As a team, the Heat were 0-for-6 on dishes from James.
3. You Are Going To Fail If Careless Mistakes Are Made – Great organizations limit unnecessary mistakes. Through four games, the Heat turned the ball over on 19.1% of their possessions, the 2nd highest Finals total in NBA history.
Barriers To Success Are Not Removed, No Depth, and Careless Mistakes. If you practice these 3 things, you are going to fail. There is good news. You can make corrections today and ensure future success.

Lead Better by Improving the Way You Communicate

By Rick Warren

You can’t lead a church, evangelize a community, or do business without communicating. And the better you become as a communicator, the better you become as a leader, and the better the team you lead becomes as a result. That means to get ahead you’ve got to continually work on your communication skills. Probably 75% of the problems we face, at home, at work, and at church are related to poor communication with family members, church members, your clients, or your coworkers. Poor communication is also the most frequently mentioned problem in marriage counseling.
Here are three things you must give up in order to grow as a communicator. As you lead…

Give Up Your Assumptions

We get into trouble when we start assuming we understand the meaning of what people say to us. The truth is – everything you hear goes through a filter. Your filter is determined by your past experiences and your unique personality. You may not be hearing what they are really saying. Therefore, it’s smart (and safe) to ask for clarification. There are 6 possible messages every time you speak:

What you mean to say and what you actually said.
What they heard and what they think they heard.
What they say about it and what you think they said about it.

Proverbs 18:13 says “It’s foolish to answer before listening.”
There is a second kind of assumption you need to give up on. Stop assuming people understand everything you’re thinking and feeling as you communicate. It’s only fair to clearly and completely share your expectations with people when you assign them a task or a project. You must find a way to be both concise and complete, and always clear when you communicate.

Give Up Your Accusations

You’re never persuasive when you’re abrasive. And you never get your point across by being cross. Anger and sarcasm only make people defensive… and defensiveness kills communication. Here are four common forms of accusation:

Exaggerating – making sweeping generalities like ”You never ” or “You always.”
Labeling – derogatory name calling. Labeling never changes anyone. It only reinforces the negative behavior.
Playing Historian – bringing up past failures, mistakes, and broken promises.
Asking Loaded Questions – which really can’t be answered, like “Can’t you do anything right?”

Ephesians 4:29 says “Use only helpful words, the kind that build others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Give Up Your Apprehensions

Fear prevents honest communication. It causes us to conceal our true feelings, and fail to confront the real issues. The two most common apprehensions are: the fear of failure and the fear of rejection. But when you face your fear and risk being honest – real communication can happen. Freedom is the result of openness. Jesus said, “The truth will set you free!” (John 8:32)
Good teams communicate, or they disintegrate. It’s worth giving up our assumptions, our accusations, and our apprehensions to build unity and lead everyone forward.

The Type Of Work Successful Leaders Do That Unsuccessful Leaders Don’t

In my work with churches across the country, a large part of my responsibility would be classified as business development. This includes lead generation, connecting with pastors and church leaders, accessing need and opportunity, building relationships and earning enough trust to stand before their Boards and key decision-makers in hopes of serving their long-term stewardship and generosity needs.
Many days are not glamorous. Today was one such day. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday I was very behind. I made dozens and dozens and dozens of attempts to connect with pastors with no success. It was one of those frustrating days that make you want to pull your hair out…until very late in the day. In fact, it was my final call.
The pastor said he had a Deacons meeting tomorrow evening and the timing was perfect. After 40 minutes of conversation, we will have an opportunity to potentially serve this church beginning in January.
This was a reminder of some leadership truths only the most successful leaders know. Truths like “Struggle is necessary for strength”, “the fruit is always at the end of the branch. It is not close to the tree trunk”, “always play through” and “finish strong.” Success often comes from consistent pounding and pounding until a breakthrough finally comes.
But it also reminded me of The Type Of Work Successful Leaders Do That Unsuccessful Leaders Do Not: The Lonely Work.

The Lonely Work no one sees.
The Lonely Work does not get the accolades.
The Lonely Work you just have to press through.
The Lonely Work requires discipline.
The Lonely Work is what makes vision become reality.
The Lonely Work is studying, researching and thinking differently.
The Lonely Work smells a lot like sweat…which happens to also smell a lot like success.
The Lonely Work often begins in the morning night and ends in the evening night.
The Lonely Work is the pain before the gain.
The Lonely Work must be done daily.
The Lonely Work is incremental but compounds over time.
The Lonely Work is rarely satisfying until you see the fruits of your labor.
The Lonely Work is for people who refuse to quit.
The Lonely Work is for people whose dreams are so big they could not do anything else.
The Lonely Work is for humble leaders who want to get better and do not have all the answers.

The Lonely Work is the type of work only the most successful leaders do.
No one gives awards for lonely work. But the people who do the lonely work are the ones who receive the awards. As a leader, how are you doing when no one is watching? This will ultimately determine your level of success.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

What Wandering Pastors And Leaders Need To Know

On Thursday, June 19th I was driving on Alpharetta Highway, a very busy Atlanta street headed to a series of meetings. As I rounded a curve I noticed about 30 yards in front of me a deer sliding across the street, spiraling on its side. Instinctively I knew it had been struck by a car.
Once it stopped sliding, the deer stood and began to limp away. Sadly, the animal clearly had an injured hip or broken leg. I slowly passed the car involved which had pulled off the road. A young man was on the phone probably calling family, friends or his insurance company. The car had a significant dent in the middle of the front bumper and grill.
Reflecting back on this experience, I was reminded of three leadership principles which stood out regarding the deer, the man, and the relationship between the two.
We Learn From The Deer That Leaders Should Not Wander Off To Places Where They Should Not Be – Obviously, the deer wandered from the woods into a busy highway. And in doing so, the results were devastating. Sadly, I hear stories all the time of leaders who “wandered away” with devastating results. Men, when you get off work, rather than going out for drinks or with friends, go home to your family. When you are on business trips, do your job and then return to your hotel room. Do you have lunches alone or meetings behind closed doors with the opposite sex? There are countless other examples but place boundaries in your life. If not, you will wander off and experience devastating results as well.
We Learn From The Man That Leaders Should Build Margin – When the deer entered the street, the young man did not have time to stop or avoid the accident. Leaders should always build in personal, financial and emotional margin in their lives. Margin helps leaders avoid devastating results.
We Learn From The Relationship Between The Deer And Man To Not Expect Sympathy Immediately After You Wander Off – It was interesting the young man was already on the phone within seconds of the deer being hit (assuming he wasn’t on the phone during the accident itself). Though the deer was injured, the young man was not immediately concerned with deer but rather his own situation. Pastors and other leaders, there will be time for grace and restoration for you. However, the immediate response for your “wandering off” will not be for you. The following will be our immediate questions and concerns:
How is your family?
How will the church or organization need to move forward?
What is the communication strategy to the congregation, employees or shareholders?
What are the contingency plans?
Will we have to get a new job or move ourselves?
Etc., etc, etc… These are the questions those affected by your indiscretions will be asking. After addressing these issues, only then can we show you the proper sympathy and grace needed.
Don’t Wander Off. Don’t Expect Sympathy If You Do. Build Margin. Next time you see an animal who was struck in traffic, remember these lessons and avoid the same mistakes. Your leadership depends on it.

20 Quotes On Leadership And Creativity From Creativity, Inc: The Best Book I’ve Read In 2014

Ed Catmull’s book Creativity, Inc is the greatest book on creativity and one of the top three on leadership I have ever read. Written by the President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, it is a classic which should be on every reader’s bookshelf. You can order a copy HERE or on the image provided.
If you are unfamiliar with Catmull, he along with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter founded Pixar in 1986. The following are 20 Quotes On Leadership and Creativity from Creativity, Inc. Every leader should read and apply these truths immediately.

Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better.
When looking to hire people, give their potential to grow more weight than their current skill level. What they will be capable of tomorrow is more important than what they can do today.
Always try to hire people who are smarter than you. Always take a chance on better, even if it seems a potential threat.
If there are people in your organization who feel they are not free to suggest ideas, you lose. Do not discount ideas from unexpected sources. Inspiration can, and does, come from anywhere.
There is nothing quite as effective, when it comes to shutting down alternative viewpoints, as being convinced you are right.
If there is more truth in the hallways than in meetings, you have a problem.
Many managers feel that if they are not notified about problems before others are or if they are surprised in a meeting, then that is a sign of disrespect. Get over it.
The first conclusions we draw from our successes and failures are typically wrong. Measuring the outcome without evaluating the process is deceiving.
It is not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It is the manager’s job to make it safe to take them.
Failure isn’t a necessary evil. In fact, it isn’t evil at all. It is a necessary consequence of doing something new.
Trust doesn’t mean that you trust that someone won’t screw up – it means you trust them even when they do screw up.
Finding and fixing problems is everybody’s job. Anyone should be able to stop the production line.
The desire for everything to run smoothly is a false goal – it leads to measuring people by the mistakes they make rather than by their ability to solve problems.
Don’t wait for things to be perfect before you share them with others. Show early and show often.
A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody.
Engaging with exceptionally hard problems forces us to think differently.
Do not assume that general agreement will lead to change – it takes substantial energy to move a group, even when all are on board.
The healthiest organizations are made up of departments whose agendas differ but whose goals are interdependent. It one agenda wins, we all lose.
Our job as managers in creative environments is to protect new ideas from those who don’t understand that in order for greatness to emerge, there must phases of not-so-greatness. Protect the future, not the past.
Excellence, quality, and good should be earned words, attributed by others to us, not proclaimed by us about ourselves.

To See Lives Transformed, Always Start with the Truth of God’s Word

By Rick Warren

See lives transformed by God’s truth when you lead your church through our newest church-wide campaign, Transformed: How God Changes Us.

Nothing thrills a Pastor more than seeing real transformation happen in the lives of people. We want to see people grow up and become completely mature – completely like Jesus Christ. Another word for this is sanctification, and sanctification always begins as God’s Spirit uses God’s truth to change the mind, heart, and will of His follower.
Jesus prayed to the father in John 17:17, “Use the truth to make them complete. Your Word is truth.” Transformation is change, and change happens as we apply God’s truth to every area of our lives. The first responsibility of Pastors and shepherds is to preach God’s truth, which transforms the lives of our hearers into the image of Jesus Christ.
One of the primary marks of spiritual immaturity is when other people can easily sway us away from the truth. Not knowing the truth of God’s Word causes us to change our beliefs back and forth, repeatedly, which creates an unstable life. Paul said in Ephesians 4:14-15 that when we are mature and know God’s truth, “Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or made a lie sound like the truth…”
As Pastors, teachers, and church leaders, it is our responsibility to instruct people in God’s truth and to set the example for what it looks like to apply God’s truth to every area of our lives. Solomon set the bar high in this area in Ecclesiastes 12:9-11, “In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.” (NASB)
When you present God’s truth to God’s people for the purpose of life transformation, two things will happen. First, they will be moved to act on what they’ve heard, to become doers and not just hearers. Solomon said the words of wise men are “like goads” that move the will of people to align with truth. And secondly, they are like “well-driven nails.” In other words, when God’s truth is presented well, it finds a permanent place in the minds of its hearers.
As we lead our congregations forward spiritually, I believe there are several imperatives that will result in truly transformed lives.
1. Present the good news of Jesus clearly and repeatedly. Jesus is the point, and the good news of His saving grace never gets old. We never go deeper than the gospel. We never move on past the truth of what it means to be saved.
2. Elevate God’s Word in the eyes of the congregation. One of the reasons I use so much Scripture in what I call verse-with-verse exposition is that it sends a message that Rick Warren isn’t the authority, the Bible, God’s Word is the authority.
3. Center every message on God, His character, and His truth. The points of your messages will always have more impact when they are about God and not about you or the hearer apart from God.
4. Call people to act on what they hear. Once truth saturates the mind and moves the emotions, it should result in actions of the will. This is why I use so many verbs in the points of my message. I don’t believe that behavior modification should ever replace the role of God’s grace in transforming us, but the evidence of real transformation will be behaviors that are modified by God’s truth.
People are living today under the tyranny of self-defeating behaviors, and those self-defeating behaviors are always based on lies, which must be confronted and challenged by God’s truth.
God’s truth is far more powerful than my opinion or yours. God’s Word teaches us the truth. It shows us the path to walk on. It shows us where we get off the path. It shows us how to get back on the path. And it shows us how to stay on the path. Always start with the truth of God’s Word if you want to see real transformation happen.

10 Practices Of Truly Classy Leaders

Baylor center and likely first-round selection Isaiah Austin’s dreams of professional basketball unexpectedly came to an end when he was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome. This life-threatening condition caused Austin to have an enlarged aorta and put him at risk of dying if he continued playing.
New Commissioner Adam Silver continued his stellar performance (see the Donald Sterling saga) by honoring Austin as he ceremonially drafted him into the NBA (see the emotional video above). This moving and unselfish act by Silver and the league is one of my favorite sports moments and teaches us 10 Practices Of Truly Classy Leaders:

Truly Classy Leaders Make Honoring Others A Top Priority – Pastors and church leaders should always honor people and glorify God. Commissioner Silver dedicated prime space in the NBA Draft’s first round to honor Austin.
Truly Classy Leaders Are Kind And Compassionate To Those In Need – Compassion is showing kindness to those who are hurting and in great need. The honoring of Austin showed the incredible kindness and compassion of Commissioner Silver.
Truly Classy Leaders Invite Others Into The Process – The Atlanta Hawks twitter account summed it up for everyone:

Truly Classy Leaders Help Others Succeed – It has now been reported the NBA has offered Austin a job in the league office when he completes his college education.
Truly Classy Leaders Find Their Success In The Success Of Others – The drafting of Austin, who will never score a point for the league, is an example of the NBA’s commitment to the success of its talent. It is also important to note the NFL is in constant litigation with its former players while the NBA is deeply committed to the success of both its former and current athletes.
Truly Classy Leaders Make The Dreams Of Others Come True – Austin called getting drafted “one of the greatest moments of my life.”
Truly Classy Leaders Are Extravagantly Generous – Generosity is giving while expecting or asking for nothing in return. Isaiah Austin could do nothing for Adam Silver but this did not matter.
Truly Classy Leaders Tell Other People’s Stories – Great leaders are storytellers. Stories move people to action. When the story of the 2014 NBA Draft is told, it will not begin with Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker. It will begin with the drafting of Isaiah Austin.
Truly Classy Leaders Develop A Loyal Following – You are merely a positional leader if no one is following you. There is a natural tension which exists between professional athletes and those in management. Silver has proven to be an effective bridge builder as evidenced by the tweets below.