Manager-Tools.Com

Once every three months I go to D.C. and spend an evening with like-minded managers.  Yes, I know this is a blog on leadership, but excellent transformational leadership includes a good bit of management acumen.  That's something I'm lacking in.  When I discovered that (by reading a book on transformational leadership), I started looking through the web and came across www.manager-tools.com.  It has been a treasure trove of ideas and strategies in the management arena. 

Well, there is an online community of us who listen to the podcasts by Mike & Mark and email and post and discuss the ideas they bring up.  This online community numbers over 30,000 people.  I have developed a great relationship with Noel Tan who is a leadership consultant in Singapore.  When I was there in November we got together for lunch.  There are also meet-ups all around the world.  The Baltimore/D.C. Meet-up happens about every three months.  Last night was our meet-up.  We met at McCormick's and Schmidt's in a back corner.  It was a fast 2.5 hour time together.  We talked about management challenges we have, the best tools from Manager-Tools.com we have discovered and used recently.  We literally come from all kinds of businesses and enterprises.  The great thing about our meet-up is Mike of Manager-Tools usually joins us.  So a lot of the time is spent picking his brain about ideas and strategies.

If you don't have a non-church outlet for the leadership and management ideas and concerns you have, I strongly encourage you to think about joining a group like this.  In fact we have become a small group of sorts.  One participant just had a baby boy and we brought gifts for his son last night.  It was great!  

The meet-up also gives you access to individuals who see the issues you are facing through fresh eyes.  I got help on several things I'm facing in ministry.  It was managers from government and industry that were giving me tips.  It was great.

So anyway that's this leaders view today.  Hope you all are viewing your leadership roles through fresh perspectives also.

Blessings,

Dave

Blog Addiction:

Okay I have a confession to make.  I am addicted to leadership blogs.  On my blog reader I probably have 15 of them.  And then there are those that come to my mailbox.  I use them as "leadership lessons" in our weekly staff meetings.  They have generated quite a bit of good discussion in the past two months.  

However, to justify my addiction to leadership blogs I have two benefits that come from reading them so frequently.

• I am learning a lot about leadership in the local church:  I read the blogs of men and women that are recognized leaders in the local church.  I learn new things everyday.  I can look back and see some things I have done recently as a result of reading some one's blog.  I also -- and this may sound a bit strange -- that this leadership and large church thing is really a Holy Spirit phenomena.  I read some of the blogs and think, boy this guy could use some help.  But then I go to his church website and realize I'm the one who needs help.
• I am learning we're not that far off the mark -- if at all:  Many of the things I read we are already doing or are planning to do.  It's a confirmation that we are going in the right direction.  The other thing that the Holy Spirit has placed on my heart is there it the general mark that everyone seems to blog about.  You know certain things that need to be done for a growing church to flourish, and things not to do.  Well I look at the LifePoint mark and realize that there are some things we don't have to worry about, or do, because we are headed in a unique, Holy Spirit guided direction to reach our corner of the world.  And that is reassuring.  

So although I am addicted to these things called blogs.  I'm realizing by reading them, there are making me a better, more confident leader.

Blessings,

Dave

A Follower's View:

During our Community Group meeting last Sunday evening it became evident to me that many of our people didn't think they were making a difference in our church.  We are studying Nehmiah and many of them would love to have that kind of impact, but just don't see it happening in their ministries.

I shared with them how large we were as a church, how many lives are being changed and the number of people that are being affected through our ministry.  I went around the room and shared with each of them how their contribution helped us be the church we are and want to become.

It was like you could see a visible change in their affect and posture.  It was as if I had shared the best news of the day with them.  One person even mentioned a leadership team she attends for her ministry, even wondering why she is included.  After my words, she could see how her "little" contribution was a part of what was making us great!

One of the pinions of Transformational Leadership is giving your followers a reason for why their jobs [ministries in our case] contribute to the whole.  Obviously we hadn't done a great job with those sitting in my living room last Sunday evening.  

So as Transformational Leaders what are we to do?  Well the most obvious is give those that are following you a better view.  Find out what a follower's view is like in your organization.  Work at making their view the most exciting, important one you can.  And then see what happens in their role in the organization.

Blessings,

Dave

Team Is Paramount:

In staff meeting on Thursday we were discussing what our next Thematic Goal should be for LifePoint Church.  There were seven of us in the room.  The discussion ranged far and wide, but when we were done, I think many of us were surprised at where we ended up.  And... I think it was because we were working together and there was more than one of us.  Here are a list of things I think happen when a team works on a project together.  These are in no particular order.

• People have time to think while others are speaking: Those that spoke were expanding what others had observed after a time of silence.  One "breakthrough" was how we plan our work and then in turn plan our year.  From an outsider looking in that may have been an easy one, but it was an eureka for us. It came after a time of silence one of our team members was experiencing.  She was thinking about a comment made several minutes earlier and was working it over in her mind.  When it came out it was an eureka for us all. 
• At best when we work alone our ideas are half finished: Even the best of us can take an idea only so far.  After that we need help with implications, action steps and resources for the idea.  I have found myself meeting with someone over lunch talking about a great idea.  We get just so far with it and I'll say, "We need to get four or five people in a room and flesh this thing out and make it work."  Working together makes those germs of ideas realities.
• We all need affirmation: When we share ideas I have found that 90% of the time people at least think the idea is worth considering.  You see heads nodding in agreement and smiles on faces.  It really does something for you to see the responses of your colleagues.
• You can't carry it through to conclusion alone:  When we came to some conclusions in our meeting it was obvious that everyone around the room needed to help.  No one was going to be left out.  That's a lot better and efficient than coming up with an idea and then having to sell your team/colleagues on the idea.

Okay, so those are three reasons why I think working together on a team is better than working alone.  I'm sure there are more.  As I think of them, I'll post them here.

Thanks for reading ...  What do you think?

Blessings,

Dave

Hay Hook Leadership:

Hey, this is a first post for this blog. I have been thinking about Hay Hook Leadership for some time now. You know what that is don't you? Well I grew up on a farm. I learned how to stack a wagon that didn't have sides seven or eight tiers high with hay bales. They were about forty to fifty pounds a piece I think. Well if you didn't load the wagon just right, the load became quite unstable. When we would get to the end of a row and turn around you would have to sink your hay hooks into a portion of the load and lean hard so that the stack of bales wouldn't end up on the ground.

I've thought about organizational leadership in the same way many times. The stresses and strains of change make it hard sometimes for the center to hold. Some times all us leaders can do is sink our hooks into that portion of the organization that looks like it's going to fall and lean in the opposite direction. It's called Hay Hook Leadership. It can be very effective in keeping the organization together.

So that's my leader's view!

Blessings,

Dave

Purpose for this Blog:

I have decided to start journelling my ideas, learnings, thoughts about leadershiop. So, I thought I'd start a Blog to do that. I'll add more later.