Bible Teacher. Pastor.Educator.

Leading Blog: A Leadership Blog via www.leadershipnow.com

Lead. Anchor yourself in Humility. Leadership is an all-in proposition. Never react; instead ask yourself: is this about me or about we? If it’s the former, forget it and rise above.

Purpose. The why. Purpose must have a long shadow, extending its influence over others.

Strategy. Strategy starts with the results of today. Strategy, rooted in values and purpose, gives encouragement through times of ambiguity and uncertainty. Strategy without purpose and values is a short-term plan that is directed toward shallow goals.

People. When you.re the leader, it’s never about you, but it starts with you. The leader can’t be the star player, scoring all the points. (Although many try to do just that.) Set high expectations for your team members, and help them to see what they can achieve.

Measure. Don’t rely on what you believe to be true. Measure and monitor so you know if it’s true. Validate your data. Walk around. Talk to people. Listen. Look into their eyes and see for yourself whether the strategy is really working.

Empower. The leader’s job is not to empower people, but rather to help them to empower themselves. It’s the difference between ordering people to do something and inspiring them to see what they can do.

Reward. Employees work harder for leaders who demonstrate respect for their work. Authentic, purposeful praise is a power skill of the successful leader—everywhere.

Anticipate. As a leader, you must always have your focus on the horizon. Your first task is to hone your view of the present that you perceive around you and your organization. Grounded in this reality, you are able to raise your sights toward the horizon and beyond.

Navigate. Anticipation and navigation are complementary skills. It involves making decisions in real time that allow you to adjust, react, and outmaneuver the competition—always on the lookout for the unexpected.

Communicate. Communication is where leadership lives and breathes. That means more listening than talking. It’s not merely telling people what you think and what you know. It is a process in which you seek first to understand what others think.

Listen. Listen, learn, and then lead—in that order.

Learn. Knowledge is what you know. Wisdom is acknowledging what you don’t know. Surround yourself with a handful of people who will be your corrective lens, making sure that you focus and learn. Equally important, your inner circle should be made up of confidants who provide grounding and perspective, seeing you as a person rather than a function.

 

via www.leadershipnow.com

Lee Cockerell on 3 Steps to Running Disney - churchrelevance.com | churchrelevance.com

At Seeds Conference 2012,  Lee Cockerell, the former VP of Operations for Walt Disney World Resort, discussed the 3 areas he focused on when running a Disney resort.

If you just keep things clean and friendly, everything will be fine.
- Walt Disney

Don’t get bored with the basics in life.

(1) Hire Great People

One of the most important things you can do is hire the right people. Hire great people. The difference between good people and great people is really big.

If you want to know what communication is, it is clarity. “Here is what we expect.”

At Disney, fantasy is reality, and reality is fantastic.
At your church, make reality fantastic. Make the parking lots work. Make the bathrooms clean. Make things work.

(2) Train Your People

Education is the key that opens the door. If you train people, then you can take a nap.

(3) Be a Leader

Be a good role model. Encourage people.

If you get the right culture, everything seems to work out fine. The leader is responsible for the culture.

Areas of Leadership Competency

1. Be technically competent. If you are in ministry, know the Bible.
2. Have management competence. Be a planner. Think about the responsibilities you signed up for. Don’t forget personal development and personal health.
3. Create excitement. Be the type of leader where your team is excited to get to work.

If you have a performance problem with someone on your team, fix them once and not every week.

What Team Members Want

1. Make me feel special.
2. Treat me as an individual.
3. Respect me.
4. Train and develop me.

Don’t ever underestimate the influence you have over people. Care about being the right kind of person.

Don’t believe half the stuff you think. Half of it isn’t even true.

Diversity is not a problem for young people. They are already practicing diversity. You are the problem.

If you appreciate your people, tell them.

via churchrelevance.com

How to Quickly Overcome Inexperience « Leadership Freak

10 dangers of inexperienced leaders:

1. Needing to be liked.
2. Blaming.
3. Emotional decisions.
4. Impulsiveness.
5. Trying too hard.
6. Neglecting the long term.
7. Focusing on symptoms rather than causes.
8. Aiming without pulling the trigger.
9. Meddling.
10. Forget to say thank you. (Speaking of thanks, many of these points were inspired by contributors on the Leadership Freak Facebook Page. Thank you!)

10 questions every inexperienced leader must keep asking:

1. What type of world are my behaviors building around me?
2. How many questions did I ask today?
3. What am I learning?
4. Am I acting or reacting?
5. When was the last time I spent an hour in self-reflection?
6. What’s the most fun?
7. Am I soliciting input from experienced leaders and staff?
8. Do I welcome ideas from everyone?
9. How are we leveraging everyone’s strengths?
10. Who do I feel threatened by? Why?

12 powerful suggestions for inexperienced leaders:

1. You matter in ways you can’t imagine. Watch your tone, body language, and attitude, everyone else is.
2. Be optimistic about the future and realistic about the present. Optimism frustrates others if you don’t acknowledge present realities and problems, first.
3. Challenges aren’t your biggest opportunity, people are.
4. Be tender when you’re being tough.
5. Remove manipulators and backstabbers. They may quickly deliver results but everyone around them slows down.
6. Courageously ask dumb questions. (From the Chief Security Officer of Microsoft)
7. Protect your team from political fallout and organizational interference.
8. Believe your perspective matters. Listen to yourself as well as others.
9. Avoid extreme reactions.
10. Recruit mentors, advisors, and, coaches. Get support.
11. Take responsibility.
12. Make the best interests of your organization and others your priority, always.

Bonus: Stick with it. The reason it’s called experience is it takes time.

**********

What can you add to these lists?

What can you modify or amplify?

via leadershipfreak.wordpress.com

7 Things I Learned from a Poor Management Experience | Ron Edmondson

Here are 7 things I learned from a poor management experience:

• Never send an email (today’s memo) to correct an action.
• Never over-react to a minor issue.
• Never make a policy to correct a single error.
• Never single someone out publicly who hasn’t been talked to privately.
• Never punish everyone for the mistake of one.
• Never act like it’s not a big deal if you think it’s a big deal.
• Never be so weak as a leader that you fail to address the real issue, or the real problem, even if the real problem is a person.

I am certain I have repeated each of these myself at times, but the experience truly did shape my leadership and management practices. The best thing this experience did for me was give me a principle I have used and often shared with other leaders:

If you need to slap a hand, bring a ruler and show up in person.

via www.ronedmondson.com

3. Amazing Quotes from a book am reading.....

1. ‎"Leaders usually have the role of capturing and communicating vision. They must see it first and then help everyone else to see it. That was what Winston Churchill did when he spoke to the coal miners during the war. That was what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did as he spoke to people about his dreams from the steps of the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D.C. That was what GE CEO Jack Welch did when he let his poeple know that a division of GE that couldn't be first or second in its market wouldn't be a part of GE. The people on a team will sacrifice and work together only if they can see what they' re working toward"-( The 17 Indisputable laws of team work by John Maxwell.....reading this book right now.......The Law of the Picture... Pg 21.....Share what's interesting to you)
2. Leaders at the highest level understand the law of the big picture. They continually keep the vision of the big picuture before themselves and their people.
3. There is nothing like cancer to keep you focused on what is important.

God make me a servant on your team!!!!!