the reluctant leader

Are We There Yet?

2009-11-12T20:53:12+08:00

I've heard this quote a lot lately: “What got you here will not get you there.” It's the title of a book by Marshall Goldsmith. I read the cover, but not the book.

If what got us here will not get us there, then we need to ask and answer the following 5 questions:

1. Where is here?

2. What got us here?

3. Is here a good place?

4. Where is there?

5. What will get us there?

Had a lively discussion with some Victory-Manila pastors this morning, answering these 5 questions. Time well spent. Try it with your team.

Because of today's honest “round table” discussion, I think we will get there, together. And, we kinds figured out where there is.

What are your answers to the 5?

Ministry: It's Not Supposed to be so Complicated

2009-11-11T20:15:25+08:00

Ministry can be complicated. But it's not supposed to be.

So many books, podcasts, blogs, tweets, seminars and conferences telling us what we should be doing to grow our church, change the world, serve the community, win the lost… Complicated.

I specialize in making things simple. Here’s a simple and biblical job description for a pastor (church leader):

1. Equip all members to do ministry

2. Live a live that’s a godly example

3. Lead with the attitude of a servant

4. Feed the sheep (ie: teach the Word)

That’s it. Live. Lead. Feed. Equip. As I said before, Leadership is not rocket science.

How are you doing with these 4? Are you, like many leaders, spending way too much time doing everything but these?

Clarification for my OCD Readers

2009-11-10T14:41:57+08:00

It seems my last blog - "Leadership is Not Rocket Science" - was not clear. In it I mentioned Paul Barker's "5 Foundations of Productive Teams" seminar (which I called a faith-man's version of Patrick Lencioni's "5 Dysfunctions of a Team" book) Then I listed the results of a Gallup poll describing the top 4 characteristics of the kind of leaders they want to follow.

According to Gallup, people want to follow leaders who...

1. Build Trust

2. Show Compassion

3. Provide Stability

4. Create Hope

5 Dysfunctions. 4 leadership qualities. Ah, there lies the confusion. Some of you thought I meant to list the 5 dysfunctions, and left one off, when actually I was listing the 4 qualities of good leadership.

So, for those who need to see the list of 5, here they are, "The 5 Foundations of Productive Teams"

1. TRUST - Team building starts with trust.

2. CONFLICT - Trust produces an atmosphere where people can voice disagreement, thus creating positive conflict.

3. COMMITMENT - Deeper commitment is the result of trust-based conflict.

4 ACCOUNTABILITY - Next to nothing gets done without accountability.

5. RESULTS - This is the bottom line, isn't it?

I hope that helps all my OCD readers who have been losing sleep over point #5 not being in my last blog. What do you think?

Leadership is Not Rocket Science

2009-11-09T12:17:01+08:00

My friend, Paul Barker is in Manila for a couple of weeks working with our pastors and key admin leaders.

Yesterday Paul led a seminar he calls “The 5 Foundations of Productive Teams.” That’s a faith-man’s version of Patrick Lencioni’s “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team.”

I think I like the faith version better than the dysfunctional version, because if we talk about all of our team dysfunctions, it is impossible to put them in only 5 categories.

Paul sited a Gallup poll of 10,000 followers about the kind of leader they want to follow. Here are the results, people want to follow leaders who…

1. Build Trust – it is easy to follow people we trust, difficult to follow those we don't trust

2. Show Compassion – after all, we are leading PEOPLE, not just organizations and departments

3. Provide Stability – random, unplanned and poorly communicated change makes organizations unstable

4. Create Hope – no matter how difficult current reality is, hope enables us to stay in the game

Leadership is not rocket science. If a leader simply does these 4 things, plenty of people will follow.
What do you think?

Too Busy to Blog

2009-11-06T14:40:15+08:00

Someone recently asked me why I stopped blogging. I didn’t actually stop, just been too busy – traveling too much. I’ve been home (Manila) four days out of the past five weeks. I love traveling, but I really love being home.

Here’s where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing:

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia – ministered at City Church, a multi-generational, multi-ethnic, multi-campus church led by Wayne Alcorn

Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia – taught 800 ACC pastors on discipleship at the Australian Christian Churches Queensland leadership conference

Sydney, Australia – regional leadership summit with our Every Nation pastors from Australia and New Zealand and ministered at the 10th anniversary of Every Nation Sydney

Singapore – Every Nation Asian Pastors Equipping Conference (APEC) with 180 Every Nation pastors, missionaries and church planters from 25 nations

Manila, Philippines – three days in Manila to unpack and re-pack

(retreat center near) Innsbruck, Austria – European Pastors Equipping Gathering (EPEG) with 40 Every Nation pastors, church planters and missionaries serving in Europe

Innsbruck, Austria – Cross Culture Conference with representatives from Every Nation churches in Poland, Latvia, Ukraine, Sweden, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, England, Spain, Austria and Switzerland

Normandy, France – a week off with William as our tour guide (pix on fb)

And now we are back in Manila, and back online, blogging again, with some substance coming tomorrow…

NOTE: the personal photos, notes & anecdotes that have vanished from this blog site, can now be found on facebook and twitter.