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No Win Situations

October 25, 2011 in Management and Leadership, Uncategorized with 1 Comment

One of my favorite little mind exercises is to read about a tough situation and put myself into the leader’s situation.

What would I do in that situation?

Last week I was completely obsessed with the story out of Zainesville, Ohio. If you’ve been living in a cave..HERE’s a link.

Here’s the basic set-up.

You’re the Sheriff in a small town and a call comes across the radio that many exotic animals are running lose from a local piece of property you’ve been to before.

You know there are over 50 wild animals in that “zoo.” You know there are MANY Lions…MANY Tigers….Wolves….and Grizzly Bears.

You know…when you were on the property before that the animals were aggressive…

It’s getting to be dusk….

It’s raining…

The next call over the radio is asking permission to “Shoot to Kill.”

What do you do?

Ministry Impossible

September 22, 2011 in Management and Leadership with 4 Comments

A co-worker came to me the other day and said… “You’ve got to watch Restaurant Impossible!”

He then said…”You would love it! They basically take an overwhelmed and under performing restaurant and apply some of your systems…and the make it work again! And all in 60 minutes!”

So I watched it…and I loved it. So I watched a few more episodes.

A theme is really starting to emerge.

On the front end…when the restaurant isn’t running well and on the brink of going out of business.

There is usually a proud man in charge…with proud man disease.
They have a huge menu that is complicated and almost impossible to pull off.
They have no idea what their top sellers are or where the are making or losing money. They don’t measure and they don’t have systems in place for the daily normal stuff that goes down.
There is tension and backstabbing going on amongst the leadership and staff.

During the show, Robert takes them through pretty much the same processes.

How You REALLY Know How You’re Doing As A Leader

September 13, 2011 in Leading yourself, Management and Leadership, Serving and Leadership with 3 Comments

Have you ever been on a boat cruising a smooth lake. It’s awesome! One of my favorite things to do for sure.

I love sitting and looking out the back of the boat. You can see our trail weaving through the calm water. Waves emanating from each side of the boat…further and further out from their original position. There is no mistaking where we have been as we cruise through the calm water. You can see every turn, and, if you know what you’re looking at, you can also tell how fast or slow the boat was going at different points. You can tell a lot about the trip of the boat simply from it’s wake.

The same is true of us.

We can tell a ton about our journey as a leader by our wake.

Before you read on…stop and think about it.

Who is in your wake?

What would people say about you who are in your wake?

This is a concept that I was introduced to in the book Integrityby Henry Cloud. In it, Cloud says there are two sides of the wake.

Staying On Target – Part 3

August 30, 2011 in Management and Leadership with 0 Comments

If you are just not checking in…be sure to start back with Part 1. Click HERE.

I think it’s best to close with a few practical examples of how these help. Here are three common “great ideas” that a youth pastor faces and the logic I would use when deciding if this distracts us or keeps us on target.

We should have a student band!

This is one of my favorites. I love the idea of the kids getting to lead the music. BUT…before I say “yes” we need to run it through the filter.

1. Find great people and give them a healthy culture in which to grow and connect with students. – NO CHECK – This does nothing for helping us systematically find great small group leaders.

2. Create shared quality experiences built around Biblical truth for the students and the small group leaders. - NO CHECK – Again, this may provide quality experiences for the four or five kids, but that is between the kids and whoever is directing the band. Have you ever calculated how many hours it takes to direct a good student band? I personally believe it will eat up 10-20 hours a week.

3. Give parents access to #1 and #2. NO CHECK – If #1 and #2 aren’t satisfied…no way this one is.

Verdict: I won’t pursue a student band until my room is full of great small group leaders and my program is refined to giving students and small group leaders shared quality experiences around biblical truth while giving parents access to both. Until I’m doing that well and consistently, I won’t commit the time and resources to developing a student band.

We should have a sports program at our church!

Staying On Target – Part 2

August 25, 2011 in Management and Leadership with 1 Comment

Whatever you do…don’t continue reading until you have read Part 1 – Click HERE.

So, I hope that exercise brought some clarity. If you haven’t done it, I really wish you would stop reading and take some time to do it. There are few things more helpful than knowing this information and knowing it is what you truly believe.

As for me, this information drives my daily decisions. This is what helps me STAY ON TARGET.

The Three Most Redemptive (Therefore Effective) Things I Can Do For Middle Schoolers.

1. Find great people and give them a healthy culture in which to grow and connect with students.

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