Are you a Good Leader or a Great Leader??

There are many characteristics of a good leader, but here are a few that I have observed that are indispensable... whether you're leading your family, a team, an organization large or small great leaders posses these traits:

Courage

True leadership is having the courage to go where others will not or have not gone or will not go. It's not the absence of fear but the determination that there is something greater. True leaders demonstrate courage in their families, in conflict, and in taking new ground.

Initiative

Vision without action is just a dream. Leaders take initiative to get things moving around them. True leaders, no matter what level they are in their organization or what they are leading, are self-starters - they are always looking for the next action needed. Without initiative everyone would wait on everyone else to make a move - leaders make that move.

Decisiveness

Leaders make decisions. That may sound simple but one of the characteristics of a leader is that they will make the call. Without decisiveness from the leader everyone makes their own assumptions, their won plans, and their own agenda - all of which may be far from the vision of the leader. It is not enough to have goals and vision - someone has to decide how it will get done. Great family leaders are decisive, great athletic leaders are decisive, and leaders of great organizations know the power of decisiveness.

Optimism

Great leaders are positive people. Great leaders posses a "can-do" attitude and avoid pessimistic ways of looking at their situation. They give a part of who they are in this area to those who they are leading.

Integrity
It is a leaders "walk" that either discredits their "talk" or validates it. A leader's words mean nothing without a strong testimony to back them up. Leadership is always more about who we are than what we do. You can lead without Character, but Character is what makes you a leader worth following. Do those who follow you see you as a person of Character?

For each one of these ask...

Why is this an indispensible trait for a leder to have?

What happens when the trait is missing?

One a scale of 1-10, how would you rate yourself relative to this character trait? (1 - i need to work on this, 10 - I excel at this)

Wherever You Are…Be Fully There

[ Here is a great commentary on cell phones and us on http://www.leadingsmart.com/ - I completely agree; I have alot of personal work to do in this area so i can value those I'm with more and more ]

Teens get a lot of grief about how much time they spend on their phones. I hear adults say, “They never put their phones down!” or “He is texting non-stop!” or “I bet she couldn’t live a day without her phone.” But in truth, teens do what teens see. And I see adults every day who belittle others because of bad phone habits.

One day last year I got up before daylight, and spent hours traveling by plane to go across the country for the sole purpose of a one-hour meeting with some leaders for whom I have huge respect. During the meeting, there were several occasions when each of those leaders picked up their phone to read or type. At the same time, they glanced up at me on occasion as I was talking, said “uh huh,” then continued to “thumble” with their phone. I’m not a touchy-feely type of guy, but on that day I felt devalued. I walked away from that meeting purposed in my heart to never do that to anyone.

Here are a few habits I appreciate in others and try to put to practice…

• When you start a meeting, turn your ringer off and move it away from you. If the screen comes to life when you get a text–then put the phone upside down so you won’t see it. If it is likely to vibrate, then put it somewhere it can’t be felt or heard.
  


• If your phone does vibrate during the meeting and your guest says, “Go ahead and take that if you need to” — reach down and silence it without even looking. This communicates to your guest that they are very valuable to you.
  


• Don’t buy into the “what if there is an emergency?” line. Rarely does that happen. It’s not a good excuse for having to look at your phone multiple times through every meeting.
  


• If you know you will need to be reached during the meeting, let your guest know, “My wife is at the doctors office and may need to reach me, so I apologize in advance that I’ll be taking her call when it comes.” That tells your guest this is an exception–you wouldn’t normally do this.
  


• If you are in a meeting with multiple people–follow the same rules. Don’t convince yourself that your participation isn’t needed right now so you can disengage and respond to texts or play your next turn in Words With Friends.We fool ourselves into thinking we can multitask, or that our disengagement won’t be noticed for a few minutes. Not true.

I’m not saying phones are evil or every time you use your phone you are devaluing others. I’m a heavy smart-phone user. Your phone doesn’t need to be out of sight every time you interact with another human. There are times when I’m sitting around with 5 or 6 friends or family members and every one of us has a phone out. That’s part of the 21st century. I think it can actually enhance the conversation and social interaction. But there are times when you have limited interaction with others when you should be ALL there.

It’s about valuing people. And sometimes that means we are looking in their eyes and being fully engaged so we can really listen to their story and hear their heart.

Think about it.

- Tim Stevens

How to work with a team (Part 1)

A compilation of great individuals does not automatically create a great team. It takes wisdom and effort to mold the group into an organism in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Here are some suggestions on how to do that with your team...

1. Spend TIME as a team, both on the job and socially.

If your team is to function as a team and not just a group of individuals you need to spend time together. EMails and conference calls may be adequate to handle your tactical issues at work but for a spirit of a corps to develop you need face to face time. A regularly planned staff retreat will help meet this need. (I try to take my team away or 2 days every quarter or so for some "non-work" days. (ranch days, beach retreats, lake days or just a day of fun around town goes a long way) Spend time socially together, lunches, travel as a team. Don't bring someone on your team you wouldn't enjoy hanging out with over lunch!

2. Spend time with INDIVIDUAL team members.

Pursue developing a personal relationship with each of your team members. Show genuine concern for their personal well-being and not just how they function organizationally. The Gallup organization found that no single factor more clearly predicts the productivity of a team-member than his relationship with his direct supervisor. They found people are most productive when they feel their supervisor cares for them, praises then regularly, and encourages their own growth. Get to know the people on your team!

3. Encourage real COMMUNICATION and honest dialogue among team members.

Real communication occurs in a group where everyone is encouraged and allowed to give their unfiltered input on a particular issue. It is based on the truth that any idea or thought will be improved up on when submitted to the wisdom of others. Create an environment among your team that is like a great movie - it contains conflict! Create an environment where there is freedom to disagree and discuss controversial issues. The best team look like battlegrounds behind closed doors and unite outside closed doors.

4. Encourage EXCHANGE

It's been said that, "we can learn a lot about a person by observing his library and his friends." We are all influenced by others. Encourage your team to "rub off on each other." Goof people get better when they're around other good people, so the time your team spends together will enhance each person.

5. Make sure your team is benefiting from SYNERGY.

If one ox can pull a 4,500lb load, how much can two oxen yoked together pull? 9000 lbs? No, because of the synergy that is developed through the two pulling together they are able to tow 12, 000 lbs! That's the power of synergy! Synergy is the energy that is generated through the working together of various parts of processes. Stephen Covey describes compromise as 1 +1 = 1.5 and synergy as 1+1 = 3. A team taps into the power of synergy.

What are you doing to intentionally develop your team?

What team are you a part of? How are your contributing to the team's growth?

adapted from Next Worldwide: Catalyst Leadership Experience

How to create a team (part 2)

Great Teams don't just happen - here is Part 2 on tips of how to create a Great Team...

5. Avoid the law of dimishing LEADERSHIP (Russian Doll Syndrome)

Surround yourself with people who are bigger than you are

• This suggestion is not for the insecure or paranoid. It takes a lot of emotional fortitude and self-confidence to recruit and empower people who are smarter, more competent, more edgy, and more connected than you are. But if you don/t, you and your organization will fall prey to the Matryoshka Doll Syndrome.
• A favorite among the Russian children, the Matryoshka Doll is a series o wooden dolls that get progressively smaller and smaller. open up the largest doll ans you'l find smaller, identical doll inside. Open up that doll and there is a smaller one yet. Some dolls ahve as many as 15 dolls inside.

6. Choose HEALTHY, competent team members.

Here are some characteristics of Healthy Competent team members...

• Emotional Health - it's importnat that you choose team members who are emotionally healthy. Just one emotionally unhealthy team member can poison the entire atmosphere of your team. Signs of emotional unhealth include uncontrolled temper, critical spirit, mood swings, unwillingness to admit wrong dong, controlling behaviors, territorialism, overly sensitive to criticism and correction ( thin-skinned), unable to accept correction, and others.
• Good People Skills - This topic is one of the soft skills a team member needs to have - it's non-negotiable. Choose people who are friendly, empathetic, good listeners, unselfish, encouraging of others, respectful, and accepting of others.
• Positive attitude - Choose people who have a "can-do" attitude and who are optimistic. Negative pessimistic people will be an emotional drain on the whole team.
• Good Character - Don't choose anyone who engages in unethical, immoral or illegal bhaviors. Also, choose individuals who demonstrate key character traits that are indispensible for leaders such as courage, initiative, decisiveness and optimism.
• Passion - Ideally your team members will have passion for whatever it is that you are asking them to do. IF you're asking them to serve on the Men's Ministry Team, they'll be passionate about men's ministry. But beyond that, recruit people who live passionately regardless of their situation or assignment. Choose people who are fully alive bc they will bring that energy to work with them regardless if the tak is appealing to them.
• Team Player - if your team is truly to function as a team and not just as a group of individuals you must recruit team players. Soloist are not welcome here! Recruit individuals who are willing to submit to the group, who have a desire to serve and prefer others, who relish team achievement more than individual accolades. Recruit people who "play well in the sandbox with others."
• Evident Gift - Peter Drucker advises, " When you look at a potential leader and don't see even one great strength, don't choose him - even if you see no great weakness." Often, we screen optential condidates by looking for flaws, and if we spot one, that person is eliminated, but this approach may result in a mediocre team, You must recruit leaders who are strong in at least one area; everyone should have an evident gift. Choose team memebres who "bring something to the table."
• Competence (skils) - Thie final trait to look for when choosing team members / leaders is technical competence. IF you're recruiting an organist to serve on the music ministry team, he needs to be a good organist. If you're recruiting someone for your communications team and her job is to develop the web site, choose someon who has the tech skills for the job. But notice that I've placed skills at the end of the list to consider...Oftern it's the first and only thin we look for, but it should be one of many.

7. Build a DIVERSE team.

• We are all prone to chooose people who are similar to us, but a team will be stronger if it is diverse. Pursue diversity of age, gifts, personality, gender, and background; look for unamity in values, beliefs and culture.
• ALL KEY POSITIONS FILLED - When building a team stay with it until all key positions are filled. When he was a manager with the Chicago Cubs Charlie Grimm reported recieving a phone call from one of his scouts. "Charlie I've landed the greatest young pitcher in the land! he struck out every mand who came to bat. Twenty-seven in a row! nobody even hit a foul until the ninth ining. The pitcher is righ with me. What should I do?" Charlie replied, "Sign up the guy who go the foul. We're looking for hitters!"

8. Consider CULTURE issues when choosing team members.

• Every organization has its own unique culture - the sum of its values, beliefs, and norms of behavior. Culture truns deep; its like the current of a wide and deep river - it may be unseen but it is a powerful force and difficult to change. It's not quite as fundamental as DNA but it is very primal. Pick people who match your culture.

Building a team isn't east or simple - but if you vision is grand enough or important enought then second to your vision is the people you pick to assist you in accomplishing it! Go Team!

How to create a team (Part 1)

IF YOU HAVE A VISION YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH ON YOUR OWN, YOUR VISION IS NOT BIG ENOUGH.

Here are some suggestions on how to build a great team.

1. Select team members, don't just RECRUIT Volunteers.

• It's usually best to select team members as opposed to letting individuals volunteer for your team. This is particularly applicable to non-profit organizations that depend a lot on volunteers (our churches).


• Building an effective team is too important to leave to chance and to other people's whims. Often, people have scant insight into whether or not they are right for particular job and they make hasty decisions based on dubious motivations ("I feel guilty that no one else is volunteering for this need.") When Jesus Began his earthly ministry, he hand-picked twelve men; he didn't ask for volunteers.
  

2. A Leader should be intricately INVOLVED in compiling his/her team

• A leader should have the authority and responsibility to choose her team members. Sometimes a leader inherits a team; in which case, she has to start with what she's been given. But whenever possible, the leader should have significant input in to the process. So when choosing team members, ask others to help you; submit these decisions to the wisdom of others.

3. Carefully SELECT your team members.

• There's an old adage handed down from the garment industry: Measure twice, cut once. Before a seamstress cuts an expensive bolt of cloth he measures multiple times because one the cut is made it cannot be changed.


• Southwest Airlines takes great care in hiring its employees; their 33.000 employees are hand-picked in a screening process that is statistically more rigorous that getting into an Ivy League School. Prospective pilots have been known to disqualify themselves by being curt to receptionists before interviews. Hiring managers sometimes pose as applicants to get unfiltered impressions of job candidates in the waiting room.

Here is what some leading authorities say about the importance of carefully choosing team members.

• "How you select people is more important than how you manage them once they're on the job. if you start with the right people, you won't have problems later on. If you hire the wrong people, for whatever reason, you're in serious trouble and all revolutionary management techniques in the world won't bail you out." -Red Auerbach, longtime Boston Celtics President


• " A Leader's most important decision fall in to two categories: big bets on people and big bets on strategy. The people decisions are arguably more important because they heavily influence the strategy decisions." - David Nadler, Harvard Business Review


• "Given the many things that businesses cant control (the economy, competitors) you'd think that they would pay more careful attention to the one thing they can control - the quality of people, especially those in the leadership pool."

4. Choose LEADERS (or potential leaders)

• If you want your organization to just function smoothly, choose followers for your team. But if you want your organization to grow and be robust, recruit leaders.


• Every organization is restricted by its leadership quotient (the number of leaders in your organization and how competent they are). The higher your leadership quotient, the more your organization will grow and be healthy. So always try to choose leaders to serve on your team, not just followers, and if a team member is lacking in leadership capabilities, train him.
  

more on how to create a team on Part 2...

Men who lack adult supervision

This is funny stuff - just wanted to share....

Yesterday Craig Reynolds shared a powerful message for fathers & husbands (and future fathers & husbands) entitled "Dads of the Greatest Generation." I hope to share it when it comes out on www.second.org, but until then be entertained by the following:

Do you REALLY believe in Me?

One of the most persistent questions looming in young minds: "What do THEY think of me?"

As a Dad and as a Student Pastor I'm convinced that the young people in my sphere of influence need to hear that I authentically believe in them, that I have confidence in their ability to lead a life of significance here and now for Christ. Today our adult Student Ministry Leadership Team gathered together and we challenged each other as to the messages we are sending out to those students we minister to and those kids in our home who God has placed in our trust. Here are some bullet-point notes from today.

We successfully convey the message "I believe in you" when we practice 2 approaches:

What happened: NOTICE and NAME specific Character Traits

STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN

What could happen: Encourage STRENGTHS rather than constantly correcting WEAKNESSES

THE BIG QUESTION: Are my students / kids CONVINCED that I truly believe in them?

A students (your kids) will more likely trust that God believes in him/ her when he/she feels confident in your belief first.

Even God the Father felt that this message was valid enough to communicate to His Son in the presence of all that were there on the day of His baptism we as have it recorded that God spoke audibly saying, "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased" Matthew 3:17

• What conclusion do you think your students / children would draw when they ask "What do THEY think of me?"
  
• What overall message does your ministry send to students?
  
• How do you/ your leaders / your family practically convey this message?
  
• How does our confidence in kids mirror the confidence God Himself has in them?
  
• Are those under your care convinced that you genuinely believe in them?

topic and selected passages from David Stall's Words Kids Need to Hear

Campus Ministry...a must!

Tomorrow morning I will get up and head over to Kingwood high School for their 1st FCA meeting of the School-year! I just love to make myself available on school campuses - this will be my 2nd FCA mtg this week! To reach out to students where they are, as they are for Christ you MUST be on school campuses. My mantra is I don't care if you are never in the office as long as you are always on a school campus! Lunches, club meetings, football practices, meeting teachers, serving administrators - the opportunities are endless. As busy as students are we can't alway expect that they will flock to us, to our churches, or to Christ. We should be in the business of complementing their scheduldes not competing with them.

in 2 weeks we will host a HUGE OUTREACH EVENT in conjunctin with local FCA groups. The event is being called FALL RIOT 2010 as we include local drum lines, dance teams, football players and more into a service by teens, for teens, to reach teens for Jesus Christ himself.

What are you doing on school campuses?
How are you complementing instead of competing?
How are you partnering with already established groups to connect with students?

Fall Riot - SEPT 22

Invite all your friends, classmates, teammates, everyone you know to the largest community-wide event this fall that's designed to show off your school ! Fall Riot is for ANY student in the NE Houston area, so everyone is invited!! Fall Riot will include dance crews, drum lines, highlights from all the local High Schools, FREE Chick-fil-A, an illusionist, and yes, we're giving away an iPad! Don't miss the biggest thing happening in the Kingwood area this fall!

Be There.