Something is Out of Whack

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Why don’t we really take care of our people?

Yesterday, I posted a Ken Blanchard video about the leadership approach at Southwest Airlines.  They are tremendously successful in an industry that is notorious for poor performance  – one key aspect is their deep care for their employees.  Jim Collins in his his book Good to Great talks about the importance of your people and how the great companies truly care for their staff.  Monday night, I talked with my class about a book by a CEO of a $2.5 billion company with 55,000 employees worldwide whose motto is “employees first, customers second” and has seen remarkable growth with that approach.  Story after story of the truly great organizations center around the care of the people that make up that organization.

Yet, it is sad to say, that in many of our churches and ministries, there is significantly less care and love for the staff than there is in these “secular” for-profit companies.  Why is it sometimes safer to be an employee of a large corporation where they do a better job of caring for their people than it is to serve at your local church or ministry? It seems a college football coach has greater job security than the senior pastor of a local church.

Sometimes it appears that the forward thinking organizations have adopted Biblical models of leadership and thriving while so many churches and ministries are mired in the some of the old discredited “business thinking” models of past decades.  Does that seem a little out of whack to you?

Somehow, we need to recapture the biblical model of leadership and care for our staffs within churches and ministries and once again begin setting the standard for how the rest of the world needs to lead and care for their employees.

Just a thought.

BG

Are They Worth It? Yes

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He is 50 years old and has spent 22 and a half years of his life in prison.
She used to be a high school teacher but has only been out of prison about 18 months.

I have the privilege of teaching a nonprofit management course as an adjunct professor in the MBA program at Bethel College in Mishawaka, IN and the two people I mentioned above were guest speakers for my class last night.

He was an angry man with addictions that was dangerous to himself and others. Less than ten years ago, he returned to this area homeless and destitute. He is now a follower of Christ, married, father of a young son with another child on the way, working on his MBA, rising in leadership responsibilities at the large nonprofit where he works and he serves on several boards of organizations in the community.  He said that he used to destroy communities but he is now in the business of rebuilding them. His countenance seems to shine with joy and purpose.  I don’t know her story except that it possibly has to do with drugs, but she too has a countenance of someone who is grateful and enjoys serving others.  She is now using her teaching skills to help those in need.

Two transformed people who are now making a difference in the lives of others – being instruments of transformation in the lives of others.  All because of the transforming love of Jesus Christ and His people.  People who looked past the label “felon” and saw broken human beings who needed and wanted help.  People, who because of the love of Christ, took a chance on ex-felons and invested in their lives and gave them a hand up. People who looked on broken people with the love and compassion of Christ and allowed themselves to be instruments of restoration in the lives of others.

The impact of the transformation of these two people will be incredible as they touch the lives of others.  When you look at people do you see labels (felon, criminal, troublemaker, drifter, vagabond, busybody, stuck up, and so on) or do you see broken human beings desperately in need of compassion shown in the love of Jesus Christ and His people?

Take a chance and give someone a “hand up”. Be part of the transforming of a human life.  Make a difference.

BG

BE – The First Word in Leadership

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The first thing I want to do today is thank the Lord for the protection of my daughters. They were driving Saturday and hit a patch of ice and began sliding with no control of the car. They stopped one foot from a traffic sign that was just a couple of feet from a steep drop-off of about 20 feet or more. So glad they are safe!

The most important aspect of leadership is not what you know, not your skill set, or who you know. The most important aspect of leadership is WHO you are. In the Army’s leadership model, it is the BE of , BE-KNOW-DO.

In the book, BE-KNOW-DO, Leadership the Army Way, the author quotes General of the Army George C. Marshall speaking to officer candidates on the eve of World War II. “When you are commanding, leading [soldiers] under conditions where physical exhaustion and privations must be ignored, where the lives of [soldiers] may be sacrificed, then the efficiency of your leadership will depend only to a minor degree on your tactical ability. It will primarily be determined by your character, your reputation, not so much for courage – which will be accepted as a matter of course – but by the previous reputation you have established for fairness, for that high-minded patriotic purpose, that  quality of unswerving determination to carry through any military task assigned to you.”

We often read books, go to seminars, and attend training classes to become better leaders, when what we really need to focus on is what it means to BE a leader. To focus on the development of our character, to grow as a person. As has been often said, leadership is not a vocation, it is a way of life.

How are you intentionally growing in the BE aspect of leadership?

Have a great week!
BG

Be-Know-Do, The Army’s Leadership Model

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The following is one of my favorite posts from 2011.  Thought it was appropriate to share with you one more time.  Hope you have a great weekend!

Being a former Army officer, the Army holds a special place in my heart.  Additionally, they have been the premier leadership training organization in our country for the last couple of centuries.

The Army has a simple, but profound model for leadership:  Be – Know – Do.

By the way, the Leader to Leader Institute (Peter Drucker) has published a great book on this called BE-KNOW-DO, Leadership The Army Way.

The model is simply this:

BE – this is all about your character as a leader and is foundational to your ability to lead.  It gives you the courage to do what is right regardless of the circumstances or the consequences.  As part of BE, you should be aware of your personal core values as well as your organization’s values.  For the Army, their values are:

  • Loyalty
  • Duty
  • Respect
  • Selfless Service
  • Honor
  • Integrity
  • Personal Courage

KNOW – This is about the knowledge and skill sets you need to be competent as a leader and cover four areas:

  1. Interpersonal skills
  2. Conceptual skills
  3. Technical skills
  4. Tactical skills

Your mastery of the knowledge and skills required for your role are essential to the success of your organization.

DO – Leaders act. They bring together everything they are, everything they believe, and everything they know how to do to provide purpose, direction, and motivation.  This involves the following three leader actions:

  1. Influencing
  2. Operating
  3. Improving

For me, it’s a great model of leadership.  You can either order an actual copy of The U.S. Army Leadership Field Manual or the book on the model, BE-KNOW-DO, Leadership The Army Way.

Hope you have a blessed day serving those the Lord has given you to shepherd at your place of work.

BG

“Is This What You’ve Been Waiting for Your Entire Life?”

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Does this describe you?  Do you resonate with some of these statements?

“A year ago I knew I wasn’t happy. I felt the discontent deep inside me. It rattled my bones.

Just one year ago, I knew I wasn’t living a healthy life, I knew I wasn’t focused on my relationships like I should be, I knew I wasn’t pursuing my passions, I knew I wasn’t growing as an individual, I knew I wasn’t contributing to people like I should, I knew I wasn’t living a meaningful life.”

Click here to read the rest of the post on the Minimalists blog.  Some great questions.  Of course as a follower of Christ, a central part of the process is getting before the Lord about His calling on your life – not just our passions.

Maybe this is worth spending a day away to reflect on?

BG

Are You Taking Care of the Linchpins?

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Linchpins hold things together. They are seemingly insignificant and when they are working properly you never even notice them.  However, whenever one of them breaks or slips out of position, things come apart in a major way!

Organizations have linchpins.  They are often the quiet people in the background that most don’t even notice who are quietly getting the work done and holding the organization together. Often as leaders we don’t even realize all that they do for the organization.  We just assume things are being taken care of and often forget the complexity of our organizations and all the things that have to be tended to to make it run.

The thing is, linchpins need care as well.  We tend to notice the high profile staff members, we are quick to ensure our speakers, messengers, executive staff are getting recognized, getting time off, taking sabbaticals, and getting enrichment opportunities.  But what about those linchpins who are serving faithfully in the background?  Often the better they do their job the less they are noticed.  However, they also get burned out, they also desire to see their work recognized and after many years of toiling in the background, they too could use a sabbatical.  Are you taking care of your linchpins?

Look around you and really see who it is that are the linchpins in your organization.  Do they need a little care?

Hope it is a great day for you!
BG

A Powerful Leadership Development Tool

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Good morning – weird weather here in SW Michigan – early in the morning and already in the 40′s and the snow is melting rapidly.

Leadership development is critical to an organization’s health and longevity.  Many of us have systems in place to help prepare the next generation of leaders to take over when it is time to transition.  We have training classes, send them to seminars, have them read books and maybe send them back to school for more education.  However, we often miss one very simple tool for developing a new leader.

Just let them do it!  Just delegate some of your responsibilities and let them lead!  In our organization we were talking  the other day about how some of the senior leadership simply had to give away some things due to the overwhelming demands of a new initiative and rapid growth in other areas of the ministry.  In the midst of this, leaders who we wondered if they were ready have stepped up and performed at a high level.

It would be nice to say that this was a planned progression, but unfortunately it was unplanned and forced.  The result has been a great appreciation for the young leaders we have on board and a relief that responsibilities can be off loaded and handled well and sometimes handled better that we were handling them!

So to develop some of your young leaders, simply take a chance and let them run with the ball for a while.  You may be surprised at how well they do.

Blessings on your week!
BG

A Smart Leader vs. A Wise Leader

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Read something this morning about the difference between a smart leader vs. a wise leader.  A smart leader is one who makes New Year’s resolutions, develops plans, sets goals, sets regular milestones and carefully charts their progress against those goals and milestones.

Wise leaders on the other hand root themselves in a noble cause, align it with a compelling vision and then take action.

Are you invested deeply in something that is noble and far beyond yourself?  Are you investing your life in something that will impact the community around you?  Are you making a difference?

Don’t just make plans and set goals – take action and make a difference.

Blessings on your day!
BG

Celebration Expresses a Grateful Heart

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Looking forward to a treat in just a little bit – I am meeting with a good friend of mine for breakfast to celebrate his birthday.  It is a privilege and joy to celebrate with him on his birthday.  This man has impacted so many people over the years and has been instrumental in the process of so many people’s lives being transformed.  His is a life to celebrate!

It struck me how important it is for us to celebrate – even the small things.  It is one way of expressing a grateful heart.  It is a means to teach people how to value others and to be grateful for other people.  So often, we see the negatives in those around us – celebrating with them helps us to see what is special about them and to be grateful for them.

This applies for your family, friends and co-laborers.  We often forget those we serve with and sometimes they are in great need of celebration.  So take time today and celebrate a victory, a milestone, a step forward with someone – you will be the richer for doing so.

BG