Leadership Challenge

For the past year my wife and I led a small group (in partnership with another couple).  We walked through the whole epic story of the Bible in a thirty-one week journey called, The Story.  At the end of the year Sherry and I felt we should drop out of this group and start a new one.  We loved the old group, and some of them stayed together and invited in a few new people, but we felt God prompt us to start fresh.

We invited a few couples that we wanted to see connect closer in the church and they said yes.  But, we still had room for four more people.  Sherry and I agreed that we should not just go and find people to fill the slots.  Instead, we should wait and pray, trusting that if God had someone he wanted in our group, He is perfectly capable of showing us!

In the four days leading up to the first meeting of our new group, two things happened.  First, a leader from another local church (see Wednesday’s blog) contacted me about helping a couple from his church get connected at Shoreline.  We called them, they said yes, and they had a great time when we met Sunday.  Next, a leader from our church talked to me and said, “My wife and I need to get in a Reckless Faith small group.”  I mentioned that we had a spot and he said, “We would love to be in your group and learn from how you and Sherry work together.”  They to are in the group and love it!

It would have been easy to just go find people to plug into our group.  When we prayed and waited, God surprised us with just the right people.

Ministries, Christian businesses, and Non-Profit organizations can function in many ways.  I have come up with three terms I use to describe where an organization is in its evolution.  I have a graph I use to help make sense of these three seasons.  It sets them up in three columns: Chaotic, Chaordic, and Order with Innovation (If you look at this document you will notice that it is focused on a local church concept because we used this sheet and the concepts in it to help us in our move from being a column two church to a column three church). This blog is a brief discussion of a more complex topic.  You can lean more by looking at the graph.  It is available under free resources at kevingharney.com.

Here are the three concepts:

Chaotic– When a Christian organization or church starts, there is a high level of chaos.  This is part of the deal.  Anything goes.  There is often last minute planning.  It is opportunistic to the core… you tend to grab what comes along.  You make it happen as you go, fly by the seat of your pants, and have fun doing it!

Leaders in this season tend to love change.  Enjoy surprises.  Thrive on the energy of the last minute push.  And they love to create on the spot and “wing it.”

One of the challenges in this season is that there is a high burn out rate and turnover of staff and volunteers due to the intensity of the season.

Chaordic–  When a church or Christian organization is in this season, there is continued creativity and opportunistic approach.  At the same time leaders are seeing that this approach is not a sustainable model.  Leaders begin learning to plan, organize, and prepare…but it is hard.  There is desire to hold to the free flowing way things have been done, but some structure and order is essential.

This is a time of transition. Entrepreneurial leaders can struggle in this transition time.  There is creativity but leaders understand that structure will further the mission.  Some leaders can stay with an organization during this shift but some can’t handle the growing structure and needed procedures.  Others find themselves fighting the structure and even trying to dismantle it.

Order with Innovation–

This is a time of great creativity, but it is done in teams, with input, over time and not in a frenzied crunch.  Planning, forecasting, team building, and structure begin to grow and they are blessed and encouraged by leaders in the organization.

In this time leaders are creative and innovative, but also value direction, planning, communication, and collaboration. Leaders who thrive in this time are team builders, they understand the need for procedures and policies, and consistent creativity within a vision driven system.  It is rare to have an entrepreneurial starter lead well through column one, two, and into three.  This is where some churches and organizations get stuck because the founding leader fights the very structures and processes that are needed to move forward.

I believe that an organization that has healthy order with consistent creative innovation can make huge kingdom strides forward.  Look over the diagram on my website and reflect on this.  Where is your church or organization in this process?

God calls His people to rest.  He builds it into the flow and rhythm of our lives.  In the second chapter of Genesis, God gave His children an example by resting…though He did not need to rest.  Then, in Exodus twenty, in the Ten Commandments, God calls us to Sabbath…a day of rest every seven days.

This command was given because we can forget that God can run the universe without us.  When we rest, we declare that we trust God more than ourselves.  Conversely, when we refuse to take a Sabbath, we declare to heaven and earth that we are stronger than God (Just think about it, He took a day off!).  We also declare that God needs our labor seven days a week.

Just for the record, I am writing this blog as a reminder to myself as much as anyone else.  I want to be healthy and in ministry for many more years.  To do this, I need to follow God’s gracious call to rest.  I hope and pray you will too.

Leaders are Readers!

Great leaders are veracious readers!

Read authors you love.  Read authors you can’t stand!  Read whole books, follow blogs, and read articles online.  Read novels and leadership books.  Read a book made of paper and read on your I-Pad.  But, whatever you do, read.

Just my observation through the past thirty years of leadership…reading keeps the mind sharp, the heart engaged, and sparks our curiosity!

If you are not sure where to start, read the Bible.  You might want to begin in the book of John (in the New Testament).

Your life will be defined as much by your no’s as your yes’.

No matter who you are, it is critical that you learn to say, “No.”  As life fills up and schedules become busy, this becomes more and more important.  I don’t know a single leader who has “Extra time” and is looking for more things to do.  Instead, many are over-extended and exhausted.

Try this simple exercise.  The next time someone asks you if you can do something (no matter how small, no matter how exciting it sounds), do not say, “Yes.”  Force yourself to not respond, “Sure, sounds great!  I’m in.”

Simply say, “Please give me a few days to think about it,” or, “I need a week to pray about that.”

Here is the truth.   If you say yes to this opportunity, you will have to drop something out of your schedule (time with a child, sleep, exercise, or time with Jesus).  Something will have to go to make room for this new thing.  So, slow down, take time, pray, identify what you will drop to make room for this, and then decide.  If you say yes, you will do so in a wise and informed way.  If you say no, you will do it with thoughtful conviction.

Respond to E-Mails

OK, this will be short and sweet.  I have discovered something consistent in high-level leaders.  Here it is.  They respond to E-mails right away.  It does not take much, just a quick acknowledgement that you got it.  I use short responses such as:

Great!

Thanks.

Got it.

Or, I can’t respond in detail now, but will get back to you as soon as I can.

The point is, let people know you have received their communication and don’t leave them hanging.  This is one mark of a great leader.