This week should see some comments to this post from the 2011 Leadership Academy class of Huntington County.  In our last session

• we went over the Unwritten Laws of Business, a short book which touches on the kind of things a mentor would have shared; the kind of things anyone in business needs to know, but probably doesn't.  
• We discussed the principles of life (touched on in earlier posts) and brainstormed some additional principles.  The importance of formulating your own personal set of core values is one of the most ignored pieces in becoming a true leader.  Too often we "do it all in our head," and in reality never hone these values to the place where they make a difference.  Taking the time to write them down, talk about them and refine them can unleash tremendous energy in an individual's career and personal life.  
• I asked the class to do a time study of their life for a week to understand where they are focusing the majority of their time and connect that to GMP (also discussed in an earlier post).  I'm looking forward to seeing what is being done AND what is the considered reward for that behavior.  Possibly some will be brave enough to discuss changes and rewards which will motivate that behavior.

I am in the middle of preparing for a presentation to be made to approximately 100 pastors and church leaders.  The title is Planning to Succeed and the goal is to provide the basics of strategic planning in a 3 hour window, while eating dinner.  I have been praying about this for a couple of months now because as you can imagine, there will be some there with absolutely no idea what strategic planning means and some who could probably make the presentation better than I will.

I have thought about what is the "irreducible minimum;" the absolute "have tos" of strategic planning.  I have also been thinking alot about how to present the material in a way that it will be accepted by those who are in their 20s and others who are in their 60s and 70s; those who are in vibrant alive congregations and others in stagnant and dying congregations.

And then I watched this video of Jerry Porras on Leadership and it definitely got me thinking, reminding me of a book by Thom Rainer, Breakout Churches, which parallels Good to Great by Jim Collins but for the church world.  I'm still thinking but definitely getting some good ideas.  Watch the video, true it takes an hour, but it is an hour well spent.

Huntington County Leadership just finished the workshop I lead on teams.  I think teams can be one of the most challenging aspects of leadership regardless of your personality type or personal strengths, although the right mix of those can certainly help.  What makes it challenging is the necessity of constantly keeping in mind certain factors, while at the same time recognizing the diversity of personalities and strengths of others on the team. Factors which include:

• focus on the goal
• modeling collaborative behavior, including mining for conflict
• modeling accountability for yourself and others in the group
• keeping in mind the GMP  (see earlier posts for explanation) and it's impact on group effectiveness
• embracing diversity instead of squashing it

I think it helps to discuss these factors and others, reminding ourselves of what we already know.  As I've said before, humans leak.  Or, to put it another way, "use it or lose it."  If you want to get better at leading teams the best way is to lead a team while networking with other leaders and/or read good books on teamwork.   We are all definitely a work in progress.