There is an I in Team.

While I have not read this book yet, I was intrigued by the review and thought you might find it interesting.

The I in Team

The often repeated phrase, “There’s no ‘I’ in TEAM” is only half true. It ignores the fact that great teams have great individual members. And high performing teams are not always easy places to be. Mark de Rond acknowledges in There Is an I in Team, that “with few exceptions, the qualities that make individuals as gifted as they are can make them wearisome as team members.”  for the rest of the review see the link below.

http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2012/08/the_i_in_team.html

If I were a new pastor . . . Part 4

11.  Time management will be one of your greatest challenges.  In a normal job you start at a fixed time and end at a fixed time.  This is NOT true in ministry.  There will be demands from all sides, every one insisting that they are VERY important.  Your ability to balance your time and correctly attribute priorities will be one of the things which will mark you as effective . . . nor not.  If you have not already read it, go out now and buy Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and read it/study it and practice what it says.  If you have read it - RE-READ it!  It will not only give you excellent and practical guidance in time management but provide some excellent and practical advice in other areas.

12.  Prayer IS important . . . and will be the first thing pushed out of your schedule unless you are careful.  Insist on keeping sacred a fixed time with God, and increase that time until you are regularly (at least 4 times a week) spending at least an hour at a time in focused prayer.  This may mean re-learning what prayer really is, it may mean changing how you think about God, BUT PRAYER IS IMPORTANT.

13.  EVERYBODY has an agenda.  In most cases their agenda is benign or possibly even beneficial.  In some cases there will be individuals with an agenda which they believe is beneficial but it runs crosswise with your vision and/or your understanding of God's will for the church or your ministry.  In a few cases, there will be individuals with an agenda which is entirely self-serving under the guise of being spiritual.  If you remember that EVERYONE has an agenda and pause to consider what that might be BEFORE you act, you will be more likely to find the right path.  This may sound easy but I can assure you that it is rarely black and white and the shades of gray can be very confusing.  Go slow, pray hard, and make sure you have some godly counselors you can consult if needed.

What Got You Here Won't Get You There

What Got You Here Won't Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith

The book is arranged in four sections:

1. The Trouble with Success
2. The Twenty Habits That Hold You Back from the Top
3. How We Can Change for the Better
4. Pulling Out the Stops

As I stated in an earlier post, this book is more about honing your people skills than strategies for achieving corporate advancement.  However, as the author makes clear, it is precisely the people skills which keep most from achieving the kind of corporate advancement they desire. 

Goldsmith states "Given the choice between becoming a nicer person and ceasing to be a jerk, which do you think is easier to do?" p. 38.  This is the operational philosophy, i.e. focus on ceasing to be a jerk by targeting specific behaviors for change.  Although the author as a consultant uses a 360 degree anonymous review process to identify which behaviors to target, there is sufficient material in the book to assist anyone who cares enough to improve their behavior.  I saw myself in several of the 20 habits in section 2 and learned some ways to make minor changes which can have big results.

"As you go through life, contemplating the mechanics of success and wondering why some people are successful and others are not, you'll find this s one of the defining traits of habitual winners:  They stack the deck in their favor.  And they're unabashed about it."  p. 180  Using the material in this book does just that - it stacks the deck in your favor and I would consider this a "must-read," not to mention enjoyable.

Execution Book Study - Session 5

This was the final session of the book study on the book Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan.  We discussed chapter 8 & 9 in this session.

Probably the most significant thing to rise up out of chapter 8, and perhaps in this study as a whole, was the importance of connecting the people process to the strategic process.  The authors also pose these questions regarding the strategic plans:  Is the plan plausible and realistic?  Is it internally consistent?  Does it match the critical issues and the assumptions?  Are people committed to it?  These questions and others addressed in this chapter reiterate another focus that has come to the front as we have gone through the study:  ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS.  The focus on asking questions as part of the execution process has surfaced repeatedly as one of the crucial roles of the leader whose desire is execution.

In chapter 9 the link between the strategic plan and the operations process is discussed.  Without this link the strategic process is typically a paperweight that reflects a "checked that off" mentality, instead of a culture of execution.  HOW will you get done what you have laid out in the strategic plan?  One interesting thing which came to light in the conversation is that some of the campus leaders have strategic plans for their campuses and others don't.  This final session has pointed out the need to rectify that missing piece, but also to make sure the strategic plan is connected to an operations process in relationship to people and budget.

The operation plan is summarized here:
1.  Set the targets connected to the strategic goals
2.  Develop action plans which will hit those targets (keeping in mind the need for contingency planning)
3.  Get agreement and closure from all the participants, establishing follow-through measures to make sure people are meeting their commitments or work up corrective steps if the aren't.

Sounds easy but requires the exercise of leadership.

If I were a new pastor . . . Part 3

8.  Don't change your focus with each new fad.  Pick a lane and stay in it.  Too often pastors seek to find a magic bullet which will solve their church's perceived problems and when there is not an immediate improvement, they move on to another idea.  Slow down!  Stay focused and give your plan time to work.  Set reasonable time lines for re-evaluation, but DON'T keep changing things.  All this does is undermine your credibility as a leader.

9.  Ministry is a high commitment profession and the minister's family has to be able to accept that there will be some sacrifices both in the economic and quantity of time available.  But there should not be any lessening of the quality of time.  Make your family a priority, realizing that at some times they might not be the top priority, they should never doubt your devotion and commitment to them.  If you fail your family you shouldn't be serving as a pastor to begin with.

10.  As much as possible, make your ministry a team effort involving your spouse and children.  You will be happier and so will they.  Too often the families of ministers begin to resent the church and God.  You have to work to avoid this by involving them, not forcing them, in your life and ministry.  They need to perceive God's love for people and see how you handle compassion and service as a response to love instead of a burden and a chore.

If I were a new pastor . . . Part 2

5.  Speaking of survival.  It is true you don't have to survive, you must simply follow the will of God. However, the interpretation of God's will is often not as rigid, at least in some areas as in others.  Wisdom will dictate a course based on love for the people, passion for God (which is essentially the same thing) and only then projects based out of your gifts, desires, etc.  if you get this backwards your effectiveness will be diminished possibly to the point that you will find staying at that church unacceptable, or worse, not possible.  Of course you can blame the hard hearts of the congregation, but you will know deep in your soul that you mixed up your priorities.

6.  You will likely be responsible for preaching at least weekly if not more often.  This is a primary responsibility which demands your full attention.  The more effective you are here the greater your credibility in affecting change in other arenas.  Preaching that connects with the congregation is the goal.  They should always leave with a clear idea of the core message from the sermon, along with an action step.

7.  Don't neglect to keep growing by exposing yourself to reading new books and talking with your peers and mentors about your personal development.  You should always be reading at least 4 books at a time:  a leadership book, a devotional, a novel, and a book devoted to some aspect of ministry.   Never, never, never ignore your own intellectual growth.

If I were a new pastor . . . Part 1

What should I know if I became the pastor of a new church, or if I was a newly assigned pastor in my first church?  Apart from the given that you will be a devoted follower of Jesus Christ and knowledgeable about the Bible there are a few things which are often overlooked in many books devoted to this topic.

1.  Your people skills matter to the congregation at least as much as your knowledge of the Bible.  This might not seem right or fair to you, but look at it from the perspective of the average layman who depends on you for guidance and support.  If you were a doctor, this would be called your bedside manner and indeed Pastor's are often called to be by the bedside of the dying and console the bereaved family members.  You will never achieve the kind of impact you would like to if you ignore this important aspect of ministry.  Every Pastor, and leader of all types for that matter, should immediately go out and buy, read and study Dale Carenegie's book  How to Win Friends and Influence People.

2.  You will occasionally be the recipient of gifts.  It might be tomatoes out of a garden or a handshake at the end of a worship service with a $20 bill in it.  Every time, without fail, no matter the size of the gift or the person offing it, you MUST write out a thank you card.  Some will not care if you do, but for others it will be a telling blow about your character if you don't, and may be used to describe you in the heat of the moment.  "Well, I've not found the Pastor or his wife to be particularly grateful."  Perception is truth, so make sure you are perceived as being grateful -every time.

3.  Find out who is related to whom as soon as possible.  This can save you untold embarrassment and possible unforgivable missteps.  If you can't understand why this is important, you a in the wrong job.

4.  Build relationships first, getting to know people and the history of the church BEFORE attempting to change very much.  Again, this will save you embarrassment and missteps which may be greater than your ability to survive.

More to follow

New book?

This looks like an interesting read

http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2012/08/leadership_by_choice.html