Intentional Living

If you are like me you have little time for New Year's resolutions which express our wishful thinking but seem to fade by the time the Christmas tree is taken down. Year end is, however a great time to think about what we want to actually accomplish in the coming year and then design a plan for how we will get there.

This is not about making a list of activities - all of us have plenty of those. Rather it is about understanding our key priorities and the outcomes we want for those priorities along with a simple plan for each of them that explains how we will accomplish the outcomes.

I follow three very simple steps which have helped me stay intentional for many years:

1. Determining my main Big Rocks of life or my priorities.

2. Determining the outcomes I want for my Big Rocks.

3. Developing a simple plan that I will follow for the year.

The only thing left is to work the plan with a monthly "time out" to review my progress and determine whether I am on target, need to realign or adjust.

There is nothing complicated about this. But it is deeply intentional since I know that the one thing I cannot get back is my time. How I invest my time matters since I have it in decreasing quantity each day.

Here is my plan for 2009 following the three steps above. If you desire more information on how you and your staff can live intentionally the book Leading from the Sandbox, lays it out. Even the most simple plan can help us move from activity to results with increasing effectiveness.

T.J.’s Plan for the coming year

Personal Development: Ensuring that I stay healthy in my spiritual, emotional, professional and physical life.

-Daily unhurried time with Christ, read through Scripture, practice a monthly retread day, keep a journal and communicate with prayer teams monthly.

-Monthly Retreat time, annual retreat, prioritize schedule according to Big Rocks and delegation of issues that can be delegate.

-Read and think regularly on leadership and missions, develop relationships with other mission leaders and continue to write for the church, leaders and staff

-Invite accountability and input from a key group of friends, from my board and be transparent with staff on schedules and priorities. Keep my prayer team aware of needs and schedule.

-Spend quality time with my “friends for life” on a regular basis.

-Monitor the amount of refreshment that I enjoy so that I don’t run out of margin

-Join Weight Watchers and walk at least one mile per day

My Marriage: Keep my marriage vital and growing

-Weekly date with Mary Ann when home, pray regularly together, keep her current with my work and travel together when possible.

-Encourage Mary Ann in her ministries and affirm her kingdom assignment

-Find ways to lighten her load and ensure that she gets the refreshment she needs

My Family: Stay engaged with Jon and Chip as Jon launches out into the workplace and Steven continues his college education

-One or two international trips with Steven (he is still in college)

-Be intentional about connecting with the boys in person when in town and on the phone when I am on the road.

Pray for them regularly and be available to them whenever they need me.

Try to find at least one extra fun thing that we can do together as a family this year (the kids do not live at home).

My Work: Provide the highest possible level of leadership and direction to my staff (for sake of brevity here I will share the broad plan that has more detail behind it)

-Provide strategic leadership to ReachGlobal’s values, mission, and vision for the future, and through annual strategic initiatives.

-Build a strong, unified, aligned, strategic, and results-oriented team to lead ReachGlobal

-Develop current and future leaders of ReachGlobal and influence national partners

-Mobilize Resources: Summary: Mobilize key resources necessary for ReachGlobal to flourish and build for the future

My Ministry: Stay engaged in using my strengths for the building of God’s Kingdom in the most strategic ways possible

-Use my gifts to help my local church be as strategic as possible in ministry

-Help other ministries grow in their governance, leadership and effectiveness. Blog regularly for ministry leaders

-Teach leadership skills internationally

-Engage in helping the poor and marginalized in my work globally

-Encourage pastors who work in really difficult circumstances internationally

My Writing: Complete a new manuscript

-Set aside time in the summer for concentrated writing and use travel time for research and writing.

Simple but intentional. That is all it takes!

Toxic team and board members

Both ministry teams and church boards need to guard against a common enemy - toxic members of the team. While toxicity comes in many forms it shares one common trait: toxic members make an otherwise healthy team or board dysfunctional and unhealthy. And it only takes one individual but the toxin is deadly.

Some of the common toxins that hurt teams and boards are:

Cannot work in a team
These are individuals who need to have their own way even if the board or team has decided differently. Because they do not have a commitment to abide by decisions of the rest of the group, they will either ignore the group and do their own thing or undermine the decision outside the team or board meeting. Non team members do not belong on a team or a board because they will not honor either of them.

Causes relational chaos
Have you ever met someone who seems to cause chaos in relationships on a regular basis. Well, it is usually an emotional intelligence problem and it kills team or board effectiveness. They always have a reason and it is usually someone else's fault when it happens but where there is a pattern pay attention.

Cannot make decisions
People who cannot make decisions often love the process, conversation and endless discussions but when it comes to saying, "this is what we will do," they cannot pull the trigger. This inability pulls the team or board down to a lower level than it would otherwise operate at, dis empowers other members and causes a great deal of frustration.

Cannot execute
People who cannot get things done do not belong on either a team or a board. The bottom line of both are results on their mission (Return on Mission). Non producers are directly violating the purpose of the group, pull the group's level down and frustrates other good members.

Will not forgive
Scripture tells us to keep short accounts. Those who will not forgive and hold grudges for real or perceived grievances are a cancer that affects the others. Unresolved relationships destroy team or board trust and trust is the foundation of any group work. The result of unforgiveness is mistrust, bitterness, and an unwillingness to work with those who they will not forgive. Often, these individuals have taken on the offence of others with the same impact.

Narcissistic People
These are people who think that life is about them: their way, their ideas, their wisdom and their decisions. These are truly toxic individuals because they are not even able to understand their toxicity, narcissistic people don't understand they are narcissistic.

People who mistrust those in authority
There is a built in mistrust of authority in many people which makes it very difficult for them to serve in a healthy manner on teams or boards. Their mistrust shows itself in an attitude to cynicism on the one hand and superiority on the other. Those who mistrust generally gravitate toward others who mistrust, take up their mistrust and telegraph that mistrust to others, undermining leaders in the organization.

Can people grow? Yes. Should we expect them to grow on our team or our board? Probably not. As long as an individual is causing significant problems to a team or board they should be removed or step off, given the help they need and if there is progress given another chance. We need to be graceful but not stupid or willing to compromise our mission.

Reintroducing (or introducing) people to the word

It would be interesting to know how many of those in our congregations have ever read through the entire Scriptures. In my experience the percentage is not high. We read many books about the Christian life but many of our people have not read the book of life themselves.

A best practice I have observed is that of congregations reading through scripture over the course of a year together. If this is encouraged from the front, through the ministries of the church and with regular encouragement it is possible to see a high percentage of folks participate.

All of us deeply desire life change for our people. We also know that spiritual transformation is not what it ought to be in our ministries. Could it be that part of the reason is that our people are not living in the word themselves and therefore not experiencing the Truth first hand?

I often wonder what the simple practice of regularly reading God's word would do for God's people in our day. If what Psalm 119 says about the word is true, they are missing out on a lot by not soaking themselves in His truth.

It is simple but profound. Think about it.

Self-understanding and dealing with personal weaknesses

The senior leaders of our organization recently went through a very helpful exercise designed to help each of us think honestly and accurately about our strengths and our areas of weakness.

Specifically we asked each leader to give a synopsis of their strengths (we do a lot of testing to help individuals understand their strengths). We then asked them to identify areas of weakness and how those weaknesses impacted their ability to lead well. Finally we asked them to share how they compensate for those weaknesses because weaknesses have an impact on ourselves and on those we lead.

After each one shared we invited colleagues to ask questions and make observations from their perspective.

An exercise like this requires a great deal of trust because it only works with a high level of self-disclosure about those areas we struggle with - areas we often try to hide from others in our desire to look strong.

I will not share the analysis of others but will share my own for purposes of illustrating how this kind of exercise can help us grow as leaders, in self-knowledge, in honest disclosure and in having a plan to compensate for known weaknesses.

We know, by the way, that weaknesses will never be a strength so trying to make our weakness strengths is a non-starter. God blessed each of us with areas of strength and it is up to us to figure out how to compensate for weaknesses so that our leadership is not compromised by it.

My strengths revolve around communication, strategy and vision, building teams and releasing other good leaders and envisioning the future. In many ways, my greatest value to an organization is helping determine the needed architecture, spiritual, organizational and strategy wise in order to meet our desired objectives. I am then the chief evangelist or communicator of that direction.

Not that is all well and good, but almost everything else are weaknesses that need to be "managed" so that they do not hurt the very organization I lead.

For instance, since it is easy for me to envision the future, it would also be easy for me to push the organization into that future at a pace that is not sustainable or healthy and which would create a backlash to what otherwise is a good direction. So it becomes important for me to have beside me an expert in process and I have that in my co-leader of the mission. If I am the architect, he is the wise contractor determining the pieces, the timing and the key subcontractors, (other leaders) that we need.

In my personal desire to get things done for maximum ministry impact I face two real challenges: the temptation to say "yes" to too many obligations which dissipate the power of my strengths and to not be as discriminating as I should be as to what I agree to take on. Now the strength of maximizing ministry is great but the shadow side described along with it is not.

Thus I almost always run significant opportunities past my wife, who is impacted by my schedule, and two colleagues who work closely with me and know me well, Lindsay and Gary. And they tell me what they think, sometimes without my even asking. And it is a blessing because it helps keep me in the most productive place possible rather than getting into good things at the expense of the most critical things.

As a matter of practice, I never make key decisions by myself without talking them through with key advisers and the senior team of the organization I lead. I am thoroughly convinced that the collective wisdom of a group of wise leaders is far better than the solitary wisdom of any one leaders.

I could list many other weaknesses and my strategy for dealing with them but I think you get the picture. Understanding both the up side and down side of our wiring and abilities is critical to the self-knowledge necessary to lead and the ability to find ways to compensate for weakness which have the potential to hurt our leadership.

It is an exercise you might think about trying with your team.

The Activity Trap

One of the most strategic things each of us can do - and insist from our staff is that we not fall into the activity trap. Simply put, the activity trap is the mistake of believing that activity is synonomous with results. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Think for a moment about people you know. Some of them seem to be always busy but the results from their work are, well, meager. Others, may or may not seem busy but the results of their work are significant.

I have watched senior leaders and even CEO's fall into the activity trap, endlessly busy with "important things" but truly meager in terms of the results of their work. Often if it were not for some good folks around them they would be seen as the "emperor without clothes." Sometimes they can fool outsiders who see the activity but insiders have a hard time figuring out what they really produce.

What makes the difference between those who see meager results and those who see significant results?

The difference is that those who see the best results understand that activity does not equal results. Activity is simply being busy. But if that activity is not carefully focused on specific outcomes one is simply left with activity.

General or unfocused activity yields general and unfocused results. Specific and focused activity will yield specific pre-determined outcomes that help the organization realize its objectives. In the first case the activity is focused on activity while in the second, the activity is focused on outcomes. It is a critical difference.

I am not indicating that those who live with unfocused activity are not doing good things. The question is whether the activity is focused on the good things that will yield the results they are after.

A problem with typical job descriptions is that they actually are a list of activities rather than a description of necessary results. That is why I believe it is far better to have job descriptions with Key Result Areas which are the outcomes wanted for the position than to have a list of activity. With Key Result Areas any activity included in the job is actually focused toward a few definable results that spell success for the job.

One of the ironies is that those who choose to do less often actually accomplish more because they are more focused than those running at a heavy pace.

To avoid the activity trap we should be able to answer these questions:

Do I know what specific results I want from my work? For instance I have five Key Result Areas that spell success for my work. Can you define what spells success for you?

Is my daily, weekly and monthly activity focused on achieving the specific results I have identified?

Do I have a strategy for making sure I stay focused? After all it is very easy to drift and a strategy for staying focused is important.

If you are a supervisor, can your reports answer these questions?
For further exploration, take a look at these blogs:
Connecting the Compass with the Clock
Your Annual Roadmap
What Spells Success for You
Intentional Living

For frustrated pastors and church leaders

Are you ever frustrated by how much bureaucracy you face either as a pastor or a leader in trying to make decisions for the church?

Yesterday I had an extended conversation with a pastor of a church of nine hundred. The leadership structure of the church is "leadership by committee" and nothing is supposed to happen without the approval of the elder committee. They literally feel that they have the right and the prerogative of dealing with every issue in the church - even though the church is a large church of 900 people!

Imagine the frustration of a pastor who has strong leadership skills but cannot lead. Imagine the frustration of several board members who understand good governance but whose hands are tied.

My guess is that this pastor will end up leaving to the missional loss of the church.

I contrast that with the story I shared recently of a church that has empowered its leaders and has seen huge ministry success. In one church leaders are empowered to lead - in the other they are not.

What is sad is that the church of 900 above could easily lose its pastor due to his high frustration factor - affecting not just him but a large congregation who love him and his direction. And, the church is leaving a huge amount of ministry effectiveness on the table - unused because the committee of elders cannot get its act together but insists that it must control the pastors.

What is wrong with this picture?

First, these leaders are leading like the church was led when it had 100 people and today it is a church of 900. It does not work! When church governance does not reflect the size of the Church the ministry hits a ceiling and stalls out. Who gets hurt? Those who are no longer led well and those who are not reached because of ministry paralysis.

Second, these leaders clearly do not trust their pastor. When a board insists on controlling their staff they are clearly communicating mistrust. An interesting concept when the New Testament talks about a culture of trust among God's people.

Third, these leaders do not have the humility to listen to others and to learn new ways of leading. They insist that there way is God's way and no counsel regarding leadership principles is listened to - hubris - and foolishness.

The sad thing is that this is all too common in the church. But it does not and should not be that way. If you face these challenges, take a look at these blogs:

The Payoff for healthy church culture

Avoiding Board Traffic Jams

Institutional verses Missional: A cautionary Tale

A Leadership Fable

Rethinking the meaning of congregationalism

Checks and balances in church leadership

Church leadership and trust

Church structure matters

Executive Limitations: Defining the boundaries and creating freedom

In the governance world there is a concept called "Executive Limitations" which describe those things that the Senior leader, whether pastor, or CEO of a ministry cannot do without board agreement. It is a concept which actually provides great freedom to the senior leader because there is clarity on their scope of authority and freedom to do what is not specified as a limitation.

Executive limitations when combined with an annual ministry plan (not the subject of this blog) give the senior leader freedom to lead in those areas that are not defined as an executive limitation.

Lets, take an example of a church of 400 and consider what might be examples of executive limitations of the senior pastor:

The Senior Pastor cannot:

-engage in any illegal or unethical behavior or allow staff to do so

-exceed the annual budget

-engage in the sale or purchase of property

-hire or fire staff without board consultation

-make major programming changes without board consultation

-Violate or change the mission, guiding principles, central ministry focus or culture defined for the church

-Violate policies determined by the board

-Allow any conflicts of interest among staff

The size of the church would determine the kinds of executive limitations placed on its senior leader. It is far easier to state what the senior leader cannot do than to list all that they can and are expected to do. Thus, the leader is given freedom within the bounds of the ministry philosophy of the church to lead apart from whatever executive limitations are placed on them by the board. Those issues are reserved as board prerogatives.

The list of executive limitations can be added to or subtracted from depending on the size of the church and issues that come up. The goal with executive limitations is to clarify the authority of the senior leader to lead. In many areas the senior leader has the authority to lead as they see fit. In other areas, the board limits the authority because those issues are "board issues."

There is another category that is critical for a healthy board/senior leader relationship and that is the whole host of things that the board should be appraised of - even if it has not limited the authority of the senior leader. No board likes surprises, see my previous post, and the better the senior leader keeps the board appraised of their thinking, plans and intentions, the better the trust and understanding between board and senior staff.

Executive limitations must always be coupled with a clear job description of the Key Result Areas that define success for the senior leader. KRA's define the proactive job of the leader and executive limitations define the prerogatives of the board and require board approval.

There should be a board job description that lays out the purpose, ground rules and job of the board. That further clarifies what issues are the responsibility of the board and what are the responsibility of the senior leader.