Good Friday: Things are not always what they appear!

One of the lessons of Good Friday is that what appears to be true is not always true. On this day the cosmic battle between Satan and God culminated in what Satan thought was his greatest victory. That battle had been waged from the time of the fall (Genesis 3:15) where God made it clear that one day Satan would be defeated. But on this  day, Satan knew he had won. The Son of God is on the cross, alone, abandoned even by His Father who didn't seem able to rescue Him. Thirty pieces of silver was all it had taken, the best deal ever in the history of evil.

The disciples knew it was over. Jesus' friends knew it was over. The Jewish authorities knew it was over - their problem solved, a rival gone. Not only that but for those who cared, evil had won over good and righteousness. For the followers of Christ, this was the ultimate sadness. They had expected righteousness to triumph and instead, evil had prevailed. The one who had called Himself the Son of God, dead on a bitter cross. 

Little did they know that what appeared to be the final chapter was only the beginning of a new chapter because out of the jaws of apparent defeat, Christ would not only be resurrected but in that resurrection he sealed the fate of Satan and evil and unrighteousness for all time and made it possible for the created to have a relationship with the creator. Apparent defeat was only the prelude to total victory! 

Not for one moment had the events of Good Friday been out of the control of the heavenly Father even though it looked like the Father had lost all control. He is sovereign and nothing under His control can ever be out of control. The world learned that on Easter Sunday.

Think about your own life for a moment. Where are the areas that seem to be out of control? Where does it feel like evil has won? Where are the apparent areas where you feel defeat, discouragement, sadness or pain? It is easy to see the Good Friday moments in our lives when it is clear that God has not acted and we need His help. It is harder to wait for the resurrection moments when God shows up as He always does and redeems what we thought was unredeemable - often in surprising and unique ways.

Whatever your circumstance you can be sure that Easter is coming and that things are not always what they appear to be. In the end, nothing that is in His control can ever be out of control and God always prevails. Our job is to walk by faith in the Good Friday moments of life when life is hard and hope is scarce, waiting for our Easter to arrive when He shows up and redeems our situation. The fun thing about Easter was that it was such a surprise. Invite Jesus to surprise you in your situation today.

The prophet Isaiah said it well. "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him and by his wounds we are healed. 

TJ Addington (Addington Consulting) has a passion to help individuals and organizations maximize their impact and go to the next level of effectiveness. He can be reached at tjaddington@gmail.com.

"Creating cultures of organizational excellence."

Four kinds of boards: Which do you have?

Church and non-profit boards can be divided into four kinds according to how they operate. Unfortunately only one of these board modalities is consistent with good board work. If you have served on a board or currently serve on one, consider these four ways that boards operate and whether your board is operating in an optimal way. Here are the four kinds of boards:

The controlling board
Members of controlling boards see their job as "keeping watch" over their leader to ensure that they don't do anything that they would consider improper. All ministry decisions are required to go to the board for their approval. Often these boards, see their jobs as guarding the status quo and ensuring that there is not too much change. Controlling boards believe that they are the real decisions makers which means that their leader and staff are not empowered to make very many decisions. Essentially there must be agreement by the board before anything happens. I will address the deficits of this board modality later. Thousands of church boards are controlling boards.

The passive board
Passive boards see their job as largely to simply give their leader the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for his/her proposals. In many cases, passive boards are led by leaders who have hand picked their board members for their "cooperation" and often these leaders are intimidating, "forces of nature" and not people you want to disagree with. In many ways, the descriptions of the board at Harvest Bible Chapel. According to former board members it was not possible to contradict their leader without repercussions. The same can be said for the recent board Willow Creek Community Church which was unable to hold their leader accountable or disagree with him in a meaningful way.

The management board
This is a board that sees its job as making decisions that staff ought to be making. They get into the details of the day to day management of the church or organization: hiring staff, pay grades, staff deployment, and all kinds of daily management decisions. In this modality of board work, there is significant confusion between the disciplines of management (day to day details) and governance (the mission, vision, direction and values of the organization). Again, a high percentage of church and non-profit boards operate in this mode. In the process they miss the most important part of board work.

While these kinds of boards are common they are also deficient in important ways. First, these three do not focus on the most important board work which is to define the mission, direction, values, and Big Rocks that the organization needs to pay attention to. Good governance answers three questions: Who are we?; Where are we going?; and How are we going to get there? They define the mission, culture, direction and values of the organization and guard these non negotiable pieces of who they are.

Further each of these three board models have a fatal flaw. Controlling boards handcuff leaders by preventing them from moving forward. Passive boards allow leaders to do as they please without accountability. Management boards focus on the wrong thing: managing the day to day instead of the larger and most important issues. Of course, no board would call themselves by these three names but their behaviors do!

The governance board
This is a board that focuses its efforts on governance or the Big Rocks of the organization and leaves the day to day management to the staff. Governance boards focus on the large issues such as culture, mission, direction and values and are always looking at the future and the opportunities that should be anticipated. For churches, the board must ensure that the five responsibilities of leaders are fulfilled, even though they may not do them personally: Ensuring that the congregation is taught; protected; led well; the spiritual passion kept high and people released into meaningful ministry. Rather than deal with individual issues, a governance board makes policy that can cover other situations as well. Governance boards empower leaders within limits that are clearly defined so that leaders are free to lead.

Good governance boards know what they are responsible for and focus on those things. They know what staff are responsible for and release those issues to them. They spend more time focused on the future than on the present, pray often and seek God's agenda rather than their own. They stay within time limits and operate off of a clear agenda.

TJ Addington of Addington Consulting has a passion to help individuals and organizations maximize their impact and go to the next level of effectiveness. He can be reached at tjaddington@gmail.com

Creating cultures of organizational excellence

Making a mockery of the church

This is the kind of thing that makes a mockery of the church and of church discipline. These elders have all resigned and their pastor, James MacDonald fired. Yet this was the methodology of their board and church to those who spoke the truth about what was going on at Harvest Bible Chapel.

TJ Addington of Addington Consulting has a passion to help individuals and organizations maximize their impact and go to the next level of effectiveness. He can be reached at tjaddington@gmail.com

Creating cultures of organizational excellence

Contributing editor and Christianity today get caught up in the James MacDonald debacle

See this article by Julie Roys on Ed Stetzer, Christianity Today, James MacDonald and conflicts of interest.

Contributing Editor for Christianity Today Faces Conflict of Interest Questions After Accepting Car From James MacDonald. Julie Roys

TJ Addington of Addington Consulting has a passion to help individuals and organizations maximize their impact and go to the next level of effectiveness. He can be reached at tjaddington@gmail.com

                  Creating cultures of excellence

Four things most leaders do not know about their staff but could if they asked

The staff of an organization is a treasure trove of information for leaders although most leaders and supervisors do not take advantage of that information. This is because leaders and supervisors assume that they know information they don't and that can be a deadly mistake on several levels.

Here are the four things leaders don't know about their staff but can if they choose.

The happiness factor of their staff members
Why is it important to know this? Because unhappy staff eventually leave while happy staff stay. If you find out too late that a valuable staff member is not happy they are often already gone emotionally and often you find out when they give you their resignation.

Ironically, this is one of the easiest pieces of information to know about your staff. For years, I have asked staff what their happiness factor is on a scale of 1 to 10. If their answer is 8 or lower I will ask the follow up question: What would make it higher than it is? You may find out what frustrations they are dealing with, a personal issue you can pray about with them or the fact that they are bored in their responsibilities. A simple question that can give you significant information.

Barriers that staff face in their work
One of the fundamental responsibilities of supervisors is to remove barriers for their staff. These may be financial, organizational, uncooperative people or strategic. Yet, as leaders or supervisors, we often do not know what those barriers are. Unless we ask!

I often do staff audits - hour long conversations with staff of an organization where I ask this simple question. Often, when I report to the leadership what I found they are surprised by some of the barriers and are usually desirous of removing them. This simple question can give you information you would not know about as you assume all is well - and it gives you the opportunity to serve your staff in a very practical way by helping to remove barriers they face.

Unused potential of staff
We hire staff for a particular job but sometimes forget that they are growing and developing and often they see things they could do and would love a shot at it. In fact, it is not unusual when I do audits to discover staff who are not being used to their potential and are thinking of moving on because they are bored.

Anytime we can give staff an opportunity to do more or to tackle more difficult assignments we ought to do so. Engaged staff are happy staff while bored staff are unhappy. The simple question, are you being used to your fullest potential can open up an insightful conversation. And maybe keep a good staff member in your organization.

Ideas for doing work more effectively
Because leaders are often focused on the larger issues, they often don't know the processes that make up the day to day work flow for subordinate staff. Further, organizations easily continue to do work they way they have always done it when more efficient and effective options could save time and money. Those closest to the work flow are often aware of efficiencies that could be implemented but because they are not asked, they don't feel like they are empowered to share their ideas.

Asking what we could do better or more effectively is a simple way to spark ideas and conversation about lean practices and management. Usually there is low hanging fruit that comes to the surface that can be implemented immediately - simply because we asked.

Ironically, many leaders and supervisors don't ask these kinds of questions because they don't "have the time." If staff leave, are frustrated, are not being used to their potential or could operate more leanly one cannot afford not to have these conversations. This is an investment very well spent.

TJ Addington of Addington Consulting has a passion to help individuals and organizations maximize their impact and go to the next level of effectiveness. He can be reached at tjaddington@gmail.com

                  Creating cultures of excellence

Avoiding 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 synonymous 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 CEOs 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 activities. 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?