Leadership and Management
Today’s entry is from guest blogger Dr. Steven Goodwin. After twenty five years as a parish pastor, God called me out of my comfort zone of the parish and out into secular employment as an organization and leadership development consultant. In this new form of...
Confusion as a tool of control
From time to time, I’ve worked with people who are confused about their role or their responsibilities– about what is expected of them. Sometimes I find I haven’t communicated clearly. I slow down, then they lock in and are with me. Other times, even...
Identifying “the future that has already happened”
Author Peter Drucker, in his book The Daily Drucker, coined a brilliant phrase: “the future that has already happened.” His point is that it’s not generally helpful to make predictions because we can rarely be accurate about those. The people who are really effective...
Become a Better Leader in 30 Days
Become a Better Leader in 30 Days by Steve Richardson is not a specifically Christian book, but it is written like a devotional. In 30 brief sections (just 1-3 pages each), Richardson gives you a principle to reflect on along with an activity to incorporate that...
Wisdom from the crucible of experience
Experience isn’t just a matter of having done a lot of stuff or lived a long time. For experience to actually matter, we need to take time to reflect on what has happened and what we’ve done. Effective leaders take time to reflect on what’s going on in their...
Why was it you went into ministry again?
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves why we went into ministry in the first place. Odds are, it was not for the money. It was to make disciples and to raise up leaders. More than that, it was to make disciples who would go on to make more disciples who would go on to...
Responsibility and contribution
One of the most helpful things I’ve found for building solid teams is to make a distinction between responsibility and contribution. Responsibility is their job– what that person is responsible for. If it doesn’t get accomplished, they are held responsible...