7 Leadership Actions When Things Go Wrong

by: Dan Reiland

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We love to lead when the sun is shining and the wind is at our back, but life and leadership doesn’t always go that way.

In fact, most experienced leaders will say that’s never reality. Things may be going well, you may even have good momentum, but there will always be obstacles to face. That’s part of leadership.

However, there are times when what you’re facing is more than everyday obstacles to overcome and problems to solve. It seems more like a storm at high seas.

There are times when your difficult circumstances create personal doubt and discouragement, but there is a way to lead through the storm.

This may seem like an unusual thing to say, but you can find some solace in knowing you’re not alone. These conditions have been navigated by many before you.

Here are just a few things I’ve heard recently from different church leaders.

• Our church just got sued.
• Our board chairman just became seriously – possibly terminally ill.
• Our offerings have been under budget now for six months in a row.
• Our student ministry just experienced a 13-year-old break his arm at the youth meeting.
• Our worship pastor just announced his resignation without any warning.
• Our new property planned for relocation has an easement that kills the deal.
• Our young church plant just lost the school we were meeting in.
• Our church has lost 20% of its attendance in one year.

Any one of these can drain you of enthusiasm and energy, but two or three at one time and it’s all you can do to hold on.

Leading in tough times when things are going wrong is difficult to say the least.

But it’s in the tough times that you grow more and see the hand of God at work.

7 proven basics to help you lead well when things go wrong:

1) Don’t panic.

Sometimes the situation is a surprise and you find yourself blindsided, and other times you could see it coming. But in either way, panic is not the solution. Granted it is easy to panic.

Panic comes from being overwhelmed and not knowing the way out. Panic is a result feeling trapped with no solutions, like being caught in a building that’s on fire. But if you panic, you perish. That’s true for you as a leader too.

Step back, get quiet, think and pray. Whether you have only a couple hours or a couple days, take some time. Insist on it no matter how big the pressure or how loud the demands.

Collect your thoughts, regain your peace, and write a few sentences that summarize the problem(s) clearly and succinctly. The outcome will be far better.

2) Own what’s yours to own.

The natural instinct is to source the problem, find blame, or place the responsibility somewhere else. The reason that’s natural is because the human system seeks ways to lower pressure.

There are good ways to lower pressure, like in the previous point I mentioned think and pray. And there are poor ways, like try to pass the hot potato to someone else, make excuses or fix blame.

Own what is yours personally to own and take responsibility for the whole situation. This will not only help you grow as a leader but will increase the people’s trust in you and respect for you.

3) Get in front of it.

In many cases you may already feel behind the curve. I understand that. But whatever your circumstance, now is the best time to get out in font and lead.

It starts with what I talked about in the previous point. Own it. Take responsibility. And you need to go public. (Important note: Not necessarily to the whole congregation, but to the appropriate group, and that may be the whole congregation.)

The only thing worse than a leader facing serious troubles is if it seems like either the leader doesn’t know they’re facing big problems or if they are sticking their head in the sand and doing nothing about it.

People are resilient, they can handle more than you think. Don’t keep them in the dark. When trust is established, your people can be surprisingly supportive. Not everyone will be, obviously, but enough. That leads to the next point.

4) Establish who’s with you.

Establishing who’s with you when things aren’t going well is not about allies, politics or forming a coalition. It’s not about finding the people who are on your side. That never solves anything, well, not in the long run. There are no sides, its one church. (Or you may lead one campus or one department within your church.)

I’m referring to your inner support team of trusted advisors and your key leadership base.

Let’s be candid, among your key leaders there may be some who think you made a mistake. Or, you didn’t handle it right. But they love and support you and the church. These leaders are invaluable because they tell you the truth and stick with you.

Talk with them, receive their counsel, pray together and make a plan. That’s the next step.

5) Stick to a simple plan.

The kind of plan you need when things aren’t going well is simple, concise and action-oriented.

Deep thinking is necessary, but don’t over-think. Deep thinking involves deeper layers of new solutions, over-thinking is circling the same thoughts over and over again with no new results.

There is no perfect solution. Land one that is sound and the team can agree on. Then stick to it.

At risk of seeming contradiction, you must remain adaptable. The title of this point is “stick to a simple plan,” and that remains true, but some steps in your plan may need to be adapted to meet new turns in your circumstance.

6) Focus on doing the right things not on being successful.

A successful outcome is the obvious desire, but if you make that the focus of your process you make be tempted to take short-cuts in order to get an early success.

You can’t cut corners and get the result you really want.

It’s like a church that does things to draw a crowd on Sunday morning rather than the things that will build disciples of Jesus. (Please forgive the over-generalization, but I’m confident you know what I mean.) Both ways can fill the room, but one can do it in seven days and the other takes a long time.

There simply is no instant success, especially when things aren’t going well. Focus on the right things and don’t give up. That takes us to the last point.

7) Face reality, but don’t quit.

Remember, leaders face problems and solve them. That’s what we do. That’s reality. Your situation may be more difficult than what “normal” problems present, but this truth still applies.

When John Maxwell and I were at Skyline Church in San Diego we faced open opposition to relocation for ten years. Yes, a full decade! That was the reality, but we (the whole staff and congregation) didn’t quit.

It turned out that our job was to find the land, pay for the land and get it re-zoned. Then Dr. Jim Garlow was the leader to build the building and relocate. That process was also filled with great opposition, but they did it! The Skyline congregation is truly amazing!

That wouldn’t have happened if the leaders or congregation quit.

Keep going, it’s worth it!

> Read more from Dan.

Leading in tough times when things are going wrong is difficult to say the least. There are times when your difficult circumstances create personal doubt and discouragement, but there is a way to lead through the storm.

Tags: Dan Reiland, Leadership, Leading in tough times, When Things Go Wrong

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5 Keys to Leading an Omnichannel Church

by: Eric Geiger

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Recently Dave Adamson wrote a compelling article on the future of the church based on the digital tools that church leaders now have at their disposal. He applied the term “omnichannel” to church practice, and his article was the first time I have seen someone do so. Dave does this type of work with churches, so he was not just winging it and throwing out an idea. If you have background in ecommerce or marketing, you are familiar with the term “omnichannel.” It represents the thinking that a company should align all of its channels so that a customer has a seamless experience across all. In other words, the customer could easily flow back and forth between a physical store and an online store and other touch points.

If you apply “omnichannel” to a local church, as Dave has done, you essentially decide it does not matter which channel the person you are serving utilizes to interact with your church or consume content from your church, and you want all the channels (such as your podcast, your live-stream, and your physical location) to offer a similar experience.

Here are five things I like about applying “omnichannel” to a local church.

1. It is the reality of what is already happening. People are interacting (or desiring to interact) with your church in multiple ways. People may attend one week and watch online while traveling the next. Desiring that person to receive consistent teaching from his/her church in a unified manner is a good thing.
2. It forces leaders to think about people not just content. We don’t just teach the Word; we teach the Word to real people and we must understand the people we are teaching.
3. It can help break down ministry silos. Because people move across live streaming, podcast, and the worship gathering, staff in those areas must be coordinated.
4. It helps churches use tools to reach people. Just as the Lord used the advent of the printing press to spread the Bible and the advent of radio to broadcast C.S. Lewis and Billy Graham messages, every new technology is an opportunity to distribute the good news.
5. It helps churches think about the other 167 hours. Perhaps the most challenging thought that Dave offered is the challenge to think about all the hours in the lives of the people we serve, and not just the weekly gathering.

And here are two cautions I have about applying the “omnichannel” term to a local church. Though I appreciate the desire to connect people where they are and connect them more than one hour in a weekly gathering, ministry leaders must do so while also thinking about these two realities:

1. A church is not a base of customers. The article was not advocating that, but the term “omnichannel” was developed to help companies think about their customers and their channels, and we must be cautious of any term (or thinking) that causes us to think of our church as a base of customers. A church is much more than a customer base. She is the bride of Christ and the family of God. She is a gathering of God’s people who are in community together and have joined Christ on His mission.
2. Consumption must not be the ultimate goal. We must not desire the people in our churches to merely consume religious goods and services, but to grow in community and to live on mission. If we settle for consumption, we are settling for a vision of local church that is too small. Yes, let’s use the tools at our disposal and let’s sync them together to communicate the message of Jesus. But let’s be sure that we don’t equate consumption with discipleship.

> Read more from Eric.

Tags: Eric Geiger, Omnichannel, Omnichannel Church

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Assigning Seats on the Leadership Bus

by: James Emery White

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Thanks to business guru Jim Collins, the idea has become part of every leadership culture: get the right people on the bus and then get them in the right seats on the bus.

It’s a good idea.

Few things matter more than hiring the right people and recruiting the right volunteers. But getting a quality person is only half the battle—you then have to make sure they are situated where they need to be organizationally.

Meaning, you have to place them in a “seat” on the bus that fits their natural abilities and spiritual gifts, allows their natural passions to flow and is in accord with their personality type. Collins is right: getting the right people on the bus, and then getting them in the right seat, is critical.

Let’s set aside getting the right people on the bus… how do you know when someone is in the right seat?

I was asked this recently and gave an off-the-cuff answer that intuitively reflected my years of experience, but I had never stated it before. Upon reflection, I became even more convinced of its truth.

Here’s what I said:

“If they intuitively make the right decision 60% of the time, they are in the right seat. You can coach them up to 80-90% in terms of good decision making, but if they don’t bring that foundational 60% to the seat, it’s not a good fit.”

I’ve written about the five “Cs” of effective hiring: character, catalytic, chemistry, calling and competence. The 60% has to do with competence.

Competence has to do with the raw capability, the essential skills, needed to do a job. I’ve often commented that this is the least of the five, as it is the one thing that can, indeed, be taught.

I have hired countless numbers of people who had no background in ministry. In many ways, I like this. They bring their personal, educational and corporate skills to the table without preconceived notions regarding the practice of ministry. The basic competencies needed vary from role to role, but generally I look for the ability to get along with others, enthusiasm, a positive attitude and raw leadership gifts.

But there is one aspect of competence you can’t teach: the basic 60% of intuitively correct decision making. This cannot be taught, coached or mentored. When this isn’t present, no matter how much I’ve poured into them, they consistently make poor decisions in light of mission, vision, values and target.

It’s like they just can’t “get it.”

I know I have the right person in the right seat when they come to me for coaching, share how they are going to handle a situation or a decision they are planning on making, and I am able to say, “That is exactly what I would do.” Or, whether I would have had the wisdom and insight to make the same call myself, I can wholeheartedly say, “That is a great decision.”

So when trying to find someone’s seat on the bus, realize what you can – and can’t – coach. You can get them from 60 to 80 or 90, but you can’t take anyone from zero to 60.

> Read more from James Emery White.

Tags: Coaching Leaders, Competence, James Emery White, Leadership, Seats on the bus

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Lessons in Leadership from the U.S. Military: Paint a Bold, Inspiring Vision for the Future

by: VRcurator

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Following the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. military accelerated the ongoing and gradual process of searching for the best people available to lead – regardless of sex. As a result, female career military officers began to advance into very visible leadership roles: the first female combat pilot in the U.S. Navy, the first female in U.S. history to command in combat at the strategic level, and the first woman in U.S. military history to assume the rank of a four-star general.

They didn’t want to be “female leaders”—they just wanted to lead.

These women were wives, daughters, mothers and sisters. But they were also military leaders, warriors, academics and mentors in their own right.

As the military has evolved to develop an appreciation for the potential of women to serve in the most challenging of positions, it is also time for the American public to see these women for what they bring to the fight: brains, strength and courage.

They are leaders.

No one does leader development better than the military. Behind winning our nation’s wars, its primary purpose is to develop leaders. This happens through organized leader development programs, like institutional schooling and courses, but mostly through personal interaction and example. It’s the unit-level leaders out there who are making the critical impact in our armed forces.

Falling between Armed Forces Day (the third Saturday in May) and Memorial Day (the last Monday in May), this SUMS Remix honors three female leaders who demonstrated principles of leadership development that all leaders will find helpful in leading their own organizations.

THE QUICK SUMMARY – Fearless Leadership by Carey D. Lohrenz

An F-14 fighter pilot’s top lessons for leading fearlessly–and bringing a team to peak performance

As an aviation pioneer, Carey D. Lohrenz learned what fearless leadership means in some of the most demanding and extreme environments imaginable: the cockpit of an F-14 and the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. Here, her teams had to perform at their peak–or lives were on the line. Faltering leadership was simply unacceptable. Through these experiences, Lohrenz identified a fundamental truth: high-performing teams require fearless leaders.

Since leaving the Navy, she’s translated that lesson into a new field, helping top business leaders, from Fortune 500 executives to middle managers, supercharge performance in today’s competitive business environments.

In Fearless Leadership, Lohrenz walks you through the three fundamentals of real fearlessness–courage, tenacity, and integrity–and then reveals fearless leadership in action, offering advice on how to set a bold vision, bring the team together, execute effectively, and stay resilient through hard times.

Whether you’re stepping into your first leadership role or looking to get out of a longstanding rut, Fearless Leadership will act like your afterburner–rocketing you to ever-higher levels of performance.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION

The primary work of nourishing people with vision is discovering and communicating that unique identity as a church. Many leaders photocopy a vision from a conference or book and then wonder why more people don’t flock to the to that vision. Do your people really want a vision based on another church’s values?

Never forget that God is always doing something cosmically significant and locally specific in your church.

A nourishing vision requires five courses. As you deliver the five-part meal, you’re really addressing the irreducible question of clarity people need. If you have not thought through all five aspects of your church’s vision, people won’t be able to really access it.

The five questions play out as follows: At our church…

• What are we ultimately supposed to be doing?
• Why do we do it?
• How do we do it?
• When are we successful?
• Where is God taking us?

If you asked these clarity questions to the top 40 leaders in your church, what would they say? If they don’t have a clear, concise and compelling answer that’s the same answer, it’s time to go to work.

A fearless leader begins the work of leadership with a bold vision.

The vision you create and hand down to your people is going to be the cornerstone of your team’s success. It all starts with a clear concept, a view of where you want to go. If your vision is limited, your potential and possibilities are, too.

The very essence of leadership is the ability to create a picture of success and bring people toward it. Your vision gives the team a universal understanding of who you are, as both an individual and a leader within the organization; who they are as members of the team; and where the group is headed. It’s a chart to our destination, providing a steady compass to orient your team. And when the sea gets rough, the vision allows you to navigate the challenges and come out ahead.

If you don’t have the courage to set the vision, the tenacity to keep after it, and the integrity to pursue it authentically, your team is going to be dead in the water.

Clear vision is not just wishful thinking. It’s more than simply imagining what you hope the future will be. It’s an incredible tool that catalyzes your team, gives it purpose and focus, sustains it in challenging times, and helps it perform at the highest level. You and your team have to see yourself accomplishing that dream without losing your way or getting distracted. The right vision can make that possible.

Carey D. Lohrenz, Fearless Leadership

A NEXT STEP

Set aside time to reflect and answer the following questions. Circle “Yes” or “No” – don’t dwell on the question, but answer it without too much thought.

Dreaming and Achieving Pop Quiz

1. When people talk about the future of our church, is there an immediate sense of enthusiasm? Yes / No
2. Have we named a shared dream within a five-year timeframe? Yes / No
3. Do our volunteer leaders regularly pray for some specific yet epic impact that our church will make in our city or community? Yes / No
4. Do most of our leaders naturally talk about “the big picture” of the church before they talk about their ministry area? Yes / No
5. Do we have several days already calendared in the next year to review and reset a visionary plan? Yes / No
6. Has our team boiled down the single-most important priority for our ministry in the next 12 months? Yes / No
7. Are we totally confident that our team is taking action and reviewing ministry progress each week? Yes / No
8. In the last five years, did we have a church-wide, disciple-making goal that was not related to money? Yes / No
9. Has our team written down what our ministry will preferably look like three years from now? Yes / No
10. Has our senior pastor spent as much time on preparing a visionary plan as he/she has spent on preparing the last four sermons? Yes / No

After you have completed the above questions, ask yourself the following questions:

1. How many “no’s” did we circle collectively?
2. What was the easiest “no” to circle?
3. What was the easiest “yes” to circle?
4. What was the most frustrating “no” to circle?
5. Are you excited about taking some time as a team to work on our church’s big dream? Why or why not?
6. Is there any reason why we shouldn’t be able to answer “yes” to these questions after a few months of work?

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 93, released May 2018.

Tags: Carey Lohrenz, Fearless Leadership, Leadership, SUMS Remix, Vision

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Should I Say Yes to Mentoring?

by: Mac Lake

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In this Q&A Video I answer the question from a leader in South Carolina.

Many leaders recognize the power of mentoring in developing future leaders in their church or organization. Some mentoring relationships are short-term lasting a few weeks or a few months. But other mentoring relationships are long term lasting a year or longer.

Making a long term commitment to mentoring a leader can have massive impact on their life. A long term investment in leadership development will deepen the character, competencies and confidence of the young leader. But just because someone asks you to mentoring them doesn’t mean you need to say yes. So I give you two questions to process before saying yes to a mentoring relationship.

I would love to hear your comments on this topic so please comment below.

Use the discussion questions below with your team to help them grow as mentors. Share the link, ask them to SUBSCRIBE and then learn together.

LINK: https://youtu.be/DSRbJ0ffOo0

Discussion Questions

• Has anyone ever mentored you over a long period of time?
• If so, what impact did it have on you?
• If not, what difference do you think it could’ve made if someone had?
• What do you think the biggest challenges are of entering into a long term mentoring relationship?
• As you consider the two questions Mac gave today who came to mind? (Someone you have high confidence in and high connection with)
• What next steps do you need to take to improve or increase your mentoring impact on the lives of one or a few leaders around you?

Watch more of Mac’s videos here.

Connect with an Auxano Navigator to find out more about mentoring and the Leadership Pipeline.

Tags: Leadership Pipeline, Mac Lake, mentoring

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When It’s Time for Some Spring Cleaning in Your Communications

by: Kem Meyer

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It’s still spring. Time to upgrade things going out of style, time to store the things that don’t fit right now and time to retire the items we’re not using anymore. You can do this with your wardrobe if you want, but I’m not interested in your closet. I’m talking about your communications activity.

I have to ask, are you taking inventory of all the content and materials you’re generating and measuring the ROI at least once a year? If not, you should.

People change. Culture changes. Just because something was a great resource before doesn’t mean it is filling the need now. Sacred cows make the best steaks.

TAKE INVENTORY

Take a look at all your activity in every channel. What are you mailing, handing out, posting, rendering, hanging, designing, emailing? With an open mind, honestly ask yourself:

• Does this still fit? Have we outgrown this? Is it still us? Does the vocabulary still work?
• Is this out-of-date? Is this soooo last season? Is it in tune with what people are looking for?
• Is this appropriate to wear in public? Does it help at least 80% of our congregation?
• Is anyone using this? Is it solving a problem? Would anyone notice if it was gone?
• What are the consequences if this went away? Are there alternative solutions?
• Is it too much? Is there any way to simplify this; can we make it easier to find or use?

This only works if you’re able to honestly evaluate with an objective lens. Don’t plan this exercise if you’re in a mood or short on sleep. Bring your best, constructive brain to the table.

AVOID THE TWO EXTREMES

DON’T KEEP IT just because people are used to having it around. Some of the things we keep around have long outlived the problem they were created to solve. If it isn’t solving a current problem, it’s time for it to go. [Member mailboxes, I’m talking to you.]

DON’T KILL IT for the fast visual relief of decluttering or shortening a task list. If we cut things out without taking the customer journey into account, we risk closing the only channel where guests and members easily find out what’s happening from week to week. [Maybe you should try organizing the information in your bulletin better before you get rid of it.]

MARK YOUR CALENDAR, MAKE A PLAN

Spring time may not be the best time to clean your communications closet (though it could be the best time). Whatever your season of choice may be, mark your calendar now for when you plan to make it happen. And, then. Make it happen.

Consider the team players who need to be part of the conversation. Find a customer advocate who has permission to review what is helpful and what isn’t for your audience. Evaluate all activity at once; with no personal agenda or bias. Solicit feedback. Spend two power hours (with pizza) to go through the questions. Make sure everything you’re creating (or using) is still solving a real problem

1. Gather the facts.
2. Get objective input.
3. Review your findings.
4. Decide what needs to go and what needs to take its place.

A good strategy demands that you make a choice to move in one specific direction. It demands that you prioritize what’s most important and focus your resources there – trying to have it all will leave you struggling. – Good Strategy Bad Strategy. The Difference and Why It Matters. by Richard Rumelt

Pro-tip: If you’re not sure about whether you can afford to retire something, consider a “pilot pause.” Discontinue it for a season and see what happens. Based on the response you get (or don’t get) you can decide what’s really needed.

> Read more from Kem.

Tags: Communication, Kem Meyer, Spring Cleaning

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Worlds Are Created From Words

by: Trevin Wax

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From the late 1950s through the 2000s, enrollment in foreign language programs at the university level grew steadily. After 2009, language class enrollments began to drop.

Leigh Jones, from WORLD Radio, interviewed several professors to find out why college students are less interested in learning a foreign language. Julianne Bryant, who teaches Spanish at Biola University, attributes the decline, in part, to the recession in 2008, which led students to pursue degrees that might lead to better pay. Students perceive language-learning to be too hard, and they often don’t see the payoff in acquiring that skill until they are out in the work world.

The bigger concern of Bryant and other professors is not economic, but cultural. English is the lingua franca today, even though most of the world doesn’t speak it (only one in five, actually). Students have adopted the widespread cultural assumption that English is the only language that really matters. If you’re privileged with English as your native tongue, why put in the time or effort to learn a different language?

The answer has more to do with personal formation than merely the ability to communicate. Donna Summerlin, head of the department of language and literature at Lee University, sees language learning at the heart of a liberal arts education. “We live in a global society and people to be truly educated need to know something about the world beyond their little corner of it.”

True. That’s why it’s ironic to see the number of people who speak other languages increasing in the United States at the same time so many language programs are closing. Jones’s report showed that, due to the need for bilingual people, some professionals find better compensation as translators than teachers.

Languages as Worlds 

Not long ago, I picked up the new book from Gaston Dorren (a famous polyglot who speaks six languages and can read nine more). Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages opens with a quote from Alok Rai:

Language is tightly connected to how we perceive reality. We inhabit a world of language. For example, in Romanian there are two major words for tree: pom and copac. One refers to fruit-bearing trees, and the other to any tree. There is overlap with these synonyms (and many times they are used interchangeably), but in order to use them with dictionary precision, one must become an expert on identifying types of trees. Another example would be the more than a dozen words for snow in Central Alaskan Yupik.

When seen in this light, language learning becomes more than just doing diagrams, memorizing vocabulary, or figuring out the right verb tenses. The more fluent you are in another language, the more you realize that some words are virtually impossible to translate accurately. You come across concepts and shades of meaning that find no one-to-one correspondence. You have to live within the world of the language before you can fully grasp the meaning of a word or phrase.

This is why Bible scholars make the claim that “all translation is treachery.” It’s not that we can’t translate well, but that we can’t translate all. Words do not always capture all the particular shades of meaning when going from one tongue to another.

Benefits of Being Bilingual

What’s more, languages provide different structures of thought. Speaking another language is learning how to navigate a different world, with its own expressions, colloquialisms, and linguistic logic. For this reason, the benefits of being fluent in two or more languages go far beyond the “ability to communicate.” Over time, you find you can switch mental tracks in your mind. You think differently when you can enter into another linguistic world and view things from a different mental superstructure.

A few years ago, I wrote about the “brainy benefits of being bilingual,” and I included an excerpt from Time magazine that explained a few of the cognitive benefits of knowing another language:

Learning another language stretches our minds and opens up new windows of imagination. It also gives us more words with which to praise our King. O, for a thousand tongues to sing our great Redeemer’s praise! (Might we at least try for two or three?)

Turnaround? 

Perhaps we will see a turnaround in language learning on university campuses. Surely we need more people who can see the world from various angles—something that fluency in another language makes possible.

Perhaps we will also see renewed enthusiasm among church leaders for learning the biblical languages. One of the best ways to bridge the gap between the cultures of the biblical authors and our present-day circumstances is by entering their linguistic world and engaging their inspired words on their own terrain.

We lose something precious when we lose the desire to speak another language. Let’s hope this trend reverses itself soon.

> Read more from Trevin.

Tags: Language, Language Barrier, Trevin Wax, Words create worlds

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3 Ways to Turn Boring into Fascinating

by: Mark MacDonald

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I’m fascinated how someone can attend two similar church services (maybe even with the same Pastor) and have the 30-minute sermon seem long and boring in one while the other can feel interesting and not enough time. And it’s the same amount of time. And maybe similar content!

Or you can watch a YouTube video and be fully engaged with it for several minutes while another will drive you to close the window after a couple of minutes. Even if it’s the same subject.

Or there’s a website that can captivate you for a long time versus the website that loses your interest in about 30 seconds.

Communication is tough. Our audience has changed. Their attention-span has gotten shorter and shorter. In fact, according to a 2015 Microsoft study, humans lose interest in most things after only 8 seconds. This is astounding since a goldfish has a 9 second attention span. We’re doomed.

Our audience certainly isn’t changing, so we need to tackle things differently with our communication style.

Here are 3 things we (as communicators) must understand and change to turn boring into interesting:

1. Make it matter to your audience. This is key. In the first few seconds, in the headline, or first sentence, speak to a pain that you know your audience faces or a challenging goal that they seek. Then deliver as quickly as possible the hope of a solution in your communication. Or a straight-line path to their goal. This requires you to know your audience extremely well. So do everything within your power to discover their pains and goals.
2. Edit your content as short as possible and present it the way your audience wants it. Do the difficult work of eliminating everything that’s unnecessary or redundant. Get your communication to the basics and don’t overdo the details. Then, based on your communication channel, deliver it in a style you know they’ll enjoy. For in-person or on video, that’s an interjection-style that captures the wayward attention and holds it by bringing people back into the conversation. For printed or static web content, give in to their propensity of scanning. Create eye-interruptors (headlines, subheads, bullets, captions) that tell most of the story and lead to the deeper content so they can read more.
3. Deliver it so you seek engagement. Remember you’re not just telling. All content today should engage. Drive them to other locations through links and suggestions. Allow them to process or do things so they interact with your content. Where possible, let them respond. This engagement says you care about them and want them to fully understand. This relationship of love and empathy will allow your audience to overlook flaws and truly be interested in what you have to offer.

Summary? Make it about THEM and less about YOU. Say it as quickly as possible. They’ll feel the love. That’s the role of all church communication today.

> Read more from Mark.

Tags: Communication, Improving Your Communication, Mark MacDonald

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Why Talking Starts with Listening

by: Michael Kelley

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You would think listening would be easy. After all, we spend a good chunk of our lives doing it. We listened to our parents when we were children. We listened to our teachers in school. We listen to the radio in the car, and we listen to the tv while we are watching it.

To go a step further, the Bible tells us that we ought to listen – that we ought to be “quick to listen”, in fact (James 1:19). Listening, then, is not just a skill – it’s a matter of obedience for the Christian.

But even though we have done it for so long, and even though we do it now, and even though the Bible tells us it ought to be our practice, many of us don’t. At least not really. Oh, we hear sounds, but there is a difference between hearing things that happen to be around us at a given moment and actively, intentionally listening. The first happens without effort; the second comes through discipline and practice, and this is where we often fail. We find ourselves, especially when we are hearing something or someone we don’t agree with, not really listening but instead tolerating sound, just waiting for our own chance to talk.

So what are some of the barriers that keep us from really listening to another person? Allow me to suggest three:

1. Our own insecurity.

We are all, at some level, still living middle school. We all have our own particular insecurities that are constantly in the background. We are concerned about our appearance, our intelligence, our ingenuity, or something else, and those long held insecurities affect us more than we think we do. One of the ways they do is they make us assume a posture of defensiveness. We feel attacked even if we’re not. So when we find ourselves in a conversation with someone who doesn’t think, believe, or behave as we do, we take it personally and are quick to move on that perceived attack.

When we are moving to defend ourselves, we stop listening because we feel compelled to respond, respond, respond. The deeper answer, then, to our inability to listen is not just skill development; it’s confronting our lingering insecurities through the power of the gospel. For in the gospel, we know that we are fully accepted in Christ. We are the chosen sons and daughters of God. And the confidence that comes from that knowledge, among other things, bolsters our ability to listen.

2. Our view of another person.

CS Lewis once wrote: “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” It’s easy to forget that, isn’t it?

When we are engaged in a conversation with someone we don’t agree with, we can quickly make the shift to thinking of that person as an enemy. Or a target. Or a potential opinion to change. When we do that, we stop listening because we stop focusing on that person. They have become a shell of a human – just another talking head to be responded to – rather than remembering that at the core, this person is a human being created in the image of God. When we revert back to this mindset, we are compelled to listen because really listening is a simple way we recognize the dignity that every person is rightfully due.

3. Our confidence in God’s work.

One final barrier to listening is our lack of confidence in God’s work. One of the reasons we are slow to listen and quick to speak is because we feel compelled to defend God to someone else. I want to be careful here to not imply that we should not defend God, or the Bible, or doctrine. We can, and we should. But there is a great difference in defending what we believe from the posture of confidence and defending what we believe from a posture of insecurity.

In our hearts, we might not fully believe the Bible is true. Or that God can really change hearts. Or that He is actually all powerful and all loving at the same time. We aren’t secure in His work, and so we argue, and as the saying goes, we doth protest too much and in so doing reveal we aren’t quite as secure in what we believe as we claim.

In the end, we don’t change someone’s heart. And in the end, God doesn’t need us to defend Him. In such moments, we have the opportunity to demonstrate patience, grace, and charity, and actually win a hearing for the truth of the gospel.

Listening is important. It’s more than just a skill. In fact, it might well be worth considering, if we have trouble listening, the real reason why it’s so difficult. And as we do, we will mercifully be led back to the God who never fails to listen to us. In Him, we will find the security and confidence it takes to truly listen to another.

> Read more from Michael.

Tags: Communication, Listening, Michael Kelley

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When the Leader Gets Stuck, the Organization Gets Stuck

by: Dan Reiland

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If you continue to grow as a person and as a leader, what you lead is much more likely to keep pace with you. The opposite is also true. If you stop growing, in time, so will what you lead.

Change, adaptability, and improvement are essential.

Over many years in ministry and thousands of conversations with church leaders, the one thing that seems to separate those who keep moving forward and those who don’t is continued personal growth. (That includes spiritual growth.)

Personal growth never gets old. In fact, it keeps you mentally young, increases your energy and has a dramatic impact on your whole life.

Your ministry success, impact in people’s, lives and leadership legacy is not dependent on how smart you are, luck, the current size of your church, whether you’ve written a book, personality, or who you know.

Next to the power and presence of God in your life, personal growth is the key to deeper and continued impact in other’s lives and a deep and meaningful leadership legacy.  And that’s up to you.

Be careful not to confuse busyness with growth. You can be working hard and running fast, but that doesn’t mean you are learning, changing and growing. It sometimes indicates the opposite.

Don’t connect the size of your church with the rate of your growth. You can be in a smaller church and growing personally like crazy, or just doing the same things repeatedly. The same is true if you lead in a larger church. You can be so busy you barely have time to think. Or you may be growing, changing, and continuing to adapt.

If you think you’re stuck, you don’t have to stay there. Whatever your circumstance, if you feel a little stale, in a rut or just plain stuck, there is a way out. And that path is always connected to personal growth.

3 guidelines for personal growth:

1) Your motivation matters.

Discipline is important, but by itself, it’s not enough. Discipline without fruit will suck the life out of you in time. The question is… what drives you?

Why do you do what you do?

Grow your church? Gain Spiritual Influence? Drive Change? Buy a brand new Lamborghini Veneno? (just kidding)

I don’t know what motivates you, but my hunch is that it has something to do with making a difference in people’s lives on a spiritual level – because of Jesus. Therefore, personal growth for the sake of personal growth can become stale.

That would be like going to college indefinitely, which would eventually become a hollow experience. At some point, a deeper drive that results in action is needed to keep you going.

The practical point here is to align your goals and dreams with your motivation. That means your goal isn’t personal growth; it’s making a more profound impact in the lives of more people. And the value you add to people can be as specific as you desire. Pick your lane.

2) Your method needs to fit your wiring.

For decades I’ve listened to people I respect and admire talk about the value of journaling, and how important it is for their personal growth. But it just doesn’t work for me.

It’s not about writing; I write thousands of words every month. Candidly, I think it’s because I write so much, and I’m tempted to turn my journal into something to be published. Writing does help me figure out what I think, but the model of classic journaling doesn’t fit me.

Discover what works for you.

Some leaders love podcasts. Some love talking with a mentor, and others need the focus of their undivided thoughts. It also changes according to your age and stage, so continue to experiment and try new things.

For me, in this season, I focus my growth avenues in three areas:

Books. I love and appreciate good books that contain deep wisdom and practical truth. I’m a thought junkie. Wisdom inspires me. I can stand up from reading one sentence or one chapter and feel like Rocky Balboa running up the 72 steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (If you’re a young leader, google it.)

Young Leaders. I love hanging out with young leaders, especially young leaders in their twenties. I learn so much. I want to know what they think, but more importantly, how they think. They keep me fresh and on my toes. I want to know what music they listen to, what TV shows they like, and I’m always getting hot tips on where the best tacos are!

I’m intentional in learning how young leaders think about the gospel, church, and leadership, but mostly I just love being with them.

Mentors. I love, and I’m grateful for those who invest in me, whether it’s one time over lunch or those who have believed in me and added value to me for years and years. You don’t need many mentors; it’s more important that you put to practice what they tell you!

Please notice something here.

Each one of my paths for personal growth began with the words, “I love.”  Each one reflects and connects with my wiring. That’s so important if you want to keep growing. Figure out what works for you.

3) Measurement helps you make progress.

How you measure your growth helps you determine if you are making progress. For example, if I measure my growth by how many books I read or the number of conversations I have with young leaders, I’m not going to get an accurate sense of how I’m growing. I won’t really know if I’m making progress.

It’s not the books and conversations; it’s what I do with them. How I apply new realities, wisdom and practical ideas get me closer to true measurement. But growth can’t be measured without a connection to change. If I’m not changing, I’m not growing. The same is true for you.

Ultimately, for me, and I’ll take a risk and say for you too, the end-game-legacy kind of measurement is how many lives you’ve touched for their good. Don’t make the number a competition or treat it like a scoreboard; it’s all about stewardship. God gave you gifts, and you want to make a difference.

If you change just one life, but that life is the next Billy Graham, I’d say you are making significant progress in God’s plan.

What about your kids? How many do you have? 1, 2, 5? Start there.

It’s not a number, but as leaders, we do want to reach people, as far as our gifts and opportunities will allow.  Ask God to clarify your motivation, grant wisdom and open doors of opportunity.

The growth process requires that you keep praying and all the while keep investing in others. Don’t wait till you’ve arrived… I’ll let you in on a little secret. You will never “arrive,” so make a difference now.

> Read more from Dan.

Tags: Dan Reiland, Growing as a leader, Leadership, Leadership Growth

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