Growing as a Leader: Mentally

It doesn’t matter if you pastor a church, work in a high-pressure corporate environment, sell real estate, or toil as a full-time parent: the pace of our information-driven, globally-connected, twenty-first-century society forces us to accelerate down the tracks of modern life – and many of us feel dangerously close to flying off the rails.

We are multitasking ourselves into oblivion just to keep up. We push, we strive, and we overcome!

And then we collapse.

Can we keep this up?

Since the outward forces that exert stress on us are unlikely to disappear, our only choice is to look inward at ways we can better adapt to our environment.

Is it possible that we can “grow” to deal with the pressures we find ourselves in?

There is a short but powerful scripture passage that can give us guidelines in this area. Luke 2:52 says, “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” (NIV)

THE QUICK SUMMARY

The ticket to a successful and fulfilling life is a significant upgrade to everyone’s ability to learn. Visionary teacher and lifelong learner Patricia McLagan views learning ability as software for processing daily life. And like all software, learn­ing software requires upgrades—and regular reboots!

In Unstoppable You: Adopt the New Learning 4.0 Mindset and Change Your Life, McLagan shares her method for keeping learning powers sharp, ensuring that we can continuously advance and adapt in a nonstop world. We’re born with basic programming, which is learning 1.0. We then evolve and upgrade as we make our way through the education system in learning 2.0, and we start to self-manage how we learn as we integrate our diverse experi­ences and master skills in learning 3.0. That brings us to learning 4.0—learning mastery. This final upgrade equips us with survival skills for the 21st century— skills essential to meeting our goals in a world that’s always in motion.

Discover McLagan’s seven practices for effective lifelong learning—from hearing and heeding calls to learn, to taking steps to translate new skills into action. Unstoppable You also includes a complete toolkit of supporting tem­plates, guides, and tips.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION – Unstoppable You by Patricia A. McLagan

You began an amazing learning journey the day you were born, and it continues to this day. While you may associate “learning” with your younger self, learning continues all throughout your life – or at least, it should.

In today’s fast-changing world, your learning skills need to be constantly “upgraded” in order to survive and thrive. If you think of how you learn as “software” you use in your daily life, you would recognize the need for upgrades just like the software and applications for your devices.

Imagine three learning software upgrades that have occurred so far in human history.

  • Learning 1.0 is the basic program you were born with. It consisted primarily of trial and error learning by watching and imitating others.
  • Learning 2.0 is the upgrade that took place in your school years. It consisted of learning how to study and directed learning toward goals others set.
  • Learning 3.0 supports your continued growth in multiple areas of life by self-managed learning and helping skills.

Learning 4.0 is a necessary upgrade for surviving and thriving in our nonstop world. It is based on new knowledge of how our brains work, the new dynamics of a nonstop world, and an exploding information field.

Are you ready to become a 4.0 learner?

Think of yourself on a lifelong learning journey where you periodically upgrade your learning skills and approach. Are you ready to become a 4.0 learner?

Learning 4.0 is a necessary upgrade for surviving and thriving in our nonstop world. It is based on new knowledge of how our brains work, appreciation of the subjective, the new dynamics of a nonstop world, and an exploding information field.

Learning 4.0 is the upgrade that will keep you in charge of, rather than becoming a servant to, increasingly intelligent technologies as they emerge. Some of the special qualities of learning 4.0 include:

  • Imagination
  • Whole brain and whole body
  • Self-transformation
  • Deep learning
  • Anywhere and anytime
  • Smart use of information
  • Resource versatility
  • Change agency
  • Co-evolution with technology
  • Shared experiences

Patricia A. McLagan, Unstoppable You

A NEXT STEP

Imagine yourself being a 4.0 learner. See yourself using and directing your amazing brain, learning while awake and while you sleep, and keeping up with and a bit ahead of the changes in your work and life in general.

Unstoppable You author Patricia McLagan has developed seven practices of 4.0 Learners. Use the brief outline below to chart a new course to your learning journey.

Hear the Call to Learn – to make your need or interest explicit and be sure your learning motivation is clear.

  • What is calling you or your team to learn?
  • What change or development is it asking for?

Create Future-Pull – to create a learning direction that energizes and focuses your learning, creating a tension between the now and the future.

  • What is the setting or situation?
  • What are you feeling, seeing, thinking, hearing, sensing?

Search Far and Wide – to be sure that the information, resources, and experiences you use for learning are the best for you.

  • Scan the information fields available for you to learn from.
  • Keep a list of the learning experiences and resources you think will best help you move toward your future vision.

Connect the Dots – to provide the best structure for your learning so you stay focused on your future vision while remaining open to new calls to learning.

  • Using the resources from the previous step, lay them out on a path leading toward your future vision.
  • Add checkpoints to the journey to review your journey, revise your vision, appreciate progress, and solve problems.

Mine for Gold – to bring useful information into your brain’s short-term memory.

  • Set up your learning environment so that it will be conducive to success.
  • Be present to learn, managing your energy and motivations.

Learn to Last – to convert what you are learning into long-term capabilities including remembered knowledge and creative outcomes.

  • Retain what you want to remember.
  • Develop skills and habits.
  • Shift beliefs and attitudes.
  • Learn for creative insights.

Transfer to Life – to take extra steps to bring your learning to life and sustain it for the longer-term.

  • Set up for success.
  • Get allies.
  • Celebrate success.

Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 105-1, released November 2018.


 

This is part of a weekly series posting excerpts from one of the most innovative content sources in the church world: SUMS Remix book excerpts for church leaders.

SUMS Remix takes a practical problem in the church and looks at it with three solutions; each solution is taken from a different book. Additionally, a practical action step is included with each solution.

As a church leader you get to scan relevant books based on practical tools and solutions to real ministry problems, not just by the cover of the book. Each post will have the edition number which shows the year and what number it is in the overall sequence. (SUMS Remix provides 26 issues per year, delivered every other week to your inbox). 

> > Subscribe to SUMS Remix <<

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

VRcurator

VRcurator

Bob Adams is Auxano's Vision Room Curator. His background includes over 23 years as an associate/executive pastor as well as 8 years as the Lead Consultant for a church design build company. He joined Auxano in 2012.

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COMMENTS

What say you? Leave a comment!

Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.

Asking These 20 Questions of Others Will Help You Become a Better Leader

A leader needs to be a learner.

And, the learning needs to be constant. It proves itself to be true over and over again that you can learn from anyone in any leadership position. In fact, some of the greatest leadership lessons I have gained have been from those who felt they were in “lower” positions. The idea of this was driven home for me when LifeWay Research (which I was a part of for three years) did the study for Transformational Church. Many of the pastors that we interviewed based on the health of their church would ask, “Why me? Why are you interviewing a pastor like me in a normal church like this?” What they did not know is just how important their leadership was to the life a church that we needed to learn from.

Leaders, as a group, look for the superstars among our particular type of organization and learn from that perceived top echelon. Pastors are no different. So, my encouragement is that no matter what work you do, learn from everyone you can.

As I’ve been mulling over how I can more intentionally learn from others, I began putting together a list of questions that I hope to pose to more and more people. When I meet other leaders, here’s what I want to know. Please feel free to add in your ideas in the comments section.

1. What book has had the greatest impact on your understanding of leadership?

2. What are the most important “nuts and bolts” lesson that you can give me?

3. What are your reading habits?

4. What blogs do you read on a regular basis?

5. Who are the historical figures who have influenced you the most?

6. What other arenas of leadership to look to learn from?

7. Tell me about the pieces of technology, apps, and software that helps you the most.

8. Did anyone put you through an intentional plan for leadership development? What was the plan?

9. Do you have a plan to intentionally develop yourself as a leader?

10. Do you have a plan to intentionally develop others into leaders?

11. How do you separate yourself effectively from work to rest?

12. What are your main goals in leadership?

13. Describe your process for developing a vision and mission for your organization.

14. What is your daily schedule of work?

15. How do you design and hold a great meeting?

16. Do brainstorming meetings really work? If so, how do you one well?

17. What do you do with a team members who has bad chemistry with the rest of the team?

18. What offenses require you to immediately terminate someone’s employment?

19. What are the best hiring practices and processes you’ve used or seen?

20. How do you admit and fix a problem in your leadership?

20. What do you want to go back and change?

Read more from Philip here.

Got more questions about Leadership? Connect with an Auxano Navigator and start a conversation with our team.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Philip Nation

Philip Nation

serve as the Director of Advancement and Global Impact Churches with the Baptist World Alliance and frequently speak at churches and conferences. I earned a Master of Divinity from Beeson Divinity School and a Doctor of Ministry from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 2010-2012, I was the national spokesperson for the Back to Church Sunday campaign from Outreach. Over the years, I’ve served as a pastor, minister of education, and a church planter. My latest published work is the video-based Bible study Pursuing Holiness: Applications from James. In 2016, I published Habits for Our Holiness: How the Spiritual Disciplines Grow Us Up, Draw Us Together, and Send Us Out with Moody Publishers. I’ve coauthored two other books: Compelled: Living the Mission of God and Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow. I was also the general editor of The Mission of God Study Bible. Along the way, I have written the small-group studies Storm Shelter: Psalms of God’s Embrace, Compelled by Love: The Journey to Missional Living and Live in the Word, plus contributed to The Great Commission Resurgence: Fulfilling God’s Mandate in Our Lifetime.

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COMMENTS

What say you? Leave a comment!

CTCLYT — 01/29/14 9:18 am

The greatest leader of all time was Jesus Christ himself. Simply because he empowered his disciples with knowledge to go out be great leaders themselves. In today's world, leaders dont want to share knowledge, they want to be on top and keep everyone below them. The best leaders share everything they know and give their team members the confidence they need to become leaders themselves. A great leader will believe in you. A great leader will give you freedom to make decisions. A great leader will be very happy for you when you reach the top.

Steve — 01/16/14 12:34 pm

"Do you have a plan to intentionally develop others into leaders?" Great question - I believe this question underscores a key biblical principle. Probably the most overlooked biblical principle in the church today. Jesus empowered His disciples and instructed them to go and do likewise. Nevertheless, Jesus did not abandon nor forsake His disciples, He promised to be with them always. By the power of the Holy Ghost, God’s Word provides lesson after lesson after lesson. In Christ we will never stop learning. Thanks and have a Christ filled day! Steve

Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.

One Lesson of Zig Ziglar’s Legacy that will Change Your Life

Zig Ziglar died November 28 2012 at the age of 86. He was motivational maven with millions of followers. His twenty-plus books, uber-positive style, and Christian influence are manifested clearly through his ubiquitously sticky quotes. Dave Ramsey tweeted yesterday, “What’s your favorite Zig Ziglar quote?” Here are my favorites with regard to vision and clarity.

As the rest-in-peace tweets and favorite quotes filled the social air waves, I found myself asking, “Was there a special secret to Ziglar’s success?” I believe so.

If you trace Ziglar’s career in sales, one thing is abundantly clear: He was a great salesman because he was a great student; a student of people, a student of life and a student of other salespeople. In fact his success at its core was driven by his continual intake and carnivorous digestion.  Think about it for a minute. Does someone as prolific and successful as Ziglar just sit around thinking of quotes to write? Of course not. Rather, the accelerated learning-living-learning cycle just keeps snowballing. The wisdom, combined with the opportunity to teach others over decades and decades gets remixed and refined into powerful, unforgettable nuggets.

Remember, most very successful people can conveniently stop learning because of the fruits of their success. But a few successful people keep pouring the jet fuel of continued learning to really take them to the top.

One thumbprint of Ziglar’s appetite for learning is the preface of his 2003 updated edition of Secrets of Closing the Sale:

Over the past fifty years it has been my privilege to be in as many actual sales situations, selling goods, products, services or job opportunities as virtually anyone who ever carried the tile of salesperson. Additionally it has been my privilege to share the platform with and learn from some of the greatest speakers and sales trainers our country has produced.

He goes on to name twenty-six individuals. And continues…

Over these fifty years I have been a pack rat. I have taken copious notes from many great trainers. In addition I have clipped innumerable sales articles from newspapers and magazines and have learned much by watching salespeople in action. My library includes books and manuals from the greatest writers and trainers of the last fifty years, and I have over a thousand hours of recordings from these and other speakers.

The lesson that Ziglar’s life inspires me with is simple. Never stop learning. Once you master a category, the real master keeps learning even more. What’s keeping you from reaching the top of what God is calling you to do? Look first to what stops your learning. When was the last time you took copious notes at something that you considered yourself to be really, really good at?

You will find a lot of Ziglar quotes if you look, but his greatest secret is not the most citied quote:

“Life is a classroom — only those who are willing to be lifelong learners will move to the head of the class.”  – Zig Ziglar

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Will Mancini

Will Mancini

Will Mancini wants you and your ministry to experience the benefits of stunning, God-given clarity. As a pastor turned vision coach, Will has worked with an unprecedented variety of churches from growing megachurches and missional communities, to mainline revitalization and church plants. He is the founder of Auxano, creator of VisionRoom.com and the author of God Dreams and Church Unique.

See more articles by >

COMMENTS

What say you? Leave a comment!

Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.

The Greatest Secret for Continuous Learning

Auxano is a ministry guided by three values:

  1. Clarity First
  2. Carnivorous Learning
  3. Contagious Passion for the Church, the Bride of Christ

 

Our second value is anchored by the mantra: Lead with questions, not answers.

To some degree learning comes natural and is guided by human curiosity. But in other ways learning is a skill to be cultivated. As I’ve tried to grow as a learner, I have gained one overarching insight; one great secret:

Learning is a free, daily opportunity to those who seize it.

  • Anyone I meet can teach me something
  • People always like sharing what they know
  • I can ask questions about anything I’m experiencing or observing
  • Information has never been more accessible

 

A fantastic story to illustrate this secret comes from Bob Buford, a student of Peter Drucker. In a recent Leadership Network blog post, he shares this story:

Peter Drucker had an exquisite collection of Japanese painting and calligraphy on scrolls, many housed in museums. Peter took three scrolls out every month to display in his home. We used to stand in front of an ancient Japanese painting with Peter advising me in two words that the way to study art is to “Just Look.”

Twenty years ago, I began doing just that by purchasing used art books from Half Price Books and tearing out three pages every day to pin up on cork board in my walk-in closet where I dress each morning. You can do the same. Just find a used book store (The Strand in NYC) and start pinning up a few reproductions every day or so. Or you can buy a terrific and inexpensive book, titled A Year in Art, which has the great paintings with succinct commentaries. Tear ‘em out and “just look.” It is like a trip to The Met with no excess baggage fees.

I love this story because Bob, although an accomplished man, continuously delights in feeding his mind and growing his perspective.

I ran into this quote yesterday at Next Level Leadership: “When a leader surrenders their willingness to learn, they also surrender their right to lead.”

Stoke your willingness to learn today. It’s free. It’s your choice.

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| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Leadership >

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Will Mancini

Will Mancini

Will Mancini wants you and your ministry to experience the benefits of stunning, God-given clarity. As a pastor turned vision coach, Will has worked with an unprecedented variety of churches from growing megachurches and missional communities, to mainline revitalization and church plants. He is the founder of Auxano, creator of VisionRoom.com and the author of God Dreams and Church Unique.

See more articles by >

COMMENTS

What say you? Leave a comment!

VRcurator — 12/12/12 7:04 am

Thanks for the great comment, Jim!

jim mcfarland — 12/11/12 10:53 pm

With Elders, I always suggest including these three questions in elders meetings: 1. What have you loved? 2. Who or How have you led? 3. What have you learned? When Elders lose focus of any of these three questions, they find their perspective altered and focus diffused.

Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.