Archive | Leadership RSS feed for this section

Are The Winds Shifting In Your Ministry?

by on October 3, 2013 in Leadership

I just listened to the recording of Gene Appel at a church planting conference in 2009.  This video is a compelling story of Gene’s journey in ministry and how at a time when he was at an arguably “Pinnacle” time in his ministry he stepped down from Willow Creek as a teaching pastor.  The story that comes out of that decision is a powerful reminder that there are times when God may blow “the winds of change” into our ministry journey…..and move us on.

Listen and enjoy this testimony of God’s faithfulness in accomplishing all that he has set out to do.

Using Direct Mail For Your Church

by on September 27, 2012 in Church Operations, Leadership

Have you ever had a major ministry launch or event that needed to get out into your community? You may have printed thousands of invite cards, hung posters all over town or even used radio advertising. In very specific situations you may want to consider the very powerful tool of direct mail.

A couple of years ago a colleague – Alex Mclean and I began experimenting with direct mail for our k-12 school. Since then Alex does all the creative design and I do the metrics/list building/financial side of our marketing. I had recently attended a direct marketing luncheon for businesses and was introduced to a 3rd party direct mail partner – Modern Postcard. We now had everything we needed to begin experimenting.

Today you can work with a 3rd party company like Modern Postcard and drill down on just about any metric you desire. For our school we work with households with specific ages of children. With private school tuition being pretty significant, we only need our direct mail to produce a couple enrollments and the program is profitable for us. A typical 8000 piece oversize full color postcard would run us around 4500.00 (including list, printing and mail distribution).

But what about church? We wanted to do more with church via direct mail but found it hard to justify the expense being you couldn’t see a direct correlation on how it would get paid for. We all want to invest in kingdom building work and are willing to spend to do that, but sometimes cutting a check for 4,000.00 in the name of “kingdom building” gets a little tough when you come right down to it.

But then……we had a unique request. Our Celebrate Recovery program had an open house coming and had 1000.00 they were willing to spend to do community promotion. We set out to design a smaller, full color postcard and narrowed our list by limiting to one zip code. We chose to stick with our basic “families with children” list and ended up with a 4000 piece mailer. All in – printing, preparation and mailing cost us just over our 1000.00 budget.

Normally our CR program runs about 100 people, but that particularly night they had a 50% increase in visitors. Many of the visitors had their card in their hand when they arrived. Although, financially there is no payback from a ministry, we felt that 50 new people finding this free program as an introduction to the healing work of Jesus Christ was money well spent.

After this very successful scaled down direct mail promotion, we anticipate doing more of these kinds of highly targeted campaigns. Below is the front and back of the post cards we sent.

Click on images to enlarge for detail

What have you tried via direct mail?

5 Steps Toward Your Goals Using A Weekly Review – Pt. 2

by on June 27, 2012 in Church Operations, Leadership

In my last post I gave the first 3 steps to my weekly review:

1. Review notes from previous week
2. Review previous weeks tasks and projects
3. Look at my week ahead – meetings, appointments and projects

The next two steps are the crucial planning for your week. Without absolute clarity on how you will tackle your week, you will be a victim of your schedule rather than a captain of your vision moving forward.

4. The action sheet – this is a list of what I want to move forward this week broken down by roles I fulfill in life and ministry. I want to emphasize that this is not just work stuff, these are genuinely my roles in my life, family and ministry. This concept I’ve borrowed from Steven Covey again and like how his approach acts as a compass for what I value. In each category I am looking at how I will move forward in each role based on goals I’ve set for the year.

Disciple – what will I being do this week to continue growing in my appreciation for the Gospel. This is a “not urgent – important” category that if I’m not staying focused on, will be crowded out. This could include a goal to memorize a verse, study time through a book in the Bible etc..

Blogger – I record my action list for what I want to move forward with my blog, I review my blog post drafts and when I will complete and post the next updates.

Husband – What intentional things will I do in my marriage this week – write a note, words of affirmation, quality time, encouraging my wife’s gifting?

Father – what intentional things will I do to encourage my children? Again…quality time, activities, intentional teaching/training.

Pastor – How will I grow my pastoral shepherding ministry? Who will I encourage this week? Who do I need to speak with, call or send a note?

Ministry Overseer – Core role in my career – a review of my projects I’m involved in and collaborating on.
Operations Overseer – Another core role in my career – review of departmental direction and projects I’m moving forward with the team.

5. Plug the Action List into Google Calendar – In a previous post I discussed how I use my morning review to tackle a tough day. My daily review is really a “tweaking” of what I’ve laid out for the week. I Recognize that as the week unfolds we have to be flexible to the crisis that hit our desk. However, by reviewing my goals and planning what I want to move forward this week, I am able to make tweaks on a daily basis that give me just enough latitude to stay on track and not abandon my goals.

After I’ve done all of this I give a last look to make sure that I’m being bold – but not unrealistic. There is nothing more deflating that moving most of what you were going to do this week to next week….trust me I’ve done that. By have a bold agenda I find that it breaths life into my busy life and provides passion to what could at times just be a list of tasks.

How do you move goals forward with your busy schedule?

5 Steps To Help Reach Your Goals Using A Weekly Review – Pt. 1

by on June 20, 2012 in Church Operations, Leadership

I use a weekly review to ensure success with accomplishing my goals. And when I speak of goals I mean even moving toward those “things I’ve always wanted to do.” Those are typically quadrant 2 activities that are not urgent and therefore rarely get done. Trust me, my success is not based on talent, but instead by using a system and sticking to it. Additionally, I now have a hard time kidding myself, and that realism is a good tension to the optimism of the goal setting process.

The idea of weekly review is not unique to me, I’ve borrowed from David Allen and Michael Hyatt. I’m also used some of Steven Covey’s teaching that the rhythm of accomplishment is looking at your goals in weekly chunks as opposed to days, months etc.

So what’s my weekly review look like…..let me give it to you in 5 easy steps

1. Review Notes From Previous Week – Every Sunday evening I have programed in my calendar that at 8pm I sit down and do my weekly review. By then I’m starting to wind down from the weekend and am ready to to put my head into the week ahead. A critical tool to that review is my handy notebook…..let me explain.

As I go about my week I carry a black Moleskine notebook which I take notes in from every meeting or idea that I have during the week. I use a marking system that I also borrowed from Mike Hyatt that goes like this:

Square box – this means this task I am responsible to accomplish
Circle – someone else is responsible after a dash I write that persons name for followup
Asterisk for important and noteworthy points made in the meeting or that I was struck by during a meeting.

Many of you jot notes on Ipads, or your Iphone etc….and all of that works just great with my system. I just firmly believe note-taking in meetings is critical.

With my notebook in hand I start my review by looking back through my previous week to see how I’ve progressed on all those tasks. By now I should have them all put into projects, my to do list etc so this portion of the review is to catch any loose ends. Many times I find an important task that just somehow got lost in all the excitement…..I now plug that in to my week ahead.

2. Review Previous Week’s Tasks/Projects – I review what I had set to accomplish the previous week, what I did do and what now needs to moved into this upcoming week. There is always some tasks that must be reloaded, but usually this system gives me the satisfaction of being able to see how much moved forward last week. I then open my Gantt chart software and review the projects I’m working on to see where I’m at in each timeline and transfer the critical tasks to be performed to my weekly action sheet.

3. Meeting/Appointment Look Ahead – Actually looking at the the appointments/meetings for the week ahead. I open Google calendar to get my head around what kind of a week I’m going to be navigating. I always have certain times block for actual project work, I review what I have scheduled around those chunks of time so that I have a realistic look at what I have to work with.

Do you use weekly review? If so…what does yours look like?

Next post I’ll get to the critical action side of the review that gets things done.
Don

How To Crush A Tough Day In 4 Easy Steps

by on June 15, 2012 in Leadership

I’m living in a season right now where I’m effectively working two jobs at Rancho….Ministries and Operations. However, the challenge of managing multiple priorities has actually propelled my effectiveness, largely because it has forced me to maintain altitude on how I work with people and projects. A crucial piece to my strategy is a 30 minute morning review I do each day before breakfast. Here are 4 steps I use to kick start my day.

1. Scan my schedule – I use Google Calendar and love it because it automatically updates whether I’ve entered the appointment via Iphone or Macbook. I prefer to use the “week” view even when working with my actual day. This preference is based on the fact that I move toward short term and long term goals with increments of what I’ll accomplish this week. This keeps me thinking of what must move forward today in order to stay on track for this week’s objectives. As I look at my day, I want to understand each transition in my schedule and what it will take to accomplish. I do that with two key strategies:

a. If I’m tight I’m going to put in some “alarms” on my Iphone that will signal its time to cut a meeting and go.

b. I always explain upfront in a meeting what time I must leave so that nobody is caught off guard. People understand if you’ve booked tight when you extend the courtesy of that information at the front of the meeting.

2. Work my time blocks – I block actual times in my day where I have margin to work on my projects. If you don’t schedule time to actually move priorities forward, your schedule will control you. I look at the time blocks I’ve scheduled and enter my “To Do” list (calls, email) and which projects I’ll move forward.

3. Get granular on my tasks – Once I’ve selected which projects need to move forward today, I’ve got to get into the real details. I can’t just put “office move” as something I’m going to work on…..its way too vague. I’ve got to take the time now to see which specific tasks in the project sequence need to be done today to keep me on track. I personally use a “Gant Software” to track my projects and I’ll post on that strategy in the near future. I’ll identify what must be done and “get real” about the time that will be needed in order to do that.

This particular step is the one most people just don’t really think through. Instead they have a big “To Do” list they carry with them all week and on Friday they are frustrated with how little they’ve accomplished. They’ve worked all week, been busy, and yet their projects are not moving forward. This is also why their very important and not urgent (as Steven Covey teaches) tasks never get accomplished.

4. Final review and tweaking – I do a final review of everything I’m going to accomplish and make absolutely sure I’m being realistic – if not – I make some tweaks.

a. Delegate – We tend to want to do everything ourselves so now I’m being forced to think outside that box. I ask myself a crucial question – can I delegate part or all of a task to someone else on my team? This has been a very important part of my success while juggling multiple priorities. We tend to take ourselves way too seriously in mix of what must be done. Many times we need to take risks on other people and let them try new things. Delegate well, provide clear direction of the desired outcome and then let them run with it.

b. Make a cut – Rather than keeping an unrealistic task list, I want to actually accomplish everything I’ve laid out. The only way to do that is cut what I will not have time for. In order to do that I must have a clear perspective on how that will effect my projects. Understand this process is actually very helpful in keeping my stuff moving forward. Because I’m constantly wrestling with what MUST be done and when, I’m forcing myself to remain focused on my goals for each week. Rather than working late, I’ll cut a task and move it to another day. However, I’ve done that with a full understanding of how that will effect the overall project, and who I need to update on that change. With clarity and communication this won’t be a “dropped ball.”

Bonus – Listen to a podcast on the drive in – Once I’ve tweaked my schedule and spent time getting very granular on the day ahead…..I’m dying to get “Big Picture” again. I do this by listening to one of my favorite podcasts on the way to work. You may choose to listen to music to do the same, but I’ve found a “visionary” type podcast helps me to climb back up to 10,000 feet on my day, week and life. I keep a notepad handy so I can scribble thoughts as I listen. I find that when I pull into the office I’m charged and ready to go. I admit that the fact that I live in the wine country of Temecula helps make my drive to work nice too! Some of my team have commented that I almost jog from my car to the front door….its because I’m now in charge of my day..not the other way around.

How do you tackle your tough days?

8 Tips To Realigning An Inherited Leadership Team – Part 2

by on May 30, 2012 in Church Operations, Leadership

Last week I gave you the first 4 strategies I have used to realign a team that is not on mission together and most likely you’ve inherited. They were:

1. Lead through teaching
2. Assess each team member’s strengths and weaknesses.
3. Cast the vision and direction of the team and ministry
4. Be transparent as a leader and empower out of your open leadership.

This week we’ll focus on the “final four” and they are truly the 4 that are crucial to regaining alignment. You can teach, assess, cast vision and be transparent….but at some time there needs to be a call to action.
With that said, lets take a look at part 2.

5. This train is movin on – You’ve taught, assessed, cast vision and let your team see who you really are – its time to send a clear message to everyone that this train is moving on. In other words, you mean what you say. You expect this team to work well together, think beyond themselves, work as team and respond to your direction. Make it clear that the course is set and that’s where the team is going.

6. Deal with disrupters – Inevitably you may have a disrupter. This is someone who is either unhappy with their job, the ministry, their life or all of the above. Don’t mess around – let them know they are not an exception. Be gracious but firm. I had an incredibly talented person on my staff that was a mega disrupter for me. She resented my position and had an inflated view of her role and value on the team. I made it clear to her that I thought she was in many ways a superstar, but even superstars can and should be fired when they aren’t a team player….period! She ignored me….and I fired her. This was sad, but it absolutely set the team on a course for success. Several people who were on the fence made their decisions to get on board and thanked me for it at a later time. You must shepherd your sheep, and sometimes their discipleship will come through the hardship of being let go.

7. Re-align – there may also be some that are genuinely good team members helping in the wrong place. Take the time to really understand their strengths and fight to keep them. When you take someone that everyone knows is struggling and absolutely “go to bat” to find their sweet spot and get them serving in that capacity, you will demonstrate to everyone your integrity as a boss. You took the hard path and spent some sleepless nights trying to figure how to keep someone. Loyalty and hard work should be rewarded – sometimes average or low performance isn’t based on a lack of hard work, but instead we may have them serving in their weakness.

8. Celebrate and collaborate – Celebrate milestones with the team. Look for things to affirm. Don’t cheapen this with trivial praise, but instead genuinely look for big wins that your new energized and aligned team is achieving. Also, take risks on your new team. Don’t shy away from letting them get out front and dream a bit on their own. If you let them run you’ll be amazed at what comes out of this new team.

What have been some of your experiences realigning a team?
Don

8 Tips to Realigning an Inherited Leadership Team – Part 1

by on May 22, 2012 in Church Operations, Leadership

As an executive pastor I’ve had the experience more than once of inheriting a team and realizing they were not unified together on mission. When people serve on a team like that, they typically are not having fun. Additionally, work is usually being done in silos and leaders view the ministries they oversee as personal possessions. This is not a healthy situation and as the leader of that team, you are going to need to fix it. The temptation will be to blame others for your “inherited” team, and although that is technically true, it is now your responsibility to fix. Besides, most likely (although maybe it wasn’t made clear) you’ve been brought in to fix this misaligned team.
So what do you do? I’ve outlined 8 crucial steps that (in my humble opinion) are essential to move forward as a unified team.

1. Lead through teaching
I’ve held for some time that in a ministry context you must teach your team through scripture in order to move them where they need to go. This needs to be genuine, not a couple random verses that you manipulate to make a point. Take a long view of how you will use teaching to lead your team. In other words, this will take time, but as you teach you will see God use scripture to change hearts. That is why this is first, because there are some things (as good as you are) that only God can change in your team. Take time also to open in prayer to set the tone for your meeting. Again, don’t manipulate through prayer but instead lift up some of the challenges and frustrations that you are observing are genuinely faced by your group.

2. Assess each team member’s strengths and weaknesses.
You must get a clear picture of who your team members are and what they’re good at. Frequently, you’ve got someone good who is not in the right spot and therefore may be a bit of a disrupter. Get a clear picture of what the ministry/operation needs and then honestly assess if you have the right person leading the charge. You will also have to be open to recognizing that in some cases you may have the wrong person all together.

3. Cast the vision and direction of the team and ministry
This actually ties in with point number 1, you must cast a clear vision for the department and consistently move the team in that direction. As people disrupt or veer from that vision, consistently point them back, demonstrating your clarity regarding the road forward. Some of the team may not agree or desire to participate in the new vision and that will need to be addressed immediately. Make it very clear which aspects of the vision are open to refining and what aspects are set. Clarity and consistency are critical. Often this very team may have heard lots of grand ideas that were never implemented. They may be waiting for you to just drop the subject in a few weeks. It is essential that you keep the vision clear and in focus on a regular basis.

4. Be transparent as a leader and empower out of your open leadership
Transparency is one of my highest leadership values. I believe you will garner the trust of this inherited team as you begin to let them see who you really are a leader and person. Transparency means that you are willing to show your “cracks” and don’t have an inordinate need to be right or have all the answers. As your team begins to see your strengths and weaknesses they will actually trust your more. This will take real courage when you know that some of these folks don’t necessarily respect you yet. Be wise in this, but do show them you are human and that is why you value leadership based on a collaborative style.

In part #2 I’ll discuss how to make needed shifts once the vision is established and clear.

http://www.execpastor.com/google42e4b534cb699434.html