the reluctant leader

Clarification for my OCD Readers

It seems my last blog - "Leadership is Not Rocket Science" - was not clear. In it I mentioned Paul Barker's "5 Foundations of Productive Teams" seminar (which I called a faith-man's version of Patrick Lencioni's "5 Dysfunctions of a Team" book) Then I listed the results of a Gallup poll describing the top 4 characteristics of the kind of leaders they want to follow.

According to Gallup, people want to follow leaders who... 

    1. Build Trust

    2. Show Compassion

    3. Provide Stability

    4. Create Hope

5 Dysfunctions. 4 leadership qualities. Ah, there lies the confusion. Some of you thought I meant to list the 5 dysfunctions, and left one off, when actually I was listing the 4 qualities of good leadership.

So, for those who need to see the list of 5, here they are, "The 5 Foundations of Productive Teams" 

1. TRUST - Team building starts with trust.

2. CONFLICT - Trust produces an atmosphere where people can voice disagreement, thus creating positive conflict.

3. COMMITMENT - Deeper commitment is the result of trust-based conflict.

4 ACCOUNTABILITY - Next to nothing gets done without accountability.

5. RESULTS - This is the bottom line, isn't it?

I hope that helps all my OCD readers who have been losing sleep over point #5 not being in my last blog. What do you think?

Leadership is Not Rocket Science

My friend, Paul Barker is in Manila for a couple of weeks working with our pastors and key admin leaders.
 
Yesterday Paul led a seminar he calls “The 5 Foundations of Productive Teams.” That’s a faith-man’s version of Patrick Lencioni’s “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team.”
 
I think I like the faith version better than the dysfunctional version, because if we talk about all of our team dysfunctions, it is impossible to put them in only 5 categories.
 
Paul sited a Gallup poll of 10,000 followers about the kind of leader they want to follow. Here are the results, people want to follow leaders who…
 
1. Build Trust – it is easy to follow people we trust, difficult to follow those we don't trust
 
2. Show Compassion – after all, we are leading PEOPLE, not just organizations and departments
 
3. Provide Stability – random, unplanned and poorly communicated change makes organizations unstable
 
4. Create Hope – no matter how difficult current reality is, hope enables us to stay in the game
 
Leadership is not rocket science. If a leader simply does these 4 things, plenty of people will follow.
What do you think?

Coaching 101

Every Nation’s Yoda of church planting, Kevin York, is conducting a three-day “Coaching 101” seminar at our Asian Pastors Equipping Conference (APEC’09) in Singapore with 160 Asian leaders from 26 nations.
 
Here are some quick coaching quotes from Kevin:

1- Stats show that church-planters with a coach, build churches double the size of those without a coach in the first four years.

2- There are smart people everywhere who have all the answers, but the great need is for wisdom.

3- Smart people are known by their answers. Wise people are known by their questions.

4- Coaching is not about giving the right answers, but about asking the right questions.

5- Asking good questions forces people to think and come up with their own solutions, and it forces them to own those solutions.

6- People with all the answers are often frozen, indecisive and do nothing.

7- There were five frogs on a log. Four decided to jump off. How many were left? Five, because deciding and doing are two different things.

8- Coaching provides the accountability that helps put good decisions into action. Coaching gets the frog off the log.

9- Silence is NOT the same as listening.

10- Some silent people are not listening, but quietly plotting their response, ready to win the argument as soon as their opponent shuts up.

God Judges the Heart

The condition, direction and focus of our hearts determines our actions - both good and evil actions.

Speaking of King Rehoboam, 2 Chronicles 12:14 says, "He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord."

Everything Rehoboam DID was because of the CONDITION, DIRECTION and FOCUS of his heart. And, what you and I do today is because of the condition, direction and focus of our hearts.

God told David that he "did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my name." God was pleased with David's desire, even though David never built that temple. (2CHR6:8) God judged the intention of his heart.

What is your heart focused on today?

My 4 Most Important Leadership Words

I know I sometimes sound like a "broken record" (and i know many of you have no idea what a broken record is), but here are 4 words I constantly talk about when i am talking to leaders:

1. Simplicity - Jesus specialized in making complicated concepts easy to understand (so easy to understand that children and uneducated fishermen got it). Modern preachers seem to specialize in making everything complicated. Leaders must simplify the lives of those they lead.

2. Unity - Leading is like being a referee or a UN peacekeeper. Seems like fighting for unity is my #1 job. Jesus talked and prayed about unity a lot so it is probably kinda important.

3. Focus - My #2 job is narrowing the focus. Most of us are not very good at most things, so rather than trying to do everything that can be done in the name of God, we need to only do a few things. But we must do those right.

4. Process - We don't build our ministry on the instant "miracle breakthrough" but with a strategic and intentional process. Slow and deliberate may not be all that exciting, but it works. And it lasts.

Leadership is a Gradual Multi-generational Process not an Instant Miracle Breakthrough

Despite what the slick TV preacher might tell you, personal spiritual growth and national reformation is a slow process not an instant "miracle breakthrough."

The prophet told Samson’s parents that their child would “begin to deliver Israel” from the oppression of the Philistines. (Judges 13:5). Samson was called to begin a process of spiritual renewal and national reformation that was to be finished by the next generation.

We are too impatient and too short-sighted for that. We want it all now. We want - no, we demand - instant answers and miracle maturity. But, that's rarely how God does things.

He's more of the multi-generational process kind of God. He's usually not in a hurry. I guess that's why we need patience and perseverance.

Leaderhip is Action not Position

Here's another simple leadership lesson from lousy leaders in the Book of Judges...

When the evil Ammonites were armed and ready to attack, the sorry "leader" of Gilead wisely said, “Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will he head over all who live in Gilead.” (Judges 10:18)

In other words:
- whoever leads is the leader
- whoever takes the risk gets the recognition
- whoever takes action gets the position

Why? Because leadership is action not position.

If we lead when the opportunity presents itself, eventually a title and position will be presented. But if we wait for the title and position, we deserve neither, because leadership is taking action not waiting for position.

***new & improved www.stevemurrell.com is now online. special thx to danny van ommen, victory/reallife/everynation web guru***

Leadership is “Giving Up” not “Holding On”

After many sad stories of bad leadership, the Book of Judges  ends with these words: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”

Why were there no kings? Why were there and no good leaders?

The only parable in the Old Testament (Judges 9) reveals why good leadership is so rare - especially in civil government and in the church.

Here’s a quick summary of the parable: The olive tree, the fig tree and the vine, when asked to serve in leadership, all had the same response: “Should I give up my fruit/oil/wine?”

The olive, the fig and the vine instinctively knew that serving in leadership involves a “giving up” of something. But sadly, too many wanna-be leaders hold on and refuse to give up. They think leadership is about getting, rather than giving. 

Are you willing to give up power, time and reputation in order to serve in church or government leadership?  If not, then we will continue to have lousy leaders.

What have you had to give up in order to serve as a leader?

Originality is Way Overrated

Reading through Judges I'm finding all kinds of good leadership lessons, sometimes from some pretty lousy leaders.

Here’s one:
Good leaders are not afraid of repetition.

When the Israelites cried out to God because of the Midianite oppression, He sent an unnamed prophet with the same message they had heard a million times before.  The prophet did not bring a new revelation. He simply repeated the story of Moses and the exodus. (Judges 6:6-9)

Originality is way overrated. Better to stick with the tried and tested.   

Here’s what Paul thought about originality:
"it is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you." (phil3:1)

So, if you are leading a small group, preaching a sermon or delivering a prophetic mssg to a nation - boldness, faithfulness and clarity trumps originality every time.

Marks of a Great Leader

Insecure leaders take credit.
Great leaders give credit.

Moses, one of the greatest leaders ever, gave credit to young Joshua for the victory that was clearly a team effort of Moses, Aaron, Hur, Joshua and many others. Moses wrote the account and could have easily taken credit. But instead he gave credit to the young man he was mentoring.

So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.   -- Ex 17:13

What about you - do you tend to take credit or give credit?