The pastor came to me with concern. People were leaving his church – long term, stalwart members were leaving. I give him credit, at least he was concerned about this exodus. I speak with too many pastors who do not take a concerned attitude over people leaving. Be your a church, manufacturer, corporate business, or [...]
It would be hard for anyone to contradict that the culture around us is changing. In fact, God created us all as beings of constant change. Every living thing that God created, He built for continuous change. As leaders in our family, business, or ministry, things around us are changing and our leadership should also [...]
“Were you that pastor?” Came the energetic inquiry from my colleague and fellow consulting/coach. We were sitting in a church Bible study classroom listening to the 76 years of age pastor of this small, declining church. At the time of our meeting, the church was running about 12 in their Sunday morning service. This was [...]
The interviewer on the street asked passersby, “How would you describe faith?” The responses varied little. “It’s what they teach you at church in religion class.” Or, “It’s what’s in the Bible.” And occasionally you’ll hear, “It’s what you believe.” All of these responses are vague and perhaps a little scary. Scary in the sense [...]
Mephibosheth was the grandson of Saul, the first King of Israel. His father was Saul’s son Jonathan. As the grandson of the king, Mephibosheth was used to living in the palace, eating at the king's table. When he was only five years old, his father and grandfather were both killed in battle. David, an adversary [...]
In a recent post, I wrote about using redirection of behaviors as a means to reach effective production. Redirecting behavior is almost always a greater way to get desired production and results. Wise leaders use redirecting when a person or team has not yet learned or is not practicing behaviors which produce desired results. Perhaps [...]
In any conversation about the importance of organizational and leadership values consistency of ethics would certainly need to be addressed. First, let’s attack the consistency portion of this thought. Consistency of ethics must be practiced by the leadership of any organization (family, church, fortune 500 business). Consistency is the harmonious, steady, reliable and stable actions [...]
On a December evening, another coach and I met with a church that was in despair. We first met with the pastor who was discouraged and questioning whether or not he should remain as pastor of this failing church. It was revealed to us that this once thriving congregation now had maybe 15 in worship [...]
As a leader, you set the standard for performance in your organization. There may be several ways to set this standard, some healthy, some not healthy for the organization. If you desire a healthy organization, then as a leader you must demonstrate healthy performance through your every interaction with employees/volunteers. The performance of those around [...]
Each person’s every act of performance necessitates a response. Be it a daily routine or a significant change of behavior, every act of performance does generate a response. As a leader, you communicate a response even when you do not respond. And each response communicates. The question becomes, what are you communicating. It may not [...]