Kryptonite: The Thing That Weakens Leadership

An excellent post by Dan Rockwell

Kryptonite is mythical material from Krypton that drained Superman of his superpowers.

The belief that self-evaluation trumps the evaluation of those directly impacted by your leadership weakens your leadership. What you think of your leadership isn’t as important as what others think.

Leadership is about others.

The people around you know what they think of your leadership. But, when they’re “wrong” you marginalize their feedback and move on.

Minimizing the perception of others gives you permission to ignore them.

Leaders who spout, “I don’t care what you think,” are asses. They often don’t have the courage or honesty to face hard truths about themselves.

You’re not as great as you think.

You have one or two outstanding leadership qualities. Anything beyond that and you reached divine status.

Benefit and danger:

The benefit of over-estimating your strength is the courage to try big things. The danger of over-estimating your strength is ignoring others.

10 ways to solve the kryptonite problem:

1. Keep your big ego to yourself. Don’t talk about self-confidence. Self-confident leaders express confidence in others.
2. If you are a leader with confidence, you aren’t as great as you think. (Meditate on that.)
3. Say thank you when receiving feedback.
4. Celebrate the strengths of others. Great leaders see greatness in others.
5. When someone says, “You seem harsh,” for example, believe them.
6. Treat others as more significant than yourself.
7. The people around you are reluctant to tell you the brutal truth, even when you invite it. Work hard to get feedback.
8. Listen to those who share your values and commitment to your organization.
9. Listen to those who are committed to your success.
10. Keep saying to yourself, “I could be wrong.” Keep asking others, “What do you think?”

You need enough ego to believe you matter but not so much that you ignore others.

Essentials for Developing Leaders

A great post by Dam Rockwell.

It hurts when those around you don’t believe in you. Leaders sell themselves short when they undervalue those around them.

The first step toward leadership is believing you matter; believing in someone else is the second.

The greatest opportunity of leadership, after developing yourself, is developing those who aspire to lead.

3 enemies of development:

The enemies of development are personal ease, coddling by others, and education without experience.

Growth hurts.

McCall, Lombardo and Eichinger’s survey of high-performing managers revealed the most effective way to develop others is to challenge them. 90% of development happens in real life, 10% from books and in classrooms.

1. 70% from tough jobs.
2. 20% from people (mostly the boss).
3. 10% from courses and reading.

Bill Hybels offered five ways to develop leaders in his 2014 Global Leadership Summit presentation.

5 essentials for developing remarkable leaders:

1. Put them in high-challenge roles.
2. Assign them to a short-term task force.
3. Give real-time feedback.
4. Provide them with coaches and mentors.
5. Offer them classroom courses and seminars.

The best way to develop emerging leaders is to put them in short-term high-challenge roles.

Growth requires you do what you have’t done before.

Hybels went on to describe five ways to design short-term tasks that develop leaders.

5 marks of developmental tasks:

1. Success or failure must both be possible.
2. Emerging leader must have full charge.
3. Must work with a large variety of people.
4. Must have real pressures and a deadline.
5. End result must be evaluated by a senior leader.

Frustration:

Frustration in stretch-assignments is normal. Don’t help too quick. But, frustration that hampers performance indicates:

1. Too little preparation.
2. Confusion about results.
3. Misalignment of strengths with tasks.
4. Meddling by senior leaders.
5. Not enough support.

Surrender

The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message" "Alter your course 10 degrees south." Promptly a return message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north."

The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am the captain!" Soon another message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am seaman third class Jones."

Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear it would evoke: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am a battleship." Then the reply came "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am a lighthouse." - Paul Aiello, Jr.

There are many people who want full control of their life. They refuse to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. When we don’t listen to God’s instruction in our lives …WE CRASH! If that ship’s Captain refused to alter his course he would have crashed right into the rocks below the light.

YOU?

he Three Most Dangerous Mistakes Leaders Make

Patrick Lencioni was asked to present at the Global Leadership Summit 2014 (#GLS2014) on the biggest mistakes leaders make. Here’s what he said

#1. Becoming a leader for the wrong reason.

“Most people want to be known as the person who changed the world. That’s a very dangerous reason to become a leader. People should want to become a leader because they want to sacrifice themselves for the good of others even when they know there is no ROI.” Patrick Lencioni at (#GLS2014)

      To aspire to lead is to aspire to serve.

“I’m tired of hearing about servant leadership, because I don’t think there is any other kind.” Lencioni #GLS2014

#2. Failing to embrace vulnerability.

1. I don’t think you can be too vulnerable as a leader.
2. People don’t want leaders to be perfect, they want leaders to be human.
3. When you as a leader can be genuinely butt naked with people, then they will walk through walls of fire for you.

#3. Making leadership too important.

“Ask your family – do you think that I think my job is more important than you?” Lencioni #GLS2014

The greatest loss of leadership is losing yourself to your role.

Which leadership mistakes are most dangerous?

Happy leaders stand out

This is an excellent post that every leader should read!

Anyone can be a sour puss. Some leaders are just too important to smile.

Sad faces don’t inspire confidence.

Organizations reflect their leaders!  

Successful leaders smile even while facing serious challenges.

Sad leaders are:

1. Self-important.
2. Isolated.
3. Power hungry.
4. Controlling.
5. Distrustful.

Organizations reflect their leaders. Unhappy leaders build unhappy organizations.

Smiling:

There’s no rule that says the more important you are the sadder you have to look.

Dan Berger and Anthony Demangone talk about smiling leadership while we discussed their new book, “Managing and Leading Well.”

7 ways to smile more:

1. “You have to enjoy people,” Berger. Enjoy people because they’re human beings. It doesn’t matter if you like everything about them. Enjoy them.
2. “Trust your team,” Demangone, “My job is to bring out the best in others.” Trusting the team frees leaders to enjoy the process.
3. Care for people. “I have an obligation to find out what keeps our CEO’s up at night,” Berger
4. Connect with people. Both Dan and Anthony talked about management by walking around. Find out what’s happening on the Little League team or in their family life.
5. “Bring enthusiasm to problem solving. There’s a lot of room for fun in solving challenges.” Demangone.
6. “Talk about having fun. You’ll reach a point where it’s self-reinforcing.” Dan & Anthony.
7. “We have a no asshole rule here. If you hire one you just became the biggest one.” Berger

Fun doesn’t have to be frivolous or irresponsible even in financial institutions.

How can leaders build happy organizational cultures?

Check out, “Managing and Leading Well – It Ain’t Rocket Science, But it’s Still Hard Work!” It focuses on leaders in financial institutions but has application for all leaders.

Choosing a Spouse

Wow - Pastor Rick just says it as it is!!  What are your thoughts?

 

“The righteous choose their friends carefully.” (Proverbs 12:26a NIV)

If you’re supposed to choose your friends carefully, you should be even more careful about who’s going to be your life partner. Notice it is a choice. God doesn’t do this for you. God says you make the choice. God leads us, God guides us, and God gives us guidelines. But ultimately, it’s your choice.

However, many people believe the myth that there is only one right person for them.
That’s very romantic, but it’s just not true. It’s also not biblical. And it’s not even logical! If there were only one right person for everybody in the world, it would only take one person to make a wrong decision and break the chain for everybody else.

Let’s say I was supposed to marry a woman named Susan. Instead, I marry Kay. Then all of a sudden, it upsets the apple cart for everybody else on the entire planet! It is a total myth. It’s romantic, but it’s a myth.
In your life there are multiple people God would say it’s OK for you to marry. There are millions that he would absolutely rule out, but there are multiple opportunities that God would say “OK” to. It’s your choice. It’s your preference.

There’s another myth that many people believe: Love alone is enough reason to marry.
I talk to people all the time who are getting married. I look at them and think, “There’s no way.” The family background isn’t right. The spiritual background isn’t right. The personalities aren’t right. They don’t have the same amount of energy or ambition. They don’t even have the same values and goals. But, they “love each other …”

Just because you love someone does not mean you should marry that person.  God doesn’t tell you who to marry. But he does give you a description of the kind of person that he desires for you to marry. If you want God’s blessing and protection on your marriage and you want success in your marriage, then you need to listen to what God has to say about the kind of person you should marry.

Talk It Over

• What are the right reasons to get married?
• When do you think is the best time to consider what God wants you to look for in a partner?

To Build or Not To Build?

A great post by by Jody Forehand.  Ask yourself these questions before you build.

Oftentimes I have found when touring a church facility that they have a very inefficient layout and that some simple first steps could buy them more time and create “space” for growth. Sometimes this has little to do with the building or site, and everything to do with programming or tradition.

If you are only offering one worship service and you are out of space, the obvious answer is to add another service and instantly you have doubled your capacity without building a square foot of new space. I’ve heard some churches push back and say that they can’t do this because they would no longer see all their friends, but if your church’s goal is in alignment with Jesus’ command to reach the unchurched then this won’t be an issue.

Other times programming for children or adults can result in supposed space issues. As a preacher’s kid I grew up going to Sunday School every week, but there is nothing more inefficient than a building carved up with dozens of small single-use classrooms that sit empty all but 1-2 hours a week. At current construction prices, can anyone really justify this as good stewardship? Multi-function group rooms with some small group breakout spaces can achieve similar results in less space for less money. Adult small groups meeting at other times of the week either on site or in people’s homes can also not only solve your space problem but increase your impact in the community.

If none of these scenarios apply to you, the next question to ask is, “Do we really need to enlarge our facility or can we just reconfigure it?” Churches, especially older ones, typically grew up haphazardly with addition after addition and little foresight or planning for the future. The result of this is usually a maze of confusion for visitors and tons of inefficient space. A good designer can help you review your actual needs and come up with a phased renovation plan to help you get the most usable space out of your current building, while planning for future growth and expansion. Pairing up a good designer with a good builder ensures your renovation will be cost-effective allowing your church to grow and save for larger facility needs such as a new building in a future phase.

Renovation is not the answer to every building need, but after implementing programming changes, it is usually the least expensive and simplest way to buy some more time. To quote Mark Twain, “To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Many design-builders take that approach. However, Visioneering is interested in answering the “To Build or Not to Build” question first, and we have more tools in our toolbox than hammers. Our team of experienced staff with backgrounds as architects, designers, planners, construction managers, developers, facility managers, and financial analysts are our human resource tools that each can bring potential solutions from various viewpoints. Our alignment process, facility assessment capabilities, Strategic Feasibility Plan reports, and “Blue Sky” planning process are some of the other tools we have in our tool belt. Bringing all these resources together we can help your church determine if you should move, stay, renovate, expand, tear down, build new, or do nothing…and whether to do it now, three years from now, or never. We’d rather tell you up front that your best option for now is to add a second service and grow than to sell you on a bigger building that you may never fill up or be able to afford. Before you commit your church to a project that might not be needed, spend some time getting philosophical with us first. To build or not to build, that is the question.
This is a sponsored post from Visioneering Studios