Stories and Leadership Development

Lately I've been thinking a lot about leadership and apprenticing. Breaking it down into a process that's memorable, understandable and doable. The challenge is finding a way that leadership/apprenticeship growth takes place in a culture that focuses on the weekend. Defeating the 6.25 is the first step (relationships 30 hours) but what does it look like beyond that? How do we take leaders from a starting point to a place where they fully understand the vision, mission and the critical role they play by expanding their influence through enlisting an apprentice?
The second step is an invisible and it's the power of a Story. There are two kinds of stories, ones that are told and others that are lived out. A Story can catalyze meaningful action and create a powerful impact.
Individuals can interpret them in their own context and experience the values and principles in a very personal way. It's a lot easier to pass on what you know on a personal level because in the end, It's their story! Combine that with a relationship and you have a recipe for a strong leadership development strategy.
So how does it break down?

Perhaps it would look something like this......

Communicate,telling stories about who they are and what they do. Creating environments and systems to get the stories out.

Demonstrate authenticity through action. Living out loud! The role and the relationship.

Personalize, speaking with a values based language in a way that erases the lines between paid and unpaid.

Transmit their knowledge and experience to an internal(apprentice) and external (circle of influence) audience.

More to come on this......Whoop! Kev

What I'm Learning Right Now

Right now is the time I am in preparation mode for the new fall ministry season. It's a crazy time, long days and long weeks as we prepare environments, train teams and recruit new leaders.
This summer I chose an ambitious path for some Projects....Lots of them, Big and Small.
By combining the two I am learning a few things about myself in the process...Now as much as this sounds like a confession, I am sure to those who know me, this will not be new information.

1) I can only do one thing at a time.

2) I don't talk in complete sentences.

3) I am easily distracted.

4) When I'm overwhelmed I become ineffective.

5) I work best with an activator who is detailed and thorough.

Stretching myself always provides me with the opportunity to be humble and what I have learned the most is how great it is to work with the NewPointe Team, the Family Min. Team and the INCREDIBLE VOLUNTEERS who already know what I'm Learning.
Thanks you guys.
Without you my weaknesses take over......I know there are times that I frustrate you and I hope to do that less this season. The beautiful thing is when we work together and God moves in the lives of Families there is nothing like it. Parents Leading their children in their spiritual growth, baptizing kids and creating environments where the Holy Spirit can work is awesome and you know what's cool is God works in us too!

It's a Privilege to Serve with You. Whoop! Kev

Focus

Fact: We all fight organizational ADD.
We all fight the tyranny of the next new thing and we all struggle with the fear of missing out if we don't do something new now.
I believe that we all fight within us (if we are leaders with big goals and dreams) a panic that somehow, right this moment, that something has to get done because my window is shrinking.
What if I don't do this?
What if no one thinks of this?
I need to get this going now!
The truth is we all can very easily become unfocused.
Focus is a good word for us as an organization.
Focus provides us the opportunity to take things to new levels and produce new results.
The problem is that often organizations never get to experience that kind of New. You see, there is always a gravitational pull towards ideas and programs that take talent and resources and spreads them in a way that we feel like we are making progress but in reality stagnating the organization.
Truth is organizations that are built and maintained on a focused level perform better and stay on mission in such a way that growth on all levels happen as apart of the culture of that community. why? Because the practices are consistent and refined, energy isn't required to integrate New things and energy is focused on the true values of the organization.
The Invisible is that growth and momentum is easily maintained when things are simple. Execution and Evaluation are consistent thus taking things to another level becomes part of the organizational DNA.
In a church, peoples lives being changed is the main focus, aiming and assisting people towards environments that do that is critical and shouldn't be complex.
Seriously, Focus is hard, it requires a kind of leader that is willing to say no to really good ideas and willing to push the organization towards the systems and people development required to go to another level and experience reproduction.
When focus is executed well you will always have enough New. New Leaders, New challenges, New campuses, New metrics, New Systems, New energy and higher levels of keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing. Focus forces me to be a better leader it makes me think about systems and people. I must be careful because if I chase the wrong New my ability to go to another level will be minimized.
Man this is hard, but hey, no one said that this would be easy! Whoop Kev

Kidstuf Countdown

Hey All, Kidstuf Kicks off on the 24th of August so fasten your seat belts. Rumor has it that Bubba has come up with something that put a Kazoo to shame. Come out and experience this historic Kidstuf moment as we take making joyful noise to "HOLE NUTHA LEVEL". Whoop! Kev

6.25

The biggest challenge in ministry is the balance of "in it" vs. "on it". "In it", constitutes the tasks and objectives that drive what we do each week. "On it", makes up the systems and people who execute the vision week in and week out.
Often we get frustrated when we experience vision slip and or attrition in the areas we lead. The question? Is our frustration a their problem thing or an our problem thing?
Bottom line, the frustrations that we experience arises from the systems that we currently have in place or ones we are in lack of. Any way you slice it, the culture you have is your deal! So what do I do with this?
First of all seeing and understanding an "invisible" is critical in developing systems that create the behaviors that build a desired culture.

For instance.....

Check this out, the average volunteer serves at best an average of 47 weekends a year. In the course of their serving they are having at Best an 8 min conversation with the leader or key volunteer in charge in that hour block they serve. That means we(leaders) have a total of 8 min. to connect, value and cast vision to each of the # of volunteers that serve in our areas each week. In total, our impact in the lives of a volunteer comes to around 6.25 hours a year. That's the baseline contact. (this is an invisible)
Recently I have been working on a beta test for a leadership tracking/development tool with Mike Conn. In working through this I discovered that there is a correlation between the time we spend with a volunteer and their development. Moving leaders from L1 to L4 (levels of leadership) comes from spending time with them knowing their Heart, Passion and Story. In turn they will know our Heart, our Passion and our Story!
As discovered, a Time investment well over 30 hours a year is the key to identifying and developing leaders through those levels.

But how do we do that?

It starts with the value of "on it"... it has to rise! Secondly creating systems, solutions and environments where leaders can develop by connecting with a compelling vision through a strong relationship.

Translated: Work Boots and Work Gloves!

This process has also uncovered an "invisible" that was disturbing. Let's start here, one of our biggest frustrations is the lack of apprenticeship going on at NewPointe. We want to make that value part of the culture but it's just not happening. Why?

6.25

A 6.25 leader at NewPointe in order to recognized and developed works in an number of areas with a number of staff. When the conversations among staff mention the name of said person enough, the person is recognized as a leader and he/she's value increases. Then you know what we do? We ask them to do more!
So the reality is, we value "Doing More" not apprenticeship. Combine that with a working "In It" mindset you have a recipe for disaster.
The problem is that it creates a leadership bottle neck because when fewer people know the most in a growing organization the momentum of an organization decreases.
The solution comes from the old adage First Things First. Systems and relationships that value what you value....state it and do it. It's simple and hard all at the same time which means I need to be "ON IT".
As a leader in a growing church I will always be confronted with this paradox. I have always said that this is the hardest thing I have ever done. The challenge of being a leader in a volunteer organization that tries to do the things that we do and the way we do them forces me to constantly evaluate my leadership and my practices. With that I must put on the work boots and work gloves of developing systems that develop leaders, talent and personal/spiritual growth in the lives of those I lead. The vision is too big for me to allow a 6.25 culture to exist, I must build systems and relationships that take people to the next level no matter where they are!

Hey, No one said it would be easy! Whoop! Kev