Leadership is More Than Leading

by: Larry Osborne

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I find that one of the most common missing ingredients in the leaders I work with is adequate training. I don’t mean that they haven’t received adequate training. I mean they fail to provide adequate training to those they lead.

Leaders like to lead. We love to come up with a vision and then marshal the troops to get the job done. But as leaders, we often fail to explain the whybehind the what. The result is often a team that knows what to do but has no clue why they need to do it – or do it that way.

Over the years, I’ve found that one of the most important things that I do as a leader is to pass on the reasons behind the decisions I make and actions I expect others to take. It’s the difference between raising up a team of worker bees or a self-directed team capable of maintaining and operating within a consistent corporate culture and organizational DNA that is so important to long term success. It’s also the difference between a team that can function well in my absence or one that is totally dependent upon my constant physical presence and detailed direction.

So how do you on the whys as well as the whats? It’s really rather simple. Start with asking yourself why? And then ask 3 to 5 more whys? Write down your answers. Then let your team in on your thinking.

• Why did you make that decision? And why is that?
• What is it you want a staff member to do? And why is that?
• Why do you want it done that way? And why is that?
• And so on.

Asking the “Why” and then letting your team in on your thinking will go a long way toward creating a team that is capable of making the decisions you’d want them to make even when you can’t be physically present – a self-directed team that makes decisions and carries out its work based on principles rather than memos.

Read more from Larry here.

Tags: Communication, Larry Osborne, Leadership Engine

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Laypeople and the Mission of God, Part 5

by: Ed Stetzer

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Where do you start engaging laypeople in your church on a higher level? Today I continue my series on laypeople and the mission of God  by giving action steps to implement in your church. The goal is to get people of the sidelines moving them from fan to player.

1. Communication is essential to change the culture of your church. You want to see those thinking like fans start to think like players. Weird word picture, don’t you think? What fan would you want to play for your favorite team? But God has always chosen the willing over the gifted.

You can’t assume that people understand their gifts, roles, or the expectations God has for them. Actually, based on the passivity in most churches, I might need to say that you should assume they do not understand the gifts, roles, or the expectations God has for them. My guess, some don’t and some do– but most are either unaware or unwilling. Most of the time, it is some of both.

My exhortation is to take the time to communicate vision, expectations, and the implementation of a plan to change the culture. Years ago, I led a small, rural church to engage more fully in ministry and mission. Our attendance was about 100 people on a weekend. Of the 100 about 20 were involved in any meaningful ministry and mission. Our first step was to ask the 20 to become partners in fixing the problem. We told them “we know you’re already serving, but we want to ask you to help us. Would you to take courses on how to find your gifts so that you can tell everyone how helpful they are and then recruit others to do the same?” They said yes, and we started that process.

We started getting these people as our advocates because they wanted to advocate– they were already tired and overworked, but we wanted them on our side. Our goal was to double our co-laborer team. So, we asked them to find one person in the first round so we could get 40 people that would go through this process. And they did.

We slowly built. I don’t believe that you’re going to get to 100% in an old, established church unless you have powers to kick people out or uncanny powers of persuasion. A reasonable goal is 50% to have some sort of ministry role in the church. A transformational church has around 70%. But 50% is reachable– and for most churches, it is much lower. So, communicate the goal, the number of people needed to reach the goal, and talk it to death! Preach, sing, announce, e-news, and tweet it. Communicate the “Why?” in big ways. Comeback leaders take the time to communicate vision, expectations, and implementation of the plan.

2. Growth demands empowered leaders– and unafraid pastors. Too many pastors are afraid of the people. We think we can control them by acting like a parent and trying to make a perfect, care-free ministry world. But when we act that way they usually control us, and we still fall short of the outcomes we crave. And even worse we become frustrated, burned-out leaders.

A lack of empowered leaders consistently hinders the health of a church. Those of us who write on growing churches would say that growth barriers are leadership barriers. These are real barriers and the answer is more, better, and empowered leaders.

For example, many churches get stuck at the 35 attendance barrier. You will find is that that 35 barrier is most likely going to be broken when we go from one key leader (probably the pastor) doing almost everything to a shared leadership plan with people serving in multiple areas. For example, in a small, growing rural church, that might mean somebody is in charge of children and students, somebody is in charge of small groups or Sunday School, and maybe someone is in charge of outreach. However, to see that 35 attendance church thrive and engage in transformation, there would be more people involved, empowered, engaged, and serving.

No matter the roles, as a church crosses a barrier it happens because leadership and roles expand. Churches grow as leadership expands. It is not the only reason, but without it, leadership becomes the lid– the limiting factor.

So, when we get to the 75 barrier, what you find is you often need these leaders to become “leaders of leaders.” As an example, let’s go back to the traditional rural church. At the 35 barrier, your Sunday School coordinator has 3 teachers. So at the 75 barrier you need those three leaders and seven other workers to be growing– and much more to be thriving.

Here are two graphics that might be of help. I am still tweaking them, so feel free to give your thoughts in the comments. Here they are. First, what it looks like to have a growing church. Second, what a transformational church looks like:

For many, the traditional church example will trip them up. They think the answer is to abandon these churches and their structures and, for example, go to house churches, or contemporary ones, for that matter. I get their concern, but my concern is for all kinds of churches. My church is a non-traditional church with small groups, and these principles still apply (and, as a new church, we are not yet where we want to be).

Obviously, this means you have to do more than bemoan the lack of lay involvement– you need a leadership strategy to fix it. Churches must have a plan to empower lay people through a leadership development strategy. If you are a pastor, that will change how you do ministry– spending more time developing leaders so that a broad engagement of lay leaders is a church-wide function.

For example, your schedule has to reflect a desire to engage all God’s people in ministry and mission. So you need weekly or monthly meetings with leaders of leaders, who then meet with other leaders, who then develop new leaders.

Remember, that means overcoming fear. Why? Because it is a scary thing to empower all God’s people, not just as workers, but as leaders– and even leaders of leaders. Will some of them fail? Absolutely.

However, you cannot fix the lack of lay involvement without giving permission and empowerment for people to be leaders. You cannot fix the lack of lay involvement without systems to empower people. You cannot fix the lack of lay involvement without giving leaders empowerment to make more leaders.

Read Part 6 here.

Begin the series here.

Read more from Ed here.

Tags: Communication, Ed Stetzer, Empowerment, Serve

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3 Ways to Create a Successful Blog for Your Church

by: Tim Peters

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When it comes to reaching people on the Web, few online tools are more advantageous than a blog. A church communications blog can help you better disseminate your message, create stronger connections with church members, and drive more people to your church website. Yet many churches continue to shy away from setting up blogs either for general fear of the unknown or because they just don’t know where to begin.

Here’s the good news: Setting up a blog for your church doesn’t have to be intimidating or complex. In fact, setting up a blog for your church is quite easy. The hard part is getting – and keeping – your content rolling so you can enjoy all the benefits a blog has to offer. Here are a few practical tips for launching and maintaining a successful church communications blog.

Three Steps to Make Your Church Blog a Success

#1 Get Senior Leadership Buy-In

In order for your blog to be successful, church leaders must be on board. How do you get them on board? Use the facts. Explain the benefits of having a blog in a clear manner. Tell them a blog is no different than standing on stage on Sunday and speaking your message – it just happens to be online. Let them know a blog is another forum for making your church’s voice heard and getting your message across to more people.

Once they understand the benefits, they’ll want to know how the blog will function – and what role they will play. The key here is to let them know they will be involved without placing significant burden on their already-heavy workload. Set aside a chunk of time for the staff to brainstorm blog content ideas and create a blog-posting calendar. Let senior leaders know they will not be required to write blog posts (unless they want to), but they can still contribute ideas and direct the content of the blog.

#2 Encourage Contribution

While you don’t want to place the blogging burden on senior leaders, you will need help. You don’t want to go it alone. The more people who contribute to your church blog, the more successful it will be. More contributors increases the likelihood your church blog will keep chugging along and not fall by the wayside in the months to come. The key to getting people to contribute is making it as easy as possible.

Install a simple way for staff members to submit blog content ideas or even posts they’ve written. Create an easy-to-remember email address (for example: blogideas@abcchurch.com) where staff members can submit their suggestions or drafted blog content. You can even share that email address with your congregation members and let them know they can submit content (personal stories, upcoming events, etc.) to be considered for posting on the church blog. The more people you have involved, the more content youwill have to post. The more content you have to post, the more effective your blog will be at enriching your church marketing and helping you reach more people.

#3 Select a Content Curator 

To keep your content rolling, you need a Content Curator. Having a Content Curator is essential to ensure your church blog is posting regularly and your messaging is consistent. This is a very important role. The individual who takes on this role must have strong writing, editing and organizational skills. They will receive and review all the content submitted from contributors, edit and revise it as needed, and post it on the blog.

The Content Curator will also be the person who spearheads the church blog. Your Content Curator will work to recruit volunteers and contributors, and generate ideas for future blog posts. They will monitor the blog, respond to comments and keep track of traffic. They will also be responsible for communicating to church leaders and church members the existence of the blog. They need to let people know the blog is a platform for highlights, devotionals, stories and more. They will work to help spread the word.

Setting up a church blog is advantageous for any church that wants to continue to grow and expand. It’s a great way to reach more people with your message, and draw in new church members. But you have to do more than just create a blog – you have to nurture your blog. By getting senior leadership buy-in, encouraging contribution from staff members and making sure you have a reliable content curator, your blog will give your church a powerful and resounding voice in the online space.

How does your church staff generate and maintain blog content?

Read more from Tim here.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Communication, Tim Peters

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Organizations Lose $1.3 Trillion by Not Engaging in Social Media

by: Thom Rainer

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I was shocked. Two presidents of organizations began using Twitter in the past two months. These are presidents I know well, leaders who for years saw no value in Twitter or other social media. As one told me, he had moved over to the dark side.

These leaders are not alone. Only 20 of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies engage in Twitter. But my guess is that many of them will be moving to “the dark side” as well. The evidence is building rapidly. Your organization is at a distinct disadvantage if it does not embrace social media with enthusiasm.

A new study by the highly regarded McKinsey and Company should move even some of the deepest skeptics. Their research found that, while 72 percent of organizations use some form of social media, very few embrace it strategically. As a consequence, the productivity lost in these companies could be as high as $1.3 trillion. That’s a lot of zeros. In fact, if those dollars were the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country, its economy would be the 14^thlargest in the world.

The McKinsey study notes that organizations lose both interaction within the company and connection outside the company if they do not engage social media with enthusiasm. Collaboration opportunities are lost and intimate customer connections are forfeited.

While I’m sure the organization I lead could improve greatly, we strategically embraced social media several years ago. Allow me to share four principles I have learned to this point.

1. Embracing social media begins at the top. While social media is a great equalizer, an organization will not embrace it corporately unless the leader of the organization gives his or her tacit permission. My enthusiastic involvement in social media sent a clear message that it was important for the entire organization.

2. An open attitude for the organization is worth the risk. When a large number of employees are active in social media speaking on behalf of the organization, the risks are obvious. We still encourage blogs, tweets, Facebook posts, and other social media interaction. The rewards are greater than the risks.

3. Guidelines are good, but they must not be too restrictive. We do have social medial guidelines, but we understand that too many rules go counter to the openness of social media. We feel that our balance is pretty good. We have many employees engaged in social media; and we have spoken to unwise engagement only four or five times in the past five years.

4. We often make heroes of those who engage in social media well. On many occasions, an employee has engaged in social media in such a way that we think it’s worth telling the story about what he or she did. Those stories eventually become part of the organization’s culture and, consequently, encourage others to do so as well.

Leaders and organizations will ignore social media to their own peril. Ryan Holmes, author of the article about McKinsey’s research, notes: “It seems noteworthy that the report’s conclusions have been echoed of late from the most authoritative of places: Wall Street. In the last year, the world’s largest enterprise software companies–Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, and even Ellison’s own Oracle–have spent upward of $2.5 billion snatching up social media tools to add to their enterprise suites. Even Twitter-phobic CEOs may have a hard time ignoring that business case.”

Large corporations, small businesses, nonprofits, churches, and a plethora of other organizations are increasingly realizing the critical need for social media. Ultimately, it gets those in the organization closer to each other, as well as connecting to those whom the organization wants to reach.

The case for organizations embracing social media has been anecdotally powerful for years. But now McKinsey presents overwhelming objective data that cannot be ignored. I can only presume that many will still ignore this clear and powerful evidence. And their organizations will likely suffer as a result.

Read more from Thom here.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Communication, Social Media, Thom Rainer

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Leadership Matters, but So Does Preaching

by: Thom Rainer

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God uses pastors in many diferent ways. He uses them to cast vision. He works through pastors to set the tone in churches and to be examples for others to follow. Unfortunately some churches won’t follow good leaders no matter what. They would rather die than change. And they usually get the former for forsaking the latter.

Still, leadership matters. Leadership is critical. And the most visible aspect of leadership for the pastor takes place in the pulpit. For better or worse, the people in the church are watching and listening. Most of them do not expect the pastor to have the oratory skills of a well-known pastor. They do not expect him to have the exegetical insights of some of the most brilliant preachers in the land.

But they do have expectations.

They expect pastors to be prepared in the pulpit. They know, for the most part, who’s winging it and who has prepared. They expect the pastor to teach them about God’s Word. In many ways the preaching event is sacred. The people want to hear from God and His Word. They expect the pastor to open the Bible and teach them what God says.

And they expect him to make the Bible relevant to their lives. While they may be fascinated by some esoteric doctrine, they ultimately want to know how God would have them apply His truths to their lives.

One of the most common complaints I hear about the beleaguered pastors from church members is, “I’m just not getting fed.” Now I realize that some of those complaints are self-centered. I also realize that some people will complain about everything and anything. And some people would find fault if the apostle Paul himself were preaching.

But the comment is telling.

“I’m just not getting fed.” That means they are hungry. They are hungry for God’s Word for their lives today.

That’s what I’ve seen in my research of the dechurched. They were hungry, and they were not being fed. Sure, they could have and should have found a church where they could be fed, but the reality is that they are dropouts. And it is clear how important the role of the pastor is in stemming the tide of church dropouts.

In the research for Essential Church, we found one out of every seven dropouts said the sermons did not capture their attention, and about the same number say that the church was not helping them to develop spiritually. Of the dropouts 8 percent stated bluntly that the pastor was not a good preacher and 7 percent said that the sermons were not relevant to their lives.

Taken individually, none of the responses was overwhelming; but taken in the aggregate, they are saying something powerfully. Preaching matters. The content of the sermons matters. And the life application of the sermons matters.

Any church or pastor who does not take seriously the role of preaching in his church is missing it. Just look at the dropouts as at least part of the evidence.

Adapted from Essential Church (B&H Publishing Group, 2008).

Read more from Thom here.

Tags: Awareness, Communication, Thom Rainer

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What Does It Take to Lead Innovation?

by: Center for Creative Leadership

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Does your organization stifle creativity even as leaders push for innovation? Have well-meaning efforts to become “more innovative” stalled or fallen short?

In a new white paper, “Becoming a Leader Who Fosters Innovation,” CCL’s David Horth and Jonathan Vehar argue that actively pursuing innovation requires considerable resources and deliberate focus — and that innovation leadership is often missing.

In the paper, Horth and Vehar create a picture (and to-do lists) for leaders who seek innovation but have been frustrated by lack of results. They draw on recent studies, best practices and hidden gems, as well as their own research and experience working with individual leaders and client organizations. They share:

• The differences between innovation thinking and business thinking — and how leaders need to manage the tension between them. Leaders and organizations that are able to switch between these two modes of thinking will find a powerful antidote to complexity and an engine that can help them thrive — even during uncertain times.
• Two myths of innovation … No. 1: Individual Creativity Can Be Mandated and Managed. No. 2: Simply Unleashing Creative Talent Can Help You Navigate Complexity.
• Three essential building blocks of innovation leadership — the tool set, the skill set and the mind-set. A collection of tools and techniques are needed to generate new options, implement them in the organization, communicate direction, create alignment and cause commitment. Innovation leaders also need a framework that allows them to use their knowledge and abilities to accomplish their goals. The mind-set is the fundamental operating system of the creative thinker and distinguishes those leaders who enable creative thinking and innovation from those who shut it down.

Horth and Vehar also offer specific actions you can take to help your organization develop innovation leadership, including:

• Create a mandate for change, backed by a strategy that embraces innovation. If you are not senior enough to create the mandate, gather peers around you who share your passion for innovation and collectively approach those who can create the mandate, or scale it back to a level where you have authority to make it happen. Use the IBM 2010 CEO Study, IBM 2011 Creative Leadership Studies, 2012 Capgemini Innovation Leadership Study and other evidence to get their attention.
• Model what it will take individually and collectively for the organization to become more innovative. It is particularly important for senior leaders to walk the talk. Make managing the tension between business thinking and innovative thinking a priority.
• Communicate challenging strategic issues throughout the organization. Use them as vehicles for promoting collaboration and seeking creative ideas.
• Create highly diverse teams to address strategic issues. Help them overcome limiting differences so diversity becomes a source of novel ideas.
• Give people access to creative methods and experiences. Even those with creative potential get stuck. Readily available tools, methods and experiences help them reframe and think differently about challenges and opportunities.
• Design and build systems to nurture innovation. Look for low-cost ways to test and prototype new solutions.
• Champion ideas that don’t quite fit, and network with your peers to find a home for them. Actively break down barriers to innovation, including internal politics and destructive criticism, as well as hurdles, gates and other unnecessary systems.

Read the full white paper: “Becoming a Leader Who Fosters Innovation.”

Tags: Communication, Innovation, Leadership Engine, Strategy

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The Essential Lesson of Tribal Communication

by: Will Mancini

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Tags: Communication, Seth Godin, Tribes, Will Mancini

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6 Ways to Maximize Stage Announcements

by: Tim Peters

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Inside the church (internally), stage announcements are a constant battle. The people programming services, who are in charge of the flow of services, are constantly asking:

• Do we really have to do announcements?
• When can we do announcements so it doesn’t mess up the flow of worship?
• Is it worth it since people aren’t even listening to the announcements?

Then you have every single ministry leader fighting for stage time. They want their ministry, event or serving opportunity presented from the stage. So now you have the conflict of everybody wanting stage time, and the people who are directing the flow of the service forced to decide what will be communicated and when it will be communicated.

With all the chaos and discord, I’ve often heard the frustrated refrain behind the scenes at churches: We’re not going to do announcements anymore. Yet they all continue to do announcements because it is a great opportunity to speak to your congregation as they are sitting in a seat right before you and you have their attention.

Make no mistake, announcements are extremely hard.

As a communications professional and former communications pastor, I know firsthand the challenges posed by announcements. Yet when I sit in church as a member and somebody says the word announcements (“I have a couple announcements for you this morning…”), my mind automatically checks out. It always leads me to wonder:

• How can we better maximize this stage time when we’re announcing what is going on inside our church?
• What can we possibly do to take full advantage of having the attention of all these people?

In answer to those questions, here are six ways you can capture people’s attention and maximize stage announcements on a Sunday morning.

#1. Follow the 80% rule.

When you’re deciding what you’re going to communicate from stage, unless it’s an abnormal situation, you want to ask yourself: Does this impact 80% of the audience sitting inside our worship center? If the event, ministry, serving opportunity or message does not impact 80% of your audience, then you do not want to dedicate stage time to it.

Remember you only have an hour or so of people’s attention a week. You don’t want to waste a single minute. If a message doesn’t impact 80%, as a communication leader you have to politely say “no” and give them other ways to communicate that message – through the e-newsletter, social media, or the website events page. You have to protect the stage with only messages pertinent to 80% or more of the entire audience.

#2. Lead with “the why”.

I see this all the time with church leaders. They stand on the stage and start rambling about the what, when and how of an event, ministry or message. They throw out words, dates and times, and people turn their ears off because it doesn’t capture them. I say this over and over on this blog because it is so important – you have to lead with why. Capture their heart about the event, serving opportunity or ministry, and then subtly and quickly give them the what, when and how.

You can even give them the what, when and how on a media slide projected behind the stage presenter. That way you don’t even have to state the information and people can still absorb it. Then you can really zone in on the why. The why is also the perfect opportunity for you to tie a life-change story to an event, ministry or serving opportunity. If it’s a teen event you’re promoting and you’re telling them the why, throw in a story of a young person who was changed by this event. That will propel and lift up the message to make it much more effective.

#3. Keep clear and concise.

As the person responsible for picking who will do the announcements, it’s important that you provide the announcer with a script. You are the communication leader. Your team needs to write the script with the why, when, where and how. And you need to help the announcer rehearse and practice – not to be perfect – but to move on and be clear and concise. Youprovide them the script and you encourage them to rehearse, so they can be clear and concise on Sunday (not perfect).

#4. Revitalize your presenters.

Don’t use the same rotation over and over again. Eventually, people will hear that person and begin to tune out. You want to keep things fresh. I recommend that you get really creative in this area. For example, use children and students that you have trained, taught and practiced to do the announcements alongside an adult.

You can even video the child or student doing the announcements. That way you can edit and add music. Another idea is to use Skype and pipe in missionaries from around the world to give the announcements. Do whatever you can to revitalize the presenters, mix it up and catch people’s attention.

#5. Play background music.

I’ve seen music used in church announcements very effectively. It helps keep the flow and energy of the room up – especially if you’re coming out of a song or you’re moving into a song. It keeps things smooth and natural. People are used to listening to individuals speak in movies, shows and YouTube with music in the background. It makes the message more engaging and exciting. The key is not to overwhelm people with the music so they can’t hear the message.

#6. Rotate the way you communicate.

You have this announcement time and you can use it however you choose. It’s not restricted to the normal person standing up there for 5-10 minutes rambling on without anyone actually hearing then. You can use this time and space in countless different ways.

You can use a live person on stage. You can use a prerecorded video to communicate your announcements. You can do it in print, where one Sunday you simply print out the announcements and place them in every seat. The person doing the announcements simply says, “We’re moving on in the service, you can read today’s announcements from your seat.” The options are endless.

While announcements may not seem like a big deal (the common thinking is, “it’s only 5-10 minutes inside a service”), you have to recognize you only have an hour of people’s attention. Even then, you really don’t have their full attention every minute. You want use these 5-10 minutes when you’re communicating ways for people to engage with your church in a very clear, concise and compelling way. Lead with the why, be fresh and creative, and make sure you maximize this time using the tips above.

How do you maximize your church stage announcement time? 

Read more from Tim here.

Tags: Attention, Communication, Tim Peters

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Before You Start Talking – Think

by: Boris Groysberg

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Tags: Awareness, Boris Groysberg, Communication, Leadership Development, Michael Slind

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Choices and Your Announcements

by: Eric Geiger

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Tags: Attention, Communication, Eric Geiger, Less is More, Next Steps

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