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Good to Great
20/10/2008
There are many great concepts and quotes in the book by Jim Collins "Good to Great". One the I particulary like and I find quite challenging is: "Greatness is not a matter of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is a matter of conscious choice"
He also talks about the fact that good is the enemy of great. Meaning that organisations do not achieve greatness as a result of planning to be good.
The book by Collins is definitely interesting, particularly has also published an accompanying book. "Good to Great in Social Sectors - Why business thinking is NOT the answer"
I am sure thinking from this book will feature in future blogs.....
Leadership musings 4
15/10/2008
Leaders are Dreamers
To be clear. I mean by this that leaders are visionaries. They dream big dreams. They are not fantasists! What they see, the begin to think about how to make a reality. They know the truth that:
"Without Vision the people perish" Proverbs 29:18. The heart of the Christian leader should be that none shall perish. This alone should encourage the leader to seek God for vision. Of course having the dream is not enough. You have to be prepared to share it with others. When they understand it and they trust you then there is the chance that they might own it. At this point the dream begins to have the potential to become a reality.
However before we can pass it on there are a few things that leaders need to get hold of. They are well summarised by the author Florence Littauer. She says:
Prepare the Dream - Do your homework. Be ready when the opportunity comes.
Wear the Dream - Do it!
Share the dream - Make others part of the dream and it will become greater than you had hoped.
This is not an excuse for idle day dreaming. It is God focussed, prayer based, word inspired, Holy Spirit empowered vision building.
I have a dream......
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Lee Grady Visits City Temple
14/10/2008
Lee Grady has been in Wales as part of the speaking team at Impact The Nations conference organised by my good mate Carl Brettle. On Sunday he ministered in City Temple and last night spoke at Band of Brothers (See earlier Blogs). Speaking on the subject "3 Secret Key to loving you wife more" by announcing his theme the previous day in church, he was guaranteed a good turn out as wives encouraged husbands to attend.
Lee is a personable, rational, highly intelligent man of God who routes his preaching in the word with an expectation that signs and wonders will follow. Nothing unusual in this or is there? Some of the issues in the charismatic and pentecostal church, Lee observes is that we preacher chases the signs and wonders and omits the need to sound biblical preaching and doctrine.
The three secrets were:
1) Treat Your wife as an equal. 1 Corinthians 7:3-4
This passage suggests sexual mutuality. This is the model for the rest of our lives
2) Learn to serve your Wife
Ephesians 5: 22-33
Particularly the majority of the passages that talk about husbands should treat their wives. Christ heart was to wash the disciples feet. Thjs is the model for men. There was also the sobering thought illustrated in 1: Peter 3:7.
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
This Passage indicates that God does not listen to a man who is abusing his wife
3) Release your wife into her ministry Matthew 1:20
Mary's gift was nurtured and protected by Joseph. So it should be with us
Interesting stuff that lead to a lively debate!
Leadership musings 3
10/10/2008
Time
Thousands have books have
been written about time management. The truth is we cannot manage time. It is
impossible. Everyone on the planet has 24 hours per day. There are 60 minutes
within each hour and 60 seconds within each minute. These facts are universal.
The thing that we can manage is the how we manage OURSELVES within this time.
Being time efficient is one
of the key challenges for the effective leader. There is so many distractions
from the tasks in hand. It can be television, the internet, idle conversation,
Facebook, Myspace….you fill in the blanks. The reality is that time is a
precious resource and should be treated as such. I write this not as an expert
but someone who is aware of the battle for this commodity. I need to deliver on
the things I have promised, to God, to my family, to my ministry, my co-workers
and my friends. All of them deserve quality time.
Recently, I have been very
intentional in the time I am giving to the people who are working on projects
in Ignite. This appears to be very affective not only in keeping me informed
but also in them feeling affirmed and encouraged. Additionally we are
developing a deeper connectivity.
Musing on this is encouraging
me to use my time even more effectively
Until the next time……
Leadership Musings 2
09/10/2008
So many of our structures are top down putting us at the top of the pile. In Ignite our structure is presented horizontally. This is intended to make a statement that all are valued in the team. We are all part of one body. In the plans and purposes of God, the guy who designs the website is as important as the chief executive. The challenges for the leader with a desire not only to serve God but also his colleagues (Matt 26: 36-40) are how to be a servant leader? How does one display this servant-hood? In addition how to one exercise the God given called to lead and not get bogged down in doing jobs that are not his/her calling? These decisions are not easy. If we accept the leaders are similar to the position of Elder then there is presicident for being set aside for specific tasks whilst some of co-workers might be called to other functional roles.
My view is dynamic leadership means that these questions need to be frequently asked and the answers wrestled with.
Musings on Leadership
08/10/2008
I have been considering some of the attributes of a good leader. The postings under the title "musings on Leadership" that I post in the coming weeks will explore my thinking further.
Resist Worldly Trappings
Not everyone is called to
lead but ALL are called to serve. That includes leaders. Sometimes we can
forget this and expect everyone to serve us. Every worker is worthy of his hire
but we need to be able to justify our salary and benefits package.
It might
even mean standing against those that want to serve us that inadvertently
encourage into positions of exalted grandness and inappropriate use of power.
What I mean by this is the people who would exalt us to a level where we are
the objects of their worship! They might ensure that nobody can speak with us.
Their desire to put us on a pedestal is so great that they control access to
our “inner-courts.” This may be the way of the world but it is not the way of our
ultimate role model, Jesus came to serve not to be served. He chose to ride on
a donkey not a grand horse, he had no permanent address, no great wealth and as
people sought to give him status pointed to people to His father.
We can learn something of this as when we are tempted to chase the trappings that the world offers leaders. We serve a king who leads an upside down kingdom.
Availability
Jesus had time for people and
so should we. We need to be available to people. Whilst it is essential that we
take and are given time to pray, study, think and plan, it is also essential
that we are not alone in an ivory tower. We need to be connected to those we
seek to serve and certainly to the team that we lead. In my organisation, I run
a “door open” policy. That is for most of the day my door is open. People know
that they can come in and see me, ask questions and share things when my door
is open.
This is because I want to be available to people. I am there to offer
advice, encouragement and direction. Conversely, if I am in a meeting, am on a
vital phone call or just need some solitude, then my door is closed and I only
expect to be interrupted if the issue is urgent.
Sometimes we need to realise the interruption is our work!
Band of Brothers 2
07/10/2008
Last night I went along to a men's meeting organised by a bunch of guys from my church. Although numbers were down there was probably still 30 blokes all committed to being real with each other. Believing the best, prepared for the worst with a total commitment to Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives. The bible is clear about the value of such a gathering. Psalm 133:1 says "How good it is when bothers live together in unity"
Yesterday, Gerit Bantjes, who as well as being a member of the group is also a an expert in nutrition and exercise talked with is about making positive changes to our lives styles. To be fair there were few men in there, myself included, who not need to lose a few pounds!
We have seen guys fall before and, alas, I think we will again but what can I do to ensure it's not me or any of my mates? Well set-ups like Band of Brothers surely help.
Band of Brothers
07/10/2008
