Baseball vs Football (aka, Stop Over-Programming!)

The 2011-2012 NFL regular season will officially kick-off on September 8.  On September 8, America’s pastime, baseball, will almost instantly fade into the background.  Why? It’s quite simple. Over-programming.  There’s a valuable lesson for churches in that, too.

Football is a physically taxing sport.  The NFL has a 17-week season, where each team plays 16 weeks, with a bye week.  Contrast that with the MLB that has a 162 game season that spans from April until October.  It’s nearly impossible to follow a baseball season with the same level of intensity as a football season. With football, you have 90% less play-time to track.  Inevitably, when the football season begins, baseball viewership plummets.

Are you exhausting your volunteers by over-programming at your church?  Yes, it can happen! Typically, this happens when you lack the necessary tunnel-vision to keep your church on track.  Stay true to the important things that make your church who you are.  The things that are outside of that narrow tract are distractions that will drain you of energy.

When you step back from over-programming as a congregation, you’ll see volunteers that are more energized, families that are more connected, and most importantly, you’ll see them building new relationships outside of your four walls.

As much as I love baseball, take a lesson from football and keep your momentum strong by keeping your focus tight!

5 LESSONS FROM EGYPT

Egypt has been a major player on the world scene for nearly 5,000 years now.  Modern Egypt remains vital to world trade and stability in the Middle East.  Since January 25, scores of protesters have demanded the removal of Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic regime.

While Egypt’s situation is both unique and complex, there are some striking lessons church leaders can take to heart from this crisis.

1) The Age of Censorship Has Gone – Facebook and Twitter are rapidly changing the world’s culture.  It’s no longer possible to isolate the masses.  Mubarak’s attempt to silence the Internet and cellular communications fell flat.  Communications were re-activated within days.

Remember, while social networking provides rich promises for connecting your community and congregation, it also removes whatever PR control your office may have maintained for your church.  Good and bad news can easily go viral in your community.  Should you encourage your congregation to avoid social media? Some churches are doing just that. It’s not only a bad idea—it’s futile.  People are going to connect and engage online.  Your new role is to jump in the middle of the conversation and engage it head-on.

2) Paranoia Creates Dictators – Mubarak assumed the presidency of Egypt in 1981, following Anwar El Sadat’s assassination.  The tragedy, coupled with Mubarak’s paranoia, led to an implementation of Emergency Law that has been enforced for the past 30 years.

Do church leaders ever get paranoid?  Umm…yeah. Maybe you’ve had a bad experience with your board.  Maybe a member of your staff has challenged your authority.  A 21^st century response cannot maintain totalitarian control of the organization.  Deal with the problem and move along.  Realize you’re always going to encounter challenges to your vision and authority.  Don’t let these challenges turn you into a dictator.  Opposition is good! If our ideas are never challenged, we can’t become better leaders.  Believe it or not, sometimes you’re going to be wrong.  Sometimes other people will have better ideas than you.  Drop the paranoia and move along.

3) Trust Must Be Earned – For the past several days, Mubarak has made a series of promises to the people of Egypt in hopes he’ll be able to squelch the uprising.  Unfortunately for Mubarak, 30 years of dictatorial rule has ruined his credibility.  The Egyptian people will not believe his promises.

Church leaders should remember that rhetoric in and of itself will ring empty in the ears of churchgoers.  Our culture is rapidly growing more cynical.  It’s going to be more difficult than ever to earn the trust of your congregation.  If you don’t deliver on your promises, don’t expect them to easily forget.

4) Powerful Alliances Mean Little – Mubarak probably had every indication that his regime was powerfully immune with such powerful allies as the United States.  These alliances, however, mean very little to the Egyptian citizens.  They’re more concerned with the corruption and injustice they see day by day.

Church leader, you may have some powerful allies in the church world.  You may be friends with powerful leaders and enjoy respect among your peers.  This will matter little to your congregation.  They’re thinking of the church they attend each weekend—not your influential network.  Learn what you can from their criticism.  Rely on your friends for advice, not necessarily for influence.

5) Trouble Doesn’t Just Evaporate – It seems as if Mubarak, especially toward the beginning of the crisis, thought he could just be patient enough to wait out the crisis.  The energy of the Egyptian people only grew stronger, though.  Mubarak is pouring the concessions on thick at this point.

When trouble arises in your church, don’t expect it to simply disappear.  Generally, these events spread and fester like an infection.  Deal with crisis in its infancy, before it has a chance to grow into a monster too big to defeat.

Traits of Leaders Who Empower

Leadership conjures different images in peoples’ minds.  For some, it may be an overpowering ogre that demands respect and shows little mercy.  The overwhelming burden of contemporary leadership research suggests the most effective leader is one who empowers his followers.  Here are some common traits of leaders who empower:

Empowering Leaders Trust Their Staff.  Trust is a valuable leadership tool.  It’s hard to come by and easy to lose.  If you have a nagging need to dig into every detail of your staff’s work, they’ll not feel empowered.  You’ll be creating a staff of dependents, incapable of independent choice.

Empowering Leaders Defer Credit. Basic leadership principle: Accept credit for corporate failure and defer credit for corporate success.  Besides the fact that no one likes to hear a leader gloat, it models respect and humility to properly acknowledge individuals and their efforts.

Empowering Leaders Know When to Push.  Some of your staff may be naturally resistant to empowerment.  They may have been previously conditioned to be dependent on the leader.  Know when to give your staff the extra push to think through things on their own.  For example, instead of providing them with an answer, throw their questions back at them and force them to think it out.

Empowering Leaders Lead People.  This may sound basic, but it’s essential to remember.  Leaders, you’re leading people.  Even if you have a task-driven personality, remember that you’re leading a staff of people with real feelings, varying personalities, and diverse levels of expertise.  Take time to know them for who they are.  It will enhance your leadership significantly.

Table It!

It takes a variety of personalities to make an effective organization move forward.  Each temperament has its own advantages and challenges.  One particularly challenging task for many leaders is knowing when to table an idea or initiative.

It’s easy to get emotionally attached to an idea.  Ideas make us vulnerable, because we never know how our ideas will be perceived.  There are also occasions where you genuinely have a great idea that needs to be placed on hold until the right time.

As leaders, we have to be skilled in knowing when to push a great idea through adversity and when to table it for a better time and more appropriate climate.  In evaluating when to table an idea for future consideration, it’s important to examine the amount of opposition the idea is receiving, how integral it is to your organization’s DNA, and (most importantly) the Spirit’s guidance in the issue.

Don’t be afraid to surrender an idea.  It shows great strength in leadership to remove your self esteem from the decision making process.  It will also earn you credibility for when you need to push essential ideas through.

Over-Communicate

Know anyone that is an over-explainer? Few things can be more annoying when you’re in a hurry (we live in a hurry, don’t we?).

I’m asking you to become that annoying person and begin over-communicating with your team.  A sure sign of a breakdown in team leadership is when a member of the team begins to feel left out of the loop.  Communicate clearly and frequently with your team to ensure you’re all on the same page.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when over-communicating:

1. Avoid verbal-vomit. Sound contradictory? Not necessarily.  While it’s critical that you keep your team informed concerning important information, I’m not suggesting that you bore everyone with meaningless details.  Be frequent in your communication, but be concise. If you struggle with being concise, try to say it on Twitter (under 140 characters).
2. Know who to trust. The concept of over-communication does not apply outside of the essential leadership team. Know when to exercise caution when communicating outside of your team.
3. Sharing builds trust. When you share information with someone on your team, you’re investing small dividends of trust into them.  They’ll feel valued and integral to the team.

We’ve all heard the line, “I don’t know; I only work here,” a few times too many.  Let’s build healthy teams that lean more toward over-communication than ignorance.

If It’s Broken… Fix it!

Here’s a simple rule for outstanding customer service: If it’s broken . . . fix it!

I was passing through a rural community last week and saw a sign attached to a gas pump that read, “Pump will not shut off!”  That’s kind of important!  I’m glad that I took the time to read the sign before filling up my tank.  This gas station’s version of fixing the problem was simply alerting customers to the fact that the pump was in need of repair — not actually repairing the pump.

How often do we avoid fixing what’s broken in our spheres of influence?  Instead of replacing the impersonal staff member or volunteer, we’ll spend our energies apologizing for their attitude.  Instead of finding a more efficient method of checking children into your children’s ministry, we’ll focus on creative ways to wrap a line.  Avoid treating the symptoms of systems or procedures that are broken and begin treating the root of the problem.  Simply notifying people that a problem exists (or even apologizing for it) doesn’t solve the problem.

Look for ways to creatively solve the root issues of problems that you encounter in leadership.

Push to Retract

The gaff.  We’ve all made one and we’ve all wished we could take one back.  Of course, some of us make more gaffs than others.  Ever wish you had a button to take something back that you’ve said?

What do you do as a leader after a gaff?  Here are a few practical tips:

• Don’t take yourself too seriously.  You’re not perfect and everyone realizes that.  The sooner you’re able to come to terms with your own fallibility, the sooner you’ll be able to move forward.
• Apologize.  If you’ve said something offensive, don’t try to explain it away, just apologize.  None of us like excuses and no one likes to hear a complainer.  If you’ve done wrong, admit it and move forward.  Apologies don’t fix everything, but they go much further than excuses. 
• Tread lightly with empathy.  How many times have we heard a leader attempt to empathize when they shouldn’t have?  In one of the most infamous gaffs of the year so far, BP CEO Tony Hayward commented to the press that he would like his life back, too.  Hayward was attempting empathy, but it came across as arrogance.  Usually, “I can’t imagine what you’re going through,” means more than, “Something similar happened to me.”
• Move on.  Don’t wallow in self-pity or allow others to keep you down.  Admit what you’ve said, ask for forgiveness, then move on.  Time is too valuable to spend it sulking in the shouldacouldawouldas of life.

Safe Place

You’ve probably seen the Safe Place signs around town or as you travel.  They’re from National Safe Place and signify safe places for adolescents to go when in trouble.  It’s a great cause to help children and teens in crisis.

I’ve always humorously thought a directory of “safe churches” would be great.  The sign makes me think what qualifications a church would need to be “safe.”

Would you consider your church a safe place? 

• Safe to invite the unchurched or dechurched without them feeling judged or unwelcome?
• Safe to hear what I need to help me grow and not just make me comfortable?
• Safe for me to by myself without feeling the need to put on a Sunday façade to blend in with the congregation?
• Safe to give in the offering with the confidence that the money is being spent wisely and cautiously?

What qualifications would you consider for recognizing a church as a safe place?

Mixed Signals

On my way to Kansas City recently, I ran across a little shop in the middle of nowhere.  I got a good laugh at the sign to “Use the Yellow Door” when all of the doors were yellow.  It made me think, though, of actions, practices, or phrases leaders may use that send mixed signals.

We’ve all heard people say things like, “Hand me the thing on the thingy over next to the thing.”  I’m guilty!  This is vague, off-the-cuff communication that lacks clarity.  In leadership (especially ministerial leadership) we should work to avoid sending confusing communication.  This goes much deeper, though, into potential mixed signals in our vision and follow-through.  Here are some examples:

• VISION: Congregation should form relationships in the community and evangelize.
  • MIXED SIGNAL: Over-programming at church gives them no time for family or external relationships.
• VISION: Congregation should become involved in ministry and volunteer.
  • MIXED SIGNAL: No overt training for volunteers and/or no clear path communicated on how to go from a casual visitor to a dedicated volunteer.
• VISION: Congregation should be continually growing and spiritually maturing.
  • MIXED SIGNAL: No clear model or means present to help encourage spiritual growth.
• VISION: Outreach is a top priority.
  • MIXED SIGNAL: Outreach is a footnote in the annual budget.

What are some mixed signals you’ve seen?

Merciful Leadership

Is merciful leadership an oxymoron or is it effective leadership?  The traditional American view of leadership is gruff and somewhat ruthless.  The take-no-prisoners style of management, however, rarely produces dedicated followers.  While ruthless leaders can achieve results, even amazing results, they leave a trail of wounded victims in their wake.  Too often, this philosophy of leadership has infiltrated church leadership.

Jesus promises in the Beatitudes that the merciful will receive mercy.  Just as those who live by the sword will die by the sword, those who show mercy will receive mercy.  Leaders, remember to be good stewards of the authority you’ve been given.  Just because you “can” doesn’t always mean that you “should.”

If you find yourself veering more on the dictatorial/micro-managing side of leadership, take these tips to heart:

• Don’t take yourself too seriously.  We’ve seen the Barney Fife/Paul Blart characters that take authority too far.  It never ends well.
• Turn the tables.  Before dealing with a situation, imagine yourself in the other person’s circumstance.  How would you expect to be treated?
• WWJD?  Yeah, it was weird as a bracelet, but it’s an effective mantra for ministry.  Would Jesus throw the book at the individual or extend mercy?

Allow input from your staff and from peer leaders.  If you find yourself becoming afraid to solicit input or easily offended at the input you’re receiving, watch out.