October 2007 Archives
It's been over a week now since I last blogged on here, and the main reason for this is that i wanted to try to digest some of the stuff I've been reading before I went on any further.
And here's some of my thoughts...
I fully agree with the whole idea of level 5 leadership, and the idea of putting together a team who have the right attitude and personality to take an organisation further toward its goal. I also think that the idea of encouraging your team to discuss the stuff that's going well (or where improvements need to be made) is really valid.
My issue though, is that I know leaders at both ends of the spectrum - those who clearly show level 5 leadership in the way they build a team and mobilize them to "play to their strengths", and those who can clearly see where God is calling their organisation and can pretty much inspire anyone to get on board and run towards the goal without necessarily thinking through the whole strengths and personality issues discussed in "good to great".
So where does that leave me?
I guess, the big question in my head at the moment is - "if you work on the whole level 5 leadership and playing to strengths ideals, then won't you end up with a vision based on doing what the people on your team happen to be good at, rather than having a clear focus for the organisation as a whole that everyone will throw themselves into?"
Any thoughts on this would be gratefully received. But as for now, I guess it's back to the book.
And here's some of my thoughts...
I fully agree with the whole idea of level 5 leadership, and the idea of putting together a team who have the right attitude and personality to take an organisation further toward its goal. I also think that the idea of encouraging your team to discuss the stuff that's going well (or where improvements need to be made) is really valid.
My issue though, is that I know leaders at both ends of the spectrum - those who clearly show level 5 leadership in the way they build a team and mobilize them to "play to their strengths", and those who can clearly see where God is calling their organisation and can pretty much inspire anyone to get on board and run towards the goal without necessarily thinking through the whole strengths and personality issues discussed in "good to great".
So where does that leave me?
I guess, the big question in my head at the moment is - "if you work on the whole level 5 leadership and playing to strengths ideals, then won't you end up with a vision based on doing what the people on your team happen to be good at, rather than having a clear focus for the organisation as a whole that everyone will throw themselves into?"
Any thoughts on this would be gratefully received. But as for now, I guess it's back to the book.
Isn't it great that God designed us with the ability to laugh
when we stare directly into the "stupid" mirror??
when we stare directly into the "stupid" mirror??
Apparently, knowing where you're headed is nothing compared to the people you travel with, and I actually completely agree, from a human perspective (which is the only one I have), but I've never thought about it in terms of leadership before.I've also always agreed with the idea that "people are your greatest asset" so it's so refreshing to consider that it's not just people - it's the right people that make an organisation great. My big concern though with this idea, is the issue of hiring & firing staff that don't hit the mark...
I totally agree that under-achieving staff need to be dealt with effectively, but does that mean changing them for a better worker, or working hard at inspiring them for the task? In youth work I've always worked on the basis that discipline is important, but that if your programming is excellent then kids won't want to mis-behave, they'll want to participate, so surely that applies to staff - if they're playing to their strengths and have a grasp of the overall vision, then they'll perform, and if they aren't then surely that's more of a reflection on the leader not maximising people's potential effectively.
But that leads to the question - how can you know who the right team are unless they have a grasp of the vision that you're about (which according to GtoG, doesn't even exist yet).
Am I missing something here, or am I being stupidly naive?
Time to talk a bit about the MLS training sessions last week.
Roy Crowne talked to us about assessing our own leadership experiences and development, and asked us some really tough questions. (see the extended entry for a run down of these).
He also talked a lot about his own personal journey into leadership. It's really encouraging to hear that people that you think have always "had it all sorted" actually have had to engage in a long personal journey to get where God ultimately wants them. It also got me thinking again about an issue that Kathryn touched on at team training yesterday, and it centers around this question - "Primarily, does God call people to PURPOSES, or to specific PLACES?" i.e. Does god say "Here's what I want you to do, now find somewhere to do it" or does he say "here's where I want you to go, and do what you can when you get there", or is it a combination of the two.
And the more important question - Does God really care that much what I do, or is he actually totally concerned with who I am?
Anyway, back to Roy...
I guess the one thing that I was really challenged by during Roy's session was the suggestion that "Every issue that you'll ever face as a leader will be a relational issue". And as much as I agree with this suggestion, there's a part of me that thinks that's somehow far to simplistic - and if that it totally acurate, why has no-one ever said it before?
And also, he touched on the whole area of leaders having a "dark side" - the things that we know can easily draw us into danger areas and damage our effectiveness in ministry, leaving us focussed on what John Ortberg calls our "shadow mission".
The strange thing is, that as a magician, the idea of having a darkside somehow sounds mysterious and exciting, even though I haven't worked out what mine actually is yet. Maybe I need to find a different term to use when thinking through this whole area.
Roy Crowne talked to us about assessing our own leadership experiences and development, and asked us some really tough questions. (see the extended entry for a run down of these).
He also talked a lot about his own personal journey into leadership. It's really encouraging to hear that people that you think have always "had it all sorted" actually have had to engage in a long personal journey to get where God ultimately wants them. It also got me thinking again about an issue that Kathryn touched on at team training yesterday, and it centers around this question - "Primarily, does God call people to PURPOSES, or to specific PLACES?" i.e. Does god say "Here's what I want you to do, now find somewhere to do it" or does he say "here's where I want you to go, and do what you can when you get there", or is it a combination of the two.
And the more important question - Does God really care that much what I do, or is he actually totally concerned with who I am?
Anyway, back to Roy...
I guess the one thing that I was really challenged by during Roy's session was the suggestion that "Every issue that you'll ever face as a leader will be a relational issue". And as much as I agree with this suggestion, there's a part of me that thinks that's somehow far to simplistic - and if that it totally acurate, why has no-one ever said it before?
And also, he touched on the whole area of leaders having a "dark side" - the things that we know can easily draw us into danger areas and damage our effectiveness in ministry, leaving us focussed on what John Ortberg calls our "shadow mission".
The strange thing is, that as a magician, the idea of having a darkside somehow sounds mysterious and exciting, even though I haven't worked out what mine actually is yet. Maybe I need to find a different term to use when thinking through this whole area.
Continue reading Developing Great Leaders....
One of the best books on Youth Ministry I ever read is called "Purpose Driven Youth Ministry" by Doug Fields. I read it when I was just starting out in youth ministry and it had such an impact on my thinking behind why and how we do youth ministry that I ended up re-reading it at least once a year for the following 5 years (at least).
Anyway, about 4 years ago, I decided to try applying some of the basic principles of Purpose driven thinking to my own personal development, and as a result developed draft personal vision & mission statements, which I had pinned up on my wall for several years, but never really did a lot with them.
Until today that is...
Today @ the NYSFC weekly team training session, Kathryn Deldafield (I can almost guarantee that I spelled her name wrong) came over from Ashby YFC to talk to us about... developing a personal vision statement, which was really helpful and has caused me to re-think the whole area of designing a plan for personal development.
I'm still thinking the whole thing through at the mo, but quite excited about refining my initial thoughts on the whole area.
One point that I'd love some feedback on is the difference between a "vision" statment and a "mission" statement. I've always thought that a vision statement pretty much describes the "island" that you're hoping to get to, whereas a mission statement really helps to define "HOW" we're going to get to the island. But today's session was looking at vision statements, but angled from the "how we get there" perspective.
Is there a difference when applied to personal development thinking, or are they one and the same and I should just get on with it?
Let me know your thoughts.
And thanks Kathryn for sharing your insights into this whole area. It really was very useful.
Anyway, about 4 years ago, I decided to try applying some of the basic principles of Purpose driven thinking to my own personal development, and as a result developed draft personal vision & mission statements, which I had pinned up on my wall for several years, but never really did a lot with them.
Until today that is...
Today @ the NYSFC weekly team training session, Kathryn Deldafield (I can almost guarantee that I spelled her name wrong) came over from Ashby YFC to talk to us about... developing a personal vision statement, which was really helpful and has caused me to re-think the whole area of designing a plan for personal development.
I'm still thinking the whole thing through at the mo, but quite excited about refining my initial thoughts on the whole area.
One point that I'd love some feedback on is the difference between a "vision" statment and a "mission" statement. I've always thought that a vision statement pretty much describes the "island" that you're hoping to get to, whereas a mission statement really helps to define "HOW" we're going to get to the island. But today's session was looking at vision statements, but angled from the "how we get there" perspective.
Is there a difference when applied to personal development thinking, or are they one and the same and I should just get on with it?
Let me know your thoughts.
And thanks Kathryn for sharing your insights into this whole area. It really was very useful.
So, I read through chapters 1 & 2 of "Good to Great" and I was pretty much captured by some of the concepts.The first chapter really just tells you how the author (and his team) went about getting the data they needed from various sustained "good to great" organisations, and then made comparisons with other "good" or "non-sustained" great companies to discover the primary differences. The chapter also gives you a really brief overview (and a neat little diagram) of each of the factors that were present in the "Good to Great" companies, but lacking in the "Good" ones.
From Chapter 2, the rubber really starts to hit the road as we deal with the issue of Level 5 leadership. The basic premise is that there are 4 levels of leadership, from being good at what you do, and knowing what you're about, to being a motivated leader who desperately pushes an organisation forward through pursuit of a clear and compelling vision, in an attempt to better the company, and one's own status within it.
And according to the author, there lies the problem - Level 5 leaders focus all of their energies into building the company and developing leaders around them, whilst accrediting success to the people around them, helpful environmental & industrial factors, and even luck in some cases. In fact, the only time that "Level 5 Leaders" seem to look to themselves is to diagnose problems within the organisation, rather than blaming others, the environment, or "bad luck".
It's referred to as "the Window & The Mirror" principle - Leaders of "Great" organisations look out of the window at others when things go well, and look hard into the mirror when times get tough, however for leaders of "good" companies, the opposite is true - The mirror is for the good times, and the window is for accosting blame.
So, what does all that mean to me?
Well, I guess it means that I need to work at being a level 5 leader, but can you become one, or is it inherent? The book suggests the former, but as a natural result of working hard on the other principles covered in later chapters.
I'd like to think I do pretty well at the whole "not biggin' myself up" thing, but hey, we can all get better at it. I think the key thing for me so far is that I need to start putting more energy into my role at NSYFC and less trying to build a secure postion for myself.
And I guess the other issue is "Where does the whole GOD thing fit in all this?" And I'm sure the answer isn't that Leaders should just give ALL the praise to God when things go well - It's much more extensive than that - but I'm sure that there's a correlation between encouraging vision & determination in others, and inspiring faith in people, that God can acheive amazing results in us when we chase after him with everything, leaving ourselves behind and going for the goal.
Not a big challenge then?
Ok, so I'm about to start reading "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. I thought it'd be agreat place to start.I'll keep you updated as I read through it. It usually takes me months to read a book properly, but we'll see. Maybe this whole leadership thing will get me motivated to just plough straight through.
Watch this space!!
So here it is... My first step into the world of REAL leadership!!
And how did this come about? Well...
I'm currently working for a YFC centre in North Staffs, heading up a gap year (ministry apprenticeship) project, developing links with local churches, youth workers etc, and running a media project (film & web based stuff).
...The director of the centre suggested I look into the whole area of leadership training, and more specifically the National Youth For Christ emerging leaders training course known as the Missional Leadership Scheme (MLS).
Now into its second year, the scheme is run by YFC and the Christian Leaders Forum in the north of England, and basically aims to equip and inspire future (and present) leaders to achieve all that they can as they seek to serve God and honour their calling to ministry.
And I, just this weekend, attended the first of 6 high intensity residentials to meet the other team members, get some quality teaching from the National director of YFC, Mr Roy Crowne, and attend the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.
And what a few days it was...
Continue reading Starting the Adventure....
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