Recently in MLS Category
Well, tomorrow sees the last of my journeys up to the north of England for the MLS gatherings. It will be a sad time, saying bye to some really good comrades and friends, but I guess it's really just another landmark along this long winding road towards leadership.
I'm also feeling quite concerned as I'm aware that my last book assignment is nowhere near completion. As some of you may know, this is due to a fairly turbulent time in my role at NSYFC.
I've known for a while now that it was time to move on, and that became official just under a month ago, so the time I would normally be committing to study for MLS has been eaten up severely by getting our house ready to sell, and filling in dreaded job apps.
Anyway, on a more positive note, after much soul searching, various interviews and LOTS of useful conversations with very wise people, over the weekend I was offered the role of Director of Coventry YFC, so it seems all this training may be put to good use after all.
I'm very excited by the path that lays ahead of me (and for my family), and I'll certainly keep this blog going, as it's been helpful to me to challenge myself to keep going and learning.
So keep watching this space. Thanks to all those that have journeyed with me on MLS this year, and I'll let you know how the last residential went. (apparently we're being graded!!)
See y'all soon.
Every time I head up to the North East for an MLS gathering, I know that I'm going to come back buzzing from the great teaching we all receive. And this week was no exception. Having read books like Good to Great, it's really amazing to hear leaders speak of their experience of the practical workings-out of some of the concepts I've been reading about - especially the whole area of getting the right people onto into your team, and (just as importantly) getting the wrong people out, and without breaking employment law.
With regard to my leadership development, I'm becoming increasingly aware that Leadership (and especially equiping, inspiring and releasing TEAM) is a real passion I have, and yet the one thing that I done far less of since joining NSYFC . So now I'm quite keen to sit down and talk through this exact issue with Liz (my boss) and see where we go next.
I think for me though, the key "nugget" from the MLS sessions this week was a small comment about investing in things outside of work that will keep you feeling alive and invigorated.
There's an amazing quote from a guy called Dallas Willard which is so useful. He says:
"It is the clear mandate of every Christ follower to carve out for themselves a fully satisfying life under the rule of God, or else sin will ruin you."
I'm very aware that over the last few years I've invested loads of time in learning LOTS of new skills, and taken on various new interests, and figured it was because I loved "learning" suff, and although that is true, maybe I need to find the one thing that I can really invest in, not as a "skill" but as an "escape" for refreshment. I have a tendency to (when I can afford to) buy lots of small things to keep me interested (& interesting), but maybe working through this whole area, I may actually find the one thing that I can invest in more long term.
This year so far really has been a time of re-discovering who I am - with a view to, at some point, working out "what I should DO". I've always tried to tackle those 2 questions the other way round, and worked out my identity from the my work role. It's a flippin scarey way to do things this way, but it's sooo the right way to start looking at stuff.
As usual, watch this space...
With regard to my leadership development, I'm becoming increasingly aware that Leadership (and especially equiping, inspiring and releasing TEAM) is a real passion I have, and yet the one thing that I done far less of since joining NSYFC . So now I'm quite keen to sit down and talk through this exact issue with Liz (my boss) and see where we go next.
I think for me though, the key "nugget" from the MLS sessions this week was a small comment about investing in things outside of work that will keep you feeling alive and invigorated.
There's an amazing quote from a guy called Dallas Willard which is so useful. He says:
"It is the clear mandate of every Christ follower to carve out for themselves a fully satisfying life under the rule of God, or else sin will ruin you."
I'm very aware that over the last few years I've invested loads of time in learning LOTS of new skills, and taken on various new interests, and figured it was because I loved "learning" suff, and although that is true, maybe I need to find the one thing that I can really invest in, not as a "skill" but as an "escape" for refreshment. I have a tendency to (when I can afford to) buy lots of small things to keep me interested (& interesting), but maybe working through this whole area, I may actually find the one thing that I can invest in more long term.
This year so far really has been a time of re-discovering who I am - with a view to, at some point, working out "what I should DO". I've always tried to tackle those 2 questions the other way round, and worked out my identity from the my work role. It's a flippin scarey way to do things this way, but it's sooo the right way to start looking at stuff.
As usual, watch this space...
Ok. So I've realised that thelast month hasn't been as productive as previous ones (with regard to the MLS course, anyway), but hopefully that's all about to get fixed...
I have just over 2 weeks before the next MLS gathering, and that means just over 1 week before my present book assignment, character study and first project need to be written up and posted here. And that's all great, except I'm slightly behind on the whole book assignment, I'm not sure how to present my study on the leadership of Roy Crowne, and after spending a fair amount of time planning my first project (a large social event for NSYFC team and Executive committee members), it's now been canceled as our Chairperson has stepped down, so we're re-scheduling the whole thing.
So, as you can tell, I may be blogging quite a bit over the next few days - and when I'm not blogging, I'll either be working, or have my head buried in the Lead Like Jesus book.
Along side all that, I also have to come up with a 5 year plan for my life within 6 weeks when I'm seeing Roy Crowne again. I spent some time with Liz (the NSYFC director) this afternoon, looking at some of the basics, and it appears that it could be a fairly complex process, and involve me making decisions that I've been putting off for ages (without even realising it).
Anyway, do check here again soon. Cos there's hopefully going to be some iteresting stuff to read
I have just over 2 weeks before the next MLS gathering, and that means just over 1 week before my present book assignment, character study and first project need to be written up and posted here. And that's all great, except I'm slightly behind on the whole book assignment, I'm not sure how to present my study on the leadership of Roy Crowne, and after spending a fair amount of time planning my first project (a large social event for NSYFC team and Executive committee members), it's now been canceled as our Chairperson has stepped down, so we're re-scheduling the whole thing.
So, as you can tell, I may be blogging quite a bit over the next few days - and when I'm not blogging, I'll either be working, or have my head buried in the Lead Like Jesus book.
Along side all that, I also have to come up with a 5 year plan for my life within 6 weeks when I'm seeing Roy Crowne again. I spent some time with Liz (the NSYFC director) this afternoon, looking at some of the basics, and it appears that it could be a fairly complex process, and involve me making decisions that I've been putting off for ages (without even realising it).
Anyway, do check here again soon. Cos there's hopefully going to be some iteresting stuff to read
I spent this last week at the National YFC staff Conference, and it's been a great time.
While I was there, the MLS group met up for an hour or so, expecting to catch up and have a social experience together. As it turned out, the leaders had other ideas up their sleeves...
Basically, we were set the task of holding two 25 minute "meetings" - one to discuss the future of the national conference, and one to decide on a 5 year plan for the YFC sports teams. That bit sounded quite easy. The hard bit was that we each had to take a turn in Chairing the meeting for 5 minutes.
Now normally I'm quite happy leading meetings, and especially ones where you're discussing big "vision" type ideas, but to chair just a small part of a meeting where the basic line of discussion has already been set by another "chairman", and all that without any pre-thought-through agenda, was quite tough and frustrating.
So, I spent a large part of our time trying to do my "pre-meeting prep" and by the time I actually worked out what the thing was that we REALLY needed to be talking about, my chance at chairman had passed and we we're summing our discussions.
And what did I learn? Well, primarily that knowing what you want to talk about before a meeting is paramount. But I did also come to realise that chairing a meeting isn't about having great ideas - it's about setting an arena for others to have great ideas and encouraging "every-person participation"
So, if YOU have meetings that you attend where your heart is really to think creatively and problem solve, you need to find someone else to be the chairperson. Simple huh?
While I was there, the MLS group met up for an hour or so, expecting to catch up and have a social experience together. As it turned out, the leaders had other ideas up their sleeves...
Basically, we were set the task of holding two 25 minute "meetings" - one to discuss the future of the national conference, and one to decide on a 5 year plan for the YFC sports teams. That bit sounded quite easy. The hard bit was that we each had to take a turn in Chairing the meeting for 5 minutes.
Now normally I'm quite happy leading meetings, and especially ones where you're discussing big "vision" type ideas, but to chair just a small part of a meeting where the basic line of discussion has already been set by another "chairman", and all that without any pre-thought-through agenda, was quite tough and frustrating.
So, I spent a large part of our time trying to do my "pre-meeting prep" and by the time I actually worked out what the thing was that we REALLY needed to be talking about, my chance at chairman had passed and we we're summing our discussions.
And what did I learn? Well, primarily that knowing what you want to talk about before a meeting is paramount. But I did also come to realise that chairing a meeting isn't about having great ideas - it's about setting an arena for others to have great ideas and encouraging "every-person participation"
So, if YOU have meetings that you attend where your heart is really to think creatively and problem solve, you need to find someone else to be the chairperson. Simple huh?
I'm very aware that I haven't written an entry on this blog since the last MLS gathering a couple of weeks back.
Once again, this is because there was so much to take in, and I figured that I'd take some time to process it all when I got home, forgetting that I would be 2 days behind on work & family commitments after MLS, and therefore most of the training material is still stuck in my brain, awaiting unpacking.
I promise to get something written up here about the gathering ASAP, but for now, I need advice on a different issue.
I have to choose my next book assignment, and I've narrowed it down to "Lead Like Jesus" or "7 habits of Highly Effective People". Both look very compelling, and I'm quite into "models" that can be applied to leadship so the 7 habits is one that I'm keen to devour, but I'm also aware that I just read "good to great" which was very business oriented and so am wondering whether something more Christian-based would be more appropriate.
So, what would you recommend? As usual, answers via comment would be appreciated.
And while I think... A huge thankyou to those of you who regularly read this blog and offer wise council & feedback - it really is appreciated!!
Once again, this is because there was so much to take in, and I figured that I'd take some time to process it all when I got home, forgetting that I would be 2 days behind on work & family commitments after MLS, and therefore most of the training material is still stuck in my brain, awaiting unpacking.
I promise to get something written up here about the gathering ASAP, but for now, I need advice on a different issue.
I have to choose my next book assignment, and I've narrowed it down to "Lead Like Jesus" or "7 habits of Highly Effective People". Both look very compelling, and I'm quite into "models" that can be applied to leadship so the 7 habits is one that I'm keen to devour, but I'm also aware that I just read "good to great" which was very business oriented and so am wondering whether something more Christian-based would be more appropriate.
So, what would you recommend? As usual, answers via comment would be appreciated.
And while I think... A huge thankyou to those of you who regularly read this blog and offer wise council & feedback - it really is appreciated!!
And here it is. My first MLS character study.Primarily, this is the result of watching the gandhi movie (a 3 hour marathon) and reading about him on Wikipedia & other online resources.
The actual study is in the extended entry (click the link @ the bottom of this entry), but in case you can't be bothered to hear what I think about him, here's a really brief overview -
He was a really skinny and amazingly focused guy, and you should read about him!!
Right, now for the real report...
Continue reading Gandhi, A Character Study....
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....
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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