Recently in Vision Category
During my time with YFC in North Staffs we experienced a whole load of "wilderness" time, especially around the transition from one director to another. It seemed to last forever, not really knowing what direction we were headed, but being aware that things were definately going through a change process but not knowing exactly what the change would be, or where it would take us as an organisation.
So starting in this new role at Cov YFC, I've always known there would be a wilderness time in the whole transition process, and although I decided to ask loads of "why" questions about the organisation whilst letting "business" happen as usual (as possible, anyway), I also decided that the "wilderness" needed to be as comfortable and SHORT as possible.
However, just over a month into the role, I'm starting to see similar patterns emerging as happened in North Staffs.
I know that I'm asking a lot of questions about the place, (yet it seems maybe not enough), but there seem to be a certain lack in people with answers. Don't get me wrong - the team, the exec, the people I've met around cov, they're all great, and I absolutely love the role (there really is so much potential and eagerness in people for God to do some cool things), so I guess it must come down to communication.
The team need to know what I'm here for (I think they do, but want to get out of this wilderness thing - or maybe just get used to things being "not the same") and more importantly, I probably need to find out exactly what the exec think I'm here for, cos if there are crossed wires on any of that core stuff, then problems may well be in the near future.
Anyway, hopefully a few meetings tomorrow will shed a bit more light on this whole area.
UNITY has to be the top priority - but unity requires a certain amount of shared sense of purpose.
More soon
Here it is - I finally got round to writing about the book "Lead Like Jesus", but where do I start?The biggest problem is that it's supposed to only be 500 words, but I could easily write that about just one chapter. So, I'll keep it short and precise.
If you can't be bothered to read the whole thing - my "review in a sentence" is...
READ THIS BOOK!! It will tell you what you thought you already knew, and then ask the one question that you really hoped you weren't going to see - one of those questions that makes you think "OUCH"!! And Yes, it IS all about servanthood!!
Click the link below for the full 500 word document!!
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.
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.
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