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Yesterday and Today, five of our staff are attending a “Leadership Pipeline” conference in Nashville Tennessee with Lifeway Leadership. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a leadership pipeline is the process you use for developing people in your organization, and specifically over time to develop the leaders in your organization for greater responsibility. Yesterday included a focus on three core aspects of an organization’s worldview, which included convictions, culture and constructs.

The convictions are the values on which the organization are based. The culture is the specific environment or atmosphere in which the organization lives and operates. The constructs are the processes, policies and procedures which structure the organization. The Leadership Pipeline is a construct for leadership development. The overall premise of Lifeway when it comes to the Leadership Pipeline is: Every person needs a pathway and every organization needs a leadership pipeline. The idea is that each of us needs a pathway to our own personal leadership development, while each organization needs a pipeline that helps develop its leaders.

I appreciated the distinction between a focus on the individual as a person and the organization as a whole when it comes to leadership develop. After all, I’ve focused since the beginning of this blog on the need for us to examine our lives, and to take steps to grow and develop as leaders. Have you considered what type of pathway, if any, you provide in your organization for the people to follow in their own leadership development? What about for your own leadership development. Lifeway pointed out that in their research 92% of churches believe that leadership development is important but less than 1 in 4 actually provide a leadership pathway and pipeline.

As I reflected on that statistic, I realized that I have always had a leadership pathway for myself, at least since I’ve been an adult, but while New Life focuses on spiritual development, the specific focus on leadership development has not been as explicit as it could be. In particular, the construct for our leadership pathway and leadership pipeline have not been clearly stated or expressed on paper. As someone has noted a vision without application is a hallucination. Yesterday’s conference reminded me that our team has some work to do when it comes both to defining our leadership pathway and leadership pipeline and then communicating it clearly to others (including putting it on paper.)

Let me ask again: Do you have a clearly stated leadership pathway for yourself and your organization, and do you have a clear leadership pipeline? If not, when are you going to sit down with key leaders and consider the implications of that? Every organization owes it to its workers or adherents to help them develop their capacities and skills as leaders, as well as to provide effective leaders for today and the future. Lifeway’s conference leaders give credit to Ram Charan, a businessman, for originating the concept of the Leadership Pipeline. He has written a technical book on the process. Lifeway’s conference is intended to make the concept more accessible, particularly for those in churches and other non-profits, but the concepts apply to most organizations.

Here’s to being better letters by considering, developing and implementing a leadership pathway and leadership pipeline for your organization–in a clearly defined future, because it will take longer than today!

Yesterday, I took time to travel to my hometown of Gipsy, PA with Barry, our executive pastor. As we drove through Hillsdale, Cherry Tree, Burnside, and then Gipsy, visiting Pioneer Lake, the Burnside Campground, the Burnside Cemetery where my parents are buried, and then Alan and Shryl, a couple in Gipsy who I have known virtually all of my life, I was reminded it’s important to reflect on our roots from time to time. While not many folks live in Gipsy these days (not that many people ever lived in Gipsy) it was great to connect with Alan and Shryl and to reminisce over some of the great times we had when I was a child. Seeing Pioneer Lake reminded me of so many good times while water skiing, swimming, camping, and being with my immediate and extended family and friends.

It’s so easy to get so caught up in “now” that we don’t stop to reflect on what brought us to where we are, or to consider where we’re going. I once heard Fred Craddock say, “A person who can remember back no further than his birth is an orphan.” The statement means through our families of origin with have collective memories from our parents and grandparents of events that took place before we were born. While no one ought to become rooted in the past, obsessing over events that did or didn’t happen when we were young, taking the time to consider who we are as a result of our ancestors is a good use of time. While not all of the memories will be good ones, even negative events can be used to focus our current actions on activities that will ensure those type of events don’t happen again.

For example, while I was at Pioneer Lake I was reminded that many of my positive memories of my dad are from those days. He was a great boat driver, and when I was in my late teens I was an excellent water skier. He would often turn the boat in circles in attempts to make me fall. It was a fun game for the two of us, and when he couldn’t “win” by making me fall, he would simply cut the boat in the opposite direction, which meant the rope would go slack, and I would sink into the water. We enjoyed that time a great deal. I can still see my dad smiling and laughing as he “won.”

At the same time, I remember moments when the boat engine wouldn’t start and dad would be so angry that I wanted to leave. On one particular occasion when Kenn, my youngest brother, had invited a school teacher over to see him water ski, the boat engine failed to cooperate and my dad went berserk. I felt so bad for Kenn, but also for me. As I thought of that memory, it reminded me of how important it is not to let anger rule my life when things don’t go the way I want them to go.

Life is full of good and bad memories. As we take time to reflect on both, and learn from both, we become more effective leaders here and now. I hope you take time once in a while to reflect on your roots, where you grew up, the people who impacted your life, the role models at school, church, in community groups and in your family who have helped you become the person and leader you are. As I spoke with Alan and Shryl I realized how much of a positive impact they have had in my life, particularly Shryl. When I was seventeen and had preached at a morning worship service at church, she came up to me and said, “I think you missed your calling,” because at the time I wasn’t planning to go into the ministry. She reminded Barry of that yesterday, and I smiled and said, “I didn’t miss it, just took a couple of detours before I found it. That was an important moment.

I don’t often go to the cemetery, because my belief system reminds me my parents aren’t there, just their physical remains. Even so, as Barry and I looked at their graves, the dates of their births and deaths, and the names of my brothers and me on the back of their tombstone, I was reminded of the brevity of this life, and how important it is to make the most of the time between the starting and ending dates. Even more, I am reminded that this entire life is a dot compared with the long line of eternity that goes on after this life ends. By taking fifteen minutes to stand in that cemetery, I was reminded how important it is to live our lives for eternal gain, and not just for this life.

I encourage you to take a trip “back” to your roots in the near future, whether that means an actual road trip, or just a trip in your mind. Remember who and where you were, and the people and events who shaped you to become who you are. As you reflect on your roots, I’m sure you’ll come across some memories that will help you to live more effectively as a person and a leader now.

Here’s to becoming a better leader by reflecting on your roots–today!

Back in July, I did a series of posts on “Life Management.” Life Management is a seven-part process for leading ourselves in the most important areas of life, what many would call the “Quadrant II” areas, those matters which are important, but not urgent. Recently, I was exposed to a different framework for talking about these same things by Michael Hyatt. Hyatt makes an incredibly insightful point: we cannot manage time, but we can manage our energy. Hyatt’s point is that time is fixed. Each of us has 168 per week. We can’t manage a fixed reality. Therefore, we must manage something that we can truly manage: our energy.

You may remember that the seven aspects of Life Management are: rest, prayer, physical care, relationships, study, work and finances. Hyatt states our energy can be managed through five “R’s,” which as you will see correlate closely with the seven aspects of Life Management. His five “R’s” are: Rest, Refreshment (physical care), Recreation (more physical care), Relationships, and Reflection (prayer, study). I like Hyatt’s framework for two reasons: 1) The ideas of managing energy makes a great deal of sense; and 2) the five “R’s” are easy to understand and remember.

When it comes to self leadership we must have some framework for managing ourselves, whether we think of Life Management, or what Hyatt calls Rejuvenation, having an actual framework makes it possible to examine whether we’re making progress. For example, both Hyatt and I emphasize rest first. My saying is, “If you don’t rest, you won’t be able to do the rest.” Hyatt points out that without rest, we won’t have energy and without energy we will use our time poorly. We’ve all experienced the afternoon swoon, when we feel like we just have to take a nap. Hyatt’s advice is to take the nap. He says he has taken a twenty-minute nap virtually every day of his adult life.

Hyatt recommends getting 7-10 hours of sleep each night and taking a nap of twenty to no more than thirty minutes every day. When we’re rested, we have more energy and our lives are much easier to manage. If you choked on the idea of getting 7-10 hours of sleep each night, because it doesn’t “fit” into your schedule, you aren’t alone. Many leaders have been taught that sleep is a luxury that leaders can’t afford. Books have even been written to advocate for sleeping only 4-5 hours per night. They contend that the extra time will produce extra productivity. Hyatt contends that such bursts of extra productivity are short-lived, and cannot be sustained over time.

My experience confirms Hyatt’s contention about rest, and he backs it up with statistical evidence. Having just come through a two-week period of working more than 80 hours each week, I know how my energy level has waned. Being on vacation this week has given me the opportunity to catch up on a little sleep and to relax a bit through the days as well. I encourage you to stop and consider how rest factors into your self leadership. If it’s at the proper level, and your energy is high that’s great. If you’re dragging yourself down, then what are you going to do to bring it into a proper proportion? Remember this: the only way to sleep 8 hours a night and get up at 5 am is to go to bed at ______. (That’s right: 9 pm.)

If you’re thinking that isn’t realistic, the truth is it is realistic. It’s a clear fact. You must decide whether you need 7, 8 or more hours of sleep and then it’s a simple math problem.  When do you want to get up? Subtract and determine when you need to go to bed. Most of us don’t like the results of that equation, because we want to stay up late and get up early, but the math doesn’t work, and over time that’s why our self leadership suffers. We start from a point of depletion rather than a point of energy.

More about Self Leadership tomorrow. We’ll pick up on the second of Hyatt’s five “R’s”. In the mean time, get some rest!

Here’s to leading better by getting enough rest–tonight!

I stayed up to late last night–again. It was for a good cause. I’ve been working an inordinate number of hours, so Nancy and I stayed up after I got home from a meeting at 9:30 pm. We talked and watched a couple episodes of our favorite Netflix show, Heartland. When we looked at the clock it was 12:14 am. That meant if we were going to get eight hours of sleep, we would need to be in bed until at least 8:14 am. Of course, that wasn’t going to happen, so we cheated our sleep hours and got up at 6:30, which is one of the reasons why this post is late.

As we’ve considered the changing of seasons the last couple of days, we’ve focused on reflecting on time and planning our time. Those habits are crucial to our growth, as is living our time effectively. While staying up until 12:14 am with one’s spouse is a good thing, in the overall scheme of things, it isn’t the best thing. Once in a while, such an activity may be necessary, but when it becomes a habit, it means failing to take the greatest advantage of our time our ultimate non-renewable resource. So many times over the years, I’ve read someone’s post or article about choosing the best over the better or the good, and said, “Amen.” I know how important that choice is for living a life that is effective.

But then again, to know and not to do is really not to know. How many times can a leader say, “I know,” while not doing what he or she “knows,” and really claim to know whatever the piece of knowledge is supposed to be. As I’ve said to myself and others so many times Information – Application = Information, but Information + Application = Transformation. As we read and even write leadership advice the key question becomes, “When am I going to apply what I’m reading or writing on a consistent basis in my own life?”

I love investing time with Nancy and I need to do it. It is a Quadrant II activity, and my marriage grows when I do it. That is a good thing, a great thing. But. There’s often a but after such statements in my life it seems. But, as good and even great as it is to invest time with Nancy, in the grand scheme, I need to make sure I’m doing that great activity in a timely manner. Last night I needed to connect with Nancy. I could have done that and then gone to bed at 10:00 or 10:30 pm. That would have meant getting up at 6:00 or 6:30 (as I did), but being well-rested and being better equipped to live today effectively. To be sure, I’ll live today effectively, but not as effectively as if I were well-rested. And missing out on a couple hours of sleep isn’t a rare occurrence for me, I do it often.

That means there’s a cumulative effect. Conventional wisdom might say, “Yes, but think of all the extra hours of time you’re getting by not ‘wasting’ them on sleep.” Indeed, we often applaud those who sleep only 4-6 hours a night and “maximize” their time. Time is a nonrenewable resource, so we pat folks on the back for living 18-20 hours a day rather than only 16-17. The fallacy in that kind of thinking as we’ve mentioned in previous posts is over time those “extra” hours of awake time are gained at the expense of our long term physical and mental health, as well as our spiritual health.

Once again, as I’m encouraging you to make the most of the time, by getting enough rest, I’m talking to myself first. While getting enough rest is viewed by many as a “waste” of time, it’s part of “sharpening the saw,” of ensuring that our most important tools: our bodies, souls and spirits, are sharp, renewed and refreshed as we plan and live each day. I’m feeling a little groggy right now, even as I’m being productive with my time. I apologize that this post is getting to you later than usual. I typically write my posts the day before their posted so those of you who are effective with your time and get up early can include reading them in your morning routine. I’m investing some time today in big picture planning once again, because I’m seeing my effectiveness waning a bit, and I’m living with more “spontaneity.” I put spontaneity in quotes, because that’s a euphemism for lack of planning.

Again, spontaneity can be a great thing. When I have planned effectively and have margin in the area of time in my life, spontaneous opportunities add spice and fun. On the other hand, when I’ve failed to plan and have no margin, spontaneous opportunities present one more challenge to managing my time and my life effectively. In order to lead as effectively as possible, we must start with leading ourselves, and that always starts with  planning and living our time in ways that maximize them to God’s glory and our gain. As we do that, those we lead will also gain, because our investment of time in the matters of life that matter most will mean they receive the maximum benefit from our lives, too.

Here’s to leading better by maximizing our ultimate nonrenewable resource–time–today!

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been in the process of finishing up the publication of my third book A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Beach* (When an Extraordinary God Reveals Himself to Ordinary People). I’m writing about that here for a couple of reasons. First, I want to let any of you who are writers know that I’ve had a positive experience with Xulon Press, who is a Christian self-publishing company that markets several different book packages from a basic to an elite version. I went with the elite version and am glad I did. I had forgotten that the elite package included a video trailer for the book, but it does, and the trailer was release on Friday. If you’d like to take a look, you can find it at: GodTube: http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=191FJJNU
YouTube: https://youtu.be/yZfYnnMpGfk

The other reason I’m writing about finishing my third book is to encourage you who may be ENFP, as I am, to stick with your dreams whatever they may be, particularly if they are in the area of legacy building. A couple of years ago I heard Mark Batterson say the reason he writes books is for his grandchildren. What he meant by that is what is written down may be passed on from one generation to the next. The moment I heard him say that, I realized that all the unwritten books I have outlined need to be written. They need to be written, because I can leave a legacy to unborn generations through those recored words. So can you!

If it isn’t writing books, maybe it’s journaling, or photo journaling, or video recording that will be your media for leaving your legacy. As leaders we need to be focused both on today and the future. If we’re always focused on the future, we miss out on the opportunities today presents to us. If we’re only focused on the day, we’ll live in the moment, and forget that we have something to offer those who come after us. The worst thing of all is if we live in the past, regretting what we did or didn’t do, and missing out on the opportunities to live today to the fullest and plan for the future.

What is it that you want to do that will last after your lifetime? Having just completed a book project, and getting into the marketing phase, I know I need to keep my attention on the here and now, because I believe the book has value to others and want to get it into the hands of as many people as possible. At the same time, I need to start on the next book. At this moment I have a couple dozen book outlines, and if I write one a year, I’ll need to live to 84 to complete them. I’d prefer to write several books a year, and add more to the list of books I’ll write, so i can leave a legacy to future generations that is not just quantitively significant, but much more importantly qualitatively significant.

I urge you to take some time today, tomorrow or sometime this week to consider what your legacy may be, and to start to plan for its development. Schedule some time each week, if not daily then at least weekly to flesh it out and see that it becomes a reality over time. I know the satisfaction I’ve had over the past several days as people have come up to me and said, “I just read your book, and it impacted more,” or “I just read your book on my Kindle, and I’m ordering the book, because I want to highlight so many passages to remember for the future,” or “I read your book in one sitting, and I don’t usually do that. I couldn’t put it down,” makes the time and effort put into worth well.

Here’s to leading better, by taking the time to start planning and carrying out your legacy plan–today!

For decades I’ve heard people such as John Maxwell, Bill Hybels and Rick Warren say, “Vision leaks.” In other words as leaders we may think that we don’t have to remind folks of the vision over and over again, because since it’s always in the front of our minds, we think it’s always in the front of theirs as well. The truth is most people have a great deal on their minds, and the vision for your business, church or other organization may not be one of them, even if they work for the company or serve on the staff of the church or organization. That’s why we must always remember to cast vision regularly.

How often is regularly? The short answer is when we think we have cast the vision too much, when we think people are sick of hearing about it, we have probably started to cast it enough. At New Life our mission is To share, grow and live the new life of Jesus Christ with the world–one person at a time. Of course we print that at the bottom of our letterhead paper, notes we send to one another, and other official documents of the church. I say it regularly in weekend messages. When I sit with a group of folks from the church to talk about what’s going on at the church or to introduce a new ministry or opportunity, I always remind them of how it fits into our mission. That may seem like overkill, but it’s simply making sure that the mission is always out in front of people.

Some people are willing to go with the flow, but other leaders are going to want to know not only what we’re going to do, or how we’re going to do it, but why we’re doing it in the first place. Casting vision let’s folks know why. Every time we introduce anything at New Life we let folks know why it fits in with our mission. Some will go along with what we’re doing because of along relationship. Others will go along, because they’re agreeable. Still others will go along, because anything new seems better than what we’ve been doing. But a significant core of people are going to want to know why we’re doing something new or different. Casting vision helps all of those folks but particularly the latter group.

If you are in the midst of introducing something new, or you have introduced a new initiative over the past couple of week or months, but it doesn’t seem to be gaining a lot of traction, it’s probably time to cast the vision for it again. Remember vision leaks so you need to keep casting it again and again. Don’t let your familiarity lead to the false assumption that you have “finished” casting vision. Unless the project is complete, or the task is accomplished, your need to cast vision continues.

Remember, too, you can’t delegate casting vision to someone else. While others on the team need to be able to articulate the vision, if you are the primary vision caster, you are the one who must steward that position well. When I say your must steward the position well, I mean that you have been entrusted the vision either by God, or the board of directors, or you have birthed the vision yourself. In any case, no one but you can be as effective in casting and translating the vision to others. While every vision needs buy-in if it’s going to be adopted and accomplished, you need to be the one who champions the vision whenever you can.

Please, remember, if you are the primary leader in the organization, you are the primary vision caster, and your consistency and persistence in getting the vision before others, will be the main impetus for its becoming a reality.

Here’s to leading better by casting the vision–again–today!

As leaders we all face those times when the plate is overflowing. We have more to do than hours in the day to do it. I’m in one of those times right now. This wave will last for two weeks. It was created by my being away for two weeks in Cambodia, and by special meetings nearly every evening for the next two weeks to introduce an important new initiative at New Life. We all have these periods, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed in the midst of them. What can we do to thrive in the midst of such moments, times or seasons?

Remember to plan. When there’s so much to do, it’s easy to think, “I don’t have time to plan. I’ll use my planning time to get more done.” This is like the lumberjack who decides because he has so many trees to cut down, he doesn’t have time to sharpen his ax. Planning time doesn’t take time it opens us to see what really needs to be done. The best thing we can do in the middle of hectic times is make sure our “to not do” list is full. In other words, if we don’t take the time to prioritize what we must do, we may well end up filling time doing tasks we ought not be doing at all. As Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have said, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Delegate. What tasks do you have on your plate that could be done more effectively by someone else? You may not have a staff to help you, but you probably have someone who would like to help you with some of the items on your plate. Over the years I’ve found out that some of the tasks I dread, and therefore which take up a lot of time are enjoyable to others. I hesitate to delegate them because they seem so tedious or mundane or challenging to me, but in the hands of someone else they are enjoyable. If you have a team with whom you work, be sure to delegate the tasks you can.

Did I mention planning?

Stay on task. One of the things I’ve often found myself doing in these hectic times is getting sidetracked by things that don’t matter. The other day I started to listen to the Pirates’ game. (Pittsburgh Pirates for those of you who don’t know.) When I turned on the radio the score was 8-0. The Pirates were losing. I immediately turned off the radio and turned my attention to an audio book I’ve been reading that will help me with the tasks at hand. It was a wise choice. I was in the car anyway, so I could have listened to the Pirates, because I didn’t have anything else to do. My wise decision followed by the action of changing focus meant a half hour used to gain more insight.

Did I mention planning?

Rest. While it seems counterintuitive to rest in the midst of hectic times, staying rested both with enough sleep at night, and sometimes by taking a short nap during the day, means greater focus, stamina, and even staying healthy through the season of greater activity. I’ve been having a challenge with this one, because since coming back from Cambodia my sleep rhythms have been out of balance, but getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night and taking a short 20-30 minute nap sometime during the day, helps most people to focus more fully on the tasks at hand.

And make sure you remember to plan!

Here’s to leading better through the hectic times by planning, delegating, staying on task and resting–today!

One of the best things about being human beings is the ability to separate the past from the present and future. I say that because if we were locked into constantly rehearsing the failures of yesterday, last week, last month–you get the idea–we would never be able to move forward. In one of my favorite Bible passages Jeremiah reminds us that God’s grace is fresh every morning. Every day is a new beginning when we let God’s grace prevail in our lives. Jeremiah knew that and he lived long before Jesus came to the earth to demonstrate the fullness of God’s grace on our behalf by living a perfect life and then dying a sacrificial death in our places on the cross.

I bring that up today, because we’re in a season of new beginnings here in America. While the New Year is celebrated in January, and is often a time when people “turn over a new leaf,” make resolutions to initiate new beginnings, and to improve themselves, September is another time when many Americans launch new beginnings. For many that’s because September launches a new school year. Families get back to some semblance of routine after the summer when vacations and other activities break up those routines. That makes September is a great time to launch new beginnings.

As a leader, what are some new beginnings you need to initiate? Do you need to revise or totally rework your daily routine? Have you been intending to work out, or invest more time alone with God, or read more, or ______? What is it that will make you more effective as a person, a spouse, parent or child, and as a leader? When was the last time you sat down and asked yourself those questions. At New Life we just launched a new series titled “Engage!” The purpose of the series is to help us engage our lives in focused intentional ways, so they will make a greater difference. Is you living life fully engaged right now? Do you know what that means for you?

That last paragraph raises many questions, but as we remind ourselves time and time again: the unexamined life is not worth living. Questions are a key means of examining our lives. If we don’t like the answers, we need to initiate some new beginnings. If we do like the answers, we’ll need to receive that fresh grace every morning and move forward into the future with consistency and diligence.

I am in a time of launching new beginnings that started a couple of weeks before I left for Cambodia. As I started to plan the fall, I realized that I had drifted back into some habits that weren’t helping me engage my life fully. Some were simple physical habits such as drinking too much caffeine, not eating well overall, and not getting enough exercise. I cycle in and out of self-leadership in these areas, and realized I had been in an out cycle for several months. Eliminating caffeine from my diet again has helped me jumpstart the fall of new beginnings in the physical arena of life. Although every time I have done so, doesn’t feel like a “jumpstart” for a few weeks.

Now, I’m addressing my alone time with God at the start of each day, and the way I approach reading and studying Scripture, as well as reading leadership books from the business and Christian arenas. The “Quadrant II” activities are never easy to give their proper priority since the rest of the quadrants scream, while Quadrant II waits quietly and patiently for us to address it. Life management is always a challenge for me, and if it is for you, new beginnings are probably a regular part of your life, or need to be.

Why not take ten minutes right now and ask yourself this simple question: What new beginnings do I need to initiate this month in order to be more effective as a leader? Take the time to really reflect on the question. Take some notes. If it turns into more than ten minutes great. If you’re already in the groove with your plan for approaching life effectively, wonderful! Remember every day is a new beginning, and God offers fresh grace to go with each one, so living life fully engaged is an opportunity we can all experience daily.

Here’s to leading better by considering which new beginnings will move us toward full engagement in our lives and then putting them into practice–today!

One of the most important aspects of the Cambodia trip from a big picture perspective was the relationship-building time we had with two government officials. While we did carry out some business during the two meetings, each of which lasted for two hours, most of the time was devoted to building and deepening relationships. Without relationships leadership is nothing more than a matter of position. John Maxwell reminded us a long time ago, when he outlined his five levels of leadership that the lowest level is the “positional” level. At this level the followers follow only because the leader has positional authority. For example, I am a pastor, but if my only authority in a person’s life is because I hold that position, I won’t hold much influence.

During the Cambodia trip we met with the new governor of the Bantay Meanchey Province. The key word is “new” governor. We already had a relationship with the previous governor, and are in the process of helping develop programs in the nine school districts of the province that will ensure better futures for the children and young people who attend the schools there. This is vital and far-reaching work. We need the governor’s support and help. Far more important, we want the governor’s friendship and goodwill. All true growth between people and even nations travels a relational bridge. That’s why Maxwell’s second level of leadership is the “relational” level. At the relational level of leadership the follower follows the leader or receives influence from the leader, because of the personal connection between the two. The follower moves from following because he or she has to, because he or she wants to follow. There is a like factor in the relationship.

Of course, leaders must genuinely want to be in relationship with those they lead, and as in the case of our relationship with the deputy prime minister and governor there is more of a peer relationship than a leader-follower relationship. Even so, relationship comes before ministry. If you’re thinking, “I lead a business, so this doesn’t apply to me, I would think again.” After all, if you lead a work group, or even the executive team at your work, you won’t accomplish a great deal if those you lead see you only from a positional level of leadership. They will do what they have to do to follow your direction, but they may not like it. They certainly won’t have an incentive to want to follow your direction.

Relationships are always vital to us as leaders, because we are leading people not objects. When we care about those we lead they know it. They also know when we don’t. The synergy that comes when we are leading people we know and care about and the same is true of them for us means far better results than can ever be achieved by focusing on the task alone. Always remember: Relationship before ministry.

Here’s to leading better, but deepening relationships–today!

Yesterday we opened the topic of accountability for leaders. Today let’s focus on what it looks like to have a structured approach to an accountability relationship. While I’m more of a non-structured type of person by nature, I have found that at the start of any formal relationship it’s better to have structure. Over time the structure may relax, or it may always stay in place as a framework for effective accountability. After all, an accountability relationship will become a friendship over time, and your accountability partner may even become one of your best friends, but the purpose of the relationship is mutual growth through accountability.

The type of accountability relationship you’re developing will determine the type of structure that works best for you. For example, when my accountability and I started to meet our goal was to become more effective followers of Jesus as men, husbands, dads and through our work. While that was an ambitious emphasis, those roles overlap in everyday life. Because our goal was mainly growth and accountability in our spiritual lives, we used specific books designed for either Christian growth or accountability as the basis for our meetings. One of the books was titled Discipleship Essentials. The book contained twenty-four lessons designed to help the participant develop essential skills for living as a disciple of Jesus Christ. We worked our way through the lessons, and also asked each other specific questions of each other in each area of our development. (More on the types of questions we asked tomorrow.)

At times we also chose specific books of the Bible to read through and then discuss in our times together. This was not a Bible study per se. The goal was to glean and discuss the principles from the texts we read that would help us develop us men, husbands, dads and in our work. Sometimes we read the texts ahead of time and came prepared to share what we had learned. At other times we read the texts together and discussed them as we went. Once again, this was a specific type of accountability for the purpose we had decided.

You may have an accountability partner who helps you with spiritual growth, or it may be a matter of maintaining personal integrity, or work productivity. It’s important to establish the purpose of your accountability relationship and at the outset to have a structured approach for your times together. As mentioned above, over time the structure may relax or you may maintain it depending on your personalities and the effectiveness of your times together.

While talking about structure, one of the most important matters to establish is timing. Both how often you meet and how long you will meet each time needs to be established and honored. For example, if you are going to meet weekly for ninety minutes, then you’ll need to make every effort to carve out those ninety minutes every week. Over the more than twenty years Bill and I have met, we have not missed many weeks, and when we do it’s because of vacations, or unavoidable work or personal conflicts. Sometimes when we can’t meet on our established day, we’ll meet at another time during the week. In addition to making the weekly or bi-weekly meeting a priority, honoring the sixty, ninety or whatever number of minutes you establish for the meeting is also important. Don’t have an open-ended time frame for your meeting, particularly if you are a schedule-conscious person. It’s in everyone’s best interest to treat your accountability “appointment” as an appointment rather than as a casual get together. Flexibility is fine, but at first establishing a structured time slot and honoring will help your accountability relationship get established, and be something to which you look forward each week.

When Bill and I first started meeting we would purposely have some time to catch up on the events of the week, then turn to our study, then ask the established questions and then pray together. We didn’t have a printed schedule, but that was the schedule we had in our minds. It helped us to keep within our time frame and also to make sure we were holding one another accountable in the areas we had established. If this all seems too structured to you, you probably have a personality similar to mine. It seemed a bit artificial, and over time my time with Bill has become much more casual in the structure, while still covering the important aspects the structure established in our relationship. As we’ll see on Friday, every accountability relationship changes over time and the way you structure yours will be part of that change.

Here’s to leading better by establishing or maintaining an accountability relationship as a regular part of your life’s schedule–today or as soon as you can establish one!