Month: September 2016

Sabbath

Today’s post is an extension of yesterday’s on the topic of life planning. A big part of life planning is developing a rhythm of work and rest. Whether you’re a follower of Jesus or not, the importance of developing that work–rest or work–Sabbath rhythm can’t be overstated. We all know folks who think that the most productive people are those who work seven days a week and push through for fifteen hours a day. Certainly that approach will accumulate a great many hours in a much shorter time than if we work six days a week or even five, and work only eight to ten hours a day.

The question is: To what end? In other words if you work 105 hours each week and I work only 40-50 will you be more than twice as effective as meet, twice as successful, twice as happy? No one can answer that question definitively, but this much we can say: Working 105 hour weeks for weeks on end will almost surely create a level of stress in your body and your soul that even if sustainable will short-circuit your long-term health and perhaps longevity.

I am in the midst of a two-week span where I will be working many more hours than normal, probably 85-90 hours each week. I am doing that intentionally, because our church is preparing for a major initiative to press forward with a building construction process. While I typically limit the number of meetings beyond the daily staff and planning meetings to two or three each week, during these two weeks I’m leading additional meetings four or five evenings during each of these two weeks, one on Sunday and several one-on-one meetings as well. As I said I’m doing this intentionally. When I did my annual planning, I scheduled a week of vacation following these two weeks, because I knew I would need some rest, some Sabbath to be renewed and refreshed after this time.

You may be thinking: That’s great for you, but I can’t schedule vacation any time I want to schedule it. My company tells me when to take time off. Fair enough. When that’s the case, you can still schedule your work rhythm to include some extra time of rest after a push time by taking a Saturday as a true Sabbath rather than as a day to check items off of your home improvement schedule. When I came back from Cambodia a couple of weeks ago, I had a project waiting for me in my basement. I am finishing my home office, and my list included painting the walls, installing the door, grouting the ceramic tile I installed before I left for the trip, putting on the floor trim and crown moulding, and then moving my furniture into the room. In my mind, I would get all of that done the weekend after I returned.

What has actually happened is I have painted the walls with primer. I’m behind on the project, but I have needed to get other things accomplished, and I have needed to rest. One of the hardest things for me to do in life planning is to get enough sleep, and to take intentional time for Sabbath for rest, renewal and reflection on a weekly basis. That has been made doubly challenging by the schedule I’m maintaining these two weeks and that my sleep rhythm hasn’t yet returned to normal after returning from Cambodia. I’m still waking up daily at about 3:00am, which makes getting enough rest impossible.

I’m not complaining, simply stating the reality of my life. Your reality is different, but undoubtedly you have times when life is crazy and your sleep is disrupted. What do we do then? The key is to be intentional. Today is my Sabbath. I happen to have both a wedding and a wedding rehearsal this afternoon, which means my Sabbath is going to be interrupted. I have determined to take a little extra time tomorrow to rest and be refreshed. Sabbath means more than just resting. Sabbath is a time to focus on God (for those of us who believe in Him) and His glory and presence in our lives. It’s a time to be renewed and refreshed in bodies, souls and spirits. I will invest some time in reading the Bible as well as a leadership book I’m most of the way through: The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni. I’ll invest some time with Nancy. We’ll catch up with each other. Depending on the whether we may pull some weeds in the flower garden, which is a mindless activity that lets me use my hands, since I work with my mind and heart all week. It also allows us to talk about our lives and what is important in them right now.

The concept of Sabbath has nearly been lost in our culture, but if you are going to be a great leader over the long haul, you must invest time in your life plan to rest, reflect and be renewed. That time is like the lumberjack taking time to sharpen his ax, so it will be ready for the next tree he has to fall. When I was a young man, my Mom used to tell me, “You can’t burn the candle at both ends.” I would respond, “It depends on how long the candle is.” A couple of decades ago, I heard Rick Warren say, “The one who burns the candle at both ends isn’t as bright as he thinks he is.” Amen. That’s a difficult lesson to learn, but a lesson that will enhance our success and our significance over the long haul.

Here’s to leading better, by taking time to plan and live out Sabbath in our lives–today!

[Have a blessed weekend! Be with you on Monday.]

Life Planning

About every three to six months I realize that I’m not using my life planning process to its fullest utility. What that means is whatever life planning process I’m using at the time–and since my twenties I have used nearly every life planning tool out there–I’m not using it fully or at all. Just the other day I quoted Benjamin Franklin again: Failing to plan is planning to fail. I know that. I know that. Yet, I either fail to plan intentionally, or I only use a portion of the planning process or I don’t do what I’ve planned.

I’m not saying that I make a great plan and then life interrupts it, which does happen from time to time. I’m saying I either don’t make the great plan in the first place, or I don’t follow through with it when I do. If you have an intuitive feeler personality with an extroverted bent and a perceiving style you may understand more of what I’m saying than if you are by nature more inclined to order and structure. I’m writing this post as much as a reminder to me as a reminder to all of you–planning is a major key to success and ultimately significance for us as leaders. Just yesterday, Pastor Brad, Pastor Mark and I sat down to review and revise our message planning schedule for December through August. We already had a plan, but the plan had missing parts and aspects we weren’t sure we wanted to include. The hour and a half we took to review and revise it will make a major difference in our effectiveness in those nine months.

We will surely make additional revisions, and we’re always open to significant events that happen in the world around us, but having a plan means we know the direction we’re going. We know how we are going to help the hundreds of people who call New Life Christian Ministries their church home come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, or serve Him more effectively in the coming year. The process of planning itself helped me to take a next step forward in that process for myself, and it reminded me that what is important for the local church known as New Life is at least as important for each of us who are individual leaders. We must plan our lives or others will plan them for us.

That’s really the bottom line. I don’t want somebody else, circumstances, or the winds of culture planning your lives or mine. We must take the time on a regular basis to sit down and plan our lives–our days, weeks, months and years. I’ve said in past posts that it’s important to invest a time of planning each day, most likely that will be fifteen minutes to half an hour. Then we must take some time each week to review our week and plan the next that will take an hour or two. then we ought to take time each quarter and each year to review the past quarter or year and to plan the coming quarter and year. (After all, the unexamined life is not worth living, right?)

I know that everything I’ve written is true, but decades ago I read these words from Leo Buscaglia: To know and not yet to do is not yet to know. Writing these words to you is helping to anchor the importance of planning my life in my mind and heart. I’ve done a good job of life planning this week. That’s great, and I must follow that up with a weekly review and time for planning the week ahead on Saturday. That will need to be followed by planning day by day next week, and the next. If you think I’m a little OCD, that’s the problem–I’m not even a little OCD when it comes to planning. If this resonates with you, please, convince yourself to make the commitment to plan. We all know that until our own hearts are committed to something, there’s little chance than any outward mechanism is going to convince us to succeed.

If you’re already a planner, thank God for that. We all know that when we plan our work and work our plan, or more inclusively when we plan our lives and live our plan our effectiveness increases dramatically. Every moment is precious. My prayer is that we will plan them and then live them to God’s glory and our gain.

Here’s to leading better by planning our lives and living our plan–today!

Vision Leaks

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!

Plowing Through

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!

New Beginnings

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!

Lessons from Cambodia–Part 5–When It’s Over, It’s Just Beginning

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from mission trips in general, but from the recent Cambodia trip in particular, is: when it’s over, it’s just beginning. For example, during the trip I was reminded of how much I take simple blessings for granted. When I get up and brush my teeth in the morning, I generally take for granted that I can rinse my toothbrush and my mouth with the water from the sink. I couldn’t do that in Cambodia. That gives me an opportunity to thank God every time I brush my teeth. If you aren’t a follower of Jesus, you may be thinking, “That’s silly.”

Whether you follow Jesus or not, it’s still a great reminder that we are so blessed or have life so much better or easier than so many others in the world. I could add to the simple example of brushing one’s teeth with tap water, having a hot shower everyday; having food that doesn’t make me sick at every meal; having a clean, modern toilet; and the list goes on. You may not think any of these things matter, but that’s probably because you take them for granted. Living without any combination of these conveniences for a couple of weeks always helps me remember that I am a blessed person, and starting from that position puts me in a grateful frame of mind. Countless studies have shown that whether one is a follower of Jesus or not, gratitude is an attitude that enhances one’s overall capacity to live and lead.

Another reminder I’ve been given every time I’ve gone on a cross-cultural mission experience is how much I take it for granted that I can communicate effectively, because everyone understands my language, and how much I expect others to speak English. What does that have to do with leadership? It’s impossible to lead without communication. While no one can learn the language of every culture one will visit, as Americans most of us have not sought to learn any other language. I don’t mean that we have taken a couple of years of Spanish, German or French in high school, I mean that we have taken communicating in another language seriously.

Every time I go to Cuba where they speak the language I took in high school and college, I’m reminded that had I continued to practice Spanish over the past year, I would be able to communicate with everyone, and not only the ones who have taken it upon themselves to learn my language. I can communicate well enough to get by in Spanish, but with a little effort on a daily basis from now until this coming February, I will be able to communicate well in Spanish, not just well enough. I make that commitment every time I come back from Cuba, but somehow life has always seemed to get in the way.

I just set out the remainder of my September schedule yesterday and it includes studying Spanish six days each week. My trip to Cambodia reminded me once again me how important communicating in the indigenous language of a people is, since I couldn’t do it at all there. I haven’t added learning Khymer to my schedule, because I don’t have time to learn a whole new language that is nothing like English. I do have time to become truly bilingual, and to be prepared to communicate in dozens of additional countries, and to communicate with visitors to our country whose primary language is Spanish.

While in Cambodia, I was reminded once again how important it is to start my day with time in prayer and reflection, and to rely on God throughout the day. The biggest reason for that is the pace of life is so much “slower” there. I put slower in quotes, because I’m not sure that’s the right word to describe the difference. What I mean is the technology I’m used to having doesn’t work as well there, because I didn’t pay for all the upgrades to make it work. I didn’t have the routine of life I have here to follow, and in a number of the areas we visited life was slower. Now that I’m home, I’ve been making efforts to wake up early (not hard with the adjustment from the eleven hour time difference) and invest the first part of my day, whether a half an hour or an hour with God. I’ve sought to check my technology less often. I’ve sought to “take a breath” and simply let life come at me at a slower pace. This is hard. It also makes life much more effective.

I could name many other aspects of my life that are being impacted since coming back from Cambodia, from the way I am relating to those around me, to the people in Cambodia for whom I’m praying more fervently. The point is simple: leaving my everyday life and routine for a couple of weeks and living in a vastly different culture helps me to consider, which of the aspects of my everyday life and routine add value to me and those I lead, and which do not. Then the challenge is to determine what to do about that. Do I adjust what I do? Do I adjust how I do what I do? Do I eliminate some of the things I do? Those questions cause me to examine my life, and as our friend Socrates reminded us so long ago, that is a major key to a life worth living. I would add it is a major key to becoming ever more effective leaders.

Here’s to leading better by examining what we do and why–today!

Lessons From Cambodia-Part 4-Wherever You Are, Be All There

One of the challenges of participating in a mission trip, whether as a leader or a participant, is the distraction that being far from home can be. It’s easy to forget the moment and drift off to considering what’s happening at home, which in the case of being in Cambodia means being on the other side of the planet. I often tell team members early and often when participating in a trip, “Wherever you are, be all there.” The advice is as simple as it sounds, but the results are significant.

When you are on the other side of the planet thinking, worrying or focusing on what’s happening back home is detrimental on two levels: 1) It detracts from your ability to serve or work where you are; and 2) It’s a waste of time, since you can’t do anything about whatever may be taking place at home anyway. In several of the places I have gone on mission trips, I haven’t been able to access phone or e-mail. That has turned out to be a great blessing. When I can’t check my e-mail or make or receive phone calls it is far easier to stay focused on the task at hand. In my recent trip to Cambodia, I was able to FaceTime my wife, which was great, because the face-to-face interaction makes it almost like being there. At the same time, I had e-mail, which wasn’t necessarily great, because in one case I was able to access information that was a bit disturbing to me, then I was unable to do anything about it.

Such distractions aren’t fair to either those with whom you’re serving on the mission or work trip, nor to your family or whomever it is back home that you have the ability to communicate. That’s because you generally can’t “fix” anything from half a world away. In addition the distraction means you aren’t fully present to those with whom you are actually present. The principle of being all there isn’t just applicable to mission trips in distant countries. It’s true of all of life’s experiences. When we focus our attention on the person or project at hand, giving our full attention the results will always be better, and the relationships involved will grow deeper.

We live in a distracted world these days. The electronic devices that serve as ubiquitous points of connection, also serve as points of distraction from the present moment. It leads to the paradox of being always connected, but never present. When I was in Cambodia, I found it far easier to stay focused and to stay present, because for the most part my phone wasn’t distracting me, and I didn’t even have my computer. It may be a good idea to take such a trip if for no other reason than to remind ourselves of how important it is to focus on the person or project before us.

I had the opportunity to meet a little orphan boy named Thai during my trip. Nancy (my wife) and I sponsor Thai through SEAPC’s New Hope for Children Ministry. We have often thought of the little guy, and having only had a picture we imagined what he may be like, but it was impossible to know. When I met him the moment was priceless. I will always remember his smile. I took pictures and even a couple of videos to send to Nancy, but it wasn’t the same as being there. That kind of in the moment experience is available to each of us but only where we actually are at the moment. My hope for each of us is that we’ll avail ourselves of those opportunities and they are many to be all there. As we do that we’ll be better leaders and better people, too.

Here’s to leading better by being all there–today!

Lessons from Cambodia–Part 3–Relationship Before Ministry

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!

Lessons From Cambodia-Part 2-“Blessed Are the Flexible…”

Quite often during our Cambodia experience either Pastor Matt Geppert or I would offer some variation of this statement: Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not get bent out of shape! The only constant on a mission trip is change. Sometimes the best laid plans and the most carefully developed schedules change in an instant. Some of us prefer life to come at us that way, while others see such changes as enemies to be overcome. Given the nature of a mission trip, particularly a cross-cultural mission trip, when change comes a number of people from the other culture are generally watching to see what the “Americans” will do. How will they respond to inconvenience, or discomfort, or disappointment?

For example, how will the group respond to the announcement that while the meat for last night’s dinner was imported from Australia, tonight it will be locally raised–right here in Cambodia? (This actually happened. Small inconvenience to be sure, but there was a noticeable difference in the taste and texture.) How will they respond when they’re told they will  have the following morning to relax while the leaders of the team meet with the governor of the province, only to be told the next morning while they’re enjoying a leisurely breakfast that the whole team needs to be ready to roll in fifteen minutes–including being ready to check out of the hotel–because we’ll be visiting a couple of sites for prayer walking, and then all of us will be meeting the governor at 10:30? (This also actually happened.)

The answer to the question: How will the group respond? depends on how the group has been prepared. This is true of any group’s response to change, which is why all leaders need to be flexible and prepared for change and to prepare their teams for change as well. The three most important actions I took in order to prepare our team for change were: 1) To say throughout the training for the trip things such as this: the plan is to spend the first night in Phnom Penh and then to worship at Pastor Sinai’s church the next morning–but that could change. In other words, we had a plan for the entire trip from start to finish, but every time I laid out one of the specific components of the plan, I noted that it could change. (This was helpful, since the last major change was that one of the legs of our return flight was cancelled and we ended up with an additional five hour lay over in Korea. By the time that happened the team, while disappointed and eager to get home, rolled with it as one more change of plans.)

2) When changes came up during the trip, the leaders responded positively. We would say things such as, “Hey everyone we get to do something a little different than we planned…” or at one meal, which was particularly outside of our comfort zone, I took the team off site and we ate at KFC. (That was a change of plans everyone was quite happy to experience.) Bill Hybels has said, “The speed of the leader, the speed of the team.” When the leader responds positively to changes, whether desirable ones or downright challenging ones, the rest of the team generally will as well.

3) We “debriefed” quite often during the trip. We gave folks the opportunity to tell us what they thought the “good, the bad and the ugly” had been so far during the trip, or what they saw as the best experience they had been through so far. Giving folks the opportunity to respond to what was happening and how they were feeling about it let everyone know that we cared about their feelings, because we genuinely did. That didn’t change the situations, but it helped everyone to see that the unexpected, and the adjustments to the schedule sometimes turned out to be part of the good, and even when it was part of the bad or ugly it still provided opportunity to experience and share God’s grace with others.

All in all the trip was an incredible experience. Everyone did get to meet the governor of a province, and sit in on a two hour meeting with him. That was a major change from the original plan when just the leaders were going to meet with him. While the experience was formal and only a handful of the participants were involved in the conversations, all of us had the opportunity to see how God is opening a door of relationship and cooperation for helping the next generation of children in Cambodia. That was a time when being flexible resulted in a blessing for all of us.

I’m sure you can see the application of this principle to your leadership, whether in the home, workplace, church or wherever. While changes may occur more often on the mission field than in any of those places, change is an inevitable part of life. The more flexible we remain when it comes, the more effective our leadership will be, and the more positive the outcomes of our efforts.

Here’s to leading better by remaining flexible–today!

Lessons from Cambodia-Part 1-A Team Is Better Than an Individual

Thanks for rejoining me after my time away in Cambodia. I learned a number of leadership lessons during the trip, and that will be the content of my posts this week. The first lesson I learned is that a team is better than an individual. I already knew that from my prior life experience, but I haven’t been to Cambodia with a team from New Life before, and the experience was incredible. We had an eight member team including me. I was “wearing two hats” on the trip, because I’m the lead pastor of New Life, and also a member of the Southeast Asia Prayer Center (SEAPC), the organization that sponsored the trip. I had some official duties in my SEAPC board member capacity, which kept me away from the team for several days, so it would have been easy for them to be upset, especially because none of them had been to Cambodia before, and several had never been on a mission trip before. Instead, each of the team members put the mission’s purpose first, and worked together effectively whatever the task set before them.

The biggest reason the team was better than me going by myself is because now eight people at New Life have a first hand understanding of what’s happening through our mission in Cambodia. They will be great ambassadors for the mission, and their experiences shared with others at New Life will help everyone to have both a better understanding and deeper commitment to the work.

In addition, the team accomplished so much more than I would have been able to do myself. We had two primary “tasks” for this particular trip: 1) Help lead a “Kids’ Kamp” for 400 Cambodia orphans; and 2) Do repair work on one of the orphanages where the children live. Obviously, having eight team members gave us the ability to accomplish so much more than one person could have done. It also freed me to participate in several important meetings in my capacity as an SEAPC board member, including a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia. Without the team, it would have been an either/or opportunity rather than a both/and.

As you reflect on these differences, think how they may apply in your workplace, church or other organization. It’s tempting to be “Lone Rangers” in our efforts, because everyone knows if you want something done right it’s best to do it yourself. That may well be true if you are the best person at the task, for that particular task, but if the goal is to multiply our impact, then a Lone Ranger approach is only minimally effective. After all, even the Lone Ranger had Tonto, and even they could only address one situation at a time. Having a team gives us the ability to multiply both our skills and our efforts.

Let me make one final point today regarding the benefits of team, and that is a distinction between a team and a committee or a collection of individuals. A collection of individuals may all have great gifts, skills and abilities, but they won’t multiply the impact of the group, because they’re working for themselves. A committee is a group of people with a common purpose, but often that purpose is more the maintenance of a particular effort rather than the effective completion of a vision or task. In a team, the individuals submit their gifts, skills and abilities to one another in order to accomplish the vision or task at hand. Cooperation and communication are key components of accomplishing the vision and task and the group is committed to one another.

I had that experience in Cambodia in so many ways. The team went to serve Jesus and submitted itself to Him. In practical terms that meant the team accepted leadership from those who were in charge of the projects they undertook. Whether that was Pastor Sinai, the SEAPC Cambodia director, or one of the area directors for the area of Kid’s Kamp to which each team member was assigned, or to the project director at the orphanage where repairs were done, the team members submitted themselves to the appropriate authority and much was accomplished as a result.

As you go about your work today, I hope you will consider the multiplying impact of teamwork, and then implement it into areas where it will make an impact.

Here’s to leading better, by working together–today!