GrowthStarts

"How to Achieve REAL Success"

On Monday I attended the first annual Cobb Leadership Summit, which was presented by the Cobb County School District and the Cobb Schools Foundation and held at Kennesaw State University's Convocation Center. (Thanks to my boss for the ticket!) I really only went for the first part to hear the keynote address by leadership guru Dr. John Maxwell. There were about 2500 education, government, business, and church leaders present, not to mention some students as well.

Maxwell gave a great talk on "How to Achieve REAL Success." Some highlights:

Dr. Maxwell told us about his method for highlighting lecture notes so he can quickly get the pertinent personal points out later. Using the ACT acronym, he writes an "A" beside a statement he wants to Apply to his life; a "C" beside ideas that speak to something he wants to Change; and a "T" beside concepts he wants to Teach to others. I have several "A"s and a couple of "C"s...and the whole thing is a "T"...I'm teaching them to you right now!  :)

Success is:

1. Knowing my purpose in life.
2. Growing to my maximum potential.

Two paths to discover your purpose in life:

1. Find your passion. This method is about 80% effective. Passion energizes talent.
2. Find your strength zone. This method is 100% effective. Find your natural giftedness/talent. Stop working on your weaknesses. In our strengths & weaknesses, on a 1-10 scale, you can only improve 1 or 2 points. So if you are a 3 you can only get to 5--average. But if you're a 7 you can get to a 9, and people pay good money for 9s!

Growing to your maximum potential means getting better at your strengths. Growth is not an automatic process; it must be intentional.

John Wooden said: "It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."

The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.

You're either preparing or repairing.

You need a personal growth plan.

We don't need help on decision-making, but on decision-management (managing and carrying out our decisions and goals). He used the illustration of everyone making the New Year's resolution to lose weight and exercise and the gym being full that first week, but empty by the end of the month.

All growth occurs in your daily agenda. Preparation positions your talent. When opportunity comes knocking, it's too late to prepare.

Maxwell's father, a seminary president, never gave him allowances for chores done. Chores were just expected to be done because that's what you do as part of a family. But he did give them allowances based on books that they read. And his father picked the books he would read. He had him set aside 30 minutes a day to read those books on how to have success in life.

Success is sowing seeds that benefit others.

Maturity doesn't always come with age; sometimes age comes alone!

Four ways to add value to people:

1. Value people. There's nothing worse than devaluing people. The only reason to be a leader is to add value to others.
2. Make yourself more valuable. Become better.
3. Know and relate to what they value. Leaders aren't at the top, but they are continually taking people up with them.
4. Do things that God values.

We "lead by assumption" when we dont connect because we assume.

Great leaders are great listeners--they know where their people are.

Four things you need to do well (with excellence) to be successful (or "How to Be a R.E.A.L. Success"):

1. Relationships--have to be able to get along with people. The Hammer Principle: Never use a hammer to swat a fly off someone's forehead; i.e., don't overreact! Don't let the situation mean more than the relationship. The Elevator Principle: Some people lift you up; some people bring you down. Do I add value or subtract value from other people? People who add value do it intentionally--they know they're doing it. We are by nature selfish people; therefore, we must plan and be intentional about adding value to instead of subtracting value from people. The success of my day is determined by the seeds I sow, not by the harvest I reap!
2. Equipping and training people--compund success with others via teamwork. Develop a team and develop teamwork. Two questions to ask: (1) What am I doing to develop myself? and (2) What am I doing to develop others?
3. Attitude is amazing, especially during adversity. Your attitude is a choice. In matters of choice, you can go from a 1 to a 10 if you want to. The only person who can make me happy is me. Someone said...I'm never "down"; I'm either "up" or "getting up."
4. Leadership--everything rises and falls on leadership. Leadership can be taught, because leadership is influence.

Dr. Maxwell also pushed several of his books, a couple of which I want to check out: Today Matters and The 360-Degree Leader.

Drive Session 4

The Drive Conference continued with session 4, "Recharging the Battery." In this session Andy Stanley introduced his famous father Charles Stanley. Andy said that his dad made a commitment to God that he would never use a second of air time on his show In Touch to raise funds. The program is now in 103 languages and in every country of the world! Some great insight from Charles Stanley on conflict in the church:

• The ministry is not only a calling, it's a challenge.
• The Gospel is the only message in the world that can transform a life.
• Many churches just need to bulldoze their building and start over!
• Last year about 7000 Southern Baptist (SBC) churches baptized 0 people and about 3000 SBC churches only baptized one person.
• Colossians 4:17 says to take heed to the ministry to which you've been called that you fulfill it.
• The primary reason ministers leave the ministry is conflict.
• It's easy to run...don't run because you face conflict.
• There's no such thing as the ideal thing in the ministry.
• Wherever there's change, there's conflict.
• If you're afraid, don't show it...if they see fear, they'll push you.
• 1 Corinthians 16...Paul's entire ministry involved conflict.
• Joshua 1:9...be strong and courageous.
• Many times the conflict comes from friends.
• How do you handle conflict in the ministry? Decide you will run toward it, not away from it.
• The negative aspects of conflict: it divides your mind and distracts you from your goals; it destroys relationships; and it drains your energy.
• Stay healthy and strong. Remember God is our Comforter, not food!
• Don't get too hungry, too angry, or too lonely.
• It's an awesome opportunity to grow up and for God to build character in our lives.
• How do we deal with conflict? The bottom line: Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.
• God assumes full responsibility for your obedience to Him.
• Isaiah 64...God acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.
• God says, "If you wait on Me and trust in Me, Omnipotence is on your side."
• Make a decision not to run. Make a decision today to obey God and accept the consequences no matter what. No compromise.
• Being disobedient and running is far worse than being fired.
• Learn to fight your battles on your knees.
• See everything as coming from God.
• Fight your battles, but don't defend yourself in public. Fight out your battles in the prayer closet.
• If they fire you for being obedient to God, relax...He has something better for you.
• The battle we have to fight is not with somebody else...it's within ourselves.
• Anything that drives you to God has got to be good.
• One key to conflict: Always look to God for your resources and don't be indebted to anyone. God only wants one person in control of you: Himself. Stay free.
• Focus your eyes on God, not the opposition.
• The most important thing is your personal, intimate connection to Jesus Christ.
• If you disobey God, you'll spend the rest of your life wondering what God would have done if you'd obeyed.

Drive Session 3

In Session 3, "Changing the Plugs," Andy Stanley spoke on recruiting and retaining great volunteers as the Drive Conference continued. Andy was joined by a panel of his staff at North Point, including Kevin Ragsdale, Julie Arnold, Kendra Fleming, Bill Willits, and Jeff Henderson.

• Your church has a system for recruiting, training, and retaining volunteers.
• Your system is perfectly designed to get the results you're getting!
• Connect the dots. How connected do your volunteers feel to the overall mission and strategy of your organization?
• What is one action step you could take to help volunteers feel more connected to the overall mission and strategy of your organization?
• Start and stop. What department in your organization has done a good job establishing and communicating terms of service for volunteers? (Don't give the impression that you are giving a volunteer the job for life...give them a start and stop point...as well as breaks.)
• Where in your organization might it be helpful to create terms of service?
• Eliminate the competition. (Eliminate competing systems and determine what your organization will say "yes" to and what you'll say "no" to. Sometimes we say "yes" to too many things and all of us are competing for the same volunteers.)
• How successful have you been in eliminating competing systems within your organization?
• What program in your organization competes the most with recruiting and retaining volunteers in your particular area?
• Bring them along. (Equip them and set them up for success. Relationship is important for retention.)
• How would you rate your strategy for equipping volunteers?
• What is one action step you could take to the raise the value of apprenticing in your organization? (Set up a system for it.)
• Recognize and reward the behavior you want repeated.
• Leadership is turning intention into reality and sustaining it.
• What have you done in the past six months to recognize or reward volunteers in your area of ministry?
• Write down the name of one key volunteer that deserves to be singled out and recognized.
• Develop gratitude systems: note something very specific that was good; plan layers of gratitude throughout the year such as videos, events, personal notes (5 a week or 3 a day or whatever), etc.
• Make them proud. Do everything with quality and excellence.
• Are there environments in your organization to which you would be hesitant to send a potential volunteer because of the lack of quality?
• As you think about your entire organization, is there a correlation between "quality of environment" and "quality of volunteer"?
• Staff for stars. The better your staff, the better your volunteers. Quality attracts quality.
• People want to follow leaders, but leaders will ONLY follow leaders.
• What kind of volunteer will a potential staff member attract? Would you want your wife or child to volunteer under that potential staff member?
• On your staff, what are your volunteer mandates? Be intentional about creating a volunteer culture. Keep it in front of your staff.

Drive Session 2

In session 2 of the Drive conference, "Repairing the Transmission," Andy Stanley spoke on liberating your organization and creating a leadership-friendly culture via the use of systems. Some great bullet points included:

• God works through systems.
• The church world tends to ignore the common-sense wisdom of the business world.
• Your church is a combination of systems that determine what your church is.
• McDonald's and Coke have accomplished their great commission!
• There are organizational systems that are conducive to ministry and organizational systems that impede ministry.
• There are organizational systems that free leaders to lead and organizational systems that obstruct leaders.
• When you don't understand systems principles, you always blame the players, not the system.
• Systems create behaviors.
• Example: Family vs. student ministry...the family system always trumps your teaching...this is why students don't change, because they go back to a family system that doesn't support your teaching.
• The systems you inherit, adopt, or create will eventually impact what staff and volunteers do.
• Example: Volunteerism...If you are begging for volunteers you are admitting that the system isn't working!
• Anytime you hear, "Well, our people just won't..." you are listening to someone who doesn't understand the influence of systems.
• Some say, "People just aren't committed anymore." Yes, they are...it's our job to get them to want to do it.
• Components of a system: (1) Expectations/rules, (2) Rewards (or lack of), (3) Consequences (or lack of), (4) Communication (content and style), and (5) Behavior (of those in charge).
• In every system something is rewarded. What is rewarded in your church? What's rewarded is repeated.
• Systems have a greater impact on organizational culture than do mission statements.
• This principle explains why it is so difficult to transition a church.
• If a new leader casts a new vision and never addresses old systems, nothing changes.
• A church that offers a "contemporary service" and a "traditional service" has a systems problem...they are just adding on programs in order to not lose people.
• The New Testament (NT) does not present us with a comprehensive system or model.
• In the NT, we discover what the early church did. The NT does not lay out a comprehensive plan instructing church leaders what to do.
• Always differentiate between what is prescriptive and what is descriptive.
• The NT and Old Testament (OT) do offer some principles that should be integrated into our systems: (1) Delegation (Acts 6; Exodus 18), (2) Accountability (Acts 15), (3) Authority (Romans 13); (4) Interdependence (Paul's discussion of spiritual gifts), (5) Point leadership (modeled in OT and NT), and (6) Seeking counsel (Proverbs; Acts 15).
• Your system should allow you to involve and hire the best person for the job.
• Your system should provide you with the flexibility to get the right people to the table.
• Your system should allow you to make complex decisions within the context of a small group (8-10 people) of empowered individuals. You cannot effectively communicate complicated info to lots of people.
• Your system should ensure that only one person answers to "they." (For example. only Andy answers to the elders at North Point.)
• Conclusion: "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously, if it ids leadership, let him govern [rule, preside over] diligently [earnestly]..." -- Romans 12:6-8 (NIV)

Drive Session 1

Earlier this month I attended the Drive Conference put on by Andy Stanley and North Point Ministries at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. What an incredible conference! I highly recommend this annual church leadership conference for both paid staff and volunteers at any church that wants to make a difference in the culture.

I thought I might share some salient bullet points from the conference sessions. Andy spoke at session 1, "Replacing the Filters." I was furiously writing...what a great speaker Andy is!

• Do-it-anyway people charge hell with a water pistol and no water!
• The church's problem is that most people in the world think church is for church people.
• Most people really do want to connect with God.
• The problem is not God; the problem is the church.
• After 9/11, people came to church in droves but it only confirmed their suspicions. A few weeks later attendance was back down to normal. Some church leaders mistakenly said that people just aren't committed!
• Some church staff need to quit the church so they can get back into ministry!
• In the Gospels, sinners liked Jesus but they were nothing like Him! That's how church should be! First-time visitors should leave the church saying that they're not sure if they agree with everything that was said but they like it and will be back.
• Acts 15:1-2, 4-5, 7-11, 19-21, 30-31
• In the passage, all of a sudden the insiders were making it hard for the outsiders. You had to have an operation to become a Christian!
• Church tends to be like a ladder with all the bottom rungs missing...it's a huge first step...we require such a huge commitment up front.
• If you make it difficult for the unsaved to get into the church, you are opposing God.
• Acts 15:9 says: Don't make it difficult for people to return to God. (on Andy's office wall)
• We want to make it a formula and remove those bottom rungs of the ladder.
• The gravitational pull is toward the ladder with no rungs. We gravitate toward thinking like an insider.
• You have to have someone in your church thinking like an outsider!
• You have to create empty seats at optimal times; make it easy and accessible, no obstacles.
• Be more committed to reaching people than to keeping people.
• Do you have all the bottom rungs of the ladder at your church? If not, you're part of the problem...you've made it difficult.