GrowthStarts

Jeff Henderson on Leading Up

Jeff Henderson, campus director of Buckhead Church in Atlanta, came to speak to our staff yesterday on "A Navigational System for Leading Up." Here are some bullets from his great talk...

• There are two directions a leader can take: either my ultimate aim is my own success, or I can ask: Did I do everything possible today to put my boss in a position to succeed? Did I set my boss up for success?

A Navigational System for Leading Up:

1. Be true to Scripture.

• Navigational tool number one: Pray for your leader.
• This is not a new insight. It is a critical reminder.
• Action item: Pray for your leader for 10 minutes this week.
• How to pray for your leader:
• • For wisdom
  • For spiritual and physical protection (John 17:11)
  • For creativity
  • For a confident humility (Success, not failure, has the potential to become our greatest enemy.)
  • For their spouse, family, and relationships
  • For their leadership
  • To overcome fear
• Navigational reminder: Praying for your leader puts your heart in the best position to lead up.
• On God's agenda for me: Increased humility.

2. Be true to your leader.

• Navigational tool number two: Know your leader.
• Questions to consider:
• • Is your manager a detailed person?
  • Are they energized by being around people or by being alone?
  • What do they hope to accomplish? (What are their dreams?)
  • What are their strengths? (Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton)
  • How do they communicate best? (email? phone? in person?)
• The better you know your leader the better you can lead them.
• Become a student of your leader. (It's Your Shipby Michael Abrashoff)
• The counter-intuitive career track: "If you help enough people get what they want, eventually you will get what you want." -- Truett Cathy
• Don't let problems travel alone. Don't just present problems. Present a problem and propose solutions as well.
• Great question to ask your supervisor: "As you look at our ministry, what keeps you up at night?"

3. Be true to yourself.

• Navigational tool number three: Know and improve yourself.
• One of the best things you can do to increase your effectiveness in leading up is to develop a passion for continuous personal improvement.
• What are you good at?
• • What makes you come alive in your job?
  • What drains you in your job?
  • Complete this sentence: I would experience more joy in my life if I only...
• How are you ensuring that you are going to perform at a higher level this year than last?
• The secret to improving yourself: It doesn't happen by accident.
• Two ways to improve yourself:
• • 1. The books you read
  • 2. The people you interact with
• What does your 2009 personal development plan look like?
• The most courageous thing you can do at work: Think for an hour. (Thinking for a Livingby Joey Reiman)
• The better you become, the more successful your leader can become.
• The better you become, the more influence you will eventually have.
• "The humble improve." -- Wynton Marsalis, jazz musician
• Get a personal board of advisors. (Jeff recently posted more about this on the Buckhead Church blog here, here, and here.)

Potential roadblocks:

• "My boss never listens to what I have to say."
• • This is an influence issue.
  • It may not be what you're saying, but how you're saying it.
  • Be creative on how you say what you say:
  • • Newspaper/magazine articles
    • Write a note
    • Find a book or audiotape and buy it for them
  • Encouragement helps pave the road to influence. Let your leader know when things are going right.
• "My supervisor never has time for me."
• • This issue calls for clarity.
  • How much time do you need? Once a week? How long?
  • Once you determine that, you need to have a conversation.
• "My boss never gives me proper credit."
• • There's no limit to what we can do when we don't care who gets the credit.

QuickLinks

Some interesting links of late:

• David Brooks on what "genius" really is. (HT: Execupundit)
• Rick Warren's laws of leadership.
• Tim Stevens has Dave Treat on landmines to finding leaders.
• Mark Batterson on the importance of reading the Bible.
• Jim White on an "argument culture" and bitter blogs. (HT: Perry Noble)

You need a mentor

"What God has done through Saddleback over the past 30 years hasn’t happened because I’m smart. It’s because I’ve had great mentors and advisors. They are people I’ve bounced ideas off of and gotten feedback from."

So says Rick Warren in this great article on the importance of mentors.

2009 Church Conferences of Note

Kent Shaffer at churchrelevance.com has a list of church conference recommendations for 2009, including the Catalyst One Day event coming here to Atlanta in 10 days.

(By the way, on the righthand side of my blog you can check the list of "Upcoming Conferences in the Atlanta Area.")

Allen Hunt and John Wesley

  Allen Hunt spoke at our monthly "Learning Leadership" all-staff meeting today. The Allen Hunt Show is a syndicated radio show that airs locally on WSB 750 AM in Atlanta Saturdays 9 p.m.-12 midnight and Sundays 6-9 p.m. His show deals with the issues of the day from a faith perspective. A former United Methodist Church pastor, Hunt identifies with John Wesley's perspective of leaving--even endangering--the 99 sheep to go find the one lost sheep (Luke 15).

Here are just a couple of bullets from his interesting talk, which was mostly about his personal testimony:

• Sussex County, Delaware celebrates Return Day tomorrow where all the candidates--winners and losers--parade together and literally bury an actual hatchet. This is the embodiment of Colossians 3:12-13 and what the church should be about, especially on this day after Election Day.
• "I love you and there's nothing you can do about it. "
• John Wesley was scolded for trying to reach the poor outside of his parish (instead of the wealthy that the church leaders wanted him to court). Wesley said that the world was his parish.
• 82% say faith is an important part of their lives.

Check out the website for The Allen Hunt Show as well as Hunt's blog.

Wild Goose Chase week 4

This begins week 4—our final week (October 15-21)—of Wild Goose Chase. Our staff will discuss the book next Wednesday. Many of them have already sped right through it!

This week we read chapter 7 and the epilogue.

In chapter 7, “Good Old-Fashioned Guts: Coming Out of the Cage of Fear,” Batterson looks at Jonathan and talks about how fear of failure can keep us from achieving God’s plans for our lives. One of my favorite quotes from the book: “The will of God is not an insurance plan. The will of God is a daring plan!” (p. 147).

The epilogue ties up and summarizes the whole book and asks the question, “What is your unpainted canvas or unwritten book?” (p. 164).

As you finish the book, what action steps were you encouraged to take from reading it?

Wild Goose Chase week 3

Hope you are enjoying chasing the goose! I’ve heard lots of positive comments so far among our staff and know that several have finished the book already. That’s great!

This week (October 8-14) we’re reading chapters 5 & 6.

Chapter 5, “A Rooster’s Crow: Coming Out of the Cage of Guilt,” helps free us from the guilt that so often keeps from enjoying God’s grace in our lives. One of my favorite quotes from this chapter: “Satan is the accuser of the brothers, and his tactics have not changed since the Garden of Eden. He wants to remind you of your greatest failures over and over again. Why? Because if you focus all your energy on past failures, you’ll have no energy left over to dream kingdom dreams or pursue kingdom purposes.” (pp. 97-98)

In chapter 6, “Sometimes It Takes a Shipwreck: Coming Out of the Cage of Failure,” Batterson points out that sometimes our failures are not “dead-ends,” but “detours.” One of my favorite quotes from this chapter: “I think some of us want to know the will of God more than we want to know God. And it short-circuits spiritual growth. You can’t do the will of God if you don’t have the heart of God.” (p. 137)

Wild Goose Chase week 2

Hope you’re enjoying Wild Goose Chase along with our staff! (To catch up, here's week 1's post.) It’s not too late to join in. It’s an easy read!

This week (October 1-7) we’re reading chapters 3 & 4.

In chapter 3, “Dictatorship of the Ordinary: Coming Out of the Cage of Routine,” Batterson talks about how to get out of a spiritual rut.

One of my favorite quotes from this chapter: “I know from experience that you can do the work of God at a pace that destroys the work of God in you.” (p. 53)

Chapter 4, “Eight-Foot Ceilings: Coming Out of the Cage of Assumptions,” discusses how we limit God and the importance of imagination over memory.

One of my favorite quotes from this chapter: “People cannot discover new lands until they have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” (André Gide) (p. 91)

Don’t forget that Batterson has great questions at the end of each chapter under the heading “Your Chase.” These deserve your consideration.

Happy reading!

Wild Goose Chase begins!

This morning in staff meeting I passed out our new staff read, courtesy of GrowthStarts and NorthStar Church. It’s Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God by Mark Batterson. (You can take a look at my review of the book on the GrowthStarts blog HERE.) We’ll be reading this book over the next few weeks and then discussing it together in staff meeting on Wednesday, October 22.

Feel free to join us! Here’s the schedule (since staff meetings are on Wednesdays, the “weeks” below run Wednesday through Tuesday):

• Week of September 24-30: Read Chapters 1-2 (pp. 1-40)
• Week of October 1-7: Read Chapters 3-4 (pp. 41-91)
• Week of October 8-14: Read Chapters 5-6 (pp. 93-142)
• Week of October 15-21: Read Chapter 7 & Epilogue (pp. 143-174)
• Wednesday, October 22: Discuss book in staff mtg.

Each week I'll post a “pacing guide” to keep you on track. Typically I provide questions for each chapter; however, I will not include questions this time since Batterson includes great questions at the end of each chapter under the heading “Your Chase.”

For this week, the week of September 24-30, we’ll be reading chapters 1 & 2.

Chapter 1, “Yawning Angels: Living a Life of Spiritual Adventure,” is an introduction to the book. Batterson lays out the six cages that keep us from living a life of spiritual adventure:

1. The cage of responsibility.
2. The cage of routine.
3. The cage of assumptions.
4. The cage of guilt.
5. The cage of failure.
6. The cage of fear.

One of my favorite quotes from chapter 1: “Jesus didn’t die on the cross to keep us safe. Jesus died to make us dangerous.” (p. 6)

In the remaining chapters Batterson takes a look at these six cages one by one.

Chapter 2, “Goose Bumps: Coming Out of the Cage of Responsibility,” looks at the importance of becoming “responsibly irresponsible.”

One of my favorite quotes from chapter 2: “God often uses us at our point of greatest incompetence. That way He gets al the credit.” (p. 21)

By the way, this book has tons of great quotes, some of which you can find on the GrowthStarts blog on my daily Quotable Quotes.

Hope you enjoy the book!

Red Sea Rules

Ike Reighard, senior pastor of Piedmont Church in Marietta and founding pastor of NorthStar, brought our September staff leadership lesson yesterday. He mostly expounded on some lessons from Robert J. Morgan's book The Red Sea Rules. Some thoughts from the lesson:

• What do you do when faced with a negative situation you know probably won't change? When you're doing everything you should do but it's not turning out the way you thought it would?
• God gave Moses a burning bush. He knew Moses needed something that wouldn't "burn out."
• Humanly speaking, sometimes there is no answer. It just comes down to faith.
• Rick Warren says that when God tests your faith, He gives you:

1. Dream (a vision or dream from God)
2. Decision (you make a decision about following the dream)
3. Delay (the dream gets delayed)
4. Difficulties (you encounter difficulties pursuing the dream)
5. Dead ends (the dream seems to die)

• What do you do when you hit the dead ends?
• Robert Morgan shares these Red Sea Rules from Exodus 14:

1. Realize that God means for you to be right where you are.

• Exodus 14:2
• Isaiah 45:3
• Alan Redpath says that nothing touches my life that has not passed through the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• God allows adversity to prepare us to help others.
• Don't put question marks where God has put periods.

2. Be more concerned for God's glory than your relief.

• Stop asking, "Why?" Start asking, "How can God be glorified in this situation?"

3. Acknowledge your enemy but keep your eyes on the Lord.

4. Pray.

• You can either panic or you can pray.
• You can either have fear or faith.
• Proverbs 3:5-6

5. Stay calm and confident and give God time to work.

• Wait upon the Lord.
• Psalm 37:7

6. When you're unsure, just take the next step by faith.

• Exodus 14:15
• Move forward one step at a time.

7. Envision God's enveloping presence.

• Read Psalm 139 in several translations.
• Realize how invested God is in your life.
• Psalm 139:23-24

8. Trust God to deliver in His own unique way.

• Vance Havner said that sometimes God marks across the pages of our lives "Will explain later."

9. View your current crisis as a faith-builder for the future.

• Faith is making the reasonable assumption that God cares for and controls my life.
• Rick Warren claims there are over 7,000 promises in the Bible.
• Faith is like a muscle and has to be developed.
• Our faith grows when we choose to apply God's promises to today's problems.

10. Don't forget to praise Him.