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Deadlines

February 18, 2010 in Lead, Resources 0

67/365 – DEADLINE, originally uploaded by Arieseffects.

So I’m a basketball nut. Love it. Tomorrow is the trading deadline in the NBA. In other words, last day for teams to trade their players to other teams before the end of the season.

Last ditch efforts to improve
Big time risk
People with no *ahem* guts
Smart Decisions
Dumb Decisions

All of the above and more are brought on by the deadline. It’s a crucial time and it’s often what makes or breaks teams. Not to mention the fact that some teams are just trying to get under payroll to avoid paying a penalty tax. So they are just calling the year a fail and thinking about the future.

It’s incredibly interesting to me, how many crazy things get floated around during this time as well. Bottom line: leadership lessons to glean.

How do you/we perform during the clutch? Not gonna lie depending on the type of decision I’ll either look like a ridiculously talented specimen of mankind or I’ll fold up like a 34 year old card table.

But it’s the stress, the drama, the missed opportunities, the capitalization of risk, and the overall raising of temperature that get me fired up. In the end a call is made and you have to deal with it. Plain and simple.

So what do I do with crazy deadlines? Music. Generally classic rock with a strong drum solo. Rush would be a staple.

So how do you deal with deadlines is my question? Do you pound Rockstar energy drinks til you smell like guarana? Or is coffee your super boost? Maybe some Wii tennis? What’s in your deadline toolbelt?

Will Sodas become the new cigarette?

February 16, 2010 in Communication, Lead 3

Diet Pepsi, originally uploaded by Roadsidepictures.

The picture above is old school Diet Pepsi. I need to make a confession, Diet Pepsi is my favorite thing to drink in the whole world. You might say that it’s unhealthy. I would try not to look at you in the eyes when you say that to me….

But there was a report that came out last week saying that sodas contribute to pancreatic cancer. Which is bad. It also contributes to obesity and diabetes but apparently those aren’t as dangerous in our minds as cancer.

So there have been a ton of articles on this very subject, that because of their dangers will they become the new cigarettes? Dangerous product tax it so people will be discouraged to use it.

Where do you stand? How would you feel if a 12 pack of your favorite soda cost around $13-$15? As someone in #kidmin, are you going to fight against it or sit this one out?

Leading When you’re Young: Dad and Michael Hyatt

February 9, 2010 in Lead, Life 0

leading-when-youre-young1

You know I love to write, but honestly my english skills are well… lacking. But I’m trying :) Anyway, I was going to post a blog on a leadership rule that I learned from my dad as I was beginning to supervise at UPS. He said this,

Son don’t ask anyone to do anything that you haven’t done or wouldn’t do now.

I’ve got great thoughts but Mr. Hyatt’s are so much better. If you want a real leadership tip from me. Subscribe to michaelhyatt.com

Leading when you’re Young: Finding some Wise Peeps!

February 8, 2010 in Lead, Life 1

leading-when-youre-young1

Sorry for the delay on this post. Lots to do around the office this time of year… prepping for Summer events and all. Anywho, this is a pretty good tip and fortunately God kinda hooked me up for most of my life until I started to get it…. which is about 6-7 months ago. I know you figured, common sense would kick in, but I have CSD or Common Sense Delay, my common sense usually kicks in just after I made a mistake… I’ve heard it’s a common condition in guys.

As a young leader you generally feel like you’ve got it figured out. You are great at some things, and if you have a realistic picture of yourself, you realize you need help in some areas. Now the tendency generally is to figure it all out on your own. I mean most of your life you’ve probably done it that way. You do the searching, you do the legwork, you read the books and you put in the time to craft a skill or technique. But over time you realize the internet and books just can’t teach you some of the things that you need to know.

You see we talk in church world about relationships and how God designed each of us to have them. Both with Him and with others. And as young leaders it’s tough sometimes to get to a point where you can say honestly and not passive aggressively that I need help in this area of my life. Honoring others because we understand that we don’t get it. Knowing that we miss the mark and desperately need grace. So find some people that excel at some things that you desperately need some help. Because we don’t know it all, and we do need help. So find some people that can be honest with you and can point out to you where you are making a mistake. And then take their advice and do it.

I’ll give you some examples in my own life of areas that I need some people in my life to teach me how it’s done.

  1. Finances
  2. Marriage
  3. Time Management
  4. My view of Grace
  5. Ministry
  6. Marriage

Those are just a few of the things that I have people to help me with on a consistent basis. A few people help me out in many of these areas.

I’m just beginning to get this skill. My personality is a do it all. If there is something that needs to be done, then I feel like I can probably do it on my own. But I also need to be able not only to pass some things off, but also give others opportunities to shine. FYI, THOSE AREN’T THE SAME THING!

I’ve got a few other posts coming up but let me know. What’s something that you’ve struggled with as a young leader? Asking for help, Time, the Problem with Potential, Relationships, etc. What’s your thing that you had/have to get through as a young leader?

Leading when you’re Young: Time

January 27, 2010 in Family Ministry, Lead 4

leading-when-youre-young

“Time is on your side”

This one is one of the toughest things to figure out. Time. It seems to be a simple, straightforward, linear, idea. However, if you are a type A driven personality, time is generally a tough thing to understand fully.

At 23, I am at a place where most people wish they could be at. I know I sound like a total jerk but stay with me please. I married a beautiful woman who loves me more than I can imagine, I’m debt free, I have an incredible job in ministry with people that are my biggest fans, and I’m still at the beginning of “real life”. But it’s an extremely difficult place to be at for me. Why? Because of unrealistic expectations that I hold for myself and the inescapable reality of time itself.


Why can’t I have the communication ability of someone who has done this for 30 years? I’ve been at it for 1.3 years.

Why can’t I have some of the deep relationships that other staffers have established? I haven’t been at it long enough.

Why do I struggle to make or feel like I have the support of making certain decisions? Think about the “length of time” and “number” of things on your resume.

The reality is that as much as our personality fights against the certainty of time, it’s still time. It takes time to develop a ton of things that exist in other’s leadership. In The Making of a Leader a book by Robert Clinton, they suggest that there are six phases of how God develops leaders:

  • Sovereign Foundations
  • Inner Life Growth
  • Ministry Maturing
  • Life Maturing
  • Convergence
  • Afterglow or Celebration

Where the Convergence phase is “people’s ministry experiences and their life experiences converge into a specific job or responsibility wherein they draw on all they have learned in order to enjoy maximum effectiveness. This will be the job or role for which leaders are best known and in which they experience their greatest success.”

See how far down the list that Convergence phase is located? Yeah… and yet I know a lot of other young leaders that become increasingly frustrated by the fact that they haven’t had their Convergence phase yet. It’s just takes time. Not to mention, it takes time to get through all those other phases that God desires to take you through.

So here’s a few suggestions when struggling with the issue of time and the fact that you aren’t 75 years old with 50 years of ministry experience under your belt:

  1. Read someone’s biography-it allows you to understand the development of a leader and how God did things in His timing and how perfectly they culminated. Not to mention it always helps to gain a little perspective.
  2. Pray-I always feel better when I voice my frustration to God. Granted, he might have a fun answer like He did for Job, but it’s always an encouragement that He’s in charge.
  3. Reflect-When we look towards the future too much, it causes us to lose focus on some of the victories of the past. I wouldn’t be what I am today without my past. It’s helpful to see ways in which God shaped me through past experiences.

Time is inevitable. You aren’t just going to be a great leader in a year or even (*yikes*) 10 years. But the focusing on the present helps to make your future a lot brighter. So take what seems like an enemy in the clock and make it your friend. Allow your present to be the best time of your life and the future will take care of itself.

Leading when you’re Young

January 25, 2010 in Lead, Life, Resources 4

leading-when-youre-young

This week I’ll be doing a series of posts on “Leading when you’re Young”. I am 23 years old and am a leadership nutjob. I love to read, probably bordering on unhealthy amounts of leadership material. From business to church, sales to service, profit to non-profit, it all is interesting to me. I hope to give some encouragement and share some struggles of leading when you are young.

And if you’re young and in leadership, hang in there. It takes time, and that is the hardest thing for me to remember.

Leverage Influence

January 21, 2010 in Family Ministry, Lead 0

photo-26

Well this picture represents what most of think of, when we think of teenagers. Goofy, awkward, slight immature, yet full of potential. I figure I would use myself because well I like to think I am a kid at heart. O, and well, I bear a striking resemblance to….well…..uh….a teenager.

But leveraging our influence to develop these young people. Giving them an opportunity to learn about ministry. Learning the ins and outs and what serving God is all about. But being honest, alot of times, kids and students end up being used more than developed into spiritual leaders. It starts out really honest, we want to develop the potential that we see in our kids and students. But over time the day to day gets in the way of training.

When I worked at the Brown, aka UPS we were told as sup’s we were to spend 70% of our time on training. Why? Because without our people, it doesn’t work. But getting people in the right spots isn’t training. Getting people aligned with their gift set isn’t training. Training is training.

Here’s a few tips to check your influence and make sure you are developing rather than using your students and kids in ministry.

1)What: What do you spend the majority of your time with these young people doing? What is it that you are “doing” with them and not only that but what specifically are you trying to develop in them? Is it time management, communication, classroom management, or none of the above? Keep the what in focus. What is your purpose?

2)Who: Who is it that you are developing? Did they fall in your lap? Or did you hand select them? Generally taking part in the selection process tends to nip this using thing in the bud. Why? Well because you personally picked them and have more of an idea of your purpose. You picked these young people and you know the reason and the intent.

3)Where: This seems a bit odd, but generally if your “mentoring” only takes place on a Sunday and on campus. Then most likely it’s not mentoring. Go offsite, it shows the people you are pouring into that you see that they are valuable.

Those are things that I would continue to check myself on. Keep those in focus and come up with a plan and strategy. Set a time and pour into these young people.

I had people do this for me, they cared for me and invested time and money into my development. But I’ve also been used before. A lot actually. And we wonder why young people sometimes have problems with authority? Leverage your influence. There are young folks out there dying for someone to see potential in them and give them some guidance.

Elevate Community

January 20, 2010 in Family Ministry, Lead 3

orange eruption, originally uploaded by schmaecky.

Decided on another random pic for Kenny :)

I know that most here will give you some awesome illustrations of this very thing for their own kids. But I am deciding to give you some of my own. I don’t have kids and a lot of people call me a kid so I think it’ll work.

I remember a SS (that’s Sunday School) teacher that I had when I was a young boy. His name was Charlie Bishop. He worked with his hands, in fact two of the fingers on his right hand were injured at work. He created marvelous things out of wood. He was there all the time, every Sunday and I remember how endeared we were to him. He made different kids different things. But for me he had made a case to hold my Hotwheels in. I still have those things at my parent’s home in Memphis.

I will never, ever forget Charlie Bishop.

I wish I could tell you how incredible a communicator he was or how this one particular thing he did for me was more incredible than the others, but honestly there wasn’t any of that. He was consistent, humble, and he loved us.

He invested in my life as a very young boy and he prayed every Sunday for us to know God. As I got older I had fewer and fewer interactions with him but I always remembered the impact that he had on my life.

Then in different stages of my life, I would have someone else there to guide me on my way.

Now I am searching for more influencers to help guide me into being a great husband, and one day a father.

And we must focus the same efforts for our children. Helping put coaches, mentors, and teachers in place that will partner with the parents to develop a child.

It can’t just be one, there have to be more. Eventually kids will look elsewhere. Instead of fighting, help find people that those kids can run to who you can trust and will be a positive influence.

It’s true that it takes a village. But you can be the village idiot by being unaware or fighting against it. Or you can be a village leader by using the situation to benefit your child.

Wednesday Wisdom 1/20/2010

January 20, 2010 in Lead, Resources 0

Outer space….or?, originally uploaded by Stefan Söderström.

It’s very hard to take yourself too seriously when you look at the world from outer space.
-Thomas K. Mattingly II

Reactivating the Family

January 19, 2010 in Family Ministry, Lead 0

fast asleep, originally uploaded by rodbotic.

So like Kenny so aptly put it, church has stepped into the role of primary spiritual leader in the life of children and students. And it’s true but in order to step out of that role we have to stop being that for parents. I mean think of the things that the church has in place: Recreation, Teaching times, How to serve, Time Management workshops, Math Tutoring, etc.

Yet we expect for Parents to lead the Spiritual Development of their children. I think the thing that most of the people in this Orange Week will tell you is this:

There is no magic “(insert thing, program, event, curriculum)” that will solve this issue. But somehow we have to make that shift. We have to put the power back in the hands of the people that 79% of kids say they look up to the most, their parents.

But how do we put the power back with the parents. I’ll give you a couple ways that I see it happening.

1)Connecting with Parents-One of the flaws in the traditional childrens/student ministry setting is the lack of connection parents have with the ministry. *unless they are volunteers of course :)

We have to find a way to give Parents tools to deal with the issues that their kids are going through. I’ll give you a good place to think about:

Kids now spend more time online than watching television. That is completely opposite of their Parents. How can we equip parents to connect with their kids and set limits and consequences in an area that children are really the experts?

2)Re-prioritize-quick think about this particular work week. How much of your time is directly focused on parents? Probably not much huh? Yet, we expect Parents to step up to that spiritual leader role, but we spend most of our time preparing to be in that role on a Sunday morning. And just so you know, I am right here with you. What does that look like? What is something tangible that I can do for parents that will help me get my priorities aligned.

3)Pray and Think-It’s a big issue. It’s a big problem. It needs to be solved. There is a way. Pray and find some people to connect with that can help you brainstorm through some things. You aren’t alone in ministry. There are plenty of PEOPLE to help you. Here’s a couple of places to start if you don’t know:

Twitter
cmconnect
Blogs

As a young person in ministry. Don’t blame someone else because they don’t come to you. Go find someone to help you.

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