10 Ways to (Lightly) Reset Your Volunteer Team This Year
It’s a brand-new trip around the sun. And if you’re like me, you enjoy a new page on the calendar, a blank sheet of paper, a mile-marker opportunity to hit the reset button on a...
Category: Leadership
Uncomfortably Uncertain
Leaders don’t need to have all of the answers. We should be sure of the vision, confident of the values, and fixed on the end goal. But in the questions and speed bumps and hiccups...
Toddling vs. Coddling
I have a granddaughter. (That’s not new news to those of you who have been around the blog for a while, but it’s my contractual obligation as a first-time Pops to mention that every third...
See it from Their Side
If there’s one thing I know about myself, it’s that my perspective is often tinted by rose-colored glasses: My idea is probably the best one. My opinion is probably the right one. My way is...
How to Kill Your Darlings in Ministry
Many of us have heard the phrase “kill your darlings,” a saying that originated from William Faulkner. Or maybe Oscar Wilde. Or possibly even Stephen King, which makes sense because of the whole kill thing....
Gaps vs. Overlaps
Lately I’ve been exercising my spiritual gift of poking my nose in where no one has asked me to (that was one of the gifts Paul texted about rather than sent an epistle about, and...
The Arrogance of Experience
We’ve all been there. Give us enough time, events, completed to-do lists, and trips around the sun, we find ourselves to suddenly be bona-fide experts on how to do … whatever it is we do....
Should You Serve On a Team That You Lead?
Leaders of volunteers are a hardy bunch: they have to possess the perfect mix of visionary, recruiter, trainer, coach, administrator, encourager…sometimes it feels like we hold every role from chief cook to bottle washer. And...
Q&A: What Hills Are You Willing to Die On?
Q: When you think about your own leadership and the ministry areas you lead, what hills are you willing to die on? [from the final session of our 2023 Connections Confab] A: Here’s the thing...
Creating a Climate Where the Truth is Heard
When we think of leadership, we think of lots of “one to many” activities: speaking. Vision-casting. Edifying. Informing. Directing. But one of the often-overlooked “many to one” activities is that of listening. Leaders must listen....
