As I spend time with leaders from both the business and church world I have noticed a common theme. With a few questions, a decent cup of coffee, and about an hour of time they can describe why they do what they do. What they talk about are their core values; those things that they want to describe their life when it is all said and done.
Another thing becomes quite apparent with just a bit of digging. Many of these leaders have a hard time connecting the tasks that fill their days to their core values.
Sometimes it is just a matter of better understanding what they do and why. This is especially true of people with repetitive job cycles (each day looks the same, or each week follows the same pattern).
Most pastors fit into that category as there are certain things that must be done each week before the next Sunday arrives. Their to-do lists are often full before a week even begins. Many times they struggle with motivation because they have forgotten the connection that the task has to their values.
Other times the reason it is hard to find a connection between task and value is because there is no connection. People in this state often talk about things like "the tyranny of the urgent". They are doing things that must be done, but when you ask, "why?", they have a hard time giving a satisfying answer.
One little exercise I ask clients to walk through is to look at their To-Do list for a given week, take each task listed, and ask "Why am I doing this?" Take that answer and ask "why" again. Keep asking why until you get down to something you would consider a core value.
For example, a task might be "write follow-up letters to all guests from Sunday". Why? Because we want guests to feel welcomed and help them connect to our church. Why? God welcomed us into His family, we want to do the same. Why? We value Grace and Hospitality; two characteristics God displays to us.
Each task could go a number of directions. This exercise does two things for you. First, for those tasks that do lead to a core value it allows you to speak vision and not just task. We are no longer "writing follow-up letters to guests", we are extending Grace and Hospitality to people that God loves, just as He did to us. It might flavor those same letters with a different tone and passion.
Second, for those tasks that do not lead to a core value it helps you see that it either does not need to be done or it does not need to be done by the leader. It is important that a leader does not fill their week with tasks that have no connection to their core values. That drains motivation and quickly decreases their performance, creativity, passion, etc.
The simple truth is that there are more things that must be done than a leader can do in any given week. In the past we turned to "time management" tools to help us become more efficient. Sadly, the same technology that allowed us to become more efficient also allowed people to make more demands on us.
Cell phones allow us to make connections at any time, anywhere. They also allow people to believe that we are available to connect any time, anywhere. Email and every other online communication tool allow people to send questions, requests, comments, etc. to us with little to no effort. Put a $0.10 price tag on emails and I bet the average in-box would be cut in half.
Today the focus is not so much on time management as it is on Priority Management. Leaders that will be consistently successful are those that keep a tight reign on their weekly to-do list, keeping them in line with their core values.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Importance of Inflow
These last few months have been some of the most intense of my life. The whole process of hearing from God and then attempting to match my practical day-to-day life with His call has been incredibly transformational.
It has also been draining, and from what I am seeing it is only going to get more so. Some days I find myself looking back on my position as an associate pastor and thinking just how easy I had it. I realize there is always a case of greener grass, but the fact is I did have it easier back then. Some of that is probably because God was in the process of teaching me what it meant to be poured out for Him. Much of it was that I was the associate pastor... and I have come to believe there is just a whole different level of responsibility that a senior pastor feels.
As my ministry has changed I can empathize more with Paul when he recounted his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:16-29. That sounds silly even as I write it, but I find it amazing that at the end of his (quite substantial and impressive) list of trials he says, "besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches."
That is a new thing for me, being concerned for "all the churches". I could honestly say that I was concerned with "my" church, but not "all" the churches. Now, as I work with multiple pastors and business people across the city I find that I am constantly being poured out. I pray more, I hurt more. I battle worry and anxiety, not just for my family and our well-being, but for their families and well-being.
It is both incredibly fulfilling and incredibly draining at the same time.
That point become ultimately clear to me today as I stared, blank-faced, at my computer screen. I was trying to write and realized there was just nothing inside of me. I felt truly empty. That is when it hit me. It has been two days since I just sat and soaked in God's Word.
I have read my Bible in the last two days, but it was more of a reference tool as I was dispensing advice, preparing a message, or framing my prayers. I had not stopped long enough to allow God to fill me with His Word, and so I became empty.
Shortly after I realized that I was empty (and why), I thanked God for how He has chosen to use me at this season of my life. I realized that there have been times I have gone weeks or even months without allowing God to fill me before I felt this empty. That was a humbling and convicting thought... that I was giving away so little of what God had given me that I could last months between fill-ups.
That is most certainly not the case now. The calling God has given me is too big for me. The steps of faith He requires are too large. And that is just the way He wants it. Each day I am compelled to come to Him and simply commit myself to His glory. That is about all I can muster, to say, "Today God I am Yours, please fill me and use me as You see fit."
In that beautiful moment He fulfills what He promises so often in the Scripture; He gives me strength, wisdom, clarity, and passion for His Kingdom and Glory. Then He is good enough to take care of all of the other things I need in life as well.
It has also been draining, and from what I am seeing it is only going to get more so. Some days I find myself looking back on my position as an associate pastor and thinking just how easy I had it. I realize there is always a case of greener grass, but the fact is I did have it easier back then. Some of that is probably because God was in the process of teaching me what it meant to be poured out for Him. Much of it was that I was the associate pastor... and I have come to believe there is just a whole different level of responsibility that a senior pastor feels.
As my ministry has changed I can empathize more with Paul when he recounted his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:16-29. That sounds silly even as I write it, but I find it amazing that at the end of his (quite substantial and impressive) list of trials he says, "besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches."
That is a new thing for me, being concerned for "all the churches". I could honestly say that I was concerned with "my" church, but not "all" the churches. Now, as I work with multiple pastors and business people across the city I find that I am constantly being poured out. I pray more, I hurt more. I battle worry and anxiety, not just for my family and our well-being, but for their families and well-being.
It is both incredibly fulfilling and incredibly draining at the same time.
That point become ultimately clear to me today as I stared, blank-faced, at my computer screen. I was trying to write and realized there was just nothing inside of me. I felt truly empty. That is when it hit me. It has been two days since I just sat and soaked in God's Word.
I have read my Bible in the last two days, but it was more of a reference tool as I was dispensing advice, preparing a message, or framing my prayers. I had not stopped long enough to allow God to fill me with His Word, and so I became empty.
Shortly after I realized that I was empty (and why), I thanked God for how He has chosen to use me at this season of my life. I realized that there have been times I have gone weeks or even months without allowing God to fill me before I felt this empty. That was a humbling and convicting thought... that I was giving away so little of what God had given me that I could last months between fill-ups.
That is most certainly not the case now. The calling God has given me is too big for me. The steps of faith He requires are too large. And that is just the way He wants it. Each day I am compelled to come to Him and simply commit myself to His glory. That is about all I can muster, to say, "Today God I am Yours, please fill me and use me as You see fit."
In that beautiful moment He fulfills what He promises so often in the Scripture; He gives me strength, wisdom, clarity, and passion for His Kingdom and Glory. Then He is good enough to take care of all of the other things I need in life as well.
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