Sophos
Applying Wisdom to LifeTaking Notes: Leading Up
OK, If you have not subscribed to “Swerve” yet, the blog of Craig Groeschel and Bobby Gruenewald, do it now. I love hearing what is happening at Life Church and absolutely love what Craig writes. He is all about applying wisdom to life. His latest series was on Leading up – that is, how do you respond to authority when you have a great idea and need to share it and what do you do when your leadership ability may exceed that of the people above you. Check out all four parts:
A little 3rd World with your Laptop?
I have been pretty much non-existent on both of my blogs the last few weeks so I want to give a little update. Living in Costa Rica – in the southern Caribbean coast can be exciting and challenging sometimes (although we are not going without like other missionaries I know).
So here’s the deal – Internet has become more and more “sketchy” at best. When I can get on-line, I can’t get to webpages like wordpress, yahoo, gmail… basically all the ones I really use a lot. So please forgive me for not posting.
With these “3rd world amenities” I have decided to pull back a little bit on the symposium. We will start doing the symposium twice a month instead of every week. I think the symposium will appreciate it too.
I still love ministering in Costa Rica 
Symposium: Letting People Go
Question Series: Wise Leadership Decisions
Question 3: What are some criteria you follow when letting someone go? When do you know it’s time to have that discussion and what advice can you offer to help leaders in this process?
The Symposium seems to have taken a break this week. I can’t blame them, when they are busy I’ve asked them to remove the symposium from their “To-Do” list first. That is just the price you pay when working with great leaders, great leaders are usually pretty busy.
That doesn’t mean we can’t discuss this topic a little bit though. I want to refer to Andy Stanley on the topic of letting people go. I heard a recorded message of his that he gave at some conference that I’m sure was amazing. Here are some points he made that I remember.
- Sometimes volunteers need to be let go. If there are volunteers that are holding you and the ministry back from accomplishing the goals and vision, that person must be let go. That person in not bigger than the ministry.
- People that are not the right “Fit” need to go or be moved to a position that better fits them and their calling and gifts. The truth is that there are a lot of great people on the bus, but they may just be sitting in the wrong seats. Before letting a great staff person or volunteer go, ask if this person can fit in a different place. If it is a question of attitude, team work or reliability, that person may need to be let go.
- Because we are Christians, we over extend Mercy to staff and volunteers which inevitably brings down the ministry. I love that. Overextending mercy is something we use so that we don’t have to do the hard and dirty work of confrontation. I have seen people hire someone out of pity and mercy – it didn’t end up well.
- By letting people go we are freeing them up to be more correctly used by god with the gifts that they have been given. Simple principle – how many people out there have been let go to fin out later that it seemed to e part of God’s plan.
What are some other points that could be added to this list. When does a person need to be let go.
Series Summaries:
Question 1 – Leadership Culture
Question 2 – The Decision of Hiring
Taking Notes: Leading Volunteers
I found this post in my “Stared” Items this morning. It was posted several weeks ago but rereading it I realize why I “Stared” it. Leading Volunteers correctly can help increase the volunteer culture of an organization.
In this interview, Caryn Rivadeneira interviews Nancy Beach about leading volunteers. A great point that I received from reading this interview is that volunteers are not just working to accomplish a task but to be a part of a community.
The First question asked is, “What is the difference between leading a group of volunteers and leading paid staff?”
Pre-Symposium: Letting People Go
Question Series: Wise Leadership Decisions Last week we discussed important hiring practices. But, what happens when you don’t make a wise decision in the hiring process? Than, it may be time to make a wise decision in letting someone go. If you are at any level of leadership, you undoubtedly will be faced with letting people go – even volunteers!
Question 3: What are some criteria you follow when letting someone go? When do you know it’s time to have that discussion and what advice can you offer to help leaders in this process?
Series Summaries:
Question 1 – Leadership Culture
Question 2 – The Decision of Hiring
Symposium: The Decision of Hiring
Question Series: Wise Leadership Decisions
Question 2: When hiring someone to join your staff, what are some criteria that you follow? Do you have an outline? Do you go by gut feeling? Do you rely on relationships? As I said in the pre-Symposium post, hiring can make or brake goals that have been made. Hiring the right person for the right position can lead to an amazing impact and the opposite can cause such chaos that production levels decrease throughout the organization. After looking through the symposium responses and finding some non-Symposium posts on the topic, there are three areas I want to highlight about hiring people in your organization.
1) Several posts that I have read on the topic clearly agree that hiring from within the organization is a priority. Tim Stevens of Granger Community Church says that 80 of the 82 people on staff have been hired from within the church. That’s over 97%! He writes in his post,
“Before hiring them, we were doing life with them. They were serving beside us in ministry. We saw their strengths and weaknesses and how they respond under pressure”
Craig Groeschel wrote a post on this topic several weeks ago and shared several benefits of hiring from within. He explains that a person from within your organization will better understand the “DNA” of the organization – expectations, work ethic, vision and goals.
A friend told me recently, “Look around, churches don’t really follow by that rule!” He’s right, most churches I know do not hire from within. I look at it as a huge area of potential. What if churches all began applying this principle? Would we would have less turnover, more momentum, effectiveness and impact.
2) In an age where information is at our fingertips, education is really a never ending process. One point that was made in several posts is that chemistry is more important than education. Education is not overlooked but as many noted, if they had all the education for the job but were a pain to work with it would diminish the effectiveness of the team. Let me make a note here to say several post highlighted “Bill Hybels criteria” for hiring by looking at Chemistry, Character, and Competency. (If I remember correctly, he devotes a chapter to this in his book Courageous Leadership – correct me if I am wrong please.)
3) The last point I want to address is hiring to fulfill vision. This is hiring on the offense. It is hiring to make things happen, to reach goals and make more impact. When we hire on the defense, hiring for need, we are always a step behind. We are reacting to ministry growth verses creating and influencing ministry growth. Another side to hiring to fulfill vision is that there is always more we can do. There are always more ministries, opportunities and people. We need take a good look at our vision and goals and hire to meet them, not every need that arises.
There are so many more points that can be shared about hiring. I will leave those to anyone who wants to comment. But, imagine if just these three points were followed by every church organization (within reason), what would happen to the Church? What would happen to its impact, momentum, growth and effectivness?
Contributors:
Chris Szulwach
Tim Stevens
Craig Groeschel
Paul Peterson
Question Series Summaries
Question 1: Leadership Culture
Taking Notes: Pause to Breath
Are you like this? I get so wound up with leading that I forget to pause, breath, and refuel. When I do pause, it’s more of a half pause. I sit down to pray and get into the Word and I have a list of things forming of what I need to do next or what I could do in the future. Or, I read something from scripture and instead of meditating on it and applying it to life, I turn it into a whole new ministry with branding and how to launch it! My mind never stops thinking about what “could and should be.”
Taking Notes: A Call to all Men
WARNING!: The Original Post is disturbing.
I have been subscibing to Jim Larsen‘s blog for a month now. He is a missionary in Thailand and is ministering to woman who are caught up in the sex world of that area. He is making an awesome impact at “The Well” where he adopts these children and shares with them the love of Christ.
His Post today impacted me to a point where I had to stop and just pray for Jim,his ministry, and a little 13 year old girl names Noi. The post is hard and honest and he finishes with a call to ALL men, to make an impact in the place where God has placed them. Here’s a powerfull quote from his post:
“My mission in coming here was to be one man that does the opposite, that instead of taking advantage of poor, helpless women and girls, does everything in his power to honor, protect and bless them. Part of that means changing the hearts of men, and the best way I know to do that is to bring men to know Jesus.”
Men, what are we doing to show the love of Christ to the women and girls around us? Jim gives a few examples that we can start off with.
*Neither of the girls in the above picture is Noi, I took this picture from one of Jim’s previous posts.
Taking Notes: Critics
Some of the harshest criticism comes from our own heads. You’ve been there right? You finish speaking and as you walk off the stage, the first thing that come to your head is………. Fill in the blank.
That kind of criticism is at least only in your head right? We are left wondering if anyone else thinks it. But what happens when the wondering part disappears and someone start criticising you or your ministry. What a blow it could be. If you are like me, it can be a constant battle where winning one means you live on to fight the next.
Perry Noble from NewSpring Church wrote a GREAT post a few days ago about receiving criticism and how we can handle it. Sometimes it comes appropriately, lets face it, we don’t knock it out of the park everyday. But how do you distinguish between criticism worth listening to and criticism that needs to be ignored and drop-kicked out of your mind.
In this post, Perry gives 5 questions to ask yourself about the criticism that you are faced with.
Pre-Symposium: The Decision of Hiring
Question Series: Wise Leadership DecisionsQuestion 2: The Decision of Hiring
Hiring the right person at the right time can be a catalyst to increased impact and growth in an organization. Hiring the wrong person at the wrong time can lead to severe set backs, team disunity, and decline. The decision to hire someone that “fits” is crucial.
Question 2: When hiring someone to join your staff, what are some criteria that you follow? Do you have an outline? Do you go by gut feeling? Do you rely on relationships?
For the Symposium response to Question 1: Leadership Culture, Click here
My name is Phil Ogilvie and my mission on this blog is to help people find wisdom and apply it to life. I am married to a beautiful woman of God and together we are missionaries in Costa Rica with 
