Big Is The New Small

Let me get straight to the point.  I attend and speak at many church planting, leadership and ministry conferences each and every year.  Each conference has it’s own unique flavor and I have my favorites for a variety of reasons.

One of my favorites is the Velocity Conference put on by ChurchPlanters.com.  This conference is right outside of the ATL (Atlanta, GA) and it’s a jewel of a conference for church planters, ministry leaders, volunteers and anyone that wants to learn, grow and connect.  This years dates are February 27th & 28th.

The speaker line-up is amazing, including: Sam Chand, Jud Wilhite, Shawn Lovejoy, Stacey Spencer, Geoff Surratt, Pete Wilson, Tony Morgan, Ed Stetzer, Amy Bloye, Ron Edmondson, Derwin Gray, Mac Lake, Brian Bloye, Artie Davis, Patricia Lovejoy, Ed Stetzer, Brandi Wilson, Myself and way too many to name in one blogpost.  For a limited time the registration is only $79, yes only $79 and that’s for a limited time.

SPECIAL OFFER FOR BigIsTheNewSmall.com Readers: Starting now through January 15th Velocity Conference is going to offer a 20% discount off the #Velocity12 registration for everyone who registers with my special discount code: #velocity12Williams. (Only $63)  Click here for more details and click here to register.  Don’t forget to use #Velocity12Williams for your 20% discount.

I hope to see you there.

Don’t you just love the lists of how to do this and how to do that.  Well as 2012 rapidly approaches, our love for the “Top 10 Ways” types of lists only increases.  We develop a mindset that says lay out the path, show me the tools and give me some new ways to think.

The driving force behind our interest in these types of lists is an inner desire to grow.  We want to do things different, we want to think different and we want to be different, as long as the end result means growth.  Growth is a critical component of the vehicle that drives you down the road of success.

Below is a straight to the point list of how leaders can increase their leadership in 2012.

12 Ways Leaders Can Increase Their Leadership In 2012

• 1. Truly Embrace The Team Concept: There is no “I” in team and teamwork makes the dream work.
• 2. Don’t Play It Safe: Be willing to take some risks.  Your risks can be calculated or not, either way you need to get off the shores of playing it safe.
• 3. Give Credit & Take Blame:  Give credit where credit is due and be willing to look in the mirror and say, “My Bad” or “It’s My Fault!”
• 4. Don’t Be A Yes Man or Yes Woman:  Be willing to step up and challenge things when they need to be challenged.  This can be the process of leading-up or leading-down.
• 5. Don’t Lose Your Cool:  Remember the 3C’s in all situations – Cool, Calm & Collected.
• 6. Empower Your Team:  Release your team to do their job.  Don’t be a micro-manager.
• 7. Minimize Meetings:  Reduce the number of meetings, the length of meetings, the necessity of meetings and the list of who needs to attend the meetings.
• 8. Get To Know Your Team Members On A Personal Level:  Know what’s going on in the lives of your team members outside of work.  Know their interests, their children’s interests… To know is to care.
• 9. Take Time To Develop Your Team Members: Leadership development isn’t a system but rather an on-going act of moving people from where they are to where they need to be. If you want your overall leadership capacity to increase, you must increase the capacity of those around you.  Leadership development isn’t optional, it’s a necessity.
• 10. Surround Yourself With The Best: Be willing to hire people that may be smarter, sharper, more opinionated and maybe even all around better leaders than you are. Empower and release those people to strengthen your team and compliment your leadership.
• 11. Shh Listen For A Change:  Don’t be the person who is always talking – Shh, Be Quiet and Listen for a change.
• 12. Ask The Difficult Questions:  This is where candid evaluation/assessment of everything will make the leader and the team better.  Ask questions like:  Are the individuals that I have on my team making me better?  Am I a my way or the highway leader?  Are we going in the right direction?  Who on my team got us here, but won’t get us there?  Am I making those around me better personally and professionally?  Am I open to receive candid feedback?  If my position, role, title or formal authority was removed would those around me still be willing to follow?  The list of questions goes on and on.  Ask the tough questions and embrace the tough answers.

Do any of these 12 ways resonate with you?  What ways are you going to increase your leadership in 2012?

Success is one of those things that many want to achieve but only a few are willing to put in the work necessary to achieve it.  Success is a journey, it’s a road traveled and if you want it, you must go after it.  If you want to succeed you must have an unwavering determination.

We have all heard the sayings, the quotes, the inspirational speeches etc.  In a nutshell, “If you want to succeed, you have to stop talking about it and be about it.  Talk is cheap.  Hard work pays off and there is no substitute for determination.”

In the words of our 30th President Mr. Calvin Coolidge: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”

There is power in pressing on…  Be determined, be someone who presses on.

Why are so many people unwilling to press on?  Why do so many people quit before they succeed?  Why are more people not willing to do what the mouse is doing in the above picture?

Leadership is all about having a winning team, unfortunately some leaders are more focused on their individual wins and stats than they are getting a team win.  This is played out in many different ways. What I’m specifically referring to is the mindset and philosophy that some leaders have—the thought process that basically boils down to “I’m Not Buying In Because It’s Not My Idea.”

These particular leaders will turn down, refuse to entertain or flat out dismiss any idea that’s not their own. If it didn’t come directly from them, it’s not happening.  What occurs in these types of situations is team members will eventually stop bringing great ideas to the table, because they already know what the answer will be.  Some team members are witty enough and have the patience to circumvent this inept type of leadership by manipulating the leader into thinking an idea originated from them. Voilà!  All of the sudden the leader is excited about their new concept.

Leadership is about collaboration and remembering that teamwork makes dreams work.  If a leader relies on their ideas to be the only ideas that are implemented, their area of responsibility and organization has a very short ceiling. Leadership is about celebrating the wins of others, giving credit where credit is due and understanding it doesn’t matter who makes the play. The goal is to get a win.

I’m Not Buying In Because It’s Not My Idea is a very bad idea.

Have you experienced this type of leadership?  Share your thoughts!

Each and every week for the last eight weeks I have watched this young man Tim Tebow exemplify what being a winner is all about.  It’s about focusing on the task, giving credit where credit is due, understanding there is no “I” in team, making those around you better and embracing the concept of competitive greatness.

The short and skinny is that against all odds, critics and naysayers, Tim Tebow led the Denver Broncos, and keeps getting it done.  The Mile High team is 7-1 since Tebow took the helm as the starting quarterback and continues to leave many scratching their head, and others are becoming believers by the week.  It’s not simply that the Broncos are winning, but it’s the fashion in which the victories are happening.

Tim Tebow has led more 4^th quarter comebacks than any other QB this season besides Eli Manning.  Yesterday’s win over the Chicago Bears was probably the most improbable as the Bears led 10-0 with 2:08 left in the game.  Let me repeat that, the Broncos beat the Chicago Bears in overtime after trailing 10-0 with 2:08 in regulation.

(more…)

The term “Leader” carries a great deal of responsibility. Once a person obtains the title of Leader, they also get the bonus baggage of “The bucks stops with me!”  No matter how you slice, sugarcoat, twist, manipulate or make excuses for organizational outcomes; the bottom line is that “It’s All Your Fault!”

Leaders are generally comfortable carrying the “It’s All Your Fault” tag when their team, area or organization is experiencing success. When things take a turn for the worse, wins are hard to come by and “Big Mo” has left the building; the excuses will begin to roll like the Alabama Crimson Tide, or for the sake of the BCS conversation roll like the OSU Cowboy offense.  Stop with the excuses, stop blaming your team and look in the mirror, because “It’s All Your Fault!”

Sometimes it may not seem fair for the leader to take all of the blame, as they don’t have control over every decision that others make.  There are simply too many variables that are out of their control.  Leadership is not about fairness, and the responsibility nature of it is just part of the game.

I remember having a conversation with a leader who had dotted line responsibility for one of the team leaders under my tutelage.   They asked me the following question about this particular team leader, “Is so-and-so’s area successful because of their leadership or in spite of their leadership?”  My answer was, absolutely because of that particular leader and not in spite of.  If things were failing and falling apart it wouldn’t be in spite of that particular leader.  It’s a two-way street.

Dear Leaders, if your organization is failing, people are leaving, people are not being developed, people are not growing, people are unhappy, leaders are not rising to the top, momentum is long gone and you can’t seem to spell suczcess. “It’s All Your Fault!” If things are great and success is happening, enjoy the season because “It’s All Your Fault!”

There is no need to complain about the outcomes, just embrace the reality.  Next time your boss starts complaining and making excuses, simply look them in the eyes and say “It’s All Your Fault!”  Keep in mind, just because it’s their fault doesn’t mean they won’t pull a Donald Trump on you and look you in the eyes and say, “You’re Fired!”

The person who complains about the way the ball bounces, is likely the one who dropped it. ~Lou Holtz

What do you think?

Leadership is the most commonly used word when it comes down to the success of an organization, product, group or team.  No matter how you slice the success pie, the success pieces all boil down to leadership.  There are countless books about how to be a successful leader, 21 laws of leadership, how to go from good to great and the list goes on and on.  People thrive on learning about leadership, the fact that John Maxwell has sold over 19 million books is a clear indication of such.

There are many reasons that contribute to the success of a leader and just as many reasons for why they fail.  I am a firm believer that you can learn as much from your failures and working around poor leadership as you can successful leadership.  I wrote about it in a previous blog entry entitled Stop Complaining and Start Learning.

Why do leaders FAIL?  Below is a list of 4 memorable reasons leaders FAIL in an easy to remember acronym FAIL.

• Fake-  A leader who attempts to be someone they’re not instead of simply being themselves will always have a difficult time succeeding, at some point it just catches up to them.  This also applies to the leader that has a different face, different persona, different tone and different everything when certain people are around.  In other-words when the big boss comes around they put their fake-face on.  Not to say a leader might not make some adjustments when “company” comes around; however the super-fake-face comes from insecurity of their true self.  Remember: Don’t be fake, be yourself.  “Do You! It’s A Statement… Not A Question!” Fake Leaders Fail!

• Attitude- One of the primary reasons that a leader fails is because of a poor, negative or a no-can-do attitude.  If a leader thinks he can fly and has a positive can-do attitude; even though they may not be able to fly they will come close.  The reason why attitude is important is because that leader’s attitude will rub off on their team members and their followers. Remember: “Attitude reflects leadership, Captain.” ~Julius in Remember The Titans  The outward negative attitude is generally a sign of internal struggles, challenges or insecurities.  Leaders with Bad Attitudes Fail!

• Integrity- If a leader doesn’t exhibit a high degree of integrity they will fail.  The integrity issues will either catch up to them (what’s done in the dark, will come to light) or those that follow them won’t respect them.  If team members or followers don’t respect the a leader, it puts the leader in the place of pushing a snowball up hill… it’s a difficult task.  These integrity issues run the gamete: profanity, lying, cheating, stealing, affairs, flirting, yelling, substance abuse, pride-filled decisions etc.  I have worked with many high capacity leaders in both the secular world and ministry that have failed because they allowed their integrity to get off track.  Remember:  Integrity is doing the right thing, even when nobody is watching. The recent failure episodes of the Herman Cain’s and Jerry Sandusky’s of the world demonstrate how the lack of integrity will always lead to failure of the leader.  Unfortunately, it demonstrates that leadership failures can leave a trail of wounded followers behind.  Leaders who lack of integrity Fail!

• Lacking-  Although everyone has potential for some degree of leadership in them; the bottom line is that some leaders fail because they are either: a.) Not the leader they think they are, or b.) Promoted above their leadership capacity/leadership role has outgrown them, or c.) Not a visionary, or d.) Not a leader at all!   They are lacking what it takes!  Remember: Just because someone has an office, role, title or responsibility doesn’t mean they are a leader.  Leadership is an art, a skill, a craft, a gift… and it must be developed!  A leader must have the ability to inspire people to do more, be more and go farther.  If a leader lacks genuine followers or lacks what it takes to be a leader, they aren’t leading, they are simply going on a walk.

Share your thoughts and experiences.  Add some additional reasons leaders fail to the above list.

Although there are thousands of leadership books and leadership gurus to learn from, leadership isn’t something you can simply read about.  It takes more than reading or trying to implement tactics derived from a leadership workshop.  Leadership is something that you have to do, it’s an experiential science. It’s not rocket science; it’s a simple science.

Leadership is just like swimming — you can’t just read about swimming, you have to get in the water, kick your feet and stroke your arms.  Leadership is the exact same way – you have to get in the leadership waters, kick your feet and stroke your arms.

The Simple Science Of Leadership Boils Down To These Simple Things:

• Believe In Yourself
• Believe In Others
• Point The Direction
• Embrace The Concept Of Team
• Provide An Environment For Growth
• Inspire and Motivate Others
• Move People From Where They Are To Where The Need To Be
• Develop, Develop, Develop, & Develop
• dream BIG. think BIGGER.

Often times managers make leadership more difficult than it has to be, by micro-managing, trying to hard, squashing creativity and making a simple science into rocket science. Leadership is about influence and relationships.  Leadership Is Simple.

Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu says it this way, ”When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally.” Simply put, it was simple.

Is leadership that simple?  Share your thoughts and experiences with leadership being made more difficult than it had to be.

Trying to answer the question of “why an organization or an individual failed?” generally creates some great dialogue. It forces individuals to ask deeper questions and generally prompts individuals to start pointing blame.

Over the years in working with many organizations, individuals, political candidates, teams etc., I have found some pretty common and simple themes as to what contributes to failure.

5 Reasons Businesses, Organizations & People Fail

• 1. Lack Identity- They don’t know who they are or who they want to be.  They are defined by the latest, greatest, newest trend and this is a cyclical process.  A person or organization without an identity or clear values to shape their identity is destined to fail.
• 2. Copy Cat- This is similar to #1; however the heart behind this one is to be like “so and so.”  It’s important to copy what’s burning deep inside you, not what’s burning inside of someone else.  If your only desire is to mimic someone else and not bring anything new, fresh or different to the table, you are destined to fail.
• 3. Don’t Solicit Proper Feedback- It’s important for individuals and organizations to have the proper people speaking into their plan and their life.  This helps to bring clarity to their identity and encourages individuals and organizations to be true to their unique calling.  Additionally, wise counsel can provide critical input that may alleviate some of the failure contributors altogether.  If you want to know if something is a good idea, ask those closest to you.  Not only those closest to you, but rather those closest to you that will shoot you 100% straight. (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly)  Without Good, Godly and Golden counsel, you are destined to fail.
• 4. Me Syndrome- If it’s all about you or your organization, you can almost guarantee it’s gonna be all about you, in your own little failure corner of your own little failure world.  Failure island is a lonely place to be for selfish people.  If it’s all about me-me-me, you are destined to fail.
• 5. Premature Quitter- I am a firm believer that there is definitely a time to call it quits.  The good wise counsel in #3 can be the group that help you ascertain, when it’s time to quit.  I think it’s important to always keep trying to change and move the ball of success down the field.  Quitting is one of those things that you will often times have to even take one step past your wise counsel.  You must pull from deep inside to know your limits and how much harder you need to work.  Often times #1 or rather an individual or organization’s identity is defined in the moments they were thinking about giving up.  If you quit prematurely, you are always destined to fail.  “Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one-yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touch down. ~Ross Perot

I worked with, alongside, for and supervised many people who confuse activity for productivity.  These are two very different animals; however they are readily confused for being the same species.  Below are some brief definitions of the two:

• Activity- The state or quality of being active.
• Productivity- The efficiency with which work or output is produced.

Just because a person, group or team is active, doesn’t necessarily mean that they are efficient or productive.  This applies to both personal and business life.  When individuals make the presumption that Activity = Productivity, they create a system where their primary goal is to be active.  They will work long hours, always try to look busy, always try to work on something and encourage those around them to keep busy.  Each day they tell themselves, “I have lots of stuff to work on today, I need to get busy.” Their busyness can often be translated to slowness, because their driving force is to be active.

The productive person on the other hand will ask themselves these types of  questions: “What do I need to work on today?”  ”Am I working on the things that matter?” “What do I need to put on my not-to-do list?” “How can I become more efficient?”

For instance I could keep writing this post trying to drive the point home; however I’m convinced that I’ve stated enough for you to have a clear understanding that “Just Because You’re Active, Doesn’t Mean You’re Productive.”  For the sake of productivity, I’m done now and not two paragraphs later.

What do you think?  Share your thoughts and experiences with those that mistake activity with productivity.