Developing Kingdom Leaders – Tom Yeakley

Taking the Mystery out of Leadership

Archive for the tag “Team leader”

29 Sep 2014

Morale – Focus on It!

In the great leadership book by Dwight Eisenhower titled Crusade in Europe, he devotes a good deal of attention to the subject of maintaining high morale among the troops under his command.   You’ll note his number one item:  Morale is the key to success!  Here’s a list of other lessons learned from his experience as Supreme Allied Commander of the European Theater during WWII:

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO HIGH MORALE

1. Morale is the greatest single factor in successful warfare.

2. The individual is the key to success.

3. Communicate correct information to counteract negative propaganda.

4. Maintaining the initiative not only keeps the enemy on the defensive, but builds morale.

5. Success in reaching a goal or series of victories builds morale and esprit de corps.

6. When the enemy is successfully attacking, calmness, firmness and optimism are essential
to win through to victory.

7. Keep the civilians informed of the progress of the war.

8. Visit the troops frequently in the field.

9. Talk to the troops about everything. Ask them if they have discovered any new trick or
gadget to use in fighting .

10. Mutual confidence, a feeling of partnership, is the essence of esprit de corps.

11. Take initiative to find out their problems. Don’t wait for them to come to you.

12. Men must feel that they are being treated equally and fairly.

13. Men must know their own accomplishments are understood and appreciated.

14. Leadership, discipline, technique, as well as numbers, equipment, mobility, supply and
maintenance are prerequisite to the existence of morale.

15. Morale will suffer unless all ranks thoroughly believe that their commanders are concerned
first and always with the welfare of the troops who do the fighting.

16. Provide recreation and furlough time. Veterans like to return to their own unit. Relieve
units from front-line duty periodically.

17. Higher commanders devote every minute of their time to tactics, logistics and morale.

Posted in #1 KNOW- How a Leader Thinks, #3 DO - What a Leader Does and tagged , , , , , , ,
16 Jun 2014
1 Comment

Leading a Generation of Free Agents

“Leading a Generation of Free Agents”   by Tim Elmore

“I just had the most intriguing conversation with a local employer in Atlanta. He told me he’s at the end of his rope–and he’s about ready to see a therapist. The reason for his duress? The college graduates he recently hired. They were driving him crazy. When I inquired about what made them so challenging, he noted the following realities he faced:

*  They came in with high expectations of relational time with him in order to be mentored

*  They wanted time off to travel and participate in volunteer organizations around the world

*  They expected a raise within the first six months, just because they showed up for work on time

*  Their mother actually set an appointment to negotiate their raise for them

If you think this sounds crazy, think again. More and more, I am meeting corporate leaders who share the same basic story. This new population of Millennial generation kids (born between 1984 and 2002) are demanding a different work environment than the previous two generations. The Baby Boomers were “anti-establishment” but those rebels made up 79 million of the population. They questioned authority. Next, the Generation Xers entered the workforce. They were smaller in number and wanted to experience authentic community within their jobs. They ignored authority. Today, the Millennials (or Generation Y) come in raising the bar for everyone. Their expectations are high and they are in demand, with so many of the Baby Boomers retiring and leaving space atop the corporate ladder. These new workers will choose their authorities.

Let me give you an analogy. More than thirty years ago, the game of baseball experienced an amazing transition. Curt Flood, of the St. Louis Cardinals, ushered in the age of Free Agency. He was the first team member to successfully demand that players should have a say as to where and how long they play with a club. Following Curt Flood’s arbitration, professional players began to expect to spend some of their career as “free agents” having a choice about such things. It was a new day of privilege and power.

This same phenomena has occurred among twenty-somethings entering the job market today. They come in as though they were “free agents.” They fully expect to dictate some of the terms of their working conditions and they are liable to quit if they don’t get what they want. Over half of Generation Y’s new graduates move back to their parents home after earning their degree, and that cushion of support gives them the time to choose the job they really want…”

You are called to lead – those who are easiest are those that are just like you.  But a mature leader knows how to lead well those that are like him or her and those who are very different.  How’s your connection with the rising generation of emerging leaders?

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05 May 2014
2 Comments

What Generals Do

One of the challenges faced by leaders is to determine what they, and only they, can and must do.  And once this is identified, how to stay focused on this and not be diverted into the daily “leadership whiteout” of responding to the demands of others.

Gen. Freddie Franks, commander of VII Corps in Desert Storm, provides some good advice for leaders on what they should focus on.  Tom Clancy recorded this advice in his book, “Into the Storm: A Study in Command” (page 637).

Responsibilities of Generals

“I believe generals get to focus on and solve big problems in peace and war.  They must know details and occasionally dip into those, but essentially they must figure out the few deciding issues or battles for their times and conditions and focus their energies on those.  These are what I called points of main effort.  They cannot be many.  You have to decide what they are, and make them stick.

  • Generals must have an imagination that lets them visualize what needs to be.  They must synthesize to create a whole when others cannot see, and then communicate that whole with so much clarity and so much conviction that others will see it, too, and follow it.  That is command.  That is leadership at the senior levels.
  •  Generals decide where to be bold and where not to be bold.
  • They must be strong and decisive, yet they must also keep their ego from clouding their judgments.  Instead, they must use that ego to stick to doing what is right, even in the face of adversity.
  • Generals decide where to intervene and where not to intervene.
  • They decide where to tolerate imperfection and where not to tolerate imperfection.
  • They must be intensely competitive.  They must hate to lose.
  • They need to demand a climate of dignity and respect, and to know that to lead is also to serve.  They can do a lot of good for individuals every day.
  • They must continue to grow.  They must not be complacent.
  • If they can, they should rest easy in the saddle and have a sense of humor.  Smile once in a while.
  • If generals can remember “Don’t worry, General, we trust you,” and do their best to fulfill that trust, they will have done their duty.”

Have you thought through what you and only you must do as the leader?  Have you made the difficult decisions to say no to many other things in order to stay focused on what you and only you must do?

Posted in #1 KNOW- How a Leader Thinks, #3 DO - What a Leader Does and tagged , , , , , ,
28 Apr 2014

Casting Vision

Once our desired future state is clear, it is the leader’s job to communicate this vision so that others can ‘see’ it along with them.  Tom Clancy’s book, “Into the Storm: A Study in Command” (page 504) provides a great illustration of vision casting by a leader.  Gen. Freddie Franks was leading the VII Corps in Desert Storm and in the midst of the fog of war it became apparent that the final outcome was not clear.  Gen. Franks provides that needed clarity as described below.

“But I’ve been around tired troops, and these troops were tired…though clearly not down.  They were running on fumes now, but they wanted to finish it.  I could imagine what the troops who had fought all night felt like.

“As I looked at the map, a piece of blue representing the Persian Gulf was just visible at the far eastern map sheet.  It caught my attention.

“Attack east,” I told them.  “Go for the blue on the map.  That is what is bringing the ships to take us home when this is over.  Go for that.  Here!” I said, banging on the map.  Not too military, but I wanted them—as clearly tired as they were—to have something to seize on to propel them forward another twenty-four hours.  As Greg Fontenot was to tell me later, my remark “Go for the blue on the map” got all the way to the battalion commanders, and maybe further.”

How’s your vision?  Is it clear?  Can you communicate it clearly and simply to others?  Where is the “blue on your map?”  Go for the blue on the map!

Posted in #3 DO - What a Leader Does and tagged , , , , , , ,
07 Apr 2014

Seeking the Right Applause

The following is the final excerpt from an article by R. Scott Rodin titled, “Becoming a Leader of No Reputation” that originally was published in Journal of Religious Leadership,/ Vol. 1, No. 2 (Fall 2002), pp. 105 – 119.

“A bookmark of mine carries a thought that stayed with me throughout my term as president of Eastern Seminary.  It reads, “It doesn’t matter if the world knows, or sees or understands, the only applause we are meant to seek is that of nail-scarred hands.”   Leaders are exposed to opportunities to generate applause.

“As public figures, we receive both the undue criticism for the failures of our institutions, and the unmerited praise for their successes.  The true calling of leadership requires us to accept the former and deflect the latter.  That is, our job is to take the blame for mistakes made by those under our leadership and to deflect the praise and re-direct it to those most responsible for our success.  In this way we keep ourselves in balance, never taking the criticism too personally and not accepting the praise too easily.

“Only with God’s anointing can the leader listen intently for that one source of applause that really matters.  If we seek our affirmation elsewhere, the distracting noises that vie for our attention and tug at our hearts for allegiance will drown out all else.  And if we seek for this other applause, we will never hear the one from the Master’s hands.

“Two significant temptations come to play here.  The first is the fear of rejection that causes us to run from confrontation.  The second is the desire to make everyone happy and to measure our performance, our effectiveness and our ‘leadership’ on that scale.  The two are very closely related.  The first temptation is motivated by the idea that good leaders will not generate conflict, and that rejection of our performance in our role as leader is a rejection of our personhood and character.  These are significant pitfalls for a leader.  They are generated from that deep-seated desire to hear the applause of all with whom we work.

“The second temptation is to lead by reacting. We see which way the wind is blowing and steer that direction, regardless of the situation.  We do not want our people to be anxious, to question our decisions or disagree with our reasoning.  We want harmony and unity, which is commendable.  But left unchecked, this desire will cause us to sacrifice courage, vision and risk-taking.  It will bring us momentary applause, but will ruin us in the end.

“So we must ask ourselves just what kind of applause are we seeking?  If it is human applause that validates, that affirms and that encourages us, we will also find that same applause binds us, boxes us in and ultimately strangles the life out of us.  When our daily self-worth and the measure of our effectiveness come primarily from the reaction of those with whom we work, then we are finished as Christian leaders.

“The goal of the Christian leader must be to go to bed every night with a clear conscience and a right heart with God.  God only asks one thing of leaders, that we seek with all our heart to know and do His will.”

Time for a “cardiac” check up….how’s your heart?

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24 Mar 2014
1 Comment

Fighting the Need to Increase

The following is a second excerpt from an article by R. Scott Rodin titled, “Becoming a Leader of No Reputation” that originally was published in Journal of Religious Leadership,/ Vol. 1, No. 2 (Fall 2002), pp. 105 – 119.

“Most Christian leaders would say that in their hearts they would wish that Jesus would increase and they would decrease.  But it is hard to decrease in a leadership position.  There are natural trappings that distinguish those in leadership such as salary, title, prestige, priority, power, influence, honor and advancement.  And in each area there are tempting opportunities for increase.

“Perhaps the hardest place to decrease is in the influence and the power we hold over people and decisions.  For this reason we find Christian leaders who are overly directive at best, and autocratic at worst.  And as a result we produce churches and ministries that are rife with ‘learned helplessness’.  By overestimating our own worth, we help our people depend on us for everything.  And that dependence feeds into our need to be needed, to be the “idea person” and visionary, and to be in control.  We tell ourselves that the more we lead in this way, the more our leadership is valued and our presence desired.

“Robert Greenleaf reminds us that the difference between a true servant-leader who is servant first, and the leader-servant who seeks leadership first, lies in the growth of the people who serve under them.  The test question is, “do those served grow as persons; do they, /while being served/, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?”

“Truly godly leaders empower their people, give away authority, value and involve others, seek the best in and from their people, and constantly seek to lift others up, push others into the limelight, and reward those they lead.  All so that God’s will might be done in a more powerful way.  They seek no glory for themselves, but find great joy in seeing others prosper.  They take no account of their reputation, but seek that Jesus’ face be seen in all they do.  Max DePree‘s famous definition is worth repeating, “The first responsibility of the leader is to define reality.  The last is to say thank you.  In between the leader is a servant.””

It’s time to reflect on the position of the spotlight.  Is it focused on you the leader or are you moving that focus towards others around you?

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17 Mar 2014
1 Comment

Anointed vs Appointed

The following is an excerpt from an article by R. Scott Rodin titled, “Becoming a Leader of No Reputation” that originally was published in Journal of Religious Leadership,/ Vol. 1, No. 2 (Fall 2002), pp. 105 – 119.

“I know of few Christian leaders today who were anointed before they were appointed.  We have employed the business model of doing careful searches looking for Christian leaders whom we can appoint to office.  Once in place, we then anoint them and ask God to bless their work.

“The Biblical evidence seems to indicate that God selects leaders in the opposite order.  Samuel anointed David before appointing him King.  The selection criterion for leadership was not based on who would most likely get the appointment, but whom God had anointed for this task.  And appointment without anointment always led to disaster.

“Christian leadership requires nothing less than a complete, wholesale sell-out of your life in service to God and God only.  It is the ‘losing of your life’ to the work God will do in you to benefit your institution, school, church or organization.  And the stakes are high.  Nowhere else in the Christian life will the price for divided loyalties be so costly for so many for so long.  Ineffective and fallen leaders compromise kingdom work, and the effects are eternal.

“With God’s anointing comes God’s power and presence.  There is a special blessing bestowed on God’s anointed.  It is the blessing of God’s power manifest in ways only seen through the work of God’s chosen.  God’s anointed do the miraculous because they are the servant of the Almighty.

“God’s anointed will do anything God asks… anything.  God’s anointed will seek God’s will with a passion.  They will not move without it and they will not be diverted from their course once they have it.  God’s anointed are servants first, last and always.  And God’s anointed have only one passion, to know and do God’s will that He might have the glory.  In this way, God’s anointed are people of no reputation.”

So, the next time you are in the process of selecting a leader what will you look for first?  God’s anointing or God’s appointing?

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10 Mar 2014
7 Comments

Indignation — Now I’m REALLY Ticked Off!

Emotions – they’re morally neutral–not good bad, or purple.  All of us have them and some of us are better at recognizing and expressing them in a healthy way.  When it comes to what we would perceive as those emotions that are considered “negative” emotions, it’s what we do with them that matters.

Anger is one such emotion that is often seen as a negative emotion.  We mistakenly believe that if I am more mature or more spiritual that I’ll somehow be freed from this feeling of anger.  Just becoming a little “ticked off” as someone or something raises the blood pressure and we can feel “frustrated.”  It’s anger but at a somewhat lesser degree.

But if the person has broken a trust, betrayed a confidence placed in them, or their failure leads to major negative impact, we can move beyond frustration or anger and move to indignation.  The root English word is the same we use for the color indigo – a purple, reddish color.  Have you ever been so angry that you turn purple-red and feel like you are ready to explode?  That’s indignation!

In Mark 10:13-14 (NIV) we read the following about Jesus’ emotions:  “People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them.  When Jesus saw this, he was indignant (emphasis added).  We explored this in last week’s blog.

But if we continue to read in the same chapter we find this said about the disciples in Mark 10:41 (NIV):  “When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.”  The Zebedee boys had tried a pre-emptive strike to move ahead of the other 10 in the coming Kingdom.  We note that this was at the very end of their 3+ year training period with Jesus as future leaders.  And here we see that 2 of them wanted to jump ahead of the other 10.  Not a good way to win friends or influence people!  Well, they could claim it wasn’t really them.  Matthew’s account tells us that it was their mother who did the asking on their behalf (see Matthew 20:20 ff).

There were great emotions being expressed on Jesus’ leadership team.  He showed His indignation to The Twelve and they expressed their indignation with one other.  Yet with all of this the leadership team held together.  There was no fracture or lasting division.

Good teams can share strong feelings with each other and still work together well.  This comes from a foundation of trust and confidence that we are all working together towards the same ends.  Our team goals are not preempted by our personal goals.

So, is it safe to share how your really feel on your team?  Are strong emotions being expressed in appropriate ways without sin?  Can we be “gut-level honest” or are there areas that are just too sensitive to share how I really feel?

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03 Mar 2014
2 Comments

Frustrated, Angry, or Indignant?

Emotions – they’re morally neutral–not good bad, or purple.  All of us have them and some of us are better at recognizing and expressing them in a healthy way.  When it comes to what we would perceive as those emotions that are considered “negative” emotions, it’s what we do with them that matters.

Anger is one such emotion that is often seen as a negative emotion.  We mistakenly believe that if I am more mature or more spiritual that I’ll somehow be freed from this feeling of anger.  Just becoming a little “ticked off” as someone or something raises the blood pressure and we can feel “frustrated.”  It’s anger but at a somewhat lesser degree.

For instance, we delegate a responsibility to a team member and they fail to follow through on it.  If the failure has minimal consequences, we might become frustrated with them.  But if their lack of performance has major impact on the team or the mission, that frustration now moves up a notch and becomes anger.  Blocked goals often lead to frustration and anger.

But if the person has broken a trust, betrayed a confidence placed in them, or their failure leads to major negative impact, we can move beyond frustration or anger and move to indignation.  The root English word is the same we use for the color indigo – a purple, reddish color.  Have you ever been so angry that you turn purple-red and feel like you are ready to explode?  That’s indignation!

In Mark 10:13-14 (NIV) we read the following about Jesus’ emotions:  “People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them.  When Jesus saw this, he was indignant (emphasis added).

Jesus was really, really mad at The Twelve for preventing the little children from coming to Him.  It was one of those ‘face turns to purple’ type anger moments.  Yet He became indignant without sinning!  He was perfect, sinless, mature, yet He still was indignant at the actions of the disciples.

It’s not the emotions that cause us problems.  It’s what we do with them that can cause us to sin.  Check your anger levels.  Are you frustrated, angry, or indignant?  More importantly, how are you expressing these to those on your leadership team and those close to you?

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13 Jan 2014
5 Comments

Leadership Team Responsibilities

Leadership team members have a unique relationship one to another.  They are often thrown together and told to function as a team because the leader chose them.  But they were chosen individually, most often without much say as to who else joined the team.  We may or may not be “naturally” drawn to our teammates.  Though we are united on our mission and vision, our personalities, backgrounds, or interests may present challenging obstacles to our effectiveness as a leadership team.

How do we relate to one another on a leadership team?  What are our responsibilities to each other?  No doubt you could list several, but let me suggest two that I see in the Word.

In John 13:1-17 Jesus models the attitude of a servant before his leadership team.  After finishing, in vv. 13-14 he says, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”  Jesus’ instructions to “wash one another’s feet” were given to explain how the members of His leadership team were to relate to each other.  They were to serve each other, choosing to meet the needs of fellow team members rather than promote or serve one’s own self interests.  As members of a leadership team we have a responsibility to serve one another, helping each other become a success in our individual responsibilities.

In Acts 20:28 we see another responsibility.  Paul had gathered the Ephesian elders together for some final words and he reminds them, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”  We often neglect to notice the first part of this passage.  The members of the Ephesian leadership team were to “keep watch over [them]selves.”

Yes, I am my brother’s keeper!  We have a responsibility to one another on our leadership team to make sure we continue to walk with God, fulfill our family responsibilities, and fulfill our leadership calling.  Spiritual leadership requires the utmost in Christlike character and we are to “keep watch” on that as well, as we fulfill our duties.

‘Serving each other’ and ‘keeping watch over each other’ are two of our responsibilities as leadership team members.  Let’s not be so focused on the outward responsibilities related to our leadership roles that we neglect to fulfill the responsibilities to those on our team.

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