How to Talk So People Will Listen
If your job requires speaking on any level, the last thing you want is for people to stop listening.
Sure, they may be physically present, but that doesn’t mean they are emotionally or intellectually present.
As I thought about this, I realized there are at least 6 specific reasons people stop listening.
What makes people tune out? What causes them to disengage?
Take 4 minutes and read this NEW POST to learn what’s working against maintaining attention and how to fix it.
6 Reality Defining Questions That Help Decide Future Improvements
2 minute read…
FOUNDATIONAL QUESTION: What needs to be better in your church, business, or organization?
I bet you have several answers. Or at least several guesses. Of course, answering the question is far easier than making progress with your answer.
Why is that?
After working with leaders and consulting with organizations for some time, I’ve noticed a distinct trend.
Better in the future is defined in juxtaposition to our current reality today.
It’s like trying to define something good without an opposing bad. Or delicious without a disgusting. Healthy without unhealthy.
Or a finish line without a clearly defined starting line.
It’s challenging to make things better if you don’t fully understand why it’s bad (or at least “not better”). Successfully making something better is like the finish line of the improvement project. You can’t successfully run a race without knowing where to start and where to finish.
I call this “Defining Reality.”
Every healthy improvement project requires an honest evaluation of the past, present, and future. This is where too many “let’s get better” initiatives fail before they even begin. We get so focused on the preferable future without adequately defining present reality.
If you are hoping to improve anything within your organization, begin by asking these critical, reality checking questions to help establish your starting line:
1. What are we trying to do (mission)?
2. Why are we trying to do it (vision)?
3. What are our points of differentiation?
4. What is currently working?
5. What is currently working against us?
6. What from our past is still affecting our present?
The answers will define your organizational “get better” starting line. From there, you can build a strategic pathway forward.
Why Learning Insulation is a Leadership Limitation (And 3 Reasons to Learn From Others)
It’s only been eight weeks on the new job, but I’ve already learned so much.
One Critical Lesson: Every leader can quickly and unintentionally become insulated from the outside as they attempt to lead on the inside.
I didn’t realize how easy this was until I left North Point Ministries.
I worked for one of the best church organizations on the planet for nearly 13 years. Leading alongside the team at North Point Ministries (Andy Stanley, Lane Jones, Rick Holiday, Bill Willits, Jeff Henderson, Clay Scroggins, Joel Thomas, Adam Johnson, Andy Jones, Al Scott, Tensley Almand, and more) felt like the equivalent of a master’s degree in church. These guys are great.
What I didn’t realize along the way is how easily I became insulated from the broader leadership and church world. This segregation was not intentional. Protecting myself from other churches and industries certainly wasn’t encouraged by my peers at North Point. It’s just one of those natural leadership drifts within any organization.
We get so focused on leading well within our organization that we only pay attention to our organization, automatically limiting our exposure to other leaders and organizations.
It’s completely unintentional. And it’s insanely dangerous.
In this NEW POST (4-minute read), I explain the danger of organizational insulation and give you three great reasons to learn from people different than you.
Bottom Line: The breath of your leadership learning determines the depth of your leadership growth.
Packed Stadiums and Empty Sanctuaries: Painful Questions We Must Answer
A pastor friend of mine recently attended a college football game. He barely got a ticket. The place was PACKED! Sold out.
It got us both thinking…
The juxtaposition of packed football stadiums and partially full sanctuaries creates a strategic crisis.
And it should.
Why Are Stadiums Sold Out?
Why are hundreds of thousands of church people jamming into football stadiums with rabid enthusiasm yet skipping church almost every Sunday?
What is the in-person football experience offering that the church is not?
What did people miss about football?
And the most painful question of them all: What did church people NOT miss when they missed church for a year?
I’ve come to believe most churches remain partially full because people missed it for a year and didn’t really miss it.
The time for excuses is over. It’s time to act. It is time to evolve our approach and create something worth not missing.
In this NEW POST, I try to engage our minds around the problem. Perhaps we collectively can work towards solutions.
Why Adding “For Now” Will Keep You Relevant Forever
If you’re a leader of any kind, you have a strategy or plan.
I’ve got bad news: It’s dated.
Strategies are made for moments, but moments never remain unchanged.
I wish I understood this earlier in my leadership journey.
If you have 6 minutes, give this NEW POST a read.
I think adding two words to your strategy might be the solution to bringing a renewed flexibility to your current approach.
Stop Waiting For Someone Else To Solve Your Leadership Problem
The pandemic birthed a multitude of secondary pandemics.
One of significance is how leaders are currently making decisions and solving problems.
During the early stages of the pandemic, leaders spent so many days, weeks, and months second-guessing and being second-guessed that a version of analysis paralysis set in for good.
More than ever before, I am watching leaders stare down the barrel of a problem, but rather than solving it, they are waiting on some other leader in some other organization to make the first move. They’ve developed a habit of abdication.
Rather than waiting on some other leader who doesn’t know your specific situation or problem to offer a solution for you to mimic, ask yourself these 5 problem-defining questions and start making some decisions.
In this NEW POST, I give you these 5 questions and some additional thoughts on leadership decision-making.
Can I Ask a Favor?
QUESTION: When you think about your leadership, church, or organization, what are your greatest challenges?
I have loved working with ministry and marketplace leaders over these past few months. Few things bring me more excitement than watching others overcome obstacles, implement new strategies, and improve as a leader.
As I continue working with leaders, several common principles continue rising to the surface. I’ve compiled a list of topics (SEE POST) that I believe will serve leaders and support a flexible yet structured coaching partnership.
My experience indicates that these topics are great options for individual or group cohort coaching.
Can I ask you a favor?
I would appreciate any feedback you can give me on this list. Here are the questions I’m pondering?
1. What topics are missing?
2. What topics seem most useful?
Helping me answers those two questions will help leaders everywhere. You can give me feedback in the comments section of this post, send me an email (gavin@mytransformationsolutions.com), or DM me on a social platform.
Thank you in advance for helping me as I attempt to support leaders just like you.
6 Questions to Determine if Your Strategy is Old or Obsolete
KEY QUESTION for this NEW POST: How do you know if the changes surrounding your organization dictate a strategy change in your organization?
At times, it’s easy to spot. A global pandemic is an easy example. Every strategy became immediately obsolete in March 2020.
But most community evolutions are subtle, making it much more difficult to decipher between an old model and an obsolete strategy.
As an organizational leadership coach, I could sit down with you to help determine if your model is in need of a makeover. But, since we aren’t together right now, in this NEW POST I’m giving you 6 key questions I would ask you and your team.
Of course, if you want to sit down, just reach out…
7 Actions to Take When Leading Toward a Future You Can’t Predict
NEW POST: 7 Actions to Take When Leading Toward a Future You Can’t Predict
QUESTION ANSWERED IN THIS POST: As a leader, what should you do when you need to lead forward into a future you can’t predict?
Some context:
Anyone else exhausted by bold leaders and their convincing statements about a future they can’t actually predict?
Of course, I get it. A leader’s calling is to LEAD. Leaders consider present situations to inspire future direction.
We are not called, however, to pretend we know what the future holds.
We are leaders, not fortune tellers.
I refuse to be bold enough to prescribe a strategy. I will tell you what I believe great leaders do when looking at the future.
In this post, I give you 7 leadership actions to take when you are unsure about the future.
Your Entire Church is Basically Dechurched. Now What?
When we think about the dechurched people in our community, we don’t think about our current congregation. But the pandemic made virtually everyone dechurched. And they’re behaving as such.
That means we need to adjust our expectations and approach.
No longer should we assume that people will join a small group, invite a friend, volunteer, or provide financial support.
We are all church planting now.
In this NEW POST, I outline the 4 specific areas of engagement churches need to rethink in light of the pandemic.
And as always, I love helping leaders make things better and make better things. Go to my site today and to sign up for a 15-minute conversation to see if working together works for you.
