October 13 2008

October 13, 2008

Leadership Tools
Hugh Ballou

LEADERSHIP TOOLS...
...Is divided into four sections:

Foundations
Relationships
Systems
Balance

These four topic areas contain all the skills a leader needs to be successful. It is important to continue to expand the skills in each of these areas.
In this edition of Leadership Tools we have contributions from skilled leadership trainers with tools that will be helpful to leaders in a varitey of situations.
Franklin Gillis shares his reflections on Radical Hospitality
Garrett Gunderson defines being a leader vs. being a boss
Sandy Griffin reminds us to appreciate today
And I have some thoughts to help you find balance through planning skills
Send us your thoughs, comments or ideas for topics to address in future issues.
Enjoy!

FOUNDATIONS

Reflections on Radical Hospitality
by Rev. Franklin Gillis, Jr.

In his book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, Bishop Robert Schnase identifies what a church must do to become “fruitful.” He outlines the practices as Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-Taking Mission and Service, and Extravagant Generosity. He suggests that by improving and repeating these practices, churches fulfill their mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. These are vital concepts that call for our attention. This devotional is the first in a series of reflections on the five practices.

Radical hospitality is a challenging concept. We usually understand hospitality as something we offer as a gesture of friendliness, or what we do to help persons feel at home. Many churches practice hospitality by providing coffee fellowship, greeters at the doors, or by offering guests a token gift of appreciation for their presence. Such practices are commonplace in many churches today as congregations understand hospitality as a means of evangelism. But what makes hospitality radical?

Schnase defines radical hospitality as actions “’drastically different from the ordinary practice, outside the normal,’ and so it provokes practices that exceed expectations…” (p.21) Simply put, radical hospitality is the act of loving others the way God first loved us. It involves doing more than that which is ordinary and expected. It involves “going the second mile,” through extraordinary acts of love and compassion.

A classic illustration of radical hospitality was expressed in New York City following the tragic events of 9/11. St. Paul’s Chapel, located adjacent to the World Trade Center, was spared devastation. The congregation’s response to that tragedy was to demonstrate love and compassion in extraordinary ways. They opened their facilities 24/7 to nearby residents and provided food and supplies. They opened their sanctuary to the weary firefighters and other emergency personnel as a place for brief respite from the duties. For eight months, hundreds of volunteers worked 12- hour shifts around the clock, serving meals, making beds, counseling and praying with fire fighters, construction workers, police and others. Massage therapists, chiropractors, podiatrists and musicians also tended to needs. This small congregation saw numerous needs as a result of the disaster and took it upon themselves to be the church at work in the world to address human needs. No wonder they became known as “the church of radical hospitality.”

It shouldn’t take a crisis like 9/11 for the church as the body of Christ to discover and address needs. Radical hospitality calls us to think beyond the box of ordinary actions to consider extraordinary expressions of love and compassion. Such actions should always be formed and expressed in the life of the koinonia, the community of faith.

Radical hospitality should be expected in the life of the church, but it needs to be practiced 24/7 by those who make up the church. Jesus expressed it this way, “Love one another as I have loved you. By this all will know you are my disciples.” (Math.13:34) A well-known Christian song reminds us, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” If we Christians want the church to become all God desires, we must continually ask, “What do we need to do to practice “radical hospitality’ toward others?”

* * *
The Rev. Dr. R. Franklin Gillis, Jr. is an ordained United Methodist minister and a retired member of the Virginia Annual Conference. A native of Hampton, Virginia, he is a graduate of Ferrum College (A.A.), Randolph-Macon College (B.A.), Wesley Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Lancaster Theological Seminary (D.Min.). He established Four Seasons Ministry which specializes in training lay and clergy leadership for more effective ministry in the areas of visioning, evangelism, leadership, and stewardship. As director, he is a ministry consultant/ coach, workshop leader, and motivational speaker.

Franklin is a regional trainer for the United Methodist Church’s “Igniting Ministry” program, Connectional Giving Workshops, Intentional Interim Ministry, and adjunct faculty at Virginia Union University School of Theology. He is a frequent resource leader for district and conference events.
This reflection, written by Rev. Franklin Gillis, Jr., is provided as a service of Four Seasons Ministry. For information regarding services and events offered, visit the Web site: www.fourseasonsministry.org

RELATIONSHIPS
Being a Boss Vs Being a Leader

By Garrett Gunderson
Whether you have many or zero employees, knowing how to be a good boss is a valuable asset. You’ll use the same skills anytime you are in charge of coordinating an event, heading up a particular task, or even as the CEO of your own household.

Whether at home or at the workplace, every interaction with your team (or friends and family) can be an opportunity to coach and build self-confidence. Bosses boss people around, while leaders lead people. Bosses use control and authority to get people to do what they want, whereas leaders use genuine enthusiasm and empowerment.

Smart, talented people (the kind that you want on your team) are not motivated and retained by bosses, but rather they gravitate towards leaders. The best way to attract a talented capable team is to become more of a leader and less of a boss. Really great leaders don’t just lead people—they enthuse their team (or family) to gladly carry forth the leader’s objectives, because they have been inspired to make the objective their own.

The following are principles of good leadership. As you read them, evaluate yourself on how well you do each of these.

•   You listen. Paying attention to what your employees/family members are saying to you shows that you respect their ideas and opinions, and see them as a valued team member.

•   You praise more than criticize. If you’re more apt to tell others when they do something wrong than right, pretty soon they’ll feel unappreciated. Conversely, if you point out more of the things they do right, you are more likely to have employees that feel competent and empowered.

•   You let others know your expectations. One of the most self-defeating things a leader can do is to not tell an employee what needs to be done, and then get upset at them for not doing it. Since no scientific study has ever yet been able to prove that ESP exists, it’s fairly safe to assume that no one can read your mind!

•   You set an example. If you want your employees to be on time for meetings, then make sure you’re not regularly a half hour late yourself. If you want your employees to be respectful of your position, then be respectful of theirs.

•   You give regular feedback. If you have noticed a trend with an employee that you don’t like, don’t make assumptions or get angry, and don’t wait until it becomes a huge issue to say something. More often than not, they probably didn’t realize that their performance or behavior was upsetting you. Tactfully offer direction and guidance when you first start noticing something amiss. Chances are they’ll correct the problem on their own before it becomes a major issue.

Keep these in mind, and you’ll be on your way to getting a “World’s Best Boss” mug. Apply them in your personal life and your family and friends will benefit too. After all, while you may need to tailor them a bit to your own situation, correct leadership principles don’t change whether you’re at home or at the office.

Garrett B. Gunderson is a successful entrepreneur who started his first company at the age of 15 and became a multi-millionaire by the age of twenty-six. He is the owner of Engenuity Financial, an Inc 500 company and winner of Utah's Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. Garrett coaches elite business owners throughout the country. Garrett coauthored the Curriculum for Wealth, and is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Killing Sacred Cows.

Find out more about Garrett at http://www.garrettbgunderson.com
Find out more about Killing Sacred Cows at http://www.killingsacredcows.com
Garrett B. Gunderson is a successful entrepreneur who started his first company at the age of 15 and became a multi-millionaire by the age of twenty-six. He is the owner of Engenuity Financial, an Inc 500 company and winner of Utah's Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. Garrett coaches elite business owners throughout the country. Garrett coauthored he Curriculum for Wealth, and is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Killing Sacred Cows.

SYSTEMS

Good and Bad Leadership in Stressful Econimic Times

By Hugh Ballou

When times get tough, the tough get going. - Anon.
Nothing else in the world... not all the armies... is so powerful as an idea whose time has come. - Victor Hugo

The Headlines
GMAC posts $2.5 billion loss in 2nd quarter
Auto parts supplier Dana to cut 2,500 more jobs
Sara Lee swings to loss on charges, wheat costs

Each day in the news we hear of the problems and/or failures in companies, such as mentioned in the headlines above. These companies are having a hard time in this difficult economy. How can you protect your company from these same kinds of problems? I don't claim to know what the problems were at these companies, but here are some examples and suggestions to help you protect your company during these difficult economic times.

In the challenging state of the economy, good leaders shine and poor leaders are exposed as ineffective. In many situations, the fate of organizations could rest on the skill of the leader. The way decisions are made and the attitude of the organization is key to success in tough economic times.

Symptoms of Poor Leadership
In the stress caused by a down economy, weak leaders and those they lead can be paralyzed by seeing only problems and challenges. This brings out negative actions by leaders. Here’s a list of behaviors that negatively influence employees and team members:
•    Control: Asking for too many reports (sales calls, activity logs, etc.) that take time and send a message of mistrust.
•    Micromanagement: Setting activities and schedules to tell employees not only what to do, but also how to do it. This sends a message of lack of confidence.
•    Blaming: The leader blames others for situations beyond their control, or worse yet, blames others for situations they have created through poor leadership. This sends a message in incompetence.
•    Silos: Departments or divisions draw into their ‘”own space” and do not effectively communicate or relate to the others. This sends a message of a hidden agenda.
•    Attitude: A negative attitude not only makes hard work more difficult, but it instigates other negative attitudes. This sends a message that failure in ahead.
•    Obstacles: False evidence appears to be real. A poor leader sees only obstacles and is bound by the restrictions implied by these obstacles. This sends a message of fear.

Solutions Provided by Strong Leadership
As some organizations cut back and build trenches for hibernation fearing loss, visionary leaders choose to put resources into building systems, strategies, skills and relationships to address the existing market. Here are some actions that strong leaders take:
•    Training: Put resources into building skills of leaders and team members. This results in improved skills for addressing the future.
•    Planning: Build action plans to address obstacles. This results in a culture that reframes barriers into opportunities.
•    Coaching: The effective leader always has a coach and learns to coach team members. This results in improved relationships.
•    Empowering: Allow team members to utilize their skills and talents and mentor them with information and strategies as well as budget. This results in new paradigms. This results in greater synergy in the team.
•    Envisioning: Brainstorming and planning the future with team members creates trust and new ideas for action plans. This results in increased trust.
•    Affirming: Along with allowing team members to utilize their skills, affirm good work. This results in the refocus of apathy into enthusiasm.
•    Reframing: Be the model of what you expect from your team. Look at possibilities, not limitations. Be honest about the facts while looking at the options. This results in improved attitude.
•    Reorganizing: Consider realignment of tasks and duties. Some team members many have become stale in their area of responsibility and the reassignment of duties might spark some interest. This results in greater ownership of the whole vision as well as individual areas of responsibility.
•    Collaborating: Build cross-disciplinary project teams. People from different departments or divisions can team with others creating new visions for success. This results in greater effectiveness since tasks can be swapped and combined.
In challenging times the effective leader and a leader in training can demonstrate their worth to the organization. It’s a time to concentrate to building resources, strengthening relationships, fine-tuning systems and structures and working to improve personal skills. The great leader always articulates and shares goals and stays focused on the vision for the future.
As a final note, be sure to celebrate. Each success can be a celebration that brings momentum to the next accomplishment.


Hugh Ballou is president of SynerVision International, Inc., an international consulting, coaching, and training practice in Blacksburg, Virginia. His unique insights for leadership training and teamwork come from his 40-years of experience as choral and orchestral conductor bringing harmony and synergy to group process. Hugh’s specialty is working with business owners as process coach and business strategist with clients in many countries.

His skill in teaching the collaborative leadership model is practical and proven in the trenches with his work in mega churches, non-profit organizations and businesses of all types.
He has published five books on Transformational Leadership: Moving Spirits, Building Lives: Church Musician as Transformational Leader, Moving Spirits, Building Lives A Workbook for Transformational Leaders, Building High Performance Teams: Systems and Structures for Leading Teams and Empowering Transformation, Leaders Transform: A Transformational Leadership Resource (Fall 2008), and his newest book: Transforming Power: Stories from Transformational Leaders to Inspire and Encourage and numerous articles on Transformational Leadership.

For more information
Transforming Power: http://www.transforming-power.com
Hugh Ballou: http://www.hughballou.com
Book information is available at http://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Power-Transformational-Encouragement-Inspiration/dp/0881775312
For full tour details, visit http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/06/transforming-power-virtual-tour-with.html
A SPECIAL BONUS TO EACH PERSON WHO PURCHASES TRANSFORMING POWER TODAY – Hugh Ballou has compiled a list of great FREE bonus gifts for anyone who purchases Transforming Power today. To see a sample of the items that are being given away, visit http://www.transforming-power.com. Just buy a copy of Transforming Power, return to this page and click to submit your invoice number to receive the web page link to download all of these gifts for FREE.

BALANCE

Live In This Moment
By Sandy Griffin
The moment. It is all that we have.
We are not promised the future, we are not promised tomorrow, and we are not even promised another breath.
Life is fragile. We have now…the end.

A friend of mine, Pastor Jimmy Blackwell, was delivering a message on a Sunday about the gift of today. He gave me a website to look up – www.deathclock.com. After entering a minimal amount of information this site tells you, barring any unforeseen circumstances (aren’t they all?!!), the estimated date of my death.

As I looked at the guesstimate of days left in my life, I watched the seconds tick away and I had a feeling of panic as I realized that I couldn’t stop the clock. The longer that I watched my life shorten, the larger the desire to live fully the life I have became.

Whether we watch the clock of our lives tick away, or not, every second that passes is over with. Never to be savored again.

Your choice? To enjoy this moment or to let it slip away?

What if today was the end? Picture your epitaph on your grave stone. Not the one that you would like in stone forever telling about your life, your spirit, you.
Picture the head marker that your family and friends might joke about having carved for you after you transition into a better (hopefully!) place.

Sandy Griffin
1956 –
Cleanest kitchen floor
OR
Too late to spend time with her kids
OR
Was going to start enjoying life soon…soon ended too fast!
OR
Here lies a miser who lived for himself, who cared for nothing but gathering wealth. Now where he is and how he fares; nobody knows and nobody cares (Ouch!)

(Lemmington, England)
What would you like people to write on your gravestone? How would you like your life to be remembered? How did your live your moments?

If you are reading these pages right now you still have this moment. You can change the way you live this very second, you can have the words on your grave stone reflect a life that made a difference in the world.

I was working with a group of elderly citizens, ages 70 to 90. I encouraged them to live their dash the way that they want in the time that they have left. You know the dash in your obituary, that line on your tombstone between the day that you were born and the day that you left this physical world.

I read them MY obituary, the way that I wanted it printed in the paper after I die.

Sandra Jean Griffin, 93, of Nashville, TN, died after living her life out the way she dreamed it would be.

Sandy died with one thought in mind, “Dance through each day as if it will be your last.”

Sandy died with a number of her family and friends by her side. She was alert and talking until the end.

Sandy was born in St Cloud, MN and lived in Mo, IL and TN. She was a natural born speaker and in her free time liked to spend time with her 3 wonderful daughters and their families.

Sandy had an infectious laugh and upbeat attitude. She was an active member of a house church that she founded in her home in 2007.

She spent her time ministering to anyone in need, regardless of color or wealth.

In her lifetime she traveled to Italy, London, Scotland, Australia, Germany and Africa. She spread joy and her love of Jesus to all she encountered. She lived by the saying of St. Francis, “Tell people about Jesus. When necessary use words.”

She loved music and spending time with friends. Her closest friends say she can best be described as warm and vivacious.
Her volunteer work included Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

Her outgoing personality helped her to win her way into the hearts of even the most hard-hearted people.
She was happiest when she was with people, talking and laughing.

Sandy is survived by her daughters and their families, her siblings and friends too numerous to mention.

Start living the way you want YOUR obituary to read. You can still start a new hobby, volunteer where your heart tugs you, travel where you want to go. (I have never been to Africa, Germany or Australia. I only realized as I fast-forwarded to my obituary that I even had a desire to go there. Now, God-willing, I will travel to those destinations one day).

By filling in the blanks before you die, you still have a chance to do things with your life.

Fill in the blanks on this form. What you haven’t been doing; go ahead and start to do it. You can still be the person you want to be remembered for being.

HOW YOU LIVE YOUR DASH

In his/her free time he/she like to ______________________.
He/she had a _______________ attitude.
He/she was an active member of _______________ Church.
He/she traveled during his/her lifetime to _______________.
He/she liked to spend time ________________ with his/her friends.
His/her closest friends say that he/she can best be described as __________________, ________________________, ____________________ and ____________________.
His/her hobbies included __________________, __________________, ____________________ and ___________________.
His/Her volunteer work included ________________, _____________________ and __________________.
His/Her ________________ personality helped her_______________________.
He/she was happiest when she _______________________.

As long as you have a breath left, you can still rewrite the way you want your obituary to read. You can do one more thing that you have always wanted to do; you can fill in the dash.
If you have a breath left in you, you have one more breath to matter to the world. Don’t waste that breath!
Don’t place importance on what your epitaph will tell the world; instead put your importance on what you did to make this world a better place. If only for one person. Your epitaph will take care of itself.

If you pass on to the next leg of your journey and there is even one person whose life is better because you walked across their heart, then your life was a success. If everyone made an effort to touch one life – the clerk in the grocery store, the mother whose kids are whining in the store as she struggles to move one foot forward, the homeless person you reached a hand to…with prayer or food or money –without judging, the neighbor you walked over to check on, the phone call you made when you would rather have spent the time doing something else, the hard-to-love family member that you penned a card to with a note, just because – these moments made a difference in someone’s life.

The moments. That’s all we have.

Seize the day, this day, the day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad.

Dubbed, "Life's Cheerleader," Sandy Griffin encourages people to celebrate their uniqueness and to share their gifts with the world. Sandy's example has inspired thousands of women to take back their lives and find the fulfillment that they deserve. Her presentation, "Free to Be Me: Creating the Dance of Your Life," uses humor and her personal stories to teach women the importance of honoring their own voice and supporting their journey. To find out more about Sandy, please visit her website at http://SandyGriffin.com.

Extra Bonus for Our Readers
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Conclusion
Arrive at your place of comfort utilizing the best of what you can learn from others. Build your foundation, maintain your relationships, utilize effective systems and keep a healthy balance in your life. Begin today. There's not an arrival point. It's simple a journey.

Grace and Peace to you in your duty and delight as a Christian leader.

Hugh Ballou
© 2008 Creator Magazine All Rights Reserved

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