I wonder if we need to evaluate if we are providing our most talented/productive (those may not be the same) team members plenty of room to do what they do best. As an organizational leader are you creating “space” for your team members? Are there opportunities for your team members to:

• Experiment with new solutions
• Innovate
• Collaborate with team members and people in other areas

These opportunities for your team members to work in “space” may facilitate your next “big idea.”

Let’s create space for our most talented team members.

We all need to create some finish lines for ourselves and our families. Finish lines look like:

• A family weekend
• Family vacation
• Personal retreat
• A day for you & your spouse (even better, a few days)

Finish lines are intentional. We have to create them and honor our commitment to slow down, pull away from the busyness, rest and reconnect with those we love.

Do you need to create a finish line for you and your family?

My friend Marta Crass recently launched a new business. She took her dream public with the grand opening of C is for Cardboard. Marta is bright, talented and extremely creative. She took what began as a hobby – creating custom designs out of cardboard (click here to see) – and has turned it into her own business. While I am inspired by the cardboard creations (I have no artistic ability) I want to applaud Marta for pursuing her dream. No doubt Marta and her husband Evan worked through all the details before they took the plunge. However, even after doing your due diligence there is a moment of truth that requires the courage necessary to go public, risk failing and go for your dream. Way to go Marta! I am hoping C is for Cardboard is a huge success.

What dream would you like to pursue?

What do you think? Is it possible for our teams to have too much talent?

I have heard leaders make comments like the ones below when they are asked about the reasons their teams failed to achieve their goals:

• Too many prima donna’s
• Too many chiefs and not enough Indians
• Not enough shots to go around(basketball coaches)

Do these comments really reflect a team with too much talent?

More accurately those comments are about chemistry, hiring/selection and leadership.

1.       Chemistry

• How well do the members of your team fit together? We must consider this when hiring/selecting.
• I place great value on talent, skill, capacity, etc.; however, I don’t want to under value chemistry in the process. In my experience, when I have added a team member (even extremely talented team members) without considering their fit on the team, I usually had a challenge to our chemistry which impacts our overall success.
• Chemistry counts. Great chemistry not only helps a team reach its potential but when team members receive other opportunities they are less likely choose to leave.

2.       Hiring/selection

• Consider character, competency & chemistry.
• I generally make quick decisions and overall enjoy a brisk pace of forward progress. While I have occasionally made quick hires, it’s been rare. Hiring/selecting is a significant decision in which we will invest time, energy and money. Good hires add value. Poor hires cost.
• Look for growers (Stovall Weems). People who can:

¨       Inspire to a vision

¨       Build teams

¨       Solve problems

¨       Produce results

• Have a systematic hiring/selection process. Use multiple interviews, check unlisted background sources, use an instrument like the Caliper to gain further insight on a candidate’s leadership strengths, work patterns, personality, etc.
• Add the right people to your team. If you miss (and you will occasionally) move them off your team.

3.       Leadership

• Leaders take responsibility for their teams chemistry
• Make sure when you go after people with high capacity you have a role to match. High capacity producers will get bored (and unfortunately) often create chemistry issues (not because they are bad people) because their role is not challenging. Chemistry benefits (like everything else on our teams) when capacity and roles match.

Can your team have too much talent?

I don’t think so.

What do you think?

Marriage: Close Encounters

                Focus: Intimacy

                Tuesdays at 6:30 pm – 6 weeks

Parenting: How I Met Your Mother

Focus: Biblical & practical parenting

Thursdays at 6:30 pm – 6 weeks

Marriage: Chase What Really Matters

                Focus: Financial Freedom

                Wednesdays at 6:30 pm – 6 weeks

Marriage: Taking Your Questions

                Focus: Answering common marriage related questions

                Thursdays at 6:30 pm – 6 weeks

I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities to continue to grow in your marriage & parenting. Please contact Evan Crass at evanc@faithpromise.org  in the groups office if you are interested in attending one of the groups listed.

What group would you like to see offered in the future?

During the second grading period my teacher pulled me aside and told me that she was sending home a mid-term report and that my grade was a 42. That’s correct, a 42. I was half in shock and half in fear of what my parents would do. (Mom & Dad, I intercepted the mail for my sake so you never got this letter. Surprise!) She told me that we were beginning a new book study and that it was possible for me to bring my grade up significantly if I did well with the study. I read the book, took notes, participated in class, tried really hard on my paper and studied harder than I ever had before for the test.  When the second grading period was over I had brought my grade up to an 87. My teacher again pulled me aside, gave me hug and told me she was proud. She knew I had the potential to do well if I really wanted to. And I did. I knew failing wasn’t an option and I wanted to pass bad enough that I did whatever it took.

Have you ever wanted something so bad (I’m making an assumption that what you are wanting is worthy of your attention and effort) that you did whatever it took to get it? What about now? Is there something you want so bad you will do whatever it takes to get it? A spot on the team? A job? Paying off debt? The list could go on and on.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get what you want?

1. Have a healthy view of themselves. The best rebounders don’t view themselves as a failure because they might have “failed” on a particular endeavor. I am not talking about an overinflated, arrogant view of one’s self. Rather a healthy view. Secure leaders understand that setbacks will happen. They don’t let a bad day cause them to have an unhealthy view of themselves.

2. Accept Responsibility. One of the critical ingredients in coming back from a “loss” is to accept responsibility. Let’s not blame others or circumstances. Leaders take responsibility. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, says that all leaders take the “mirror and window” test. Level 5 (the best) leaders according to Collins, look in the mirror when things go wrong. They take responsibility.

3. Develop a plan to rebound. Having the sheer will to rebound is essential but it’s even more effective when combined with a well thought out plan of action.

• Define reality. What is your/the team’s current status?
• What is the desired destination? Begin with the end in mind.
• What is the first step in that direction?

4. Be persistent. Rebounding is hard work. That is why in basketball, business and life, many give up rather than battle to bounce back. It’s interesting, every accomplished person I know in any arena (business, marriage, etc.) has a story of persistence. The best rebounders are relentless. Let’s keep battling.

When you need to rebound which of these four steps gives you the most difficulty?

1. Companies that made the leap from good to great were as intentional about what they would stop doing as what they would start doing. In other words, they had a “stop doing list”. So often as individual leaders and teams we continue to add new initiatives, another product line, a new program, without considering what we should stop doing to maintain sustainability and our desired level of excellence. Even as individual leaders, we need to regularly consider the return for time invested to ensure that a particular activity continues to merit our focus.

1. The good to great companies had leaders that were ambitious for the company more so than for themselves. It is not uncommon for leaders to be ambitious, to want to advance, take new territory, etc. What is much less common is for the ambition to be focused on the benefit of the organization or the team rather than themselves. These companies were led by individuals who consistently put the needs of the organization first. In a time where so many leaders have taken advantage of or even abused the trust relating to leadership, it was a powerful reminder that in Collin’s research, one of the qualities of these outstanding leaders was putting the organization first.

If you are looking for your next leadership book consider Good to Great.

• Listening is a skill and can be improved/developed
• Active listeners communicate value to the person speaking by the attention they give them.
• Hearing is physical – a sound wave strikes the eardrum.

Listening incorporates both the physical (hearing), emotional (body language, facial expressions, etc.) and mental (concentration, focus, understanding).

• Make and maintain eye contact
• When the speaker makes a point the listener can nod to communicate understanding without disrupting the speaker.
• If concentration is difficult attempt to remove unnecessary distractions.  (turn off the television)
• Allow the speaker to finish without interrupting.
• If necessary, summarize the key points when the speaker finishes to confirm understanding.

Most leaders speak much more than they listen. However, listening is an vital skill that facilitates improved communication.

What other listening tips would you offer?

An added benefit to this session for me, is the opportunity to hear from those in attendance regarding how our Family Ministry Team can better minister and support our single parents.

I look forward to seeing you at the upcoming Faith Promise Marriage & Parenting Summit. To register, click here.