We can all remember famous people, or just someone significant to us, who have done something to forever ruin their good name. I will not list the names of politicians, sports heroes, and religious leaders that have disappointed us all with their fall. You can come up with your own list in your head. Unfortunately, it seems that a good name is tough to get these days, and even tougher to maintain.
Recently, I read a powerful book (Essentialism by Greg McKeown) that taught me the need for better delegation. When we properly delegate, it allows us to focus our attention on those issues and tasks that require our skills and ability while offloading those tasks that do not (Acts 6:1-7). It also helps in the development of our team members so that their skills can increase. While there are many benefits to delegating, there is one responsibility that a Christian leader cannot delegate…that is prayer!
As Christian leaders of our organization, department, or team, we have several responsibilities. Among these responsibilities are casting the vision, setting priorities and goals, and holding the team accountable. In many cases, we can delegate parts of each of these areas to qualified team members. As I said above, there are many benefits to doing this.
But there is one responsibility that you simply cannot delegate to your team – not even to your inner circle. This responsibility is prayer.
This is the fourth in a series of posts on recommendations I would make to someone at the beginning stages of deciding to use their business as a platform for Christian ministry. While this list of recommendations is not exhaustive, it should be a great start on which to build. Today we address joining a group.
So far, we have covered a lot of ground in this series. If you are just now joining us and have not read the other posts, you should go back and read them now. Here are the three recommendations we have discussed up to now:
Recommendation #2 – Read Proverbs
Recommendation #3 – Become An Expert
Each of these three recommendations build on each other so it is pretty important you follow them in the order presented. Of course, you do not have to fully complete one before you start the next one…just begin them in the order listed. Let’s talk about the next one.
For the same reasons you need to join a church body when you become a Christian, I am recommending that you join a group of other Christian business owners and leaders. Just in case you are not clear on these specific reasons, I will go through them for you.
Fellowship – When you are able to spend time in fellowship with like-minded people, there is a bond that develops. You are able to discuss similar challenges and victories. You will find out that you are not alone in your struggles. You are not the only one with spiritual opposition to what you are trying to do through the business. This knowledge is empowering!
Accountability – In addition to learning that there are others in your same boat, you will figure out that making commitments for improvement is much more effective when you are making them to a group. It is difficult to face your peers and confess to lapses in judgment or failure to achieve objectives. The threat of having to do this will often be just the push you need to get you started on a project you have been delaying.
Perspective – When you hang out only with those people who have your same perspective (fellow employees or partners) on you business, you tend to all agree on solutions, strategy, etc. When you seek wisdom from a group with diverse perspectives, you will find solutions you never considered. You will be asked questions you would not have asked yourself. There is tremendous value in this.
Counsel – Proverbs repeats many times that we are to seek godly counsel. While reading God’s Word is a great source of godly counsel, so is a group of godly Christians. A solid group of Christian business people can provide wisdom and advice that will often confirm what you have read in the Bible or vice versa. Trying to go it alone is often a recipe for disaster.
While there are likely many other benefits I could list, I think you get the idea. In fact, it is likely you already knew this to be the case and have experienced the results from a group like this in other areas of your life. I can promise you that you will see similar results from making this same idea a priority for your business.
I have mentioned many times on this blog that I am a member of a C12 group. In fact, both of my brothers are members of C12 groups as well. We have found immeasurable benefits to our commitments to these groups and would not give them up for anything. I have found C12 to be an integral part of our efforts to leverage our business as a platform for Christian ministry.
If there is a C12 group in your area, I highly recommend you take the time to visit a meeting and see if it is a fit for you. If there is not a C12 group in your area, don’t stop there. Go online and find out if there is something similar available. Check with your church to see if there is a small group with business as the common denominator. If all else fails, start one yourself! Why not?!?
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25
What benefits have you seen from being in a group setting?
What is stopping you from joining this kind of group?
What next step do you need to take?
I have posted recently about some issues going on in our business and how one of these issues related to one of our core values: Integrity. Well, I want to talk about the other situation a little more in depth at this point. This situation is related to another of our core values: Employee Development.
As I mentioned in a recent post, a key, long-term member of our company’s leadership team (my inner circle) gave me their resignation. While there is never a good time for this to happen, this announcement came at a particularly bad time for me.
We are less than 60 days away from beginning a total renovation of our Honda dealership facility and this leader was to be one of the key drivers of this project. He was also a leader in ensuring the smooth transition into the temporary location from which we will operate during construction.
We are also just over six months into a new management team under his leadership. This leader has played a critical role in their development. Though the team has shown amazing progress during this six-month period, there is still a distance to go before this team truly realizes their full potential.
As I said, this is not a good time for him to leave.
At the same time, one of our company’s five core values is Employee Development. We describe this core value this way:
We strive to create an atmosphere that inspires and enables people to reach their full potential.
In addition to this core value, our Vision statement is “Moving people.” We explain our vision by first pointing out the connection between “moving” and transportation – in our case, selling and servicing automobiles. But the true meaning of this vision applies to the people that come into contact with our business – the stakeholders. These people fall into three categories – employees, customers, and community.
We want anyone, from any of these three categories, that comes into contact with our company to be better off having done so. We want to help “move” them from one position into another, better position as a result of their interaction with us. We want every decision we make to reflect this vision.
Let’s go back to the leader that has now resigned. When he first told me, he generously offered to work a month’s notice. He was willing to help in the transition in any way I wanted. He explained how this new business opportunity was not one that he sought out, but was simply too good for him to ignore.
As he explained the opportunity, I quickly saw that he was right. I realized that I could never offer him the same chance to reach his full potential in our company as he could reach in this new job. I was disappointed in losing him, but I could not blame him for saying yes to the offer.
It was at this point that I had a choice. I could get angry and do what the majority of owners would do in our industry – tell him to pack his things and go ahead and exit immediately. I could cut off his compensation and benefits that very day and do only what I was legally bound to do.
OR, I could embrace our core value of Employee Development and our “Moving people” vision. I could congratulate him on his tremendous opportunity and begin laying out a plan that would maximize his effectiveness while he worked his notice, benefiting both of us in the process.
I chose the latter. In fact, I used the opportunity to reinforce our commitment to our core values by going to every department individually and explaining the whole situation. I tried to show, by example, that we are indeed serious about these core values and our vision.
The results? Well it has not been long enough yet to give a full report, but I can give you some of the immediate benefits…
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As I began listing these immediate benefits, I realized that there are longer-term benefits as well. Here is a short, not exhaustive, list of these benefits…
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Have you had similar opportunities to live out your company’s core values?
What would you have done differently?
What benefits did I overlook?
This is the fifth post in a series on developing your own inner circle of leadership in your business. We are on step three of Dave Anderson’s three-step process from his book, How to Run Your Business by The Book. The first steps in developing your inner circle dealt with choosing, investing, and empowering them. In this post, we will discuss holding them accountable for results.
While it is common business sense to hold individuals accountable for results on a day-to-day, project-by-project basis, this concept goes even further with your inner circle. If you, as the business owner or leader, are going to carefully select, invest in, and empower a few of the higher-potential members of your team, then you are certainly going to expect a higher degree of “fruit-bearing” from them.
Your goal should be multiplication of impact through your inner circle, just as it was Jesus’ goal with His disciples. Jesus did not expect His disciples to just go around winning people one at a time. He taught them to multiply themselves. That is why they delegated the feeding of the widows to the deacons in Acts 6:1-7.
This idea is also illustrated in the story of Jesus’ encounter with the fig tree in Matthew 21:18. Most people notice that it says Jesus was hungry and was therefore upset at the fig tree with no fruit to eat. But have you ever thought of the other God-given purpose of the fig’s fruit? The fruit of the tree is where the seeds are – its God-given system of multiplication! Could it be that Jesus was more upset about this than His hunger? What are the possible parallels here?
The fig tree was accountable to Jesus for fruit. As a result of its lack of fruit, Jesus cursed the tree and it died.
The lesson of the vine (John 15:1-8) is another example of Jesus holding us accountable for our fruit when He said the branches not producing fruit would be thrown in the fire. While I do not recommend this exact punishment to be inflicted on members of your inner circle, it certainly shows us a clear example of accountability!
So how do we apply this to your inner circle? I think there are several things to consider in holding your inner circle accountable.
Are you holding your inner circle accountable?
If so, are you pleased with their progress (and yours)?
If not, what are you missing? What do you need to do next?
(Originally posted 10/21/11)
This is the fourth post in a series about developing your own inner circle of leadership in your company. I am following the three-step process outlined in Dave Anderson’s How to Run Your Business by The Book. In my last post, we discussed how to identify your inner circle and how to intentionally invest in their development. Now we will turn our attention to the next step in the process – Give up power to go up higher!
If you have been in business for long, you already know that you cannot do it all alone! If you want to grow and expand your business (and the eternal impact that comes as a result), then you must learn to get more done through others rather than doing it all yourself.
Giving up control is tough for most business owners and leaders – even when it is a simple task. So asking them to give up real power and authority to anyone else is almost incomprehensible! Unfortunately, this very issue causes many entrepreneurs to fail (worst case) or stunts their growth (best case).
If we are going to avoid this issue, we must learn to give up power in order to grow. In the context of our inner circle of leadership, this is going to require us to give up more than just day-to-day tasks to them. We must be able to let go of some of the more executive tasks as well.
Of course, this is not a step to be taken lightly. Nor is it a step that should be taken quickly. We must slowly and methodically grow into this or we could run into serious trouble.
Let’s take a look at a couple of examples of giving up power from the Bible. First, consider Acts 6:1-7. The early church ran into a situation where there was too much for the twelve disciples to do alone so they were forced to delegate some of the daily tasks to others.
Note verse 7 in particular – “So the preaching about God flourished, the number of the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.” As a result of their wise delegation, the church saw tremendous growth!
What about Jesus’ actions in Luke 10:1-12? Here He sent out 70 disciples and gave them power over demons and power to heal the sick. He gave them clear instructions about what He wanted done and how He wanted it done. What was their response when they returned to Jesus in verse 17? “They returned with joy!” What about Jesus’ response in verse 21? “In that same hour, He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit…” It looks to me like it was a success!
What can we learn from Jesus’ example here? Here are some practical tips we can pick up from this passage.
What else can we learn from Jesus in developing our inner circle?
Are you willing to give up some of your power in order to grow?
What is the first step for you to take?
(Originally posted 10/20/11)
In my last two posts, I described why you need to develop an inner circle of leadership. We looked at several compelling reasons you need an inner circle, including the example that Jesus set for us. I also identified and answered several common objections to this idea. Now that you are convinced that you simply must have an inner circle, let’s take at look at how you do it!
In this, and the next two posts, I am going to break this process into three simple steps using material from Dave Anderson’s book, How To Run Your Business By The Book.
The first step in developing your inner circle is to:
1. Identify and invest more into those with the highest upward potential
Let’s start with identifying the people with the highest upward potential. So, exactly how do you go about doing this? Well, first and foremost, I would pray about it. I would pray for wisdom and discernment as I reviewed my employees for prospects. Ask for Him to reveal qualities and characteristics that you may not already be aware of. Pray for patience as well. Jesus prayed all night!
Next I would look at your current leadership structure. The easiest people to choose are already in your key leadership positions. Hopefully, assuming you have these positions, the people you have here are trustworthy and have the potential you are seeking. Mutual trust is mandatory.
For me, it was fairly clear because I had been fortunate enough to have people in my key management positions that fit this role perfectly. Not only did they have the highest potential, but they also shared the same values and beliefs and were quickly bought in to the mission as I presented it.
Your situation may not be the same. If not, you may have to spend more time on this step. You also may see that you are not positioned well with your key people. While that is likely not something you can change quickly, it is certainly something you need to address over time.
Here are three keys to choosing these people:
One note, it is my opinion that you may need to start with only one individual that IS the right fit rather than trying to force two or three others that are NOT a good fit. Think quality over quantity! Personally, I have a total of five. I am not sure there is a magic number, but I would not have many more than this. Intimacy is also important for this group.
This step will be different for each leader, depending on the level of the members of the inner circle. Depending on your industry or your company’s mission, you may already have a ready-made path for leadership development. If not, you may have to create your own. The key here is to be intentional about their development.
Here are some simple steps to consider:
Are you ready to choose your members?
What are your challenges here?
What is your next action step?
(Originally posted 10/19/11)
In my last post, I told you why you need to develop an inner circle of leadership in your company. If you have not read that post, stop now and go back and do so. You really need to be committed to doing this if it is going to be effective.
Now that you know why you SHOULD develop an inner circle of leadership around you, let’s address some common objections to doing so.
One of the first objections that arises at this point is, “But it is not fair to everyone!” The idea here is that those you choose for this inner circle will have unfair advantages and opportunities over the rest of your group. Folks, as Andy Stanley put it in his session at Catalyst recently, “Fair ended in the Garden of Eden!”
It is not your responsibility to give everyone in your organization equal and fair opportunities with your time and energy. Jesus did not pass around a sign-up list to those in the crowd, giving everyone an opportunity to be in His small group of twelve disciples. Nor did He give those twelve equal opportunity to be in His inner circle of three.
Instead, it appears that each time He intentionally chose those with more potential than the rest. Just like the master in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), you should give of your time and energy “to each according to his ability.”
What if you feel you really do not have anyone qualified to be in your inner circle? Well, there are several ways I could answer this.
First I will assume you have enough people from which to choose, but you do not see any clear stand-outs. In this case, remember you are looking for those with the most upward potential. You may have to start very small and do a lot of developing. You may have your standards too high or you may need to relook at your hiring process! Regardless, it will be worth it.
What if you truly do not have anyone with even a remote hint of potential for this type of group? What if you are such a small company that an inner circle would have to include all of your employees to be considered a group? In these cases, I would advise two things. First, find someone else to mentor you and help you develop as you grow your organization. Second, keep this inner circle in mind as you hire. Do not hire people that could not eventually be considered for this opportunity.
Another argument may be that you do not yet feel like an expert yourself. You do not feel worthy or qualified to gather an inner circle around you for furthering their development. Good point. You are not. Unfortunately, you will never be qualified! If you wait until you are, it will never happen!
To again quote Andy Stanley, he said “It is not your responsibility to ‘fill their cup’, only to empty yours!” You are not an expert, and as long as you keep learning, you never will be! But you do not have to know everything there is to know about your job or role in order to teach them what you do know. Empty your “cup” of all you know – that is your only responsibility here.
You may object to developing an inner circle by saying you do not have the time to pour into them. This could be a legitimate short-term argument because some leaders truly do not have the time right now to spare for something like this. However this argument virtually ignores the long term necessity and benefits of doing so.
Instead of accepting your current situation, you need to take immediate action to work towards creating this time in your schedule through delegation and elimination of less-critical tasks. By replacing these less-critical tasks with leadership development of an inner circle, you will actually free up more time in the long run than you can imagine!
Do you already have an inner circle? Is it working?
If not, are you now convinced to start working on it?
What is your next action step? Have you prayed about it?
(Originally posted 10/18/11)
(Originally posted on 10/17/11) – On two separate occasions during a recent 24-hour period, I had two members of my inner circle of leadership hold me personally accountable on mission-related issues. In both cases, they were “spot on” with their comments and delivered their message with perfect sincerity.
I needed the nudge in both cases, but was not exactly excited to accept their recommendations. At the same time, I knew they were right and I was glad they were comfortable telling me.
As I thought about these situations, I simply thanked God for the privilege of being able to work with people of this caliber and the mutual trust we have established. I have had an inner circle in place for over five years and continue to see benefits!
Of course, my next thought was that I really needed to share this on my blog! So as a result, I am going to give you my reasons for having an inner circle. In the next post, we will look at some common objections people bring up when discussing this topic. I am also going to dedicate the next several posts after that to laying out HOW to develop your own inner circle. I will include some recommendations for additional reading material for further help.
So, we will begin addressing the WHY by doing my favorite thing…looking at the Bible! Let’s consider how Jesus managed His three-plus year ministry on earth. We have to assume that He knew He was operating with limited time to establish an ongoing ministry that would continue after His death (and resurrection!). We can also assume that He would have the wisdom to know the best way to make that happen, right? So how did He do it?
Well, He started with a crowd that was following Him from place to place for various reasons. In Luke 6:12-13, we see that He spent all night praying about who to choose for his small group of twelve disciples. It does not appear that He took this task lightly! The next morning, He chose His small group of twelve disciples from among the crowd.
Next, we notice in Mark 5:37, Luke 9:28, and Mark 14:33 that he called out three of the disciples from the small group to go deeper with Him. On several occasions, we notice that He spent additional time with these three, exposing them to opportunities that the other nine did hot have.
I may be simple-minded, but I am one who believes if Jesus saw enough value in the process, then I should as well. However, in case there are some of you out there who need more convincing, I will keep going!
Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of developing this inner circle.
Do you already have an inner circle? What benefits do you see?
If so, how could you improve it?
If not, what are you waiting for? Why not start now?
It seems that every time I turn around I am neglecting either the business of our company or the goal of doing Christian ministry through our company. It is a difficult balance to maintain. In fact, I have often felt I was doing something wrong because I could not shake the tension between the two. I recently found out this is not true.
This is the third post in a series of five that describes the advice my brother and I received from business and ministry leader, Jim Reese. Mr. Reese seen incredible success in the business world over a stellar career with executive positions in companies such as Randstad N.A., Frito-Lay, and HoneyBaked Ham, but he has also significantly impacted people for eternity through his work with Atlanta Mission. He has taken his exceptional business skills and is applying them in Christian ministry.
In the first post in this series, we discussed how Mr. Reese advised us to Redefine Success if we are going to attempt to run our business as a platform for Christian ministry. In the next post, I told you that he urged us to remember that when we do ministry in the course of doing business, Results Are Not Always Immediately Evident Or Measurable.
Below, is the third of five main points I gained from our conversation. This advice is directed at anyone trying to buck the norms of this world and integrate their faith into their work. If you are trying to run your business from an eternal perspective, then you need to heed this advice.
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Mr. Reese did not say that business and ministry do not mix. He did not say that you cannot do both at the same time. What he did say was that there will always be a tension between the two. To ignore this fact is to deceive yourself. To embrace this fact is to accept reality and work through it.
The truth is that anyone who has ever worked in ministry or in the non-profit sector has experienced this as well. Regardless of the nature of the organization, there is the need always to balance your focus between impact activities and fundraising (or profit) to pay for the activities.
On one hand, you need to be thinking about what you can do to make the programs more effective. You ask how we can serve more people and meet more needs.
On the other hand, you also need to be thinking about how to add more donors or givers and raise more money. You cannot have the impact through the activities unless there is funding to make those activities possible.
The same is true in a business where the goal is to be a platform for ministry. Without a healthy and growing business, there is no opportunity for ministry.
As a result, we must manage this constant tension. We cannot eliminate it and we cannot ignore it. We must simply manage it.
So the question is…How do you do it?
Well, there are several options that I will offer.
1. Get outside help rather that going it alone. For me, being a member of a C12 group provides me with a group of like-minded business owners who all need the same type of support. We offer each other accountability in this area as well as ideas on how to better manage the constant tension. You could also choose to create your own board of directors or even enlist a life coach. The key is to gain an outside perspective.
2.Develop an inner circle of leadership within your company. Having other like-minded leaders that are walking with you every day can be a great source of support and ideas. They can warn you quickly when they sense something is out of balance. They know your company best and will have the same goals.
3. Create a personal life plan with a weekly review. While this is a solo activity, it is one that has gone far in helping me stay balanced over this tension. The weekly review helps me to get a 10,000 ft. view of where I have been and where my energy has been allocated. Any imbalances are quickly evident and correctable.
Have you recognized this tension in your life or business?
How do you manage it?
What do you need to do differently?