12 INSPIRING LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM BIBLE CHARACTERS

1. NOAH: Leaders do what’s right even if they are alone (Gen. 6)

2.ABRAHAM: Leaders welcome the unknown (Gen. 12)

3. JOSEPH: Leaders bounce back from tough situations (Gen. 37)

4.MOSES: Leaders stick with their people. (Exodus 3)

5. JOSHUA: Leaders rule by example rather than by just bossing people around (Joshua 34)

6. DAVID: Leaders are not afraid of giants (I Samuel 17)

7. ISAIAH: Leaders rise to the occasion (Isaiah 6)

8. DANIEL: Leaders stay determined (Daniel 6)

9. JOHN THE BAPTIST: Leaders aren't afraid to call it how it is (Matthew 3)

10.JESUS CHRIST: Leaders are servants (John 13)

11. SIMON PETER: Leaders recover from failure (Acts 2)

12. PAUL: Leaders are passionate about what they believe in (Acts 9)

What Great Leaders Do

What does a leader look like? Think of two leaders, famous or not, whom you admire and respect. What do they do that is so different? What traits do they have that help them excel at a high level? Leadership is not a great mystery. Great leaders have specific traits in common. These traits can be learned and developed—by you!

As a leader, you need to understand the specific traits that will help you achieve a high level of leadership success. Here are ten tips to help you identify what you as a leader must do.

Look again at the two leaders you identified. Go through each one of the points listed below and notice how they do each one.

1. Great leaders lead by example with an overriding guiding vision or purpose. They possess an unquenchable passion for successfully implementing the vision of the company regardless of the disapproval of those individuals who fail to see the bigger picture. They don’t waste time worrying about day to day responsibilities or problems. Instead, they focus on where the organization needs to go.
2. Great leaders know how to be themselves and are proud of who they are. Because they are comfortable with who they are, they are able to do what they need to do and say what they need to say with conviction — and without caring about what anyone else thinks.
3. Great leaders have the ability to inspire confidence in others. They can clearly and concisely communicate their message to motivate those around them to greater heights of achievement. People will do more for leaders they respect than they would do for anyone else.
4. Great leaders are never self-serving. Unlike the star employee, they aren’t focused on proving themselves but are focused unconditionally (and not selfishly) on what is best for the organization. They put their vision for the company above their own interests.
5. Great leaders rarely question themselves. Instead, they listen to their inner voice and trust it completely, allowing it to be their guide with each step they take, even as they move in directions that no one has gone before. To be a great leader, you must believe in this voice and trust that it will always be there to guide you.
6. Great leaders know when to take advice. They value support from others and bring others into their circle who can provide the counsel they need. They realize how large their tasks are and find the resources and people they need to generate support, which is vital for success. You can develop your top talent by providing them with coaches and mentors so that they have support when they need it.
7. Great leaders possess the foresight to move ahead, even in the most questionable times. They take risks and realize the importance of moving forward—daring themselves and others to venture out in new directions. They realize this is part of their responsibility and not something they can turn their backs on. Once they realize the vision, they rise up to the occasion and take the necessary risks required for implementation.
8. Great leaders love what they do and communicate their passion to others. They exude passionate energy that rubs off on others around them. They have a light, effortless, and clear persona that is projected to everyone they meet because they are so in tune with their work. Others feel this and want to be a part of the vision that the leader is bringing forward.
9. Great leaders learn to lead by following. They trust those who are in authority above them and are loyal to them. They are inspired by the vision that is being passed on to them and may even notice themselves liking and wanting to be more like their leaders and managers.
10. Great leaders never quit. They embrace and overcome any obstacles, personal or otherwise, that stand in their way. Thus, they need to do the necessary work on themselves to prevent anything from holding them and eliminate habits that are keeping from being the best leader possible.

Team Management: 13 Ways of Gaining Credibility as A Leader

In team management, and generally throughout our lives, we learn gradually the importance of gaining credibility. If we treat others well, it will be easier to get the respect we want. Take note of these 13 tips:

1. Show humility

Bragging may not only damage your reputation, but it can demotivate your whole team as well. Stop showing off, do not bore others with stories about your university, your awards or your personal success. Your best advertising is to act with humility.

2. Be proactive

Take a step forward, do it yourself. Do not wait for instructions from others. Part of team management is to develop your problem-solving skills. Act proactively to earn credibility from your team and earn respect as a leader.

3. Show commitment

Show with your work the high level of commitment you have with your organization, your team and the goals. Work hard, move, take an interest in the work of other departments, in what each and every one of your employees does; inquire, get involved…

4. Keep your promises

If anything guarantees our credibility with others, it is to keep our promises. Breaking pacts or agreements destroys confidence. Always avoid committing to something if you do not have the confidence of being able to do it. 

5. Help your team grow

Offer your team opportunities to promote themselves and gain experience; great leaders do everything in their hands for their teams to grow. Team management involves helping the group develop and improve.

6. Don’t make them waste their time

Respect the time of others, it is fundamental to any successful team management. If your people perceive that you keep interrupting them, being late, beating around the bush in meetings or not respecting their times of rest, you will lose their respect.

7. Keep a balance

If you want to get respect from your people, you will have to learn to keep a balance between task delegation and excessive involvement. Half along the way is the basis for proper team management.

8. Stay away from gossip

We all have strengths and weaknesses and everyone is likely to be criticized at some point. As a team manager, you must avoid the temptation to speak ill of others; always act as if they were right in front of you. You will see your credibility strengthened.

9. Say what you expect from your team

Your people need to know what expectations you have of them. Tell them what you expect from their work so that specific goals can be established and they can give their best. It will help you be respected.

10. Act diligently

One of the easiest ways to earn respect and manage teams successfully is to act diligently. The best example is you: do your job, complete your tasks on time and finish what you start.

11. Reward good work

It is a classic in the world of team management, but you should never forget the importance of rewarding the good work of your team. A simple thank you note, an invitation to lunch, a small gift. There are a lot of ways to reward your team.

12. Learn to say “no”

Sometimes it is easier to gain credibility by saying “no” than by agreeing with everything. Do not feel guilty; if you ever have to refuse, do it.

13. Control your emotions

Team management is no easy task. Many times you will find it difficult to control your emotions and your temper, but if you show an excessively emotional side of you, your management may be damaged. Stay calm in tense situations in order to earn respect.

The 10 Commandments of Effective Leadership Skills

In order to lead effectively in your company, you will have to achieve a certain balance and work on key skills to grow as a leader. These are the top 10 skills you need to consider:

1. Adaptation to change

As a leader, you should know how to adapt to both changes and each of the members of your team. You may or may not have a particular personality that will provide you with a certain character, but there are certain social skills that you can learn in order to lead your team more effectively.

2. Strategic vision

Effective leaders do not lose sight of the strategic dimension of their business, and this is why you have to invest time to identify threats and strengths that affect your competitiveness. As a leader, you want to be up to date on the news, innovations and transformations in your sector.

3. Analysis skills

Effective leadership skills have a lot to do with knowing your own business and being able to analyze the existing relationships among the different departments, as well as the way your employees interact with each other. By analyzing the internal function of your company, you will get the most of your team, optimize your resources and encourage a spirit of cooperation.

4. Networking and customer orientation

If there is something that a business should care about, that is the customers. Your leadership role should be focused on meeting their needs so that you can ensure your company’s growth in the medium and long term. Watch your public image and work on developing a professional network (networking) that will multiply the chances of success for your business.

5. Optimization of resources

Effective leadership skills are supported by appropriate use of material, human and financial resources, so that results are obtained in the most efficient and optimized way.

6. Effective communication

It is impossible to lead efficiently if you don’t work on your communication skills. Here, your listening skills and your expertise when transmitting the messages to your team both come into play. The key is to communicate transparently and clearly.

7. Conflict management

If you are a leader, you have a responsibility not only to solve the conflicts that will be inevitably generated within your team but also to be able to detect them before it is too late to fix them. In conflict resolution, it is essential to know your peers. Ask, listen to different versions, show empathy and act with justice.

Your effective leadership skills will be better the more you encourage teamwork and delegate certain tasks to the right person. Delegating effectively will help develop the potential of your team members and increase the confidence and sense of belonging of the group.

9. Emotional intelligence and positive attitude

Among the positive attitude and emotional intelligence, who will manage stress well and accept constructive criticism. Building confidence and keeping optimism alive will get you out of tense situations and it will be especially valuable to develop and improve the skills of your team.

10. Productivity and time management

Do not try to lead effectively if you don’t know how to schedule your day for it to be productive. Learn to prioritize your tasks, set and define goals, meet deadlines and, in short, keep your stress under control and modify your habits for efficient time management.

Leadership Requires Sacrifice

It is once again that time of year when Christians reflect on the sacrifices made by Jesus Christ and what those sacrifices mean to us.  As a servant leader, Jesus modeled leadership traits and qualities for followers to emulate in their own lives.  One of the most poignant lessons of leadership to be drawn from Christ's ministry is the importance and necessity of servant leaders to sacrifice for the greater good.  Truly successful and inspiring leaders must be willing to make several types of sacrifices in order to elevate their people and see their visions come to fruition.  Let's briefly look at three key areas where sacrifices must often be made for leaders to achieve their goals.

Time and Energy

Effective leaders are completely invested in the success of their missions.  While financial investments may also be necessary at certain points in a venture, nothing is as essential to successfully achieving a goal as devoting time and attention to the endeavor.  Investments in hours and effort cannot be recouped in the same manner as money either, making this type of sacrifice more personally costly in many ways.  However, leaders who truly desire to succeed need to be willing to make these sacrifices, for nothing great is ever achieved through negligence, laziness, and inattentiveness.  The leader must communicate this to his or her team by modeling conscientious and diligent behaviors that will lead to desired outcomes. 

Power and Freedom

While many people equate leadership to power and autonomy, the truth is that oftentimes a leader has to give up these things for the good of the group.  For instance, leaders in today's world frequently find it necessary to include others in the decision-making process to maintain good relationships with team members and to keep morale up.  Effective leaders know that they will get better results from associates who are personally invested in the success of a project than ones who are dictated to or coerced into performing, so sharing power benefits both the leader and the team even though it may be somewhat difficult or uncomfortable for the executive to do initially. 

Likewise, administrators and leaders take on many responsibilities for their organizations or enterprises, and there is a correlation between the number of responsibilities one has and the amount of personal freedom one enjoys.  Simply put, leaders who take on more responsibilities can expect to have fewer personal freedoms.  Their duties demand attention, and they find that they must sacrifice personal autonomy for the sake of the organization and mission.  This is precisely why so many people would never want to be President of the United States; they know the enormous responsibilities of the office would greatly diminish their rights to privacy and personal freedoms.  

Blame and Credit

Outstanding leaders understand the seemingly paradoxical and unfair nature of accepting blame and giving credit.  True servant leaders realize that ultimately credit for successes most go to those who helped make the successes possible, and they must be publicly recognized for their efforts if peace and harmony is to continue among the contributors.  There is no I in team, after all, at least not until something goes wrong. 

Once something does go wrong, however, the team typically expects the leader to take responsibility for the failure, and the leader must be willing to accept criticism by saying, "I am to blame; the failure lies with me."  The converse nature of this reality may not appear fair to those in charge, but they usually must be willing to accept these circumstances as a price of leadership in order to secure prospects of future success and cohesion because shifting blame to associates will only undermine subsequent endeavors.  Good leaders will privately work to fix the problems within the organization while publicly acknowledging the failures and accepting the blame. 

Gospel readers will easily recognize how these excellent traits of servant leadership were modeled by Jesus Christ.  Leadership is not about wielding power and strong-arming others into action.  Real leadership requires sacrifice, and understanding this is the first step towards becoming an effective servant leader.   

What Is Personal Leadership and Why Does It Matter?

Personal leadership is the ability to develop and utilize your positive leadership traits to guide the direction of your life instead of letting time and chance determine your course. Personal leadership can begin when you decide to be your own life coach and live by a personal mission statement that reflects your values and life goals.

Why Does Personal Leadership Matter?

While personal leadership develops from the inside out, its effects are felt not only by you and your family, but also by others in your community and workplace. For example, Abraham Lincoln began his political career using his incredible communication skills, including his wit and intelligence, to criticize his political opponents…so much so that he even reduced one politician to tears during a debate. While effective, Lincoln became uncomfortable with the tone of his campaigning. Over time, he learned to use his personal leadership skills, including self-discipline, to channel his language mastery for the good of the American people. This enabled him to be an effective leader (to say the least) and one of the best communicators America has ever seen.

Must-Have Personal Leadership Qualities

Here are some personal leadership qualities we can cultivate within ourselves to use our positive strengths and talents for our success and the benefit of those we live and work with:

• Vision—Having an overall game plan, or mission statement, including a clear vision of your goals and the leadership qualities you wish to possess, is essential to good personal leadership.

• Self-discipline—As in the case of Abraham Lincoln, a raw skill or talent that is channeled for positive use can greatly improve your life and your leadership abilities. Having the self-discipline to use your strengths only for good will enhance your personal growth and strengthen your ability to lead others positively.

• Spirituality—Peter Block, a respected leadership expert and author, points out, “Spirituality is the process of living out a set of deeply held personal values, of honoring forces or a presence greater than ourselves. It expresses our desire to find meaning in, and to treat as an offering what we do.” While we may not completely understand it, that spiritual component drives us to live life for more than just our own personal fulfillment.

• Integrity—Having firm and unwavering principles is the hallmark of a good and trusted leader (and friend). With integrity, you earn the respect and trust of those around you.

• Honesty—Being truthful isn’t always easy, but it is always the correct path. This is a cornerstone of personal leadership.

• Open communication—The ability to communicate with others in an open, honest, tactful way is a skill that must be continually honed. Much like Abraham Lincoln, the power of a good communicator in a leadership position cannot be understated.

• Kindness—Albert Schweitzer, physician and Nobel Peace Prize winner, succinctly stated that, “Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.”

• Legacy building—To quote Charles Spurgeon, “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.”

Developing personal leadership is an ongoing process which requires regular reflection and self-evaluation. But with conviction and perseverance, you can develop the qualities of an effective personal leader to determine your life course and the positive effect you can have on those around you.

What type of leader are you? Do you need help developing the habits and qualities needed to be your personal best? We can help.STRIDES LEADERSHIP PROJECT offers personal leadership development, personal and business coaching, and organizational leadership development to help you develop the qualities essential to good personal and professional leadership roles. Contact us today to find out how we can tailor a program to fit your needs.

The Danger of Gossip Within an Organization (Church, Company)

Gossip is commonly defined as rumour or talk of a personal, intimate, or sensational nature. Whether or not the gossip is true, it is often toxic, spreading faster than a virus in a kindergarten classroom. Not only does gossip bring down morale, it affects the culture of the organization. Often, those who habitually engage in gossip are passionate about what they are saying but lack the solutions or the power to make positive change happen.

Gossip hampers teamwork, productivity, time management, and employee retention. Additionally, it can cause a great deal of anxiety and promote a negative climate and culture of the organization. This, in turn, is reflected to the public as well as potential quality employees and can ultimately impact a business’ bottom line.

How Do You Stop Gossip in your Organization?

In order to curb gossip once it has started, it is important to be sure that you have established a vision and a mission statement that defines the organizational culture and expectations. If you haven’t done this already, do it immediately. Once the mission statement and expectations for all employees have been established, be sure that everyone, from the top leadership on down knows and understands the expectations. Most importantly, set a personal example that lives up to these standards. By creating a positive culture within your organization and holding everyone accountable to that standard, you are clearly defining who you are as an organization to your staff and your customers.

How Can New Business Owners Avoid Pitfalls that Lead to Gossip and Complaining

Quick answer—don’t hire humans. Just kidding. While you can’t eliminate gossip and negativity entirely, here are some ways to keep it to a minimum:

1. Focus on a strong, positive foundation—From the onset, have a clearly defined vision and mission statement that definitively describes the culture and values that you expect within the organization. Many leaders are so focused on sales, processes, and finances that they fail to give this step its proper attention.


2. Reward staff members who reflect these values—Positive reinforcement boosts morale and motivates staff to strive to meet these standards.


3. Keep lines of communication open—By listening to your employees, you can eliminate the frustration or helplessness that staff sometimes feels when dealing with aloof management and the gossip that often accompanies that frustration. Even if you don’t act on the suggestions, you have given employees a voice and a way to contribute in a meaningful way. As Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, once stated, “It is terribly important for everyone to get involved. Our best ideas come from clerks and stock boys.”


4. Talk the talk and walk the walk—Leaders who actually lead by positive example have a powerful effect on others. An effective leader inspires others to behave similarly.

Whether the perpetrators are top level management, front line employees, or both, gossip and complaining can be toxic and costly to an organization. By clearly defining values and expectations and constantly cultivating a positive culture within your organization, you will boost personal productivity, time management, teamwork, and personal leadership among staff members. This positive culture will naturally attract quality employees who share those values and will ultimately increase your customer base and profitability.

Could your organization benefit from management development, staff or team development, organizational leadership, or business coaching to reach your goals and create a positive climate? STRIDES LEADERSHIP PROJECT offers programs tailored to meet your specific needs. We have provided leadership development training, executive coaching, entrepreneurship training, public speaking training, customer relationship training church management and administration, performance management, church marketing training to many successful churches and companies. Contact us to see how we can help your organization or church reach its goals.

Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way!

Yesterday, I was asked by one of my students where all the real leaders have gone. Not just the canned phony orators who stammer and stumble when their teleprompter freezes, but real leaders whose values are embedded, and naturally come from the heart.

Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

There are many reasons that genuine leaders are difficult to find. One reason there is a void of leadership today is proclaimed by a “bumper sticker” I saw a few years ago. It stated very boldly…”LEAD… Follow…or get out of the way!” (Actually, it didn’t say it as nicely as I worded it here). Yet, it does remind us that it certainly takes both leaders and followers to get things done. I believe it was John Maxwell who once wrote, “If you think you are leading and no one is following, you are only taking a walk.”

Learn how we can help you become a better leader today!

In order for anyone to truly lead, there must be committed followers to the cause or mission. Leaders and followers need each other. Where there are few followers, or when potential followers don’t care, all the leadership skills that you can possibly demonstrate, are unproductive. Unfortunately, this lack of a commitment to support or follow a great cause is one of our serious social ills of the 21st century and it has carried over into the workplace with employee apathy.

But, as the “bumper sticker” implies, there is also a significant third category. It is neither followership nor leadership but that of the indifferent observer. This third category is a growing force in our social media culture and it makes quality leadership even more challenging than ever before! The “observer” is usually not interested in a mission or a vision, but in actually maintaining a space or distance from leaders and followers. From the perspective of a leader, this detachment hinders the potential ideas and creative resources available from the observer. All too often, their lack of commitment and support may inadvertently spread and create general resistance against all efforts at leadership in your organization.

Leadership Qualities for Today

Today’s leaders must have the leadership skills, enthusiasm and savvy to engage the observers and motivate them away from being mere observers… to becoming committed followers. If you want to know how this can be achieved, contact STRIDES LEADERSHIP PROJECT and begin learning these essential qualities.

REGISTER FOR THE STRIDES LEADERSHIP AND MENTORING PROGRAM

THE STRIDES LEADERSHIP AND MENTORING PROGRAM

THE STRIDES LEADERSHIP AND MENTORING PROGRAM is a two month intensive program for political leaders, church leaders, business leaders, corporate leaders, community leaders, entrepreneurs, students, youth corpers, professionals, business owners, church workers, civil servants, etc.IT IS A COURSE TO CATAPULT YOU TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF YOUR CAREER, PROFESSION OR BUSINESS.

There will be courses on PERSONAL LEADERSHIP, CORPORATE AND BUSINESS LEADERSHIP, CHURCH LEADERSHIP, PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, CAREER DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC SPEAKING, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, COMMUNICATION SKILLS, NEGOTIATION SKILLS, SOCIAL ETIQUETTE, CHURCH ADMINISTRATION AND GROWTH, CHURCH MARKETING. TALENT DEVELOPMENT, PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT, ETC.

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WHY IS PERSONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IMPORTANT?

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to have all the luck? Well, that's usually because those people don't rely much on luck at all. They make their own luck by constantly working to improve themselves and their situations. As an individual, personal leadership development can take you to the next level in the workplace, the community, and even at home. A good leadership development program will assist you in understanding your potential for personal leadership, guide you in making choices for success, plot out your personal growth, teach leadership essentials, and help you realize your full potential.

As an employer, personal leadership development is equally important because every employee you hire interacts within your organization and represents your company to the outside world. An individual's personal self-image and motivation play a large role in how they perform, react, and lead others.

Whether you are an individual looking to get a promotion or striving to become a better leader in all facets of life, or an employer seeking to help your employees become better leaders, a good personal leadership training program can help you get there.

Benefits of Personal Leadership Training

Leaders should be agents of positive change who are passionate about growing themselves and those around them to achieve great things. Today's most successful leaders are not the top-down authoritarians of the past; they are servant-leaders who foster meaningful relationships with those upon whom they depend and help elevate the performance and well being of those around them. Effective personal leadership training can help individuals realize their full potential in all of the following ways:

•  Building on strengths
•  Improving self- image and motivation
• Overcoming past conditioning
• Making successful choices and overcoming past conditioning
• Altering attitudes, habits, and behaviours to experience self-motivation
• Developing a tangible action plan to achieve goals and success
• Learning real leadership skills
• Acting with sound values and integrity
• Providing coaching and encouragement to others
• Improving daily productivity
• Overcoming obstacles and hindrances to motivation
• Preparing for leadership opportunities in the future

Personal Development Plan

For any great enterprise or successful endeavor to come to fruition, careful consideration and advanced planning must first take place. Therefore, an essential part of any leadership development program is the creation of a personal plan of action. Here are some key elements of an action plan:

• Goal identification. In order to work towards goals, you have to nail them down in a tangible way.
• Value of written goals. Once goals are identified, it is important to write them down and study them regularly.
• Learning to overcome obstacles. Leaders will not always have a straight path to goal achievement. One must learn to get around the inevitable obstacles that come your way.
• Anticipation of benefits. Keep your eyes on the prize by anticipating the benefits of achieving your goals.
• Setting target dates. Learn how to stay motivated with reasonable target dates.

DEAR PASTOR AND CHURCH LEADER, FIVE STRATEGIC QUESTIONS FOR CHURCH GROWTH

Below are five salient questions we should scrupulously consider :

1) What is God saying to you?

God wants your church to thrive. It’s His church! No one cares more than He does. Don’t race ahead with your plans without asking God what He wants specifically for your church.

You may not be the senior pastor, but this is still relevant to you. Maybe you’re on staff leading a department or a volunteer leader of a small group, what is God saying to you? That may be the most important question you can ask as a leader.

This requires time from your busy schedule; a quiet cup of coffee or several cups over many days. And have a notepad or your laptop handy. What do you sense that God wants? What direction does He want you to take this year.

2) What changes are you making?

If there are no changes, no innovation, nothing new or next planned for 2019, you may be in for a year that looks a lot like 2018.

There is no way for a healthy and productive ministry to escape change. Nothing stays the same. The key is to make the right moves. Not change for the sake of change but make things better.

It’s usually not the best strategy to change everything all at once, instead, be selective. Focus on implementation. Do it right.

Cool and creative may be fun, but if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter. It has to actually work. Then while the new is working, start talking about what’s next. Don’t wait until the new and cool no longer works. If that happens, you can fix it, but it’s much more work.

3) How prepared is your staff? 

Your church may be large with a big staff or a small start-up with volunteer staff, either way, your team has to be out in front of the change.

First, this means they need to have ownership and buy-in of a clear vision. Second, the strategy needs to be clear and quickly make sense to anyone on the team who sees it. And last, each person needs to have clear expectations about their responsibilities.

Equally important, your staff needs to be simultaneously working on their leadership development to shore up any skill gaps required to achieve the new and next for your church. Suffice it to say that it is expedient that train your staff biannually. It is non-negotiable. If you can't do it alone, hire a training organization like THE STRIDES LEADERSHIP PROJECT or get some resource personnel.

4) How will you measure success?

Measuring success in a spiritual realm can seem impossible, but it’s not. The subjective element of life-change isn’t the real issue of difficulty. The real challenge in measuring success is the lack of clarity in a goal and being consistent in the measurement of that goal.

The process of deciding how you will measure success, meaning specifically what you will measure, is more difficult than knowing if you achieved it or not.

This process of deciding what and how you will measure begins with being clear and honest about your vision. What are you measuring? Are you making progress? How? In what way? Do you change the goals to line up with what’s happening? That’s like when a hunter shoots an arrow and then walks up and draws the target around the arrow. Draw the target first!

If you missed the mark last year, don’t beat yourself up. Learn from your mistakes and move on. Focus on the new year.

5) Are you enthusiastic about your plans?

As the leader of the church or a leader in the church, no one will be excited if you aren’t. You can’t fake enthusiasm for long, the people will read right through that. If you and your key leaders believe in the direction and plan to get there, the congregation will too.

The plans don’t have to be perfect, but they must be clear and demonstrate forward motion. You can’t generate momentum if there is no sense of movement. If you are stuck and not sure what to do, go for small wins to start.

Genuine enthusiasm is birthed in your heart. It carries great emotion, but it’s not emotional. It’s strong and sure. It develops confidence and conviction. Genuine enthusiasm is contagious!

To summarize: Talk to God, be clear about what changes you are making, help the staff prepare, measure your results, and be enthusiastic about your plans.