Manage Like a Leader (How Effective Management is Great Leadership)

Growing up I saw managers and leaders in different levels. My father was a police officer, and before retiring, was a Corporal in our county’s Sheriff’s Office. I had a variety of bosses at every job I had; some good and some that made me rejoice on my days off. Looking back, I see that not everyone that had authority was a leader, some were just managers.

There is a vast difference between managers and leaders. Being a manager is all about accomplishing tasks and to keep things running. Managers keep things the way they are, they merely maintain the status quo. Leaders accomplish tasks that move the organization forward. A leader’s main goal isn’t just drawing a line through a task, but seeing how that accomplishment made the organization better. 

Great leaders are great managers, but great managers are not always great leaders. For you to be a great leader you have to be a great manager. You will manage tasks, people, positions, vision, schedules, e-mail, phone calls, (insert endless list of stuff you secretly complain about). Leading is not only rallying people around a common vision, but also empowering and equipping them to make that vision a reality. Every other leadership blog will tell you how to be a better leader, but if you are a poor manager you will be a poor leader. To be led by a leader that’s great at getting people excited but terrible at turning that vision into reality is frustrating. This leader will have high turnover and a low productivity rate.  Refuse to fall into the trap of over-promising and under-delivering. Do not fail to become a better manager as you grow as a leader. 

To be a better Manager you have to improve three areas of your organization. Improve your systems, people, and schedule. Often times most stress comes from these three areas because we haven’t managed them well. Our systems are outdated, we have the wrong people in positions, and we neglect to schedule our time. Take time to read and answer the questions below. Review every system, person, and schedule you are over, and do what every leader should do, make them better.

1.    Improve Your Systems

a.    Why are we doing this?

b.    Is there a better way to do this?

c.    How can I learn from other organizations’ systems?

d.    Is there someone besides the main leader to run this System?

2.    Improve Your People

a.    Is this the right person for this role?

b.    How are developing your team(s)

c.    How are you challenging your team(s) to develop themselves?

3.    Improve Your Schedule

a.    What are the things only you can do?

b.    What can others do? (everything you didn’t list above)

c.    Divide big tasks by days. Don’t just make a big list of things to do; you’ll never complete it. You’ll just keep pushing stuff off and rush to finish others. Designate each day for certain tasks, check out this blog from a friend about managing your schedules.

At the end of the day, our lives are where they are because of the choices we’ve made. The organization you lead is the way it is because of the choices you’ve made. This realization either causes a moment of celebration or a desire to kick me in the head because you are in denial. Either way, whether you are at the top of the game or ready to quit, you can get better. For you to be a great leader, you must be a great manager. Slow down, analyze your surroundings, adjust your systems, and move forward.

Keith serves as Executive Pastor at Thrive Church in Richmond, Virginia. He oversees the organizational structures that has helped Thrive reach hundreds of people in the Richmond area and grow to a multi-site congregation. He has been married to his lovely wife Lauren for 6 years and they have a beautiful daughter Amiah who is 3 &1/2 years old. You can connect with Keith here

5 Things to Do When You Fail

1) Acknowledge Where You Went Wrong

Most *all* of us have a hard time admitting we're wrong. Get over your pride. When you mess up fess up.

2) Don't Take it Too Hard

As leaders we beat ourselves up for failures. Don't let a small failure have a big impact on you. Generally try to let the size of the issue be as close as possible to the size of your reaction.

3) Get Help

Whether or not the failure is because you went all "Lone Ranger" on everybody the truth is an extra set or two of eyes is always helpful in regaining your upright posture as a leader. Get some trusted advisors and maybe a coach or two in the mix.

4) Evaluate

Evaluated experience brings efficiency. You could spend 40 years installing screen doors on submarines and you would have decades of experience, but it's not helpful to the functionality of a submarine. Set aside time to look at the problem from as many angles as possible and if possible get someone else up help.

5) Try Again

If you're going to do anything significant in leadership you will fail many times. Mehta matters is that you learn from your failure and move on. If your mission is life-altering you will find a way to keep going.

Maintenance vs. Renovation -- Guest Blogger: Bryan Johnson

Guest Blogger: Bryan Johnson - Youth Pastor, Social Circle United Methodist Church

Pastor Bryan Johnson has served as the Youth Pastor of Social Circle United Methodist Church for 6 years. He and his wife Anna have been married for 5 years and they have 2 beautiful dogs - Georgia and Caroline. Bryan is a 2007 graduate of Emmanuel College School of Christian ministry program and is currently in the M.Div course at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Bryan is an avid Georgia Bulldogs fan and loves playing guitar to some of his favorite Dave Matthews Band songs or John Mayer songs. Bryan has had tons of practical experience in various leadership roles and has a heart to mentor the next generation of pastors and leaders for the Body of Christ.

Maintenance vs. Renovation

            I hate the word “maintenance.” Maintenance implies that something is broken and it needs to be “maintained.” Maintained does not mean “fixed.” To fix something means to solve the problem.  To maintain something means to rig up a temporary solution that hides or ignores the problem.  Like I said, I hate the word “maintenance.” It is a stupid word. 

            Most of us look at our lives and try to perform maintenance on our problems.  We apply a temporary “fix” to a deep and complicated problem.  Then we wonder why we keep failing again and again and again…We fail because we keep performing maintenance on a problem that requires a complete renovation.  We need brand new parts.  Slapping paint on rotten wood does not fix the problem.  Pretty rotten wood is still rotten wood. 

            Renovation does not start with the outside and work its way inward.  You do not paint the rotten wood and then remove it.  First, you replace the rotten wood with new wood.  Then the painting begins.  The same is true for spiritual formation.  We cannot change who we are by “doing” more things.  I have discovered that if I want to pray more, than I can do one of two things: I can either force myself to spend time praying (which will not last), or I can let God transform my heart and give me the desire and passion to want to pray.  Forcing ourselves to do something that our heart is not prepared to do will never last. 

Here is a spiritual truth that we all need to understand: God changes the internal to produce changes in the external. True spiritual formation starts in the heart and works its way outward.  It says in 1 Samuel 16:7—“God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” God would rather change our hearts than us change our actions.  He knows that a transformed heart is the only thing that will produce true and lasting fruit.  (I highly recommend reading Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard).

So stay away from maintenance and seek renovation.  Don’t settle for maintenance on your heart when God is willing to give you a new one. 

Insecurity in Leadership

8 Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 So Saul eyed David from that day forward.

1 Samuel 18.8-9

               

     Insecurity is a terrible thing. It makes us feel like we are less than perfect. It holds us hostage to unhealthy emotions and an unfair standard. Insecurity lies to us and tells us that we aren’t – when God is telling us that we are. Insecurity can ruin your leadership. It will slowly wrap around your faith and squeeze all the life out of you. There is no place in the life of a leader for insecurity.

               

     In the above passage we find Saul, the reigning king of Israel, succumbing to the lure of insecurity. He is stung by the words of the crowd and for the rest of his life lives in suspicion and jealousy of David. The ironic thing is that David would have been Saul’s greatest ally if only Saul had been able to overcome his insecurity.

               

     I wonder how many of us are chasing “David” away because of insecurity. Seriously. “David” is that new leader who has a ton of ideas. “David” is that church member that finally caught a fire for Jesus (the very passion that you have been praying she would get) and now suggests that you start new ministries. “David” is that person who you keep at arms distance because they have to “prove their faithfulness” before you let them serve in a greater capacity.

     If we are honest with ourselves we would say that “David” threatens everything that has “Saul’s” blood running through it. What I mean by that is we get comfortable with our status and position and when someone upsets the apple cart by offering fresh perspective and new ideas we can get territorial. All of a sudden we catch ourselves thinking negative thoughts about people on the team or in the church. “Why can’t he just listen to what I’m saying?” “I’m the one who has been here serving when no one else was here. She needs to chill out and just do what I said.” “He hasn’t even been a Christian for 2 months and now he wants to lead a group?!” The list goes on and on.

     

     Beware of places where insecurity has crept into your heart. Saul eventually threw spears at David trying to kill him. Actually, his overwhelming need to get rid of David was what ultimately led to his death. Like I said earlier, insecurity is a terrible thing.

     

     Here are a few observations about insecurity in Saul’s life that we might identify with:

1. He was more concerned with public opinion than with his God-given position.

     It was the singing of the town’s women that sent Saul into his insecure tizzy. They exaggerated the works of both men yet Saul was angry because the new kid on the block was given more credit than he was. I cannot tell you how many times I have been victim to this trick. In ministry it is so easy to draw our identity from the crowd. That’s why for many pastors the greatest day of the week and the worst day of the week is Sunday. On that day if the house is packed and people respond well to the sermon the soft whisper of insecurity reminds us of how great we are. However when we have lower numbers than usual or preach what we consider a “bad” sermon that same voice that once reassured us now confirms how terrible we are. “Well you bombed that one!” “I’ll be surprised if anyone comes back next week!”

     Ministry success in not defined by numbers. Period. Numbers don’t prove that you are a good leader. That day Saul placed too much emphasis on the movement of the crowd and not enough emphasis on his God-given position. Regardless of what those silly women sang as they shook their ancient tambourines that day there was still one simple truth…Saul was still the king. There song didn’t change his position. He lost track of that because he was more concerned with public opinion than with his God-given position. Don’t draw your significance from the song of the crowd. You’re better than that. If God has put you in your position celebrate His choosing of you and don’t let the jingling of the tambourines change your mind.

2. He jumped to unhealthy conclusions.

     Check this out: Saul actually took the words from a song that women were singing because they were glad the battle with the Philistines was over and in essence said, “Wow they have said David is amazing. I guess the next thing they’re going to do is kill me so that he can be the king!” Saul was displaying the classic tell-tale signs of a spiritual hypochondriac. He thought that matters were worse than they actually were.

     My wife picks on me because I tend to act like a hypochondriac at times. You know my type: a soon as I get a sore throat I go to WebMD and look at the symptoms only to realize that I have low spinal fluid, polio, and throat cancer! Stop laughing. You know how we can get! That’s what’s happening here with Saul. He hears a silly song (not from Larry) and freaks out because he thinks the sky is falling! It’s kind of like how us pastors can get when someone disagrees with a decision we make and we start looking at www.churchjobs.com for a new job. Calm down. Take a few deep breaths. Drink some cold water. It’s just a silly song. Don’t jump to conclusions. Let the younger leaders have their celebration. Heck, even celebrate with them! Don’t be so scared that the “kingdom” is on the line that you don’t enjoy the journey.

     I want to point out here that Saul was scared over a silly song that was sang in the heat of the moment. I don’t want to call the character of those young Israelite women into account here, but I want to point out that they were just making stuff up off the cuff. They didn’t put together a task force to research all of David and Saul’s military exploits. They didn’t bring in Randy Johnson from American Idol and have him coach them on the song writing process. They just opened their mouths and started singing. They were glad the war was over and that’s all. Yet the insecurity within Saul’s heart caused him to forfeit his joy over a few silly songs. Don’t let a silly song rob you of your joy.

3. He held a grudge.

     Verse 9 says, “So Saul eyed David from that day forward.” As a matter of fact on several occasions Saul tried to kill David. From that day forward all the affairs of King Saul’s administration were focused on eliminating David as a threat to the crown. Saul eventually ruined relationships with his daughter Michal and his son Jonathan because of his grudge with David. He even lost his throne over it. The one thing that he was trying to protect he ended up losing because the intoxication of his grudge clouded his judgment and hampered his effectiveness as a leader.

     That’s why we must labor to accept the Davids in our lives. Let them win every now and then. Pray for them. Ask God to surround you with Davids. Ask God to help you not be an insecure leader. If you are holding onto a grudge stop right now and let it go. Listen to me when I say you need David to help you be successful. David is not there to hurt you – he’s there to help you. Stop letting insecurity rob you of the blessing of teamwork. In ministry it really is true that we’re better together. Saul lost sight of that and it cost him dearly. Don’t make the same mistake.