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The Boredom of Success

By Stephen Blandino on April 8, 2011 in Leadership, Personal Growth with 2 Comments

Success is usually perceived as a glamorous, adventure-filled road of glory. Whether the latest sports figure, the high-end CEO, the famous actor, or the thriving entrepreneur living her dream, success is everywhere. And because success is everywhere, it’s easier than ever to forget that most overnight successes are 20 years in the making…or longer. But we don’t see that. We see the beauty of success but forget the boredom of success.

What most people forget is that riveting success is preceded by routine boredom. In other words, before success ever shows up, there are days, weeks, months, even years of disciplined, step-by-step, methodical, vanilla, bland routines. These “boring” routines are the seeds of success. Without them success isn’t even possible. And regardless of your profession, every dream has its boring routines.

Golfers spend hours everyday on the golf course…when the cameras aren’t rolling. Musicians spend countless hours practicing…before a single concert ticket is ever sold. CEO’s spend untold hours in long meetings making tough decisions…before the bottom line ever shows a profit. And authors agonize over every chapter and go through endless rounds of edits…before a single copy of their book hits the shelves.

That’s the boredom of success. But it’s worth it. It makes the success sweeter, much more appreciated, and helps us develop the character necessary to sustain success. And the moment we ignore the boredom of success, we undermine the future of success. Boredom is part of the journey.

Sometimes boredom truly is boring. But most times boredom is nothing more than the perseverance side of the journey. It’s the price tag. It’s the blood, sweat, and tears. Jesus called it, “faithfulness in the small things.” Without it, you can never experience, “ruler over much.” So the next time you see success standing in the limelight, take a moment and put things in perspective. A long, hard, road of day-by-day disciplined routines preceded that victory. That’s the boredom of success.

Questions: What are the boring routines necessary to experience success in your life? Are you embracing them? Have you given up? What do you need to do to get back on track?


The Bright Spot Question

By Stephen Blandino on April 7, 2011 in Church, Leadership, Organizations with 0 Comments

It’s really easy for leaders to get so frustrated with what’s not working, so enamored with the new and exciting, and so enthralled with problems to be solved, that we forget something really huge…BRIGHT SPOTS. Bright spots are the areas of your organization that are working. And because they’re working, it’s easy to forget about them and get distracted by the squeaky wheel.

I’m not saying to ignore problems. Doing so can turn problems into crises. What I am saying is to pay attention to your bright spots. Bright spots are not only working right, they’re delivering great results. And there’s a reason they’re working so well. That reason is what you need to uncover. What lessons can be learned from your bright spots? And how can these lessons be leveraged to create more bright spots?

Chip Heath and Dan Heath, authors of Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, captures the philosophy of bright spots in a single question: “What’s working, and how can we do more of it?” Unfortunately, most leaders are fixed solely on a different question: “What’s broken, and how do we fix it?” The first question is solution focused and the second is problem focused. It’s not that one is right and the other is wrong. Both are necessary, but one is better.

So how do you know which question has the majority of your attention? The Heath brothers capture it best: “What is the ratio of the time I spend solving problems to the time I spend scaling successes?” Let that question bother you. It just might help you create more bright spots.

 

The Bible on Conflict Resolution

By Stephen Blandino on April 6, 2011 in Leadership with 0 Comments

Acts 15 records the conflict that took place between Paul and Barnabas and a group of men from Judea over the issue of whether or not Gentiles should be circumcised. You think you have tough conflict issues to resolve, how would you like to deal with that one? But there are six valuable lessons on conflict resolution that we can glean from this passage:

1.  Hear Both Sides of the Story - Paul and Barnabas reported how God had used them to see the Gentiles converted. Believers who were part of the party of the Pharisees explained how the Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses (Acts 15:2-5). The apostles and elders heard both sides of the story.

2.  Engage in Discussion – Next, the apostles and elders took time to discuss the matter (Acts 15:6-7).

3.  Present the Facts and be Sensitive to What God is Doing - After much discussion, Peter addressed the crowd by drawing the crowd’s attention to the facts…the work God was doing among the Gentiles and the reality that God had accepted the Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:7-11).

4.  Provide Supporting Evidence - Paul and Barnabas shared about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. Then, James spoke up and quoted the prophets to confirm the work of the Spirit among the Gentiles (Acts 15:12-18).

5.  Based on the Facts, Articulate a Responsible Solution to the Conflict - James said, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath” (Acts 15:19-21). The solution was based on the facts. However, the solution also did not ignore the Gentiles’ responsibilities.

6.  Put Together a Communication Strategy that Brings Clarification - After the solution was articulated, the apostles and elders put together a team to deliver a letter to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. The letter brought clarification to the entire situation and provided a solution.

Question: Which of these principles is the easiest to forget when you’re trying to resolve conflict? What other strategies or ideas have you found helpful in conflict resolution?

Communication, Creativity, & Constraint

By Stephen Blandino on April 6, 2011 in Church, Leadership, Organizations with 1 Comment

Most of us understand communication in two forms: a one-sided transfer of information or a two-sided transactional process where dialogue occurs. But leaders cannot rely solely on communication in these two forms. Leaders have to leverage communication to balance creativity and constraint.

In their book, Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint, Authors Eric Eisenberg, H. L. Goodall, Jr., and Angela Trethewey define communication as, “the moment-to-moment working out of the tension between individual creativity and organizational constraint.” On one side of the equation is the individual’s desire to create, innovate, dream, and reexamine routines and practices that are often taken for granted. On the other side of the equation are the very real organizational constraints such as deadlines, finances, rules, etc.

This tension will never be resolved…and it’s not meant to be resolved. It is a tension in which leaders must use their skills as communicators to balance the tension and make essential progress. You can’t squelch the creativity of your employees or they’ll disengage. And you can’t ignore your responsibility to steward the organization’s resources wisely or you’ll go broke. You have to balance the need to maintain control (constraint) while at the same time promoting change (creativity). So what do you as a leader do to create that balance?

Influencing the Future

By Stephen Blandino on March 31, 2011 in Church, Culture, Leadership, Organizations with 0 Comments

Churches tend to lag behind when it comes to innovation. Pastors are usually so focused on “Sunday’s Coming” that they forget the future is already here. As a result, churches spend most of their time living in the past, planning for today, and completely missing tomorrow.

But what if you could actually shape the future. What if, rather than living in reaction mode, you actually created the future. Irene Sanders, innovator and author of Strategic Thinking and the New Science, observes, “The key to influencing the future is to apply your thinking and planning resources NOW to emerging conditions, issues, and opportunities.” Doing so requires a blend of insight about the present and foresight about the future.

Insight comes from studying the issue or problem at hand, understanding your church’s history, knowing the assumptions that shape why and how you do ministry, and reading and learning outside of your field. This aggressive learning posture prepares you to see and seize the future.

Foresight is all about identifying your emerging initial conditions. I know that’s a mouthful so let me make it as plain as I can with application to a local church. Identifying your emerging initial conditions is about seeing the changes that are bubbling below the surface of your church that could have a radical impact on how you do ministry. These conditions are usually not easily visible. They could be emerging changes in the community where you serve, emerging technologies, economic shifts, growing needs, or any number of issues. Sanders says, “These are things which  may seem small now, but if any one of them mushroomed overnight it could have a dramatic impact on the future of your business.”

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"Won’t Do" vs. "Will Do": The Substance of Vision

By Stephen Blandino on February 11, 2011 in Church, Leadership, Organizations with 0 Comments

“Inspiring vision isn’t about what you’re church doesn’t do!” That reality sank in the pastor’s mind as we wrapped up our lunch together. After talking for over an hour about the church he is leading, I refocused his attention on the issue of vision. In his mind, he knew exactly what he didn’t want his church to be…traditional, cluttered with programs, or a drop-off station for parents too lazy to disciple their kids. But what he wanted the church to be…that wasn’t so clear. And that’s when I challenged him: “You can’t build a church (or any organization) on what you’re not going to do. People follow leaders with vision. And vision is about what you will do, not what you won’t do.”

This tension is common in the early years of a leader’s life. Most of us didn’t start with a clear philosophy of ministry or leadership. All we knew was that when we saw something we didn’t like, we pointed at it with resolve and said, “When I’m a pastor, I won’t do that!” And so our “won’t do that” list grew longer each day. The problem is, we didn’t simultaneously create a “would do” list to counter the “won’t do” list.

This isn’t all bad. The way things are usually serves as the catalyst for the way things could be. And therein lies the rub. Too many leaders invite people to follow them into the wild blue yonder simply because they don’t like the way things are. They forget that current reality is the stimulus to change, not the substance of vision.

The current reality that you dislike (ineffective strategies, a disconnect with culture, or a poor ministry model) should stimulate you to change. It should spark a deep dissatisfaction in your soul. But your current reality is not the substance of your vision. Substance isn’t what your church won’t be; substance is what your church will be. If the substance of your vision is to not be something, then your vision has no life and it will lead you to make decisions for the simple sake of rebelling against what was.

So how do you ensure that your vision is more about “will do” substance rather than a never-ending list of “won’t dos?” Here are three keys to consider:

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Granger Community Church’s Audacious Vision

By Stephen Blandino on February 10, 2011 in Church, Leadership with 2 Comments

Vision, true, God-inspired vision, is audacious. Bill Hybels says that what makes a vision powerful is not that it’s just a picture of the future, but “the energy and the passion it evokes deep in one’s heart.”  Jim Collins espouses BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) as a critical piece to vision. So what does audacious vision look like?

Tim Steven’s, Executive Pastor at Granger Community Church, has posted Granger’s five-year vision…and it is audacious. The vision is captured in the statement, “Raising The BAR” and focuses on three major ideas:
  • BE the Church
  • ACTIVATE the Campus
  • REPRODUCE at Every Level

I’d like to challenge you to check out Granger’s Vision here. As you read the vision, what emotions rise inside of you? How does the vision speak to you? And what lessons can you learn about vision, vision-casting, and inspiring others? This is a great lesson in vision…don’t waste it.


Bad Leadership

By Stephen Blandino on February 8, 2011 in Leadership with 0 Comments

Learning about leadership always drives you to become a better leader. And most of what you read and learn today is about how to become a “great” leader. But have you ever stopped to ask, “What makes a bad leader?” Perhaps if you understood bad leadership, you would more readily spot it when it beckons you to follow and avoid it in your own personal leadership practices.

Barbara Kellerman, author and lecturer from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, wrote a book titled just that, Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters. In it she identified seven groups of bad leadership. Take a moment and reflect on each one. Are you following a bad leader? Do any of them remotely describe your own leadership?

1.  Incompetent Leadership - The leader and at least some followers lack the will or skill (or both) to sustain effective action. With regard to at least one important leadership challenge, they do not create positive change.

2.  Rigid Leadership - The leader and at least some followers are stiff and unyielding. Although they may be competent, they are unable or unwilling to adapt to new ideas, new information, or changing times.

3. Intemperate Leadership - The leader lacks self-control and is aided and abetted by followers who are unwilling or unable effectively to intervene.

4.  Callous Leadership - The leader and at least some followers are uncaring or unkind. Ignored or discounted are the needs, wants, and wishes of most members of the group or organization, especially subordinates.

5.  Corrupt Leadership - The leader and at least some followers, lie, cheat, or steal. To a degree that exceeds the norm, they put self-interest ahead of the public interest.

6.  Insular Leadership - The leader and at least some followers minimize or disregard the health and welfare of “the other”–that is, those outside the group or organization for which they are directly responsible.

7.   Evil Leadership - The leader and at least some followers commit atrocities. They use pain as an instrument of power. The harm done to men, women, and children is severe rather than slight. The harm can be physical, psychological, or both.

These leadership descriptors sound pretty bad. In fact, some sound down right horrific. But have you ever considered that not all leaders start out this way. Some slowly gravitate in this direction because they simply failed to seek, cultivate, and model good leadership character and practices.

Question: How can a leader safeguard themselves from bad leadership?

5 Signs that Your Success is Leading You to Complacency

By Stephen Blandino on February 3, 2011 in Leadership, Organizations with 0 Comments

Herb Kelleher, Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Southwest Airlines, once observed, “A company is never more vulnerable to complacency than when it’s at the height of its success.” So how do you know if your success is leading you to complacency? Here are five signs to consider: 

1.  You’re Enamored by the Scoreboard - When a leader is enamored by his organization’s #1 ranking, he forgets to man the cockpit. Accolades, statistics, and requests for interviews cloud his vision and fill his heart with pride. As Jim Collins observes, Hubris Born of Success is where organizational decline begins.

2.  The Organization and Its Leaders Have an Aversion to Risk - The higher you go the farther you have to fall. That reality breeds fear because leaders recognize what’s at stake if they risk too much. The problem is, they forget what’s at stake if they don’t risk at all. Pretty soon innovative adventures on the open sea are docked at the harbor of safety.

3.  A Culture of Discipline Wains - I’m not talking about disciplining employees, but rather disciplined action. It’s amazing how quickly organizations act without discipline in the areas of time, talent, and resources. When times are good, organizations tend to put on “fat.” That loss of discipline embeds itself in the culture and simultaneously blurs vision and drains passion.

4.  The Organization’s Learning Posture is Relaxed - If you’re successful, people look to you as the expert. That reality is a wet blanket on an organization’s fire for innovation and learning. Success makes leaders think, “I can relax my learning posture…after all, I’m the teacher now.” The problem is, if you’re always the teacher and never the student, one day what you teach will no longer matter…and your organization just might be out of business.

5.  Organizational Measurements are Ignored or Misinterpreted - When an organization experiences success, especially for a decent length of time, it’s easy to assume you’ll always be successful. The pressure also increases (internally and externally) to remain at the top. That’s when organizational measurements are conveniently ignored, misinterpreted or even manipulated. When this happens, mediocrity strangely resembles success. 

Questions: Which of these five signs have you observed in organizations? What other signs would you add to the list? Which is your greatest temptation?

The Four Most Desired Characteristics in a Leader

By Stephen Blandino on February 2, 2011 in Leadership with 0 Comments

If you surveyed all of your friends, co-workers, and neighbors and asked them which characteristics they most looked for in someone they were willing to follow, what do you think they would say? James Kouzes and Barry Posner have asked this question for years, surveying tens of thousands of people from different organizations and in different parts of the world, and the results are consistent. When provided a list of 20 qualities, only four averaged over 60% of the votes. As observed in their latest book, The Truth About Leadership, Kouzes and Posner pinpoint the four most admired characteristics in a leader’s life. More than anything, followers want to know that their leader is:

1.  Honest
2.  Forward-Looking
3.  Inspiring
4.  Competent

Do you exhibit these four traits? Are you HONEST? Do you have clear, unwavering ethical standards that guide your behavior? Are You FORWARD-LOOKING? This is having concern for your organization’s future and the ability to articulate clear direction. Are you INSPIRING? Kouzes and Posner say, “Being inspiring means sharing the genuine enthusiasm, excitement, and energy you have about the exciting possibilities ahead.” And are you COMPETENT? Your track record, more than anything else, reveals your ability to get things done.

If you want to grow your leadership, expand your influence, and do a favor to your followers, grow these four traits in your life. The people who follow you will thank you. And the people who don’t follow you just might start.

Question: How have you seen the four characteristics improve leader-follower relationships?  
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