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Alan Danielson and Triple-Threat Leadership

August 18, 2010 — Leave a comment
One of the essential keys to effective leadership is cranking up the heat on your core values and key practices. This weekend we had small groups coach and consultant Alan Danielson speak to our small group leaders about “Getting off the Couch” and being missional. For some time we’ve wanted to elevate this missional value in our groups and Alan totally helped us accomplish that goal. His passion for people without Christ and his deep belief for missional groups helped us raise the temperature of groups being on-mission with God. And our leaders totally got it. The comments shared by our leaders after his presentation were revealed a significantly heightened vision for impacting the community.  

Monday was a great day as well. Alan presented his “Triple-Threat Leadership” workshop to our staff and helped us understand the non-negotiable components of vision, strategy, and relationships in the arena of leadership. His assessment pinpointed our unique leadership styles and Alan provided some valuable coaching in the process. It was a great launching pad for discussion as each member of our team reflected on our leadership default buttons and what we must do to move toward the center of effective leadership. 

If you’re not familiar with Alan Danielson, check out his blog, ebook and assessment, or coaching and consulting. You’ll be challenged, encouraged, and stretched. It’s worth your time.
In Leadership, Miscellaneous Uncategorized
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4 Questions to Start the New Year Part 3

January 8, 2010 — Leave a comment

In my last two posts I presented two questions to start the new year: In What Areas Do You Want to Grow and How Do You Plan to Grow? The third question to help you develop a solid plan for growth is, Who Will Hold You Accountable to Grow?

Accountability brings a mixture of emotions. While we recognize its value in helping us grow, we often prefer the anonymity of a life without accountability. And though we all have areas of our lives where accountability is almost mandated (such as with the law), few of us intentionally pursue accountability relationships to help us grow to our full potential. Setting growth goals without accountability is nothing more than a license to make excuses. To help you embrace accountability in your growth goals for the new year, consider the following:

  • Identify the Right Accountability Partner - The best accountability involves trust-filled relationships with people who are not afraid to ask you the tough questions. You need people who can uniquely blend grace with growth. Furthermore, consider people who have demonstrated maturity in the area where you desire to grow. This will allow you to not only gain accountability, but mentorship as well.
  • Create Specific Questions - Accountability works best when your accountability partner has a specific question(s) that you’ve given them permission to ask. Without specific questions, most people simply ask, “So how’s it going?” “How’s it going” questions produce vague answers. Get specific!
  • Schedule Accountability - Frequency in accountability displaces complacency in growth. The only way to create frequent accountability is to schedule it in your calendar. Create standing appointments with your accountability partners to ensure your growth remains in focus.
Who will hold you accountable to grow? That’s a tough question, but one that is essential to personal development.
In Personal Growth Accountability, Goals, Growth, Personal Growth, Uncategorized
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How the Mighty Fall – Part 5

June 22, 2009 — 2 Comments

This post wraps up the series on the five stages of decline from Jim Collins’ latest book, How the Mighty Fall. The first four stages include:



The fifth stage of decline is “Capitulation to irrelevance or Death.” In this stage, Collins emphasizes an increasing spiral downward. “Each cycle–grasping followed by disappointment followed by more grasping–erodes resources. Cash tightens. Hope fades. Options narrow.” Because of this unrelenting cycle, the organization’s cash is depleted. Collins makes a basic yet very insightful observation: “Leaders in successful companies worry more about earnings. But organizations do not die from lack of earnings. They die from lack of cash.”

Collins notes that there are two versions of stage 5 decline: First, leaders entertain capitulation as a better solution rather than continuing to fight, or second, leaders continue to struggle but as they run out of options, the organization dies or “shrinks into utter irrelevance compared to its previous grandeur.” During this struggle, leaders have to face a sobering reality–does our organization deserve to last? “If you cannot marshal a compelling answer to the question, ‘What would be lost, and how would the world be worse off, if we ceased to exist?’ then perhaps capitulation is the wise path.”

Ultimately recovery from stage 5 will be extraordinarily difficult. And for recovery to have any kind of chance, leaders must understand that “The path to recovery lies first and foremost in returning to sound management practices and rigorous strategic thinking.” Collins sites IBM, Nucor, and Nordstrom as three companies that fell and then recovered (you’ll have to buy the book to see the observations Collins makes on these companies against the back drop of his Good to Great framework).

I close this post with one statement from Collins: “…the main message of our work remains: we are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our setbacks, our history, our mistakes, or even staggering defeats along the way. We are freed by our choices.”

Question: Are you anywhere in the five stages of decline? How do you know your answer is correct? (this is a tough question when the signs are not obvious).
In Leadership, Organizations Uncategorized
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