I’m reading Daniel Goleman’s book, “Working with Emotional Intelligence.” Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a concept I believe has huge validity and value in understanding. Particularly in the church organization. If you’re not familiar with it, Google it and you’ll find more than you really wanted to know. EI is becoming mainstream. If I were ever to do another graduate degree, I’d do my thesis on EI. It’s that interesting to me.

One Goleman comment caught my attention. It deals with working among the younger generation. I guess we’re calling them the Millennials. Goleman writes, “too many young people can’t take criticism–they get defensive or hostile when people give them feedback on how they are doing. They react to performance feedback as though it were a personal attack.” I haven’t observed that reaction on a categorical scale, but I’ve seen it enough to know that Goleman’s statement has some truth to it.

So I started thinking about how I should approach a Millennial, or anyone else for that matter, when I need to bring a performance issue to their attention. What boundaries or dynamics should I consider when I have to have a conversation about performance.  I came up with ten things that I want to keep in mind when I’m approaching that tough conversation with a young employee.

1. Remember that I made many of the same mistakes when I started out. I thought I had most (okay, all) the answers, but I still made lots of mistakes I’d love to do over.
2. Understand that nobody sets out to fail. Good people want to do a good job, so when the performance isn’t there, it’s usually about execution, not motivation.
3. Be clear that my goal is to see them succeed. We all love affirmation, and my role is to help the next generation succeed. Make sure that comes through.
4. Be sure success is clearly defined. Does the employee know exactly how success will be measured, or is there a gap in expectations? Be sure to clearly define the expectation.
5. Provide an objective assessment of where they might have gone wrong. I can draw from my experience and competencies to offer some helpful, practical suggestions as to what might have been done differently.
6. Express my commitment to help them in the process of improvement. I don’t want to “confront and run” but rather engage them in a shared process of improvement.
7. Be clear that the relationship is bigger than the failure. One thing that young staff value is relationships and relational integrity. Address the issue with transparency, but value the person most.
8. Listen for clues: are there systemic problems, staffing issues, unavailable resources, competency gaps, or confusion of some kind?
9. Leave with a plan. What’s next: a meeting to discuss methodology? another attempt at executing the task? training of some kind? a mentoring opportunity? Leaving with a commitment communicates that you are serious about healthy improvement.
10. ?? I couldn’t think of anything else.  What did I miss? You fill in #10 with a comment…

As I mentioned on Twitter while on vacation last week, I was reading a book by Warren Bennis, et al titled, “Transparency- How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor.” It was a great read. It was brief, to the point and full of anecdotal stories from business and government. It painted a clear picture of the benefits of candor and transparency in an organization. It also illustrated the many problems that can arise from organizations unwilling to allow candor. In my career, I’ve seen first-hand the nightmares that occur when leaders are unwilling to allow truth to be spoken to power. I’ve seen the dysfunction, the ineffectiveness, the spoiled legacy, and more. The book has many takeaways for a church organization that wants to be authentic and transparent. I’d really recommend you pick up a copy. Let me give you some of my high points and a few quotes:

Many organizations become stratified. There are the “stars” whose voices are heard and there are the rest who are expected to be good soldiers in spite of the fact that their input is seldom solicited or heard. The A-Team at the top gets to set the agenda while the rest seldom get in the vision game. In an idea-driven organization (which would include the church, right?) genuine, collegial collaboration leads to better morale, a greater likelihood of creativity, and greater candor and transparency. Leaders need to be sure to hear from a broad spectrum of voices and be wary of those A-Team players who rarely challenge the leader’s thinking.

The information an organization needs in order to make good decisions can be located anywhere, including outside. The leader who has a narrow view of the proper channels of communication will pay a high price. Good leaders will seek and accept input from anyone in the organization who can give them raw information that will increase the quality of decisions.

We need to de-mythologize the idea that the best leaders are able to make swift, instinctive decisions. Great leaders are those with the wisdom to know when more time and information are needed and are not afraid to be labeled “wishy-washy” when prudent caution is called for. Adequate knowledge and consensus are worthwhile goals that usually tip the scale toward better outcomes.

The best way for leaders to start information flowing freely within the organization is to set a good example. When unsettling information comes, the leader must welcome it. An insecure leader will falter. If the leader demonstrates that only “happy talk” is welcomed and rewarded, then the willingness to speak forthrightly of those with important, but difficult, information will evaporate. Transparency becomes the victim.

“If a man will begin with certainties, he will end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin in doubts, he will end in certainties.” (Francis Bacon, 400 years ago)

“To create cultures that manifest those characteristics [transparency, trust, speaking truth to power], leaders must do several things: provide equal access to information to all, refrain from punishing those who constructively demonstrate imperial nakedness, refrain from rewarding spurious loyalty, and empower and reward principled contrarians. But that is easier said than done…”

A thought-provoking book. We all want to work in an environment where honesty, transparency and candor are valued and practiced. I believe I do. But even the best environments can get better, right?

A couple of years ago I presented a seminar for Church Executive Magazine’s Pastor Power Conference in Dallas. I thought since the budget cycle is about to begin for many of us using a January 1 fiscal year, I might throw those slides out here in case someone might find them helpful.  Sort of a crash course on budgeting basics. Perhaps more helpful for small to mid-size churches or Finance Boards, or newer administrators. Take a look and use them if you’d like

budgeting_best_practices

Happy budgeting!

I don’t know if you are like me, but I get so many magazines that I often pile them in a corner of my home office and when I get time, I dig into them. The stack was getting pretty tall. Heading to Florida for a week with two of my sons, I decided to grab a bunch and use them for beach reading.

Ben Stroup’s article about church giving in the Spring 2010 NACBA Ledger (I’m not that far behind) was a good read. The issue that piqued my interest the most was the section regarding critical shifts in the way the person in the pew views money and stewardship. According to Stroup, people see their tithing dollars as an investment and they expect to see measurable ministry impact as a result of their gifts. Stroup writes it is the responsibility of the church leader to communicate compelling reasons why every person in the pew should fund the work of the church and to demonstrate consistently a return on ministry investment. Stroup doesn’t really say whether he sees this shift as positive or negative, just a new reality.

I see this shift as a positive. I”m sure many pastors would rather have people give their tithe with blind abandon, and I know the church’s mission is divinely given and often doesn’t fit easily into metric categories. But we have to be careful not to hide behind the subjective nature of ministry. There are many outcomes we can and should measure. Outcomes that cannot be measured quantitatively can be evaluated anecdotally.

At Fairhaven, we have identified 13 measures of a healthy church. Some are easily measured and others are not. Again, for those that are subjective, we depend on stories, feedback and honest impressions. I think I’ve listed these before, but for the benefit of new readers, here they are again:

1. People are coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
2. Our ministries are expanding locally, nationally and globally.
3. People are making public professions of faith through baptism.
4. Attendance is increasing in worship services.
5. The worship experience is vibrant, enthusiastic and intergenerational.
6. There is broad participation in serving throughout the ministries.
7. New ministries are beginning as God imparts vision.
8. Guests are being connected to church life.
9. Covenant membership is increasing.
10. Our budgetary needs are being met.
11. Leaders are being developed and placed in ministry roles.
12. Scripture is central to our message.
13. Staff relationships are healthy.

These measures create a “balanced scorecard,” if you will. I’m hoping to expand our use of these outcomes to create an “APGAR” score for the church, which can be surveyed from staff, Board members and the congregation. It could be valuable analytical tool that would serve several important purposes:

• Help educate the Board and the congregation regarding the ministry outcomes that we believe are most significant.
• Give us a baseline that we can use to measure growth in effectiveness over time.
• Help us assess the gap between how the congregation views our ministry and how those closest to the ministry, i.e. the staff, view the ministry.
• Provide some insight into what needs to be better communicated to the congregation in order to increase their understanding of the breadth of our ministry and their confidence in our church as an organization worthy of their generosity.

Some people might see this as a further intrusion of business principles into the church. I see it as a way for us to be sure we are hitting our mark, however we might define it. “Well done good and faithful servant,” implies a qualitative evaluation of our ministry by our Lord. With that said, why shouldn’t we explore ways to evaluate our ministries now, so that we can fine tune the things we believe are most important to Jesus. This is a longterm project, and I expect to write more on it as it takes shape.

Had a great week at NACBA last week.  The highlight was the Metro Group round-tables led by Glenn Wood from Seacoast Church. He did a great job facilitating the group of church operations managers in discussing a laundry list of issues. The dialogue was great and the collective experience around that table made the price of the conference worth every penny.  Below are some of the things I learned, observed or need to explore:

1. The difficulty of dealing with “bad fit” staff is universal. Attendees in my workshops ranged from small churches to megachurches. They all resonated with the challenge of navigating this problem with grace and wisdom.
2. HSA’s are probably our next step in containing health care costs. Wellness programs can not only benefit staff but help reduce premium costs with certain providers. One church is offering gym membership subsidies to all their employees. Nice touch.
3. Many large churches pay for security services during weekend services. Better to use contractors over employees. Cover pull stations with an alarmed box to discourage kids from pulling them.
4. Churches need a crisis succession plan, even for something as routine as the pastor going on vacation. Some churches review the succession plan on an annual basis in case a tragedy strikes unexpectedly. Who steps in? Who’s in charge? Board approves it and perhaps only a few know it.
5. Many churches use a severance agreement for every termination, regardless of the level of employee responsibility. Good idea.
6. There are many more church management systems than I was aware of. Fellowship One and The City (Zondervan) are the most frequently mentioned, besides Shelby and ACS. The first two are growing and the latter two seem to be in decline, at least in big churches.
7. Nobody has a handle on how to best utilize social media. Everybody uses them, but lot’s of puzzled looks on how to use Facebook and Twitter strategically. Definitely room for a good strategy-based book here.
8. Most churches around the table are setting aside more money for future capital replacement costs than we are (3%), and very few churches are setting their savings target on any kind of real-life replacement schedule. I need to work on that.
9. Many churches suspended 403b contributions last year because of income pressures. I tried, but…
10. Many enforce a policy which forbids employees from volunteering for the ministry in which they are paid to support.  Hmmm.

This week I’m attending the NACBA national conference in Orlando. It’s a great conference and I’m honored to have the chance to present a workshop, “Right Person, Wrong Position.” I’m using an article I wrote for Your Church magazine as the basis for the workshop, exploring the issues in transitioning a staff member when the “fit” isn’t right. In other words, they’re a great person, but this just isn’t the right position for them.  It can be complicated, and we’ll explore all the nuances in the 90-minute session on Wednesday.

One thing I hope to do is learn more about multi-site churches. We launch our first satellite campus on Sept. 12. We’re in the home stretch: technology is being installed, staff is in place, building has been renovated, and we have a strong strategic plan in place. Last year I sat in with the Seacoast team and wrote pages of notes that have really come in handy. Not to mention connecting with Glenn Wood, an amazing guy who has been a great resource for me since then. We’ve already been offered another satellite campus south of town, so this topic is only going to get hotter in the months to come.

Beyond that, I look forward to connecting with staff from Your Church magazine, Bank of the West, Fellowship One, ECCU, and seeing what new vendors are out there that could help us in some way. I’ll look for sessions on leadership, managing staff (especially the next generation), cultivating generosity, and strategic planning. Hopefully, I’ll find some. I’ll drink lot’s of great coffee, enjoy some great food, hang out with Kay in the evenings, relax in the pool and the sun, and meet some new people.

Should be a great week!

I’ve been thinking today about the use of interns, which happens frequently today in many churches. I know why; it’s a win-win. They get experience, we get more hands and (let’s face it) cheap labor, and everybody benefits. Except if we violate some of the most basic tenets of good people management. In view of some things I’ve seen recently and over the years, I’d like to offer some generic suggestions on creating internships that work well for everybody:

When you accept an intern on your staff, you’re making a commitment to them to mentor them, not just use them to accomplish a task. They are not traditional employees. Your commitment must include mentoring and coaching. It’s a commitment to a process, not just a project. The goal is to shape them into a more effective, productive future employee, not just get something from them today. That happens through a relationship, which is what an internship is about.

Your commitment must be for the agreed-upon duration of the internship. In other words, unless they’re stealing, lying, or doing something else worthy of dismissal, you’re in it for the duration. Don’t let them go halfway in because they’re not meeting your expectations. Coach them toward your expectations. If it still doesn’t go well, chalk it up to experience. Refuse to offer a recommendation. But don’t cut them loose. That’s desertion, not good management.

Begin the process with a clear road map for the internship–something in writing. Take a lesson from academics. Our course syllabus included what we’d study and what we were expected to know when the course was over. An internship is no different. It’s a teaching-learning situation. State what the intern will be exposed to, how the intern will be utilized, what the intern is expected to produce, how the intern will be evaluated, and any other important behavioral boundaries. Without such a start, the intern will be aiming for a target they cannot see.

Provide ongoing and constructive feedback. Your time is an investment in someone’s future, not simply a way to accomplish a task you would otherwise be responsible for. Spend time with them talking about the environment, the career, the challenges and the rewards. Tell them how they’re doing, correct their mistakes and most importantly, address any issues that would otherwise lead them into trouble when they get into the real world. You’re often their last stop before entering the workforce. Will they leave your internship better prepared, more organizationally savvy, and more self-aware than when they started?

Set them up to succeed. Make sure they have adequate training to do what they are being asked, appropriate supervision, the right equipment, and all the information they will need to accomplish their work. Stay close to them. As I said, interns are not traditional employees. You might give other employees lots of rope or keep them at arms-length, but interns are by definition, asking for a closer relationship than normal.

An internship that’s properly structured and well-managed should seldom fail to produce at least some positive results. When we accept interns, we bear the greater responsibility to be sure it does. I’ve seen some great interns come through and seen a few that I’d never hire. But I remain friends with all of them because even if the technical transfer of experience and training wasn’t the best, my commitment to them as a person of potential was communicated throughout.

One of the points I made last week in my message was that in order to hear from God, we have to be attentive. That’s not anything new. Jesus modeled that for us when he often went away from the crowds and his disciples to enjoy solitude with the Father (Mk. 1:35; Lk. 5:15). I know you can be attentive even when there are crowds and noise around–being the father of three sons, I learned how to focus amidst the chaos. But I don’t believe the kind of attention and focus necessary to hear the gentle whisper of the Spirit can be found in the frantic pace of life as I see people living it. Jesus evidently didn’t think so either, or he wouldn’t have sought out time alone by himself.

I see more and more people running at a frantic pace, squeezing their schedules as tightly as they can. They never slow down. They’re never without some commitment. In fact, it reminds me of the line from the movie, “Changing Lanes,” when Samuel L. Jackson’s character realizes he’s addicted to chaos. Even when there’s the opportunity for normalcy, he finds a way to shake it up. I see so many who measure their importance by how busy they are, or they measure their success as parents by how many activities their kids are involved in. Their lives are chaotic.

Being by nature an introvert, this seems self-serving to write about. I love quiet and solitude. I don’t need to be convinced of how important it is to seek out stillness in order to cultivate a spirit that’s sensitive to God. Being alone is not only how I recharge my batteries, it’s also a time I feel especially drawn to God–to connect with God.

In the John Ortberg book, Love Beyond Reason, he writes about being attentive to the Spirit: “The first task in spiritual life, the one to which we must return over and over, is simply this: to pay attention to God. This is challenging enough, considering the difficulty we have paying attention to one another. Add to that the challenge of attending to a holy, mysterious, invisible God, and always our sin will attempt to distract us. We all have a kind of spiritual attention deficit disorder.”

He illustrates it with an analogy of a pond to describe the importance of stillness in paying attention to God. When you throw a stone into a pond, the stone will create ripples that reach to the shore all the way around – but only if the pond is still. When the pond is quiet and still, the arrival of the stone can be read over the entire surface. But when the pond is not still, when the surface of the water is already ruffled and tossed, the arrival of the stone will go undetected.

Stillness is necessary in hearing God. “Be still and know that I am God.” So we have to find ways to listen. Find room for stillness. That’s going to look different for each of us, but we must find time to be alone with God. If your life is a whirlwind of stress and activity and noise, don’t expect to hear the gentle voice of the Spirit.

Wouldn’t you agree that paying attention to God should be our greatest priority? How does that look in your life?

This past weekend, I had the privilege to close out our series called, Pnuema. [Listen]

It was a four-week series exploring the Holy Spirit: who he is, what he does, what he makes available to us, and finally–my assignment for the weekend, how we respond to him. I felt a greater sense of responsibility in preparing for this message than I have for most others I’ve preached. I’m not sure that is a good thing, since every opportunity we get to expound God’s Word is as critical as the next. But I did struggle with a sense of urgency and inadequacy in working through the week. I was very conscious of my own failures in living life fully in the Spirit, and how I would call the church do what I struggle to do myself. But I understand on a deeper level that feeling inadequate isn’t a bad thing. Our weaknesses create opportunities for God.

The week overall, was an awesome experience. I was reminded that God meets us where we are. As I drew near to God, he drew near to me. I didn’t feel a sense of chastisement from God, like, “now you draw near ’cause you have to preach about this–where were you last month?” I just sensed that God was waiting, and no matter the reason, he was pleased to come close to me. That was a sweet realization.

I also experienced the frailty of life in the Spirit. I was spending so much time with God: reading, praying, thinking, meditating, that I would have thought my armor was impenetrable. But it wasn’t. Mid-week, something happened that tripped me up and I fell out of the flow of God’s Spirit like a big bag of rocks. I was reminded that our best efforts to be who God wants us to be will always fall short at times. Yet God restored me as I was honest with him, and I soon felt the Spirit’s breath again.

I think the best thing I experienced, although I should have already known it is, life in the Spirit is much better than life in the flesh. I’m not talking about debauchery. I just mean doing life in my own strength. It’s so easy to fall into a routine of doing the things you are skilled or gifted at without the companionship of the Spirit. What I experienced was that the Spirit will be my friend all the time, not just when I need help with my inadequacy.

I had a week of living life in the Spirit, and it made me want much more.

Lately this phrase has come up often: “letting go.” It’s usually in the context of leaders needing to let go of responsibility and allow others to fly solo. It’s what we’re trying to do with our Management Team–let go of decisions that can be made by others, while at the same time allowing others to develop their leadership skills by taking greater responsibility.

I’m beginning to think the ability to let go is one of the primary skills a good leader must possess. Some people do it well. They share responsibility, allow others in, promote discussion, and let others lead. They support and encourage, and then revel in others success. When that happens, it’s so much fun to be around. It’s fulfilling to work around people like that.

Others though, hold on to authority and leadership with white knuckles. They see others as a threat to their future. They refuse to truly share leadership, mentor, or promote the success of people around them. Those people are stifling. They’re not much fun to be around, because they’re not having any fun themselves. Eventually, they contribute to those around them looking for other opportunities.

The longer I serve in the church, the more I think about the people that will succeed me. Not just my role, but the roles around me. What am I doing to prepare and empower them to lead well? How can I encourage them, mentor them, and help them clarify their gifts and passions? If I’m not willing to let go, I’ll never multiply the influence and impact of my ministry on others. And I believe that should be most of what measures my ministry.