Dive Deep—Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details and audit frequently. No task is beneath them.
- When was the last time you actually experienced what it’s like to come to your church? (Or any church for that matter?) Being the “first in, last out” gives you a false sense of what it’s like. How can you dive deep into the experience that you provide? What do “normal people” experience at your church? How can you use your leadership to make it better?
Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit—Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting.
- Some of the healthiest church leadership teams I’ve seen have serious disagreements. I mean red-faced, passionate disagreements … not passive-aggressive, stab-you-in-the-back battles. The stakes are super high, so it’s understandable that we’ll find ourselves on different sides of issues and opinions. If no one is fighting (well) in your leadership team meetings, you probably have the wrong people in the room.
Deliver Results—Leaders focus on the key inputs for their businesses and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion.
- What are the results you are attempting to deliver? We all think about noses and nickels—weekend attendance and revenue—but what are your other key performance indicators? How many first-time guests came last month? How does that compare to last year? What is your volunteer attrition rate? Is it going up or down? Numbers matter … even if you aren’t a “numbers person,” you need to understand the numbers that show the health of your church
