4. MORE LOCATIONS
So let’s be honest. There’s a bit of a subtle competition thing happening in some church circles. More locations = more impressive.
Again, please check your motives and pray deeply about why you’re doing what you’re doing.
But deeper than that, think about it from a guest standpoint. Guests don’t care how many locations you have. They care about whether the location they’re at is running well.
When it comes to growth, great locations beat more locations.
If you can create 10 great locations…awesome. But diluting a great experience at one location or five locations to simply add more probably isn’t helping your mission.
Think about it. If you’re at a restaurant and get served a lousy meal slowly by poorly trained staff, having the manager tell you, “Yeah I hear you but we have 30 locations!!!” doesn’t make you feel any better. In fact, it gives you 30 locations you’ll now want to avoid.
Senior leaders, do better before you do more.
5. POSITIVE NEWS
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought “doesn’t anyone have anything positive to say?”
Left to my own devices, I would filter out all the bad news and only hear good news. After all, who likes bad news?
That, of course, is a critical mistake.
The best news your team can give you as a senior leader is honest news, whether that’s good news or bad news.
As much as you love to hear good news, the truth is going to help you be a much better leader and forward your mission must faster.
Plus, good staff won’t stick around if they can’t tell you the truth.
So, create an environment where your team tells you the truth, and you thank them for it. Even if it’s the news you didn’t want to hear.
As a friend of mine told me years ago, there isn’t good news or bad news. There’s just news. Good perspective.
As a senior leader, the more truth you hear, the better you’ll lead. Reward the truth tellers.
6. A BUSY TEAM
Because achievers tend to end up in the senior leader chair, it’s easy to love being busy and seeing your team busy.
And I’m all for productivity. As Tony Morgan once told me, church staff tend to either be lazy or workaholics. There’s not a lot of middle ground. Increasingly, I sense that’s true of the wider marketplace too.
But just because you’re driven doesn’t mean you need to drive your staff to the breaking point.
Your staff hates it if they feel like they’re giving their best and you just want more.
So what’s the alternative?
Being healthy is much better than being busy.
After my burnout 12 years ago, I focused on living in a way today that will help me thrive tomorrow. And I’ve tried to lead my teams the same way.
Guess what? Healthy teams not only enjoy the journey more, they produce more. So do I as a healthy leader.
Healthy teams beat busy teams all day long.
