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Stop Doing List Part II

On Wednesday, I talked about "Creating a Stop Doing List" out of an audio recording by Jim Collins (if you haven't read that post, just scroll down below this post to read it).  Having read that, the natural question most people ask  is, "How do I do that?"  In other words, the idea that we need to stop doing a lot of what we're currently doing so that we can focus on those few things that matter most to us and our life, makes intuitive sense.  But how to define what activities I need to reduce or alleviate from my life—well that's often a whole different story.  So let me share with you a common practice i use to do that.

At least once a year (and frequently multiple times per year), I take out a sheet of paper and make a traffic light on the left hand side of the paper (you know, a long rectangular box with three circles inside it) about nine to ten inches long.  Inside each circle I write the color that corresponds to that circle on a traffic light (i.e., red, yellow and green).  Red represents those activities that take energy from me.  Yellow represents those activities that I'm neutral towards (neither take or restore energy, they just are).  And then green represents those activities that restore or replenish me.

So, after I write in the words, "Red, Yellow and Green", I then begin to write down all of the activities I'm currently engaged in and then fit them into the appropriate section.  For example, as an INTJ, being around lots of people is a red light activity for me.  Whereas times of solitude (like when I'm writing or reading) are green light activities (again, for me). Solving problems is green light, managing a process or program is red light.  Creating something new is green light, reading resumes is red light.  You get the idea.

Now, here's the benefit of doing this each year, because chances are, your "Stop Doing" list is probably found in your red light category.  At that point, you may say, "This year, I'm going to stop doing x, y, and z and to do that, I'm going to need to delegate x to Joe and y to Ally and then on z I'm going to need to pray and ask God to bring someone into my life  who can take over z."  In this way, year by year, you'll reduce the amount of red light living you have to encounter (because we all still have to encounter some red light activities in our lives) and increase the amount of green light living you get to do—and that will be a good thing for you and all of those around you!

However, that said, I do have a few more thoughts about this.  If you're ever feeling stressed or burned out, immediately do a traffic light analysis.  Chances are 60-80% of your time is focused on red light activities (not a great way to live). Once you make your list, reduce the red light activities.   Secondly, your traffic light analysis will probably flow out of your personality.  So, the more you know about your personality type, the easier it will be for you to determine what to keep doing and what to stop doing.  And finally, and this is the hardest thing of all to do, in order to focus on what you do best, you may have to stop doing some green light activities as well.  In other words, as I mentioned the other day, you cannot become great by doing more and more of what you are good or excellent at.  You attain your full God-given potential by focusing on what you do best—what you are exceptional or a genius at.  So, have you made your "Stop Doing" list yet?  If not, why don't you do a traffic light analysis today and use that to develop your "Stop Doing" list . . . NOW!

Creating a "Stop Doing" List

Do you ever get frustrated with feeling like there's too much to do and not enough time to do it?  Well, if you have,  Jim Collins just might have a possible prescription for you.  As i mentioned last week, Amazon had a number of their favorite authors record something as a "bonus" for their 10 year anniversary.  In the case of Collins, he chose to expand on an article he had written back on December 30, 2003.  Note: If you're an audio learner, click here for the Amazon audio or if you're a visual learner (like me), click here for the original article that the audio version was based on (and scroll down to December 30, 2003).

The basic storyline is that early on in his twenties, Jim took a course in creativity with Rochelle Myers at Standford.  Afterward he stayed in touch with her.  As a young, energetic and driven individual, Jim regularly planned out his life.  He had his fifteen year BHAGs, then his five year goals, and then his top three one year goals that he used to guide his daily life.  Yet in the midst of all that organized planning, Rochelle said to him, "Jim, I notice that you are a rather undisciplined person."  Obviously, that shocked Jim.  However, she continued,  "Your genetic energy level enables your lack of discipline.  Instead of leading a disciplined life, you lead a busy life."

She then challenged him to what Jim now calls the 20-10 assignment. "It goes like this: Suppose you woke up tomorrow and received two phone calls. The first phone call tells you that you have inherited $20 million, no strings attached. The second tells you that you have an incurable and terminal disease, and you have no more than 10 years to live. What would you do differently, and, in particular, what would you stop doing?"

That assignment was the turning point in Jim's life.  In fact, it's what led him to make a right corner turn in his life and leave HP and take a job as a teacher/professor/researcher (since he is, as he says, "constitutionally unemployable"—I love that phrase)—and we are all the better for that choice.  Since that time, the most important question Jim asks of himself each year is, "What do I need to stop doing?" 

I love that question.  It has a very Pauline ring to it, doesn't it?  For Paul regularly argues that for change to occur, you first need to "take off" the old and "put on" the new.  Or, to put it in more mathematical terminology, "You need to subtract, before you can add."  Anyway you put it, the question that Collins asks is a question all of us, as leaders, need to regularly ask, "What do I need to stop doing, that I'm currently doing, so that I can focus more of my time and energy on the things that matter most and will create the greatest impact over the course of my life and time?"

So how are you doing?  If you were to do an inventory of your time, what percentage of your day or time, would you say, is spent on doing those things that matter most?  That have the greatest impact?  That you're passionate about? That fit your genetic encoding?  If, according to Collins, you're spending less than 50% of your time in those areas, then your "Stop Doing" list, may be the most important list you could make this year—or today!  In fact, don't go to bed tonight without making one up.

Are You Doing What You Love?

Believe it or not, this Saturday marks the 10 year anniversary of Amazon.com.  In fact, they're having a big celebration that you can read about [here] which includes a free live streaming concert of Norah Jones and Bob Dylan as well as their all-time customer-favorite authors and filmmakers. Starting at 5 p.m. PT on Saturday, July 16--the 10th anniversary of the day that Amazon.com first opened its virtual doors for business--the concert will be streamed live on the Amazon.com homepage.

In addition, there are links in this section to their favorite authors—some of whom have recorded short video or audio statements—including one by Marcus Buckingham.  In the short video segment that he records, Marcus states, as he often does, a simple statement about working from our strengths.  Now, we all know we're supposed to work from our strengths.  In fact, most of us have probably preached on numerous occasions, "Do what you love and love what you do."   But rarely do we actually sit down and analyze if we're actually following that principle ourselves.

Now catch this.  In this short video segment, Marcus reveals that he did a survey on how many people actually feel like they spend the majority of their day doing work that they love.  He knew the number wouldn't be 70 or 80%, but he wasn't prepared for the actual answer, which was 17%.  Did you catch that?  Only 17% of us feel like we spend the majority of our time doing what we love.  So much for "Do what you love and love what you do!"

So how about you?  Are you spending the majority of your time doing what you do best?  Dan Sullivan, in How the Best Get Better, talks about four levels of competency.  The first level is what we're not competent at, the second level is what we're competent at.  The third level is what we're excellent at.  And the fourth level is what we're a genius at.  The problem with most leaders, according to Sullivan, is that they spend too much of their time doing what they're competent at and/or excellent at.  But to go the next level, they need to focus their time and energy on what they're a genius at (what only they can do).  Excellence is one level too short for greatness.

So, what are you a genius at?  God has wired you for greatness.  So, what are you great at?  Once you define that for yourself, focus on it—and delegate everything else you possibly can (even if it takes you years to divest yourself of all the things you're now doing that you shouldn't be).  By definition, you cannot become great by doing more of what you're good or excellent at.  You can only reach you highest God-given potential by focusing on what you are great at!

P.S.  I just visited Terry Storch's blog and he posted the other day about creating your dream job, which includes a template for designing your own dream job.  This may help provide you with a starting place.

P.P.S.  Another resource I've found helpful in my transition is a book by the Tieggers, entitled, Do What You Are, which takes a look at your Myers-Briggs Personality Type as a template for finding the right career for yourself.  It's worth a read!

Leadership Capacity: The Biggest Hindrance to the Advancement of the Kingdom

Yesterday I mentioned that I was pursuing my Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership because I believe that the greatest hindrance to the advancement of the kingdom of God (apart from spiritual factors like prayer, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, spiritual warfare, etc.) is the lack of leadership capacity in those who currently lead our churches.  That's a rather bold claim so let me explain what I mean.

In Exodus 22:27-31, Moses quotes God saying.

“I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River. I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you."

In other words, God promised the Hebrew people that He was going to give them an incredible gift, a promised land, but He could not do that all at once.  Why?  Because they didn't have the capacity at that point in time to be able to handle all that God wanted to give them.  Instead, he said, "Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land."  They could have had all night prayer meetings, organized mass media campaigns, fasted for 40 days, had a weekend worship fest, etc. and still God would not have given them all of the promised land.  It had nothing to do with spiritual issues.  They simply lacked the capacity to handle that much land.  It is this passage that has led me to what I call "Capacity Theory", which simply stated goes like this:

"God blesses us in direct relationship to our capacity to handle whatever it is that we seek to be blessed with."

This theory handles just about every area of life: from relationships to finances and from career options to athletics.  God cannot give us more than we can handle or it will be wasted and cause even greater problems.

Likewise, in the church today, God cannot bless us with more people than we can handle.  If a pastor can only handle 120 people, God will not entrust him with 300 people.  If a pastor cannot handle 300 people, then God will not entrust him with 500 people.  And if a pastor cannot handle 3000 people, God will not entrust him with 5000.  God always blesses us (and our organizations) just a little beyond our capacity to handle whatever he blesses us with so that we'll trust Him.  But He does not entrust us (normally) with an amount far beyond our capacity because to do so would be foolish (which is something God does not do).

I'll follow up on this concept in the days to some, but for now, may I encourage you to just change the question you've been asking yourself,  Instead of asking, "How can we grow?", maybe a better question would be, "How can we increase our capacity to handle the blessing God already desire to give us?"  God already wanted to give the Hebrew people the promised land, but He knew he couldn't because they didn't possess the capacity to handle it.  Likewise, God already wants to bless your church with more people (remember, He wants none to perish), but He cannot do so until you possess the capacity to handle the people he wants to bless you with.  Hence, my claim that the greatest hindrance to the advancement of the kingdom is the lack of leadership capacity.  The better we as church leaders become at this thing called the leadership, the more God can bless us with the people He already wants to entrust to our care.  How about that for a life-changing belief?

Ranking Success Factors

Everyone has their favorite "gurus" (or people they like to listen to or take advice from).  One of my favorites is Tom Peters.  I know.  I know.  He's a "business guy" (but remember, a lot of church life is business).  Yes, he's arrogant at times (but then again, most leaders are—at times).  And yes, he's a little off the wall (but then again, so are most creative/innovative/insightful/change agents).  But, what I appreciate the most about Tom is that he's brilliant.  He makes me think new thoughts and challenges me to see things differently.  Plus, he also happens to keep one of my favorite blogs, tompeters.com, where he just happens to make all of his Power Point slides available for free.  Not bad.

Well, this evening, I was running through his slides from a presentation he just did in Kiev, when I came across a slide that had the following information (the slide didn't import well).

Importance of Success Factors by Various "Gurus"/Estimates by Tom Peters

                     Strategy        Systems        Passion        Execution

Porter            50%                20%                 15%            15%

Drucker         35%                 30%                15%            20%

Bennis            25%                20%                30%             25%

Peters            15%                20%                35%              30%

Now, I don't know if those numbers mean a whole lot to you, but they do to me.  Let me explain.  If you've been following my blog lately, you know that I've been talking a lot about systems.  But, what Tom has pointed out, quite convincingly, is that just having great people and great systems is not enough.  There are two other categories that ought to be added into the mix, "Passion" and "Execution".  In other words, if we have great people and great systems in place, but those people don't have a passion for what they're doing (i.e. a compelling vision that moves them) or they're not executing well (i.e. not following through well), then we still end up falling short.  That's brilliant.  Great people and great systems are not enough. In fact, in Tom's book, they're less important than passion or execution.  Now, there's a thought!

So why don't you try this.  Give yourself and your church a grade on each of those four criteria.  How would you score your organization/church/business on its people? Its systems? The passion of your people?  And  their execution?  Where are you strong?  Where are you weak?  And what needs to change to make sure all four of these issues are cranking for you and your church/organization/business.  Two out of four is not enough.  But even more importantly, how are you and your people doing on the passion and execution side of things.  Tom's challenge to you and to me is to make sure they get their rightful place in our planning discussions.  So let me ask you one last question, "When was the last time you and your staff talked about your passion grade (and the passion grade for your people)?"

Everything is a System

I was reading Terry Storch's blog, [link], which referenced a blog by Seth Godin, [link], which led to a follow up blog  [link] about people or systems and I just had to comment.  Seth was staying at a Westin Hotel in Florida when he ran into a frustrating experience with the staff at the Westin over a scripted response.  In his follow up blog he sets up a straw man argument that it's better to chose people over systems.  Now, Seth is a brilliant guy, but he's missed the point here.  For example, Seth says,

When a hotel chain empowers a maid to spend up to $500 to make it right (using her own discretion), that's not a system, that's trusting great people to do the right thing.

Hello!  When a company empowers a maid to spend up to $500 to fix a problem, that's a system!!!!  In other words, everything is a system.  There are good systems and there are bad systems, but everything is a system.  The problem for most churches is that their systems are usually bad.  For example, choosing to have a superstar player run everything about a ministry is a system, just a bad one.  What happens if that star player gets sick or transferred or injured or leaves the church.  Oops!  Or probably the most prevalent system I see in most churches is the "fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants" system.  While most people would say that's not a system, it is.  It's just a poor system that is repeated week in and week out.  You can not avoid this principle, everything is a system.

Trust me, even if you are a "random person", that is your system. You have a process by which you do everything you do—from the order in which you put on your socks to the order in which you put together a message/sermon.  Everything is a system.  The only question is, is it a good system or a bad one?  And if it's a bad one, what do you need to do to make it a better one?  The dichotomy between people and systems is a false one.  There are good people and bad people, just as there are good systems and bad systems.  So, the issue isn't whether you should choose people over systems, the issue is, "How can I find great people who will work within a great system?" Put the two of those things together and you could be the next Coach Woodin, who had a system that produced ten NCAA championships in twelve years.  We could all learn a lot from him!  So do you have the right systems in place?  And do you have the right people working the systems?

Look to Technology to Help Create Your Innovation

One of the questions most leaders ask is, "What is the next new thing?" For rarely are leaders content with the status quo.  In fact, they revolt against it.  Leaders live for change.  So the question most of us leaders ask is, "Where do I look to create the next change?"  Well, one answer is, "Look to technology."

Let me explain.  i just finished watching a documentary (worth watching) entitled "Riding Giants".  It's a movie about the history of riding/surfing big waves (and, as you can guess, the cinematography is breathtaking!).  But what I found so interesting was how technology had changed the sport of big wave riding over the past sixty years.  Balsa wood and fiberglass changed the sport.  Helicopter drops changed the sport.  Snow boarding led to shortened surf boards.  Jet skis allowed surfers to attain the speeds necessary to catch 50-60 foot waves, etc.  As i was watching this movie and hearing the surfers regularly talk about how one innovation (after another) "changed the sport of surfing forever," I was reminded again and again, that technology is frequently behind innovations in most arenas, including the church.

Think about the past few decades and the innovations that have taken place in the church. Think about how computers and Powerpoint and video projectors have changed the way we do ministry.  A decade ago, very few of us ever produced videos on site with little to no cost to us for each project.  The internet has clearly changed the way we do all do ministry.  Right now, the rage is video venues and multi-site campuses—none of which were options for the average church a decade ago.  Time after time, some of the most significant changes in how we do ministry (not the message of ministry, the gospel which doesn't change) have been driven by technology.

So, as you look to create change and innovation in your ministry, you may want to ask yourself the question, "What technologies are there out there that we haven't tapped yet for the advance of the gospel?  Remember, at one point, the organ was an innovation driven by technology.

Train Your People in How You Think

Let's be honest, how often have you gotten frustrated at someone on your staff because they didn't do something right (I mean, they didn't do it exactly the way you would've done it)?  Come on, now, 'fess up.  Round to the nearest thousand and you might be close.  This is a common leadership problem.  As a leader, you have a preferred way of seeing the world and how to act in that world.  You know how you think.  The problem is, we rarely digest for other people, how we think.  Then we get angry at them and they get angry at us (Note: whether we verbalize our anger or not is irrelevant—they know when we're angry and then they feel like they can never please us).

However, as followers, it's not their job to figure out how we think.  As leaders, it's our job to teach our people how we think.  And this issue is pervasive, once you get it.  For example, we just recently had some staff work on adding some more storage to our facility.  When I saw some of their decisions, I was immediately frustrated (and halted several of their decisions).  However, upon reflection, I realized that I had never unpacked how I think about storage and facility design.  For example, one of my first premises about good design is, "You should always organize around the way people actually work, not the way someone thinks might fit best." There were several mistakes they made on this one.  Another premise is, "Beauty inspires".  Cheap Ikea shelves don't inspire (and putting them in an office would cause anyone to want to call in sick).  Another is, "Before you make a decision, pull together the people who will actually use the space to see what they think about your ideas."  Assuming that we know what is best is often a foolish decision.  Since I was an accounting major and am an artist, I tend to think "You should always strive to find a balance between frugality and excellence."  Cash flow is critical.  But so is the innate design of something.  And the list goes on.

You can take just about every part of a church's ministry, and as a leader, you probably have some ideas about how that ministry or ministry activity should be done.  Those ideas could be as large as how to design a worship service, or as small as when to use a serif font or a non-serif font in the design of a bulletin.  But the point is not, what is the idea, the point is that you need to be clear about how you think.  And then you need to inform your people how  you think.  Because, until they know how you think, they can't meet your expectations.  And until they meet your expectations, you'll be frustrated, they'll be frustrated and you'll have a hard time delegating responsibility to them—which is what leaders do.

It's All About the Systems

If you remember my last blog, I talked about the power of The E-Myth Revisited:  Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It and it's implications on the church—which are huge.  What I didn't tell you was Gerber's solution to the problem.  But first a few more problems (besides the fact that the way we do church is killing us).  In most small businesses/churches there is too much of a dependency on personalities.  As long as "Frank" is running the youth ministry or the parking team or refreshments, the "ministry" works.  But when "Frank" isn't there or decides to do something else or leaves the church, the ministry "Frank" led, dies (or falls into disrepair). 

Another problems is the inconsistency of experience.  If someone calls the church and gets "Margaret", they love the church.  But if they call and "Judy" answers the phone, they feel the church is cold and indifferent.  If they get greeted by "Margaret", she kneels down to greet their kids, she gives them a big smile, she asks the right questions, and she directs them to the information they need.  If they get "greeted" by "Judy" the next Sunday, they wonder, "Why did I get out of bed for this? I thought this was a friendly church?".

So what's the solution to creating a successful small business/church that doesn't kill the owner/pastor and creates a consistent experience for the customer/church attender and isn't dependent upon a certain person?  The solution, Gerber argues, is to turn your business/church into a franchise prototype.  In other words, to systematize everything so that no ministry or ministry activity is dependent upon any one person to do it—and there is a consistency of experience for all of your people.

Now, before you react negatively against that, realize that everything you do is a system.  You have a way you do everything in your life.  You have a system for counseling, for putting together a message for solving problems, for putting together the bulletin, for making coffee, for writing a job description, for sharing your faith, for laying out a page design, for answering the phone, etc.  You already do have a system.  The problem is, you probably haven't communicated it to your people.  In other words, we talk about equipping in the church, but we don't really do that.  We practice "Delegation by Abdication", right?  We find someone to do something, tag them and then say, "Phew!"  Then we have the audacity to get angry when they don't do it "the way we would."  Come on now, do I hear an "Amen!"?

If you grasp what I just said, your life is about to change.  No longer will you need to get angry if you create the system for doing specific tasks and then fully equip people to do them.  If the tasks are systematized, then you can train just about anyone to do them and they can succeed.  You can then turn over more and more things because the beauty of a system is that it works, even when you aren't there.  In other words, by creating systems for everything, we can actually live out Acts 6.  We can actually live out gift-based ministry.  We can actually free people up to do new and fresh ministry.  We can actually build bigger and better and more decentralized churches.  We can lead more people to Christ.  And, you can actually have a life—all at the same time.

I can not urge you any more than to say, you need to read The E-Myth.  I haven't found a Christian book in the past few years that has excited me more about church ministry than this one. You probably won't agree with everything Gerber says (however, I have yet to find a Christian book where I agree with everything the author says). Some things he says, you will wrestle with (I know I have).  But this much I can say, I'm by nature an idea guy, yet my ideas about church ministry are flowing faster than they have in a long time.  Read the book!

Chances Are, You're Part of the Problem

As much as we hate to admit it, we are where we are, because of who we are.  We all rise to our level of competence (or maybe a little beyond it), but rarely do our churches (or organizations) go beyond us.  If we have the capacity to lead 100 people, God gives us 100 people.  If we have the capacity to lead 500 people, He gives us 500 people.  If we can lead a 1000 people, He gives us 1000 people.  If we can lead 5000 people, He gives us 5000 people.  So, whenever we're stuck, instead of looking outside of us, we need to look within us first.  Instead of blaming others, we need to consider our role in the problem first.

For example, here at Seneca, one of our stuck points is that I tend to lead like I like to be led.  Give me lots of freedom.  Just tell me what needs to be done and then let me do it.  I am a self-starter and entrepreneur, a big picture person and a detail person, an artist and an accountant, etc.  However, not everyone on our team is as driven as I am (which is probably a good thing!). Not everyone on our team is a self-starter.  Not everyone is both a big picture person and a small picture person. So, one of my mistakes has been to lead a very "loosey-goosey" organization.  Rather than providing the leadership, motivation, instruction, coaching and accountability that our staff and lay leaders need, I have tended to abdicate my responsibility (far too often), trusting that everyone else would act just like me and figure it out (and get it done, with excellence, without complaining, regardless of how long it took to get it done). 

So as you look at your church (or organization), what part do you play in it's "stuckness"?  Where do you need to change?  What new insights do you need to acquire?  What new skills do you need to add to your bag of talents?  And at what level do you need to obtain them?  For example, overseeing a few people is not the same as overseeing a lot of people.  Several years ago, I remember Rick Warren saying something to the effect of, "I don't worry about growing my church anymore.  I just focus on growing me."  Why?  Because growing leaders create growing organizations and non-growing leaders create non-growing organizations.  So, if you're not growing, what part do you play in the problem?