7 Things Bad Leaders Tell Themselves and Their Teams
Carey Nieuwhof explains that ineffective leaders tend to lay the blame on seven common excuses. Successful leaders are aware of these traps and lead people…
Browsing: Teams
Articles
5 Leadership Insights from Jethro
Lewis Center Director Doug Powe says when looking for leadership lessons in the Bible we shouldn’t focus so much on Moses that we skip over…
Leaders Learn to Work with Difficult People
When confronted with a difficult person, do you try to work around them or just complain behind their back? Lewis Center staffer Ann Michel says…
5 Key Practices for Building a High-Trust Culture
Amy Valdez Barker says that the church should be a training center in the development of trust. She names practices that leaders can employ when…
Episode 5: “Toward More Synergistic Leadership” featuring Ann Michel
What practices lead to synergistic leadership? Listen as Lewis Center Director Douglas Powe interviews Ann Michel about her book “Synergy: A Leadership Guide for Church Staff and Volunteers.”
7 Strategies to Master Meetings
Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff says church meetings should be holy ground where the Spirit can act because the people of God are…
Relationships Are Important to Vitality
Bonnie Marden explores the importance of relationships to congregational vitality, and she suggests key questions for assessing the strength of relationships that undergird a congregation’s…
Synergy: A Leadership Guide for Church Staff and Volunteers
The landscape of ministry is rapidly evolving as more and more lay persons take on significant ministry roles. Part of this trend is a growth in…
When Volunteers Aren’t Working Out
Churches often put up with ineffective volunteers because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, says Lory Beth Huffman, a pastor in Western North Carolina.…
Lead Positively
Lovett H. Weems Jr., explains why leaders need to affirm the positive and assume the best of others — even when things aren’t what they ultimately…
Management by Wishful Thinking?
Personnel matters in ministry settings are almost always more complicated than in business, says church leadership expert Mike Bonem. He names the shifts in attitude…
Too Few Sunday School Teachers? Try a Team Approach
John Wimberly reports how creating a team of four teachers for each children’s Sunday school classroom had the paradoxical effect of easing the burden of…
Ten Hints for Leading Volunteers
Jill Fox lists ten things to keep in mind to develop a ministry team with healthy and happy volunteers, and one that is also attractive…
Collective Genius
Much conventional wisdom about leadership has assumed a sole visionary providing primary leadership for a group. The temptation, likewise, is to think that the answer…
Look for Options, Not Solutions
Leaders are constantly faced with problems. They engage such challenges with energy because they know that these issues represent what stands between their current reality…
Leadership is Always about Others
There are many, many things about leadership that we do not know. However, there are a few truths about which we can be sure. One…
Creating Positive Staff Dynamics
Jesus made it look easy. Pick some folks (anyone will do), spend intentional time with them, give them chances to lead, and Bam! A team…
Reach More Volunteers
If the idea of recruiting volunteers has been a challenge in the past, you are not alone. But getting rid of the mind-set of recruiting…
Building Community through Ministry Teams
As wonderful as our worship gatherings are, everyone sitting in long rows facing a pastor is not real community. Large gatherings of people for corporate…
That Would Never Happen Here
One of the great blessings of my life is knowing W. Clark Randall. Before his retirement, Clark spent his professional career as a senior executive…
Building Trust for Effective Team Ministry
Trust is probably the most oft-mentioned and common ingredient within great ministry teams. Experts from all fields of team building agree on this essential. All…
Listening: A Key Team Building Skill
It just may be that the best way to make people feel truly honored is to listen to them with rapt and sincere attentiveness. Few…
Working with Committees and Boards
One of the least glamorous jobs of any church leader is attending board or committee meetings. Understanding the purpose, vision, and goals of each ministry…
Forging More Collaborative Relationships between Clergy and Musicians
In all of the churches where I have worshiped and worked, the core ministry team is the same — the pastor and the musicians —…
Creating Leadership Accountability Systems
Intentional leaders know that team leadership is not a lone ranger proposition. While leadership is certainly a specialized role, it serves best in conjunction and…
Igniting a Ministry
Ultimately Responsible: When You’re in Charge of Igniting a Ministry contains plenty of practical advice on how to jumpstart tired programs and engage church members…
It Takes Teamwork
Kevass Harding writes that God calls us to be in relational ministry where God’s people work together for the building up of God’s kingdom here…
No Solitary Leaders
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., reveals that Paul Revere was not a lone actor, but an organizer, connector, and motivator involving about 60 others in his…
Death by Meeting
John Winn finds useful advice for churches and synagogues in the book Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni. The title alone is…
Basketball Coaching and Leadership
Douglass Lewis finds five insights on leadership in Phil Jackson’s book about coaching the L.A. Lakers. Last Christmas I received a copy of Phil Jackson’s…