I was talking to a friend yesterday about possibly hosting or speaking at a conference for volunteers. After talking, he noted that I received my Masters degree dealing with the subject of leadership. He wasn’t sure that that was the best topic to cover for dealing with a conference for volunteers. I can understand his reluctance, after all leadership is about authority and being in charge …right?

For some people, this is what leadership is about: power, control, authority. A lot of folks when they think of leaders they think of the “great man”, astride a great white horse here to rescue us from the depths of the being leaderless followers. After all, the Bible does say where there is no vision the people will perish or cast off restraint – so leaders must tell the people where they are going and what the future will look like…right?

Now, I’m not saying this is what my friend was thinking. But this is what a lot of people think of when they think of leaders or leadership.

Are they right?

I think the idea that you are a leader because you are taller and have a strong chin or “look” like a leader is outdated and out of place. I do see the role of a leader as being vision casting, culture creation and directing/guiding people. But a leader has to do more than just the three things. And this is where leadership becomes applicable to volunteers.

In my opinion, one of the greatest roles of a leader is to lift the level of other people. At Bethel, where I work, we talk about leaders as “redemptive” individuals. We teach that leadership is a set of learned behaviors. Leaders are not born, leaders learn to be leaders. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe there are those that are gifted naturally as leaders and I believe there’s a spiritual gift of leadership. But this is one of the instances where it is not a matter of either/or but really both/and.

A redemptive leader takes their own story of redemption and uses it to help other followers find their own redemptive story. In doing this, a redemptive leader with the level of their followers. Ultimately, the goal of a redemptive leader is to release their followers to also help lift the level of other followers through their own redemptive potential. It becomes the process of showing, telling, and doing life together. Sound familiar?

It should. Because the redemptive leaders/redemptive followers model is really a discipleship relationship. It is in this context, that leadership becomes vital for every teacher, co-teacher, and student in your ministry.

Not everyone in your ministry can cast the vision, really only you can. Not everyone in your ministry can determine the direction of your ministry, really only you can. Everyone in your ministry can lift the level of a follower. This is why leadership is a vital lesson for actual leaders, followers, and students. Redemptive leadership helps us understand that leadership is not about position. Leadership is about helping others and serving those around you.

(On an unrelated note to the post, I apologize for any grammatical errors or typos. This entire post was written via Siri on my iPhone 5.)

     Take a look at the picture – when you first looked at it, did you see half a face of a man looking at you or someone looking to the left? It took me a minute, but after looking a third time I could see both. To see both though, I had to look at it differently.

There are a lot of problems that require a second or third look and often from a different perspectives.

My pastor has a great little phrase (he’s very quotable) “A change of pace, A change of place, equals a change of perspective.”  Have you ever experienced the strange productivity phenomenon of an “off-site” work day? I have often been amazed by how much more work I can get done siting at Starbucks vs. sitting in my office (I’m actually writing this sitting at Starbucks now…)

One of the greatest hindrances to creativity is routine. But one of the greatest tools for problem solving is creativity. If you approach every problem from the same perspective, then most of your solutions will be similar. This isn’t all bad, but it isn’t all good either. Bro. Jim always told me “A rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out.” A rut stops you from thinking differently.

Maybe it’s time you start looking at some challenges from a different perspective. Do you need another voice on your team? Do you need to go out-of-town for a day? Do you need to go work in a coffee shop? Here’s a hard one – What routines have you settled into that prevent you from looking at something with a different perspective?

Problems can seem overwhelming at times.  Especially if you only have one solution. If the only tool in your tool box is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail to be hit. You need to expand you tool kit and approach from a different angle. You’ll be amazed at how many old “impossible” situations you can work though with just a few little changes.

     One of the most common areas people ask me to coach them on is how to be organized. I like to think I live a fairly orderly life. I handle numbers well, so some of it come naturally to me and other parts I have had to learn how to be disciplined. As I was preparing for the class I teach at Bethel College, I came across some great thoughts from Gordon MacDonald in “Ordering Your Private World.” I’d like to share and expand on them a bit.

A challenge faced by many who feel they are overwhelmed with the duties of life is that they do not schedule their day. Instead, they handle each item as it comes. This is hardy efficient and makes it very difficult to get forward traction. Having unmanaged time is like having anything else that is unmanaged – you won’t use it well! From money to your calories for the day – if you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it. And, what you don’t manage you will lose. Here are some truths about unmanaged time:

• Unmanaged time flows towards your weakness.

If you are administratively weak, when you do not manage your time well – you will find yourself putting all your efforts into tasks that are going to suck your time away. In this process, you’ll neglect your strengths. If you neglect them long enough, eventually your strengths will become a weakness also. You need to learn to plan your day and delegate to others who are strong where you are weak. This will give you better control of your task management.

• Unmanaged time comes under the influence of the dominant people in my life.
  

Has your boss or a peer ever come into your office and asked “Hey, what do you have going on for the next couple of hours?” If you don’t have an answer, you can find yourself quickly pulled into some task you would rather not do! People who have figured out how to delegate work to others will use the time of others–especially time that isn’t managed. I can plan what I am going to do today and if you’re not going to do the same, I can plan your day also…it just may not be what you want to work on.

• Unmanaged time surrenders to all emergencies

The Tyranny of the Urgent is one of the greatest time wasters you will ever experience. A crisis in someone else’s life does not have to constitute a crisis in your life. As a pastor, emergencies happen in the lives of congregation members, but the trick is to figure out what is really an emergency and what is really a problem that has built up over time and finally boiled over. If you do not have a plan for your time, then the urgency of someone else will overwhelm you and you will spend the majority of your day troubleshooting or putting out fires.

• Unmanaged time gets invested in things that gain public acclaim

This one is self-explanatory. If you’re not really getting a lot of work done because of inefficient use of time, then you’re going to do something to make it look like you’re working hard. Everyone feels better when they are getting a pat on the back. What better way than doing something that everyone can see.

So how do you fix this? I’m so glad you asked! You can reclaim your time with three principles:

• I must know my rhythms of maximum effectiveness

When are you at your best? Load your hardest tasks into that time frame and knock them out. If you go with the philosophy of “Eat the frog first”, you better eat that frog when you are at your best. Otherwise you’re never going to do it.

• I must have thoughtful criteria for choosing how to use my time

Do you understand your roles in life? Do you have a list of priorities for your day? Do you have goals you are trying to accomplish? If not, you need to get some. You cannot plan your day if you don’t have anything you are aiming for. (You can read my posts about goals here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

• I manage time and command it best when I budget it far in advance

This is another obvious one. The longer look you take at something, the longer you have to plan. Give yourself enough time to think things through. Put your big rocks in first! (To understand this concept watch this.)

Start putting these thoughts into place and see how things turn around for you!

     If you know anything about me, you know I “own” the Elliptical at the gym. All you have to do is follow me for a day or so on twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to see me post something about working out. And when I go, it’s typically for one of two things – a spinning class or the elliptical. I enjoy these and have a decent level of comfort doing them.

Trainers will tell you: “Don’t do the same thing all the time, your body will adjust and you won’t get the most out of your workouts!” Typically, this is yelled at you at a very high volume. So, last week I added something new. INTERVALS. (I also added jogging, but that’s another post.) For those who do not know of what I speak, let me fill you in. Intervals involve short bursts of high intensity exercise. Last week, I did an interval routine that was 3 minutes of walking and 30 seconds (gotta start somewhere) of running. As you can see from the picture in this post, my heart rate really spiked during the running. Doing intervals will help me build up endurance, get the most out of my workouts, and lose weight quicker.  Sounds like a WIN/WIN/WIN!

I think intervals can help beyond your daily fitness training though. I spend a lot of time coaching folks in ministry with, what I think are the fundamentals of ministry–priority management and being organized. It’s amazing how many time my conversations head towards the same subject. “How do I get the most out of my day?” “I’m not a detail person.” “I like people more than paper.” These are all pretty common statements or questions. Personally, I find it funny that people ask me these questions because I am not a naturally organized person. I’ve learned to be organized and live by priorities, but it has taken time.

So with that in mind, I want to give a suggestion to those that are just starting out on the path of becoming more organized.

A lot of folks make the mistake of deciding one day “Today will be the most productive day of my life. I’m going to lock myself in my office and not come out until I have accomplished everything on my list.” And then the first thing they do is create the list…but that level of concentrated effort wears them out. But they decide to press on and complete their goal of having the most productive day of their life. Who has had this kind of personal declaration day? How many have failed miserably at it? For people who do not live by lists, details, and schedules, this level of seclusion is a form of torture. They haven’t conditioned themselves for a marathon session in their office.

Here’s what you need to do: START WITH INTERVALS! If you are ADD, like many pastors, start with small intervals. When you run a marathon, you don’t just hop out there and run 26.2 miles! You build up to it, you have to put in your “road time.” You need to do the same thing with your “desk time.”

Before declaring the marathon of work, train for it. You may have to lock yourself away in your office for an hour and then give yourself a 10 minute break (or longer, depending on your level of “fitness”.) If you build up, in intervals, the amount of time you dedicate to working flat-out as hard as you can – eventually, you’ll be able to accomplish an amazing amount of work through your ability to focus for extended periods of time.

Give yourself the greatest opportunity for success – build up to the place you want to be, don’t force it all to happen at once!