Author: Chris Marshall

To Do Lists, To Get It Done!

As promised on Monday, today’s post focuses on creating a to do list that will help you get your goals done. Once again, I’ll be borrowing from Michael Hyatt.  I learned this “secret” from him: the key to effective to do lists is only including three significant tasks on your list in a given day. That’s right–three. My to do lists often had a couple dozen tasks on them before I went through Hyatt’s Free to Focus course. In that course he offers incredible ideas and actions for becoming more productive than ever. One of those actions is remembering that we can’t do several dozen things well in a given day. When our to do lists have dozens of tasks on them and we complete five or six, at the end of the day we will feel like failures even though we may have made significant progress or even completed an important goal.

The first time I heard him make that statement, I thought, “That’s right.” I nearly always felt like a failure at the end of a productive day, because my to do list didn’t seem to have a dent in it. The problem is our feelings of success and failure are often wrapped around the idea of finishing. If we finish the job we feel successful, but when we don’t finish we feel like failures. There’s so much that’s unhelpful and unhealthy about such an approach, as I know from decades of experiencing it. The most unhelpful aspect of getting halfway through a long to do list and feeling like a failure is it disregards that the day may have been extremely productive. For example, when I write a message for the weekend, put together a plan for a productive meeting for the next day and invest two to three hours in research for an upcoming workshop I’ll be leading that is a productive day. Yet, when my to do list had another ten or fifteen items on it that I didn’t even touch, I feel as if I failed.

What about you? How long are your to do lists? Another important question: Do your to do lists include tasks that are worthy of your efforts? Sometimes we clog our to do lists with insignificant tasks we can complete in fifteen or twenty minutes, simply because we want to have the sense of accomplishment that comes with checking an item off the list. As so many time management and life management experts remind us: we all need a to not do list, because one of the best uses of our time is to not do tasks that someone else could do, or that ought not to be done in the first place. Why not take some time today to consider whether you to do lists are helping you succeed or are contributing to your sense of failing? Why not ask yourself are the items on my to do list worthy of my pursuit? Do they contribute to the accomplishment of my major life/work goals? If the answer to those questions leaves you with a sense that you’re headed in the wrong direction, that will be time well invested, because you can make a course correction and get back on track. If, on the other hand, your answers tell you you’re already on track, then that’s time well invested as well.

Here’s to leading better by taking the time to develop to do lists that will foster your success and your completion of key goals over time–today!

Setting Goals to Get Things Done!

As I mentioned on Monday, today we’re going to look at goal setting. Goal setting has never been one of my strengths. I’ve always been great at seeing the big picture and stepping out in faith to accomplish a big vision. What I haven’t been so great at is setting goals to break the vision down into more manageable chunks in order to see it become a reality. One of the most helpful processes I’ve found for setting goals has come from Michael Hyatt. While I’ve mentioned this in a previous post, repetition is the mother of learning, and while you may not need the reminder, I certainly do.

What Hyatt has done for us when it comes to goal setting is to take the old “SMART” goal acronym and made it “SMARTER.” While SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound; Hyatt has changed the original five aspects and added two additional ones. His “SMARTER” goals are specific, measurable, actionable, risky, time-bound, exciting and relevant. For me the two aspects of “SMARTER” goals that makes them more likely for me to achieve them are risky rather than reasonable, and exciting.

When a goal is reasonable, someone with my personality isn’t challenged to action, but risky adds the challenge. While a goal being reasonable is a helpful quality, because there’s no sense setting unreasonable goals, being reasonable isn’t something that motivates me as much as it being risky. A risky goal is challenging. By definition when something is risky it isn’t automatic. It will take great effort. For example, back in August of 2016 I set the risky goal of losing 32 pounds by the end of January. It was risky, because 32 pounds is a lot of weight. It wasn’t unreasonable, because it was only a little more than a pound per week which is quite reasonable. It was risky, though, because over the previous five months I had gained about fifteen pounds, so I wasn’t heading in the direction of losing 32.

The goal was also exciting to me, because over the years I have weighed 190 pounds, which my 32 pound weight loss goal would have me weighing once ago. At that weight life is better. Exercise is easier, and simply walking around or bending over to tie my shoes is much simpler. I was looking forward to weighing 190 pounds, and the thought of clothes fitting better was an added incentive.

Let me explain the one other added letter in the “SMARTER” goal framework, the second “r”: relevant. Hyatt explains that a goal has to be relevant to the season of life we are in at the time. For example, losing 32 pounds was relevant for me, because I wasn’t going through any kind of situation or season that would have made it impossible. The reality is I did achieve the goal. By the end of January I weighed 189 pounds. Nothing encourages additional goal setting like succeeding at accomplishing a goal. The goal was part of an overall vision of becoming more effective in every area of my life and more engaged in serving Jesus. While I’ll be turning 60 in June of this year, I see this new decade as one in which I can be more effective than ever, so long as I engage it fully. Thus, the goal of weighing 190 pounds.

I’ve actually changed the goal to living in the range of 187-193 pounds, because I have lost weight in the past only to have it “return” over time. The six pound range is reasonable, but it’s also a bit risky for me, because I’ve seldom sustained such a range after attaining it. It’s also exciting to me because I know I’ll be more productive in that range over the long haul. It is certainly relevant for my season of life.

You may not need the elements of risk and excitement in order to attain or maintain your goals. SMART goals may work well for you. If your personality is more like mine, though and the elements of risk and excitement motivate you, you may well find adding that pair of traits to your goal setting will make the difference.

Here’s to leading better, by setting “SMARTER” goals–today!

Lo Siento Mucho! (I’m Very Sorry!)

Hi Everyone! I need to apologize for not returning to the blogosphere when I returned from Cuba last week. I came back to the states with a nasty cold or some type of upper respiratory gunk, which is no excuse for failing to post anything last week. It did get me down for a few days, and with the normal stack of work that piles up any time I take a week away, I failed to make Helping Leaders Lead Better a priority. So, as the title states: I’m very sorry. Please, forgive me.

This week we’re going to address an obvious weakness in my leadership, which we’ve addressed before, and which is a challenge for many of us. While some of us came out of the womb organized and able to set goals and make to do lists that give us the ability to achieve them, I’ve worked all my adult life on determining what is most important and then pursuing that. If setting priorities and goals and then developing the actions necessary to achieve them is not a challenge for you, I’d welcome a comment as to how you’ve succeeded in determining what needs to be accomplished and then to getting it done.

For the remainder of this post, I’m going to address keeping the main thing the main thing. Then on Wednesday we’ll look at setting goals and on Friday we’ll consider what kind of to do list will help us be the most productive. So, how do we keep the main thing the main thing? For starters, we have to know what the main thing is. In every type of endeavor there is a main thing. For me as the leader of a healthy, growing local church, the main thing is to help people who don’t now Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord come to know Him, and to help those who do to grow up and live as a committed follower of Jesus.

For you the main thing may be developing the next product for your company that will keep you or make you the leader in your specialty. If you lead a non-profit, the main thing may be an ideal, or a particular type of social action, or practical provision. As a leader, particularly if you are the CEO, the president, the lead pastor, or the one in charge, the main thing for you is to determine the main thing and state it clearly. Only then will you e ale to keep the main thing, the main thing.

I’m always amazed when I speak with another pastor and ask them what his or her main thing is, and don’t receive an answer. Or “I never rally thought about that.” Or “We’re so busy with survival, we don’t really have much time to create a vision of where we’re going, or of what’s the main thing.” I get it. I get it at least in this regard: daily life is so daily. It fills up with challenges, questions, routines and tasks that need to be accomplished, and they’re a lot easier, or urgent than sitting down and taking the time to consider the main thing. After all, if we stay busy all day we must be leading, right? Not necessarily. Busyness isn’t the same as carrying out the business in which we’re engaged. Our activity often produces more heat than light.

Why not take some time right now and ask yourself, “What is the main thing for me as a leader?” The answer may be both personal and corporate, that is you may need to make or continue some personal priorities, which will allow you to be healthy enough to address the corporate main thing for which your responsible as a leader. If you ask, “What is my main thing?” from a corporate standpoint and you aren’t clear, it’s essential for you to take some time and get clear. After all, it’s awfully hard to get to your destination if you don’t know where that is. It doesn’t really matter that we’re making good time if we’re lost.

As you pause to reflect on your main thing, you may do well to bring some others in your organization on board as well. If you’re already clear about the main thing, ask the next level of leadership whether they are? What about those who are “on the floor,” if your in an assembly line business, or the members if you’re in a church or other type of voluntary organization? Can everyone state the main thing in a clear, concise way? When everyone’s on the same page about why we exist it’s considerably easier to start setting goals and moving toward attaining them. More about that on Wednesday and Friday!

Here’s to leading better by taking time to make sure we know what the main thing is, so we can keep it the main thing–today and tomorrow!

Leading in a Different Culture

I’ll be out of town next week, working with a team of eight others, presenting leadership lessons to a group of Spanish-speaking pastors and missionaries. This will be my seventh trip of this kind over the past six years. Here are some takeaways I’ve received from the opportunity to lead in a different culture.

First, relationship is always the key to genuine leadership. Because I’ve been to the same place over the past several years, some of those attending the conferences from year-to-year remember me. Because I’ve taken the time to get to know their names, and to learn a bit about them, they know I care and I’m there for them. That opens their receptivity to hearing what I have to say wide. As the old cliche puts it, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

The next takeaway for me has been learning to communicate at least nominally in their language goes a long way to gaining credibility to lead. Americans are known for expecting everyone to speak English. Because I’ve invested the time to communicate possibly in Spanish, people take note. I haven’t done it so I’ll be credible, I’ve done it because I genuinely want to communicate with them in their own language, but an added benefit is they know I care enough about them to work at listening to them and speaking with them in Spanish.

Learning the subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle cultural differences between us, has been another benefit when it comes to being received as a leader.  We all find it easy to assume that our way is the “right” way, but as I’ve discovered in all my relationships over time, while sometimes a “right” way exists to say or do something, often my way is simply one way to say or do it. In learning the nuances of the culture and particular being able to joke with the folks in an appropriate way has opened the doors much wider for my leadership. When I make a mistake in this area, and cause offense, I’m often forgiven easily, because I have made is so clear that I’m doing my best to understand their language and culture. Instead of seeing my faux pas as insensitivity, they give me the benefit of the doubt and gently correct me.

While you may not be engaged in a cross-cultural leadership opportunity  in the near future, the truth is the generational differences in America are virtually a cultural gap. The principles of getting to know one another as people and friends, learning to communicate in the others’ “language,” and attempting to learn and understand the other’s cultural differences goes a long way to being welcomed and heard as a leader.

When do you have opportunities for cross-cultural or cross-generational experiences as a leader? How have you demonstrated your leadership by going the second mile in preparing for them and in using them to learn and grow as a leader? My hope is this post will motivate you to consider how you can invest yourself in being a bridge-builder as a leader and become a more effective leader int he process.

Here’s to leading better by engaging across cultural or generational boundaries in relational ways–today (or the next time you have the opportunity)!

The Three “I’s” of Buy-In

Leadership guru, John Maxwell, often quotes the leadership proverb: “He who thinks he is leading but has nobody following is only taking a walk.” When it comes to getting buy-in (and thus followers) for our vision, new initiatives, new products, etc… we need to remember the Three “I’s of Buy-in: Inform, Inspire, Invite. I was talking with a colleague the other day about a recent initiative we had taken at the church, which had received tremendous buy-in and participation. He said, “You informed them clearly, you inspired them passionately and you invited them to participate.”

As he spoke the words, I remembered his dad setting for those three “i’s” years ago. I had forgotten the message, but continued to use the process. How vital it is for us as  leaders to inform people clearly when we have a new idea or a new image for communicating our vision, or for rolling out a new initiative or product. One of the most challenging aspects about our new ideas is we have already bought into them. We typically have a clear idea of what we are thinking and want to do, so we can assume everyone else will be at the same place we are. This is impossible, because they haven’t been on board with the process of formulating the idea and perhaps the plan to make it a reality as we have.

The first step, then, is to inform people of what it is we are planning to do, or what new idea we want them to consider. In order for anyone to buy in to what we are proposing, he or she must first understand what it is we are proposing.

The next step is to inspire others to participate. If informing is telling them what we want to do, inspiring requires telling them why. Why is it important for them to participate in our vision, or why is this new initiative worthy of our pursuit, or why will this new product be of value to consumers and to our bottom line? If people don’t understand why they’re doing something, they may do it, but they’ll never do it with passion. As leaders, we may have leverage over others and be able to force them to participate in our vision or to produce the new widget we think is going to transform society, but if they don’t understand why, if they aren’t inspired as we are, they won’t become raving fans themselves.

I have always had an easy time promoting anything in which I believe fervently. Just last week I was talking with someone about my Fit Bit and how it has made a major impact on my overall health in just a little more than a month. After about three minutes the person said, “Wow! You really believe in that thing don’t you?” The short answer was, “Yes.” We all know the difference between being dragged along, or forced to participate in the organization’s latest idea or product roll-out and when we’re actually on board with the idea or product, and want to use it ourselves.

While leaders often think it’s enough to inform and inspire others to gain buy-in, even in the corporate setting where the line workers “have to” be on board, the final “i”–invite–is so important. When we invite people to participate in whatever it is that we know will move our organization to the next level, we appeal to their right to choose. When we say, “You will…” even if we have the right to command the person’s action, we will never get the same response as when we ask, “Will you…?” When a person has the opportunity to choose to buy in to whatever it is we’re presenting to them, she is much more likely to do it whole-heartedly.

At the end of the day, when we inform, inspire and invite the probability of others actually following our leadership increases dramatically. The next time you have a great new idea or initiative to present to your followers remember to inform, invite and inspire them.

Here’s to leading better by informing, inviting and inspiring others–today!

Back to Basics: Body, Soul, Spirit

This week we’re going to take a quick review of how you are doing with caring for the three components of your life as a human being: body, soul, and spirit. We’ve made it through the first month of 2017, and while many may have made resolutions, and some of us made new commitments, it’s always good to check and see where we stand with them. After all, the unexamined life is not worth living. As leaders, self-care or self-leadership is one of the most important aspects of our leadership, if not the most important.

Let’s start with the area that’s often the easiest to gauge from a standpoint of progress: our bodies. Did you set any goals for taking care of yourself physically? If so, was it a weight goal, an exercise goal, a commitment to rest more, to eat better? Did you write the goals or plans down, and if you have how often do you look at them? I ask all these questions, because as I stand at the brink of 60 years of living, I’ve finally realized that while may favorite quote about the importance of examining our lives is true, equally important is recording our progress or lack thereof, so we may move forward after our examinations.

I set a number of goals for myself in the physical area. Back in late August, 2016 I committed to lose 32 pounds by the end of January, which would mean I would weigh 190. I also set the goal of eating Paleo 90% of the time (if you’re not sure what that means, it’s a “hunter-gatherer” diet, consisting of vegetables, fruit and meat.) I set an exercise goal of six days of exercise each week, consisting of 20-30 minute workouts I set the goal of sleeping 7-8 hours each night and to taking a 20 minute nap each afternoon. Those goals were quite specific and somewhat ambitious.  I share them with you, simply as an example of specific goals in the physical area, which if followed would have led me to a healthier, more effective life overall.

At the end of January I weight 189 pounds. I am eating Paleo about 85% of the time. I’ve exercised an average of 5 days per week according to the standards I set, have slept a little less than seven hours each night, and have taken a nap on average 5 days each week. The result of accomplishing the goals to the degree I have is my energy level is higher than it’s been in a long time, and my overall sense of well-being is also high. Little things, such as tying my shoes, are much easier now than they were back in August, too.

Did you set any goals at the start of the year, or perhaps last year? Have you looked at them recently?  Have you hit your targets or are you on your way to hitting them? If you have hit a target, is your goal to maintain in that area or to reach a new one? These are vital questions, and even more vital is committing to attain them, because when our bodies are functioning effectively our leadership is better.

I understand that some of us have ailments, which make the kind of goals I mention above unrealistic, but most of us have far more control over our physical well-being than we exercise. Wherever we are today, we will lead more effectively as we set and work toward accomplishing goals in the physical area of our lives, because our bodies impact our overall performance as leaders far more than we often realize.

Here’s to leading better, by taking the time to reflect on our physical well-being, the goals we established to become healthier, and then adjusting and acting on the results of that reflection-today!

Leading by Helping Other Leaders

As a leader, what do you think about helping other leaders? This is big deal in our world today. At one extreme, are those who say, “If I help someone else leader better, then she may take my job someday.” At the other extreme are those who say, “I rising tide raises all the ships. Therefore, when I help someone else lead better, we all benefit.” Who’s right? I come down on the side of the continuum that says we’re all better off when we help each other become better leaders.  Yes, I’m a church leader, so my goal may be different than a business owner, because my goal is for everyone to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. I want to see as many pastors and church leaders as possible become effective in achieving that common goal.

At the same time, I’ve known pastors who didn’t want to share their best practices with “the competition,” who they saw as the church down the street. In every sphere of human endeavor some of us are more collaborative and others are more competitive.  As leaders, our natural bent in one of those two directions will influence whether we want to help other leaders or not. An additional factor is the overall culture of the business or organization of which we’re a part. Some cultures produce a climate of secrecy and hierarchy, which means knowledge and skill are power. In that kind of culture collaboration will be viewed more negatively than in a culture where opens and teamwork are emphasized.

In my experience, the more I help other leaders lead effectively, the more I learn about leadership, the better leader I become and the more effective the organization I lead becomes. One of the realities all of us face when we consider this question is the radical shift we’re seeing in leadership styles among generations. Baby Boomers inherited rigid hierarchical structures in business, church and society as a whole. The Gen Xers and Millennials are much more collaborative and cooperative. Millennials in particular want to see the church as a family, and perhaps even their work places. They have never known a time when information was secret. The information age accelerated by the internet age means instant access to information: best practices, leadership studies, etc.

Those of us who are older, and who may well be in positions of leadership need to understand that one day someone else will be in our positions. Most likely those someones will be younger than we are, perhaps significantly so. Our best hope of impacting the future as leaders is to invest in future leaders. That means we will become the mentors for the next generation of leaders, and not necessarily in the areas of best practices, policies and procedures and the like, although that will be part of it. Our more significant contributions will likely be in helping future leaders understand their personal and our corporate “why” than the hows and whats. Again, it won’t be either or when it comes to what we share, but helping those who are younger than us learn to lead from “why” will be a great contribution.

If you think passing on leadership will make you obsolete, I understand the train of thought, but have come to realize whether we want to pass on leadership or not, one day we will. I encourage all of us to do it willingly, because what I have seen is those who are most willing to help others become more effective leaders, become the most valuable leaders in their situation. Working yourself out of a job by equipping others, is one of the best ways to make sure you’ll always have work!

Here’s to leading better by helping someone else lead better–today!