New leaders always face problems. Think back to your first leadership role. What kind of problems did you face? Were they pleasant? Probably not, but they did teach us a lot. Your young leaders will face these same problems and then some. As a leadership developer, you’ll be there to help them through, pick them up when they’re down, and warn them ahead of time about what they’ll face.
Here’s a few of the problems that I see our young leaders facing as we “hand-off” leadership to them…
1. Few or no people will follow them. It stands to reason that if they are brand new to leadership some people might have a problem following them. This is to be expected, and if you’ll recall you’re first forays into leadership, you probably faced the same problem.
2. Fear. I don’t know about you, but my first leadership position scared me to death. Make no mistake, as you hand off leadership to your students, they are going to have fears.
3. Generational Conflict. The new and the old have always clashed. Every generation’s new ideas have been rejected and trashed by the generations before. Honoring the old and following through with the new is a skill that they will have to learn and hone.
4. Age Discrimination. This is nothing new. Many people don’t believe that youth (teenagers) have anything to offer until they are adults (and many times teenagers don’t do much to improve this viewpoint). I think we need to keep Paul’s admonition to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12 in mind here.
5. Failure. Failure has such a negative connotation in today’s society. Will our young leaders fail? Yes, they will, just as we did and still do. The problem is when, instead of learning from failure, our students stop trying because of perceived humiliation or fear.
Here are five that I know my leadership students are facing. How about your list? I can pop a few others up there, but I’m more interested in hearing from you…
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
John Hartford and The Story
This morning I had to run some errands, and I took along a CD I hadn’t listened to in a while. In fact, it’s been so long that I didn’t even have it on my itunes. The CD is by a guy named Gene Goforth, who was a Missouri traditional fiddle player (I know, this doesn’t bode well for the geek-o-meter). It was produced by a guy named John Hartford.
Some of you may know John Hartford. He’s a musician and entertainer. He plays all sorts of instruments, but is best known for his fiddle and banjo work. He was on the Smothers Brothers show (now I’m dating myself) and has recorded numerous albums.
Hartford spent the latter years of his life telling stories. He would find some obscure traditional American musicians, record them if they were still alive, dig up their old recordings if they weren’t, and research their life and music. The end product was a collection of music and stories, some told by the musician, some told by Hartford, all woven into the music.
The end product is fascinating. Besides unbelievably great music, the untold story of these people’s lives unfolds in word and music. It’s a great look into the life and music of an era and people that is all but extinct in modern culture.
This morning while I was listening, something hit me. I am John Hartford. So are you. We’ve dedicated our lives to telling God’s story in a culture where his fame and glory are relatively unknown. We tell this story in different ways. Some of us tell it to youth, some of us share it with adults. Some of us sing this story, others of us preach it, and still others weave it into our activities and our lifestyles.
The cool thing about Hartford is that he knew so many of the musicians whose story he told. His story became intertwined with theirs. That fact made the stories so much more real, interesting, and relevant.
Our story is also intertwined with God’s story. We are right smack in the middle of it, living it and telling it. We play a part in this wonderful story, and we get to tell it. We are every bit the story crafter that John Hartford is, and our story is so much more important.
How is your storytelling? Do you represent your subject well? How are you teaching others to be storytellers?
Here’s to the story of God, and here’s to your storytelling…
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
Some of you may know John Hartford. He’s a musician and entertainer. He plays all sorts of instruments, but is best known for his fiddle and banjo work. He was on the Smothers Brothers show (now I’m dating myself) and has recorded numerous albums.
Hartford spent the latter years of his life telling stories. He would find some obscure traditional American musicians, record them if they were still alive, dig up their old recordings if they weren’t, and research their life and music. The end product was a collection of music and stories, some told by the musician, some told by Hartford, all woven into the music.
The end product is fascinating. Besides unbelievably great music, the untold story of these people’s lives unfolds in word and music. It’s a great look into the life and music of an era and people that is all but extinct in modern culture.
This morning while I was listening, something hit me. I am John Hartford. So are you. We’ve dedicated our lives to telling God’s story in a culture where his fame and glory are relatively unknown. We tell this story in different ways. Some of us tell it to youth, some of us share it with adults. Some of us sing this story, others of us preach it, and still others weave it into our activities and our lifestyles.
The cool thing about Hartford is that he knew so many of the musicians whose story he told. His story became intertwined with theirs. That fact made the stories so much more real, interesting, and relevant.
Our story is also intertwined with God’s story. We are right smack in the middle of it, living it and telling it. We play a part in this wonderful story, and we get to tell it. We are every bit the story crafter that John Hartford is, and our story is so much more important.
How is your storytelling? Do you represent your subject well? How are you teaching others to be storytellers?
Here’s to the story of God, and here’s to your storytelling…
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
Friday, March 19, 2010
Following to Lead
Why does it seem like most of the qualities of a Christian leader are also those of followers of Christ? Because in Christian leadership, all leaders are followers. Christian leadership isn’t like secular leadership in many ways, but the most important way is this: no matter how high up the ladder you go, the Christian leader always follows. Always; with no exceptions.
We often forget that Jesus told His disciples that to lead meant to serve everyone else. Jesus said that those who wished to be first would be last. To be a good leader, you must also be a good follower.
You must be a good follower of Christ. Remember that no matter what you lead, as a Christian leader, you still answer to God. That is what separates Christian leadership from a lot of business models. If you don’t follow Jesus, then you don’t have to answer to anybody else, and you don’t necessarily have to be a follower. As a Christian leader it’s different.
I think it would do a world of good if all leaders spent some time following, maybe every day. I think it would change the leader/follower paradigm in most companies. They would begin to understand what Christian leaders should already know: following is an essential part of leading.
How are we teaching our young people to follow? Seems like a strange question coming from a leadership blog, but it is pertinent. The ability that our students have to follow godly leadership now has a huge impact on how they lead tomorrow.
Do you want an arrogant, impetuous Christian leader? Don’t teach them to be a follower.
Do you want an out of touch Christian leader? Don’t teach them to be a follower.
Do you want a Christian leader who abuses their power? Don’t teach them to be a follower.
Question: How are you teaching your students to follow? How are you connecting those lessons to future leadership?
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
We often forget that Jesus told His disciples that to lead meant to serve everyone else. Jesus said that those who wished to be first would be last. To be a good leader, you must also be a good follower.
You must be a good follower of Christ. Remember that no matter what you lead, as a Christian leader, you still answer to God. That is what separates Christian leadership from a lot of business models. If you don’t follow Jesus, then you don’t have to answer to anybody else, and you don’t necessarily have to be a follower. As a Christian leader it’s different.
I think it would do a world of good if all leaders spent some time following, maybe every day. I think it would change the leader/follower paradigm in most companies. They would begin to understand what Christian leaders should already know: following is an essential part of leading.
How are we teaching our young people to follow? Seems like a strange question coming from a leadership blog, but it is pertinent. The ability that our students have to follow godly leadership now has a huge impact on how they lead tomorrow.
Do you want an arrogant, impetuous Christian leader? Don’t teach them to be a follower.
Do you want an out of touch Christian leader? Don’t teach them to be a follower.
Do you want a Christian leader who abuses their power? Don’t teach them to be a follower.
Question: How are you teaching your students to follow? How are you connecting those lessons to future leadership?
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
Monday, March 15, 2010
Character Development is Hard
Having just finished “The Character of Leadership” by Jeff Iorg, my mind has been wondering around thinking of ways to educate character into my students. I hate to say it, but it’s hard. It’s hard because you can’t make someone else behave in a certain way (and if you do you’re as bad as the person who wasn’t acting right in the first place); it’s hard because we don’t get to spend a lot of time with our students as opposed to other influences on their lives. It’s hard because behavior modification is easier than character development.
I truly believe that you lead out of who you are. If that’s the case, then character development is one of the more important things that we will do for our youth, and especially our young leaders. Its importance cannot be understated.
Here are a couple of ideas when it comes to developing character that I’ve been mulling over:
1. Partner with parents. Parents are the main influence on students, whether they’ll admit to it or not (actually, they have admitted to it. See “Real Teens” by George Barna). If we’re going to have any real impact on character development, it will have to be a multi-front fight. Make sure parents are on board with you.
2. Constantly harp on Character. Maybe harp is a bad term. Don’t nag them, but keep character issues in front of their face at all times. Talk with your students about their character. Do exercises that stretch their moral mental muscles.
3. Give them real moral dilemmas to work through and figure out. Make them as real and as relevant as possible.
4. Cultivate a rich inner life in your students. A student who is out of their bible and not spending time in prayer is not going to develop biblical character. Help your students come up with good spiritual disciplines and then help them stick to them.
Question: How are you developing character in your students? What is working, and what isn’t?
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
I truly believe that you lead out of who you are. If that’s the case, then character development is one of the more important things that we will do for our youth, and especially our young leaders. Its importance cannot be understated.
Here are a couple of ideas when it comes to developing character that I’ve been mulling over:
1. Partner with parents. Parents are the main influence on students, whether they’ll admit to it or not (actually, they have admitted to it. See “Real Teens” by George Barna). If we’re going to have any real impact on character development, it will have to be a multi-front fight. Make sure parents are on board with you.
2. Constantly harp on Character. Maybe harp is a bad term. Don’t nag them, but keep character issues in front of their face at all times. Talk with your students about their character. Do exercises that stretch their moral mental muscles.
3. Give them real moral dilemmas to work through and figure out. Make them as real and as relevant as possible.
4. Cultivate a rich inner life in your students. A student who is out of their bible and not spending time in prayer is not going to develop biblical character. Help your students come up with good spiritual disciplines and then help them stick to them.
Question: How are you developing character in your students? What is working, and what isn’t?
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
Monday, March 8, 2010
Student Expectations
What do your students expect out of your leadership program? Do you know?
Why not?
If you don’t know what your students expect, than you might be in for a few nasty surprises down the road. You might experience losses from your group or a general discontent from certain individuals if you don’t figure out their expectations.
Now, many of you are probably saying: “What does it matter what they expect, aren’t I running this program?” This is a good thought. It is our responsibility to let students know what we expect of them, and what the program is, before we even consider them as a candidate to join the team.
However, leadership is a big word, and means many different things to many different people. Find out what it means to your students up front. Find out what they expect to get out of a spot on the leadership team. By doing so, you might find some otherwise good candidates that won’t be satisfied with the program you have put together. You might also be alerted to some weak spots in your program.
In the end, it’s just good practice to find out what your students expect from you, just as you are eager for them to find out what you expect of them. It’ll save you some headache down the road.
Here’s a couple of ways you can work student expectations into your program where they will benefit you most:
1. On your application, have a spot where each student talks about their expectations.
2. Hold an informational meeting with prospective students where you can openly talk about expectations; both yours and theirs.
3. Make one of your first leadership meetings about expectations. Let them know that they need to be prepared to talk about their expectations, and that you will talk about yours.
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
Why not?
If you don’t know what your students expect, than you might be in for a few nasty surprises down the road. You might experience losses from your group or a general discontent from certain individuals if you don’t figure out their expectations.
Now, many of you are probably saying: “What does it matter what they expect, aren’t I running this program?” This is a good thought. It is our responsibility to let students know what we expect of them, and what the program is, before we even consider them as a candidate to join the team.
However, leadership is a big word, and means many different things to many different people. Find out what it means to your students up front. Find out what they expect to get out of a spot on the leadership team. By doing so, you might find some otherwise good candidates that won’t be satisfied with the program you have put together. You might also be alerted to some weak spots in your program.
In the end, it’s just good practice to find out what your students expect from you, just as you are eager for them to find out what you expect of them. It’ll save you some headache down the road.
Here’s a couple of ways you can work student expectations into your program where they will benefit you most:
1. On your application, have a spot where each student talks about their expectations.
2. Hold an informational meeting with prospective students where you can openly talk about expectations; both yours and theirs.
3. Make one of your first leadership meetings about expectations. Let them know that they need to be prepared to talk about their expectations, and that you will talk about yours.
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Your Approval Rocks Their World
You may not realize it, but you have the power to make or break a youth’s world. How you react to a youth’s accomplishments means the world to your students.
Whether we invite it or not, our word carries great weight in their lives, and our responsibility is to use it with love.
I think, as we rush through the day and all the things that we have to do in it, that we often forget to look for the things that our students are doing right. We spend inordinate amounts of time preaching about, counseling to, and dealing with the things that they do wrong, but somehow don’t find the same time to talk about the things they are doing right.
All of our students need this approval, this reinforcement. Many times they aren’t getting it at home, or at school, and they may start playing to the lowest common denominator. They don’t need that, we don’t need that, and the world doesn’t need that. Believe me, if you are told that you are stupid all the time you will start to believe it.
We have to counteract this tendency with truth and love. Look for ways that you can give your approval to each of your students. I think you’ll be amazed at how they’ll react.
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
Whether we invite it or not, our word carries great weight in their lives, and our responsibility is to use it with love.
I think, as we rush through the day and all the things that we have to do in it, that we often forget to look for the things that our students are doing right. We spend inordinate amounts of time preaching about, counseling to, and dealing with the things that they do wrong, but somehow don’t find the same time to talk about the things they are doing right.
All of our students need this approval, this reinforcement. Many times they aren’t getting it at home, or at school, and they may start playing to the lowest common denominator. They don’t need that, we don’t need that, and the world doesn’t need that. Believe me, if you are told that you are stupid all the time you will start to believe it.
We have to counteract this tendency with truth and love. Look for ways that you can give your approval to each of your students. I think you’ll be amazed at how they’ll react.
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
Monday, March 1, 2010
Why I Need to Exercise
Want to get some discipline? It’s not easy. But it is useful. Discipline is essential to life. It takes a lot of discipline to get up every morning and go to work. It takes a lot of discipline to get up and go to school. It takes discipline to stay in the Word, to pray, and to take time out of your day for others.
If you want to beef up your discipline, start doing something you don’t want to do. Sounds simple, right? In my case it’s exercise. I hate exercising with every last shred of my being. But it’s good for me, so I do it. I don’t do it as often as I should, but I do it. In fact, as I write this I just finished exercising.
My point is this. Those of us who are running leadership development teams are constantly looking for ways to help our kids put some discipline in their lives. Here’s a good way to do it, even though it’s painful. Some of your kids don’t like to read. Have them start reading (preferably their Bible). Some of your kids don’t like doing the dishes. Get with their parents and have them start doing the dishes.
You get the picture, but here are a couple of thoughts as you ponder doing this:
1. Don’t have your kids do something that is useless just to instill discipline. They need to be doing something useful. They have to see the correlation between discipline and doing things that need to be done, no matter how they feel about them.
2. Make sure you don’t just talk about this and then let it go. Follow up. Even better, get parents involved. I’m sure parents would love all the help they can get instilling discipline in their students.
3. Make sure you are participating just like your students are. Make an online diary or some other public form of accountability so your students know that you’re in it with them.
Question: How do you instill discipline in your students?
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
If you want to beef up your discipline, start doing something you don’t want to do. Sounds simple, right? In my case it’s exercise. I hate exercising with every last shred of my being. But it’s good for me, so I do it. I don’t do it as often as I should, but I do it. In fact, as I write this I just finished exercising.
My point is this. Those of us who are running leadership development teams are constantly looking for ways to help our kids put some discipline in their lives. Here’s a good way to do it, even though it’s painful. Some of your kids don’t like to read. Have them start reading (preferably their Bible). Some of your kids don’t like doing the dishes. Get with their parents and have them start doing the dishes.
You get the picture, but here are a couple of thoughts as you ponder doing this:
1. Don’t have your kids do something that is useless just to instill discipline. They need to be doing something useful. They have to see the correlation between discipline and doing things that need to be done, no matter how they feel about them.
2. Make sure you don’t just talk about this and then let it go. Follow up. Even better, get parents involved. I’m sure parents would love all the help they can get instilling discipline in their students.
3. Make sure you are participating just like your students are. Make an online diary or some other public form of accountability so your students know that you’re in it with them.
Question: How do you instill discipline in your students?
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
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