Leave your mark

I heard a great leader, Bill Hybels, once say that he is amazed at how God orchestrates the crossing of paths. I have found that God has sent certain people across my path who have turned out to be mentors in my life. I was recently having a few conversations around leadership with such a mentor and had a few epiphanies that are now forming the content for this article. (Dean Davey, thanks for your inspiration!)

Have you ever noticed how many leadership articles/books/programs/seminars focus their content on leadership attributes? While attributes and principals are good, they are only half of the ingredients required to be an effective leader – and is the easy part. As a result, we so often chase after the next book or seminar and end up as fat, lazy and self indulgent leaders. To be effective leaders, we need to take the attributes we have learned and actually work them out in accordance to our purpose – we need to add intention, focus and a no excuse approach to using the attributes to leading others – making a difference. We need to apply what we know to our own story!

I’ve discovered that there is a great starting point to application of attributes: purpose and passion. The discovery of what you are passionate about and what you feel your purpose is results in us living with passion and purpose. It often causes the attributes we know to shine in what we do. Do you know your purpose? Do you know what you are passionate about? If you don’t have this clarity, you will run from book to seminar to try find it. Get with God, spend time reflecting and make sure you can clarify what it is.

Once we know our purpose and passion in life, we need to spend time constantly refining and assessing it. We must take the attributes we learn and mould them to our unique style, to cause us to be effective in how we lead. Too often we try copy someone else with a totally different purpose or personality. Unless we constantly refine and assess our purpose and passion, and the attributes we learn, we will never effectively act and lead in a way that is authentic.

It is essential that we also reflect and energise around our purpose. Sometimes we get caught up in the business of leadership and all the new theories, that we lose sight of where we actually want and need to be! When you constantly reflect on your purpose and passion, you find your energy tank gets a healthy top up! If we want to be effective, we need to be energised!

I have also learned that I need to ensure that each week my list of daily priorities reflect my purpose and passions. If not, I end up being extremely busy but not very fruitful.

How are you doing with the attributes you have learned? Are you constantly chasing more? Or are you applying and moulding them to maximise on your purpose and passion – Ultimately causing you to make a difference with your life. Let’s make our lives leave a mark!
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Don Muller has spent the last 4 years working into corporate and church leadership development and training both locally and internationally. He has a passion for and works towards seeing individuals live out their strengths and calling daily.

Assumptions must die

I have all of a sudden realised the severity of hearing someone say “I assume...” Honestly, does that not really mean “I don’t know, so I am just going to make up a fact and call it the truth...” To assume means you have weighed some options in your head, thought about how legitimate they could be and then made a call.

I hear it a lot. How often do you say it?

Lately my work has been working with assumptions which are, in fact, incorrect. The deal is we will act on what we believe. What we assume we believe. What I see is years of actions based on assumption upon assumption that has done a great deal to create scenario’s which simply did not need to happen. This can be damaging. Damaging to relationships where either parties assume. Damaging to organisations where colleagues assume. Damaging to you.

So why do we do it?

In my humble opinion it seems to be that we need information to work with. That makes sense as you can’t work with nothing. But information gathering is, at times, hard work. It may involve research. It may involve asking questions. It may involve having a conversation, all of which take time and energy.

What stops us?

Time in a fast paced environment.
Fear when you feel threatened.
Resentment when you have been hurt.
Low energy when you have been going hard.
Disengagement when you are not enjoying your work.

So what do we do?

Kill assumptions. No matter what, commit to end the game of assuming. Confront whatever it is you need to confront and hunt for information that is correct. Avoid spending time in your head with fictitious stories. If you are feeling something, verify it. Have the conversations. Commit the time. Do what you know you most need to do.

I don’t know about you but I have had many moments of relief when I have found out what is really going on. I have also felt embarrassed when I acted on an assumption and was totally off the mark.

• Right now - what are you assuming?
• Right now - who do you need to speak to or what do you need to do to find out the facts?
• What was the difference between the two?
• What will you choose to do now?

Goodbye assumptions!

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Travis Gale has spent the last 5 years running his own development business in South Africa’s corporate world and is currently involved in various long term partnerships with clients across a number of industries. Furthermore he has travelled to conferences internationally hunting down latest trends and insights. Having cycled around the world and survived a tsunami, his passion for crossing borders often lends itself to an interesting blend of stories and insight. He sees himself as a ‘change catalyst’ and displays strength in facilitating insight into the right spaces. Find out more at www.appletreelive.com

Obstacles to living intentionally

I recently wrote an article entitled “Intentional about Being Intentional.” When we live and lead intentionally, we do so with purpose, clarity and passion. It helps us steward our leadership gift faithfully, using it to truly make a difference in the lives of those we lead.

As I’ve thought more about the subject of being intentional I’ve become aware, in my own life, of things that are potential obstacles to being intentional. These things can so often rob us from being truly intentional in our leadership.

An article by Mark Driscoll helped raise my awareness of potential obstacles to being intentional. The following are some of the more common obstacles I, and I’m sure many others, face:

• People – This may sound strange because it is people that we have a heart to impact. But as leaders it is often people that cause us to move into a reactionary space rather than an intentional one. Have you ever experienced someone who is pushy, needy, demanding, high-drama, inconsiderate or unrealistic? If you are a leader, I’m sure your answer is YES! These types of people often scream very loudly for us to meet their demands and expectations, and if we are not careful can often steal our life, joy, health, and time. We may see it as ministry, but often time is just people pleasing. We need to be intentional about how to effectively lead people and manage ourselves, instead of just responding to the loudest voice.

• Technology – I’ve discovered that a huge part of being intentional is using my time wisely, and one of the hugest time wasters in my life is technology. That said, I know that technology does energise and fascinate me, so I do need to be intentional about devoting some time to it. But it too often controls me. I know I can’t be an effective leader if I’m are always surfing the net, reading and updating Twitter and facebook, playing around on my cell phone or iPad, reading emails, smsing, chatting on instant messenger and watching TV. Even though I have and enjoy technology, I’m learning I need to manage it effectively (ie: turn it off at times).

• Lack of planning – Without proper planning and prioritizing, we will very quickly slip from the intentional space into the reactionary realm, often giving our attention and efforts to the most urgent perceived need, rather than the most important one. Leaders never grow to a point where they don’t need to prioritise.

• Trading busyness for fruitfulness – Again I found Driscoll very helpful here. He states that some people say they are too busy to worship, pray, Sabbath, journal, and so forth, but they have tragically traded being busy for being Godly, obedient, and wise fruitful stewards. He goes on to ask if our busyness is truly fruitful or would some plans to organise our world, home, diet, budget, schedule, and life be helpful? I know my answer to that question is often yes.

I have found the more aware I am of these obstacles, the more effective I’m becoming in avoiding them.
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Don Muller has spent the last 4 years working into corporate and church leadership development and training both locally and internationally. He has a passion for and works towards seeing individuals live out their strengths and calling daily.