CoachNet Campfire

The new year is just a few days away and I want to take a few moments to be far more directive in this post than is typical. This is due to a spontaneous coaching conversation I just concluded with a young ministry team that was struggling with some very primary issues in their spiritual leadership development.  I had asked during the conversation, “what one thing could you be doing now that would make the most difference in the new year?” No one on the team had any answers. That is a symptom of an all too common problem.  If I could suggest some would you be interested?

The other day Bob mentioned a lecture he sat through, some years ago, with the legendary leadership authority Peter Drucker who said; “the average leader spends 80 percent of their time doing little that will further their mission.” That means that the important stuff really gets only about 20% of a leaders maximum effort.  What would happen if the average leader spent 80 percent of their time on the truly strategic… on those tasks that would advance their mission the most?  Well one thing is for sure, they wouldn’t be average leaders anymore. They’d be excellent, effective, focused, powerful leaders!  

There is one thing every leader must have before they can even be as good as an average leader. That is to figure out the “one thing that,’ as Bob’s dad Sam has often said, “God wants you to do and do it.” The One Thing is your personal mission … your purpose … the reason you get out of bed each morning. The sad reality is that too many of the leaders I work with, such as the team I mentioned, fiddle with their iPhone, look away, and get frustrated when I ask them what their mission is. How can a leader know when they’re on task or not if they don’t know what their mission is? How can you know what tasks are important and which tasks are not if purpose somehow remains a mystery? It’s been said that without a mission, we live in a fog and simply respond to the at any given moment. So, what’s your mission? If you can’t spit it out immediately with conviction, can’t bring it up on  conversation, or isn’t evidenced in how you spend your time or money, stop reading now and go get it figured out. (BTW, my mission is to be an initiator of the missional transformation of God’s people… it’s not just what I do, it’s who I try to be).

So, with your mission in mind, here are the five things every church leader must put on their to-do list every day in the coming new year. They are a topical distillation of practically every coaching conversation I have had in 2008.

1. Spend Time in Prayer. Though this should be obvious, according to too much research the average Christian leader prays less than three minutes each day. Jesus asked Peter if he couldn’t pray “just one hour.” Perhaps that should be our daily minimum requirement.
2. Plan Your Day. Take a few minutes before your feet hit the floor in the morning to look ahead in your day and project how you would like each of your upcoming interpersonal interactions to go. How do you want to interact with your spouse? Your children? The barista? Your neighbor? Those on your leadership team? Your networking lunch with that newest friend? And so on. Play the interactions though your mind and commit the time and your interactions to the Holy Spirit.
3. Introduce Yourself to at Least One New Person. The point here is to have a conversation with someone you don’t know. Get to know people in your community that you’ve never met. Amazing as it sounds this can be a challenge even for church planters, but take the challenge. Go find someone and get to know them.  And if you’re “bad with names” (like me) make sure to get a business card and to jot down a few of the important details you learned about this new acquaintance.
4. Stop Putting Off that other “One Thing” On Your To-Do List… and do it right now. Great leaders take care of business no matter what. It doesn’t make any difference if they don’t want to. They do whatever it takes to accomplish their mission. So, whatever it is you’re putting off, get it done.
5. Reflect On Your Day. The final thing to do each evening before you close your eyes is to take the time to reflect on your day. Did you accomplish the important stuff or were you caught up by the “urgent”? Did all your interpersonal interactions play out like you’d hoped? Are there any relationships you need to repair tomorrow? Undone tasks you need to deal focus on tomorrow? Socrates wrote that the unexamined life isn’t worth living … so take the time to examine your day so you can “do better” tomorrow.

I know, I know, there are at least another five dozen (or million) other critical must-do’s on your to-do list, but do these five and I can promise that you will begin to rise above the average leader mark in the coming year.

What would you say are the five most important things a leaders must do every day?