Leadership Coaching 8.21.14

Collin Sewell 8.21.14

Leadership Interview Questions:

1) What are the most important decisions you make everyday or every week?

• Decisions that you make as a leader work in multiplication rather than addition.  There is no simply math in leadership.  Meaning that choice that are made don't just affect your time, they affect the time of those you lead, and the future of your organization.
• Leaders who make poor decisions divide the organization rather than subtract from it.  Again, there is not simple math.
• Pareto Principle -- An Italian Economist that helped explain the distribution of work among people, 80-20.  In this theory, 20% of the people do 80% of the work.  In churches, 20% of the people give 80% of the money.  This can be applied to many economic environments.  It becomes vitally important to develop the leader within you, and those around you.

2) Thoughts on leading people:

• We need to keep people in their strength zone but take them out of their comfort zone.  Its important to know the difference!
• Point leadership -- Andy Stanley made this principle popular, its important to allow the best leader for the project, even if the lead leader is forced to follow someone else's leadership.
• Goal in managing your time as a leader is to make yourself more available to more people.
• As a leader, what can I do to give my organization the biggest return?  It starts with whats  required, what brings the biggest return, and what is the largest reward.

3) After reading the Laws of Teamwork (Maxwell), how do you help a person who is expected to lead that is inexperienced or growing into a position?

• Define the win.  Where do you want that person to be?
• In the absence of new versions of a job, a person will always revert to the old version.

4) What are some practical things to do as a leader to bring the team together?

• Recognize them publicly.
• Write thank you notes on things you notice.
• Team book studies
• Ask the question, take a staff survey - What can we do to improve ____?
• 'Encouragement is oxygen to the soul.'

Leadership Lunch with John Cox, XP at Watermark Church

John Cox is the executive pastor at Watermark Church in Dallas, Texas.  He has been in this position for the previous 7 years, after graduating from Stanford, Fuller, and most recently completing his MBA at Harvard.  John has been in and around ministry for 30 years and is an excellent resource for those seeking to grow.

What is the greatest lesson you’ve ever learned in your current position as the XP at Watermark Church?

·      It’s important to add value to staff. 

·      You need to invest in them. 

·      Titles only matter externally

·      Must complement the Senior Leader, build trust and learn what he cares about, recognize what he should care about, and take care of it anyway

·      I’m not as smart as I think…something’s we tried at Watermark I thought would work, and other things I thought would work didn’t

·      GOAL of an XP:  Do not surprise the Lead Pastor

What is a KEY ministry lesson you have picked up over the years?

Isolated, every idea is a good idea.  You cannot allow things to be framed up like that.  The question to ask is, “how does this idea prioritize amongst the other good ideas?”

There are many good ministries, but none should start without a ministry leader that lay awake at night thinking about it.  We start a lot of different things, but rarely do we invest heavily in something upfront.

Be sure to ask the lead pastor how you can add value to them.  Be sure expectation are defined both directions and with staff.

How do we evaluate ministry in a growing church?

It is important to construct a grid through which to view and process ministry and especially the number 2 position in a church.  There are two things that always are surprising:

1)   How much God changes people

2)   How little other people change

This is the grid through which we look at people.  Some people move toward Christ, others are forever stuck.  What sets these people apart? 

What are the common denominators for determining which camp a person will end up? 

1)   Trust that God is good

2)   I can grow alone (this is a fast track to not changing)

3)   People are to busy to change

4)   Serving (those who aren’t growing view this has an event or helping out)

5)   Relationship with Money  (Dallas is an incredibly vain place…)

One of the BIG goals of an XP is to be a catalyst toward change…there is the problem of the 16-minute miler.  The person who believes they are one step away from setting a world record mile, yet they are running it at 16 minutes a mile.  They haven’t surrounded themselves with any sense of accountability or even just been around those who running spiritually much faster.  Someone has to show them their blind spot.

How do we adjust this lens through which we view ministry?

1)   How do I grow?

2)   How do I run?

Ministry leaders are tended toward ‘running’, which is the urgent things that pop up.  Teaching on Sunday, going to meetings, etc.  Whereas the more important idea to focus on is growth, how are we preparing for the future? What leaders are being developed?  What are your 2 or 3 things?

In investing and developing people to align with this grid, specific focused coaching is required.  Here is one grid to process through:

1)   What are they doing that they should keep doing?

2)   What should they stop doing?

3)   What should they be doing that would make a BIG difference in ministry?

What should I read that you have read?

·      It All Goes Back in the Box – John Ortberg

·      Axioms – Bill Hybels

·      Winning – Jack Welch

·      Courageous Leadership – Bill Hybels

MUST READS:

·      Leadership Challenge – Kouzes & Poser

·      Your in Charge, Now What? – Neff & Citrin

·      The First 90 Days – Michael Watkins

·      What to Ask the person in the mirror – Robert Kaplen

Who should I know that you know?

·      Leadership Network

·      Greg Hawkins

·      Any XPs with experience

o   Jack Warren

o   Brent Wright

o   Guy from Irving Bible

o   Tommy Shelton

o   Josh Patterson

How can I add Value to you?

SEND HIM GREAT IDEAS!

Leadership Questions 4.14.15

4.14.14

Collin Sewell

What are good questions to ask when considering a #2 position in an organization?

·      Look for ANY successful #2, whether in the church or business world

·      There are 3 veins in which one needs to ask questions:

o   #1 Character:

§  What is the DNA of the most success #2?

§  What are their habits?

§  What are their disciplines?

o   #2 Competency

§  What are the key points to succeed?

§  What do you measure?  How do you measure?

§  What metrics do you use in your organization?

§  How do you handle and measure those you lead?

o   #3 Chemistry

§  How do you manage relationships?

§  How do you deal with bad news?

§  What if they don’t want to hear bad news?

§  Trust vs. Trustworthiness, filling the gap.

What preparation should I be doing to prepare for a #2 position?

·      The science side of your job is expected.  You don’t get to this level without it.  What is key to work on, is the ART side.  Here are some books related to this:

v Winning With People – Maxwell

v 17 Laws of Teamwork

v 5 Levels of Leadership

v 21 Laws of Leadership

What are the traits that you have seen derail leaders?

#1 – PERSONAL SIN!

(Pride, fear, insecurity are the most common)