A word from heaven.

<$BlogDateHeaderDate$>

Leading with distinction

Anyone can lead. but not everyone can lead well and with distinction. Today, i'm going to talk about planning, strategizing and communication aspect of leadership.

Outline
You see, we always say we need to plan. Ok, so what is the first thing that goes onto the paper when say, you are planning for the momentum up to an ESS? It has to be the ESS right?

Whatever you plan, the final result and destination must be crystal clear.

The success or failure of the entire momentum will hinge mainly on the result of this final destination. Don't just plan for planning sake, write down clearly what you hope to see, what will constitute a success and what will constitute a failure. Don't just do the former without the latter. With this in mind, planning becomes much more focused and agenda-ed and you will not find yourself slotting in events for the sake of it.

Planning

Some of you may be wondering if we got a wrong heading here. Didn't we just talk about planning? Nope, nothing is wrong. What you just read in the previous paragraph is not planning. that is drawing target board. the real planning starts here. After knowing where you want to lead a group of people to, break up the journey to the end point into manageable seasons or parts. Micro plan the seasons from here onwards. Be crystal clear about the following:

1) How does this micro planned season contribute to the overall big picture.
2) What does my group needs to do or to learn to get there or to be successful.
3) What is the bench mark for success and failure for each season?
4) Will my people respond positively at each stage or at which stage will i need to rally the people abit more?
5) How is this event bring the group closer to the final goal when benchmarked against where we left off in the previous event?

A vision cast is not like, just throw your people a huge vision and leave them there and hopefully things will work out right as things unfold. It won't. This is not what is meant by being spirit-led.

When you cast a vision, break it up into small digestible steps for the group to see. Mentioning to them how, at each stage, you will tackle the 5 qns i raised up. When people see that you know what you are doing, you are not just big talking about a big vision, but you know exactly what it takes to get there, the costs, the strategy, the people, i tell you, PEOPLE WILL BUY YOUR VISION.

Communication
Leaders, can i plead to you not to play the "cannot tell you" game? Let us not fall into the trap that information needs to be contained thing. Be as open to your people about your dreams. Communicate to your people the plan! the steps of the plan! and the strategy of the plan! Don't just restrict it to your direct team all the time. Remember this, if there is something that needs to come directly from you and not through your core team, it is the spirit behind the vision and the plans to get there. Communicate the above two points to as large percentage a group as you can. Maybe shepherds and above or even everyone in the ministry.

And leaders, can i challenge you to learn how to vision cast properly? How to communicate a vision clearly. Watch how bill hybels does it. Watch how Obama does it. Watch how Rick warren does it. Can i encourage you to learn this skill and not always depend on pure conviction or emotions only. These things are important but we need to look around, and learn from others how they do it. Don't just stare at them and wow. Learn from them and be willing to try out new styles. To try out new methods.

Whenever i receive a Vision from God, i want to do justice to the magnitude, the awesomeness, the power of that vision so much so that i will stop at nothing to make sure that it is as well represented as i can possibly make it to be.

Regards,

jie hui

Labels: Leadership

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

0 Comments

Wednesday, July 02, 2008