Skip to main content

Save the date

"There is no 'save the date' card that a crisis is coming.  Be prepared."  Dave Beroth
As leaders, we often work, work, work and get caught in day to day activities.  We're rolling along and then wham! crisis.  Crisis looks different for each of us.  Crisis can be personal (birth of a child, death of a family member, change in health, major move, divorce...).  Crisis can be in our leadership (standard operating procedures change, the market takes a dive, followers stop following, our title changes...).
All of these things affect our outlook.  Situations become magnified.  We start to be reactive instead of proactive.  We can lose our way.
Crisis is inevitable.  It's not a matter of "if", but "when".  As leaders, we need to be extra prepared.  How we handle adverse situations will set a tone and an example to those who look to us for guidance.  If we fall apart, get angry, are constantly on edge, have a bad attitude or quit, those around us will do the same.  If we rise to the challenge and show strength in adverse times, those around will also do the same.
The key is to be prepared.  You need to have a firm foundation in your leadership.  Know your strengths.  Know your beliefs.  Know yourself.  Know when to get help.
You may not be able to "save the date" and schedule your crisis, but you can be prepared.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

People test

"If you do not pass the people test, nothing else matters. Promotion without connectivity is destructive. I often share with church leaders that most of the churches in the United States should not promote themselves. Why? Simple. If your current membership is not actively inviting people or visitors are not staying, there are reasons why. If you do an advertising campaign, you are asking people to come in your doors only to realize why no one wants to invite anyone to your church. They never come back and leave to tell all their friends what they did not like about your church. This is not good marketing. The heart of marketing is people. Don’t start with mailers. Start with people. Ask yourself, “What am I doing this week to learn how to reach people more effectively? It's time to evaluate. Are we creating an atmosphere that fosters growth or are we ministering unto ourselves?" http://www.beyondrelevance.com/index.cfm/PageID/913/blog_year/2010/blog_month/2/index.html...

Clean House

While flipping through some late night television, I came across "Clean House: Search for the Messiest House in the Country 4".  Now, without getting into a rant about how people could let their house get so full of "stuff" (let alone letting it be broadcast to the world), I want to touch on one of their underlying issues.  The dad traveled a lot with his job, and every time he came back, he brought his family gifts to show them that he loved them and thought of them often when he was away.  These gifts were contributing to a huge clutter problem and many gifts had never even been opened.  The family was disconnected, because the wife and children really just wanted to spend time with the dad, who had to keep working more to buy more gifts... do you see the problem? This whole situation took me back to a book I read many years ago, "The 5 Love Languages" by Dr. Gary Chapman.  According to Chapman, the 5 are: Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, Quality ...

Volunteers

I've heard many in leadership lamenting about the lack of volunteers.  If you lead a church or other non-profit, or are in direct sales, you lead an army of volunteers.  Sometimes, your volunteers will not hit you over the head with their willingness to serve.  Sometimes, they will.  Are you ready to mentor them in their volunteer position so that they will be successful?  Do you follow through with them while enthusiasm is high?  I think we all believe we do. About two years ago, I volunteered with a non-profit in the Quad Cities area.  It took several weeks just to be able to get through to the correct person to volunteer my services with.  I was invited to attend an open meeting, where I spoke of the service that I was willing to provide.  Although there was much agreement that my service would be a great addition to the service they were providing, and several follow up calls on my part, I never was given the opportunity to volunteer. A...