1.     Which gauges should we be watching?

At a glance, the right set of gauges can tell you a lot about the health of your organization. Knowing the right three or four to watch is critical. Your mission and vision should help narrow your focus to the numbers that matter. For us, attendance is an obvious one. But if we focus only on attendance, we won’t get a complete picture. If your church’s strategy requires small group involvement, then the ratio of small group participation to Sunday attendance is a gauge. If personal ministry is critical in your model, then your “leader to attendee” ratio is critical. A regular glance at the right gauges can keep your organization on track for the long haul.

2.     Where are we manufacturing energy?

Is there a ministry area where you have to pretend a little bit-an area that once generated results and excitement but now requires you to manufacture energy?

This question quickly exposes those areas that need to be retooled or replaced altogether. Often this will free up much needed time and money for truly effective ministry.

3.     Who needs to be sitting at the table?

Good decisions require good input. Ask yourself, “Whose input do I need to make the best decision possible?” Then cut through the red tape and ignore the org chart to make sure those people have seats at the table.

We all have different skills and talents. There are people you’ll want to brainstorm with, but who would be horrible in the “get it done” meeting, while others will shine while implementing. Understand who on your team fits where and make sure they are at the right table at the right time.

4.     Who is not keeping up?

No one likes to ask this question. It’s painful. But it’s inevitable that as your organization hits 60 mph, there will be some still moving at 45 mph.

As painful as this question is, the truth is that other people already know the answer. They are wondering if you know. Accommodating people who are falling behind hurts the organization, dishonors those people, and will ultimately keep them from finding their areas of success.

5.     Where do I make the greatest contribution to the organization?

As leaders, we are often tempted to try to do everything. Generally this leads to widespread failure. We must ask ourselves where we add the most value. In other words, “What do you do that only you can do?” There may be more than one thing that you do well.

Once you’ve answered this question, your goal should be to spend the majority of your time doing the things that make the greatest contribution. Young leaders, this takes time. Usually years. Sometimes decades. But when the time comes and you are in a position to control your time, will you know where to invest it?

6.     What should I stop doing?

Once you’ve answered question five, this answer should be clear. You have to make the tough decision to stop doing some things, even things you enjoy doing, if they don’t add value.

Regularly asking these six questions will help keep your organization healthy and on track.

To hear more from Andy on this topic, subscribe to the free Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, available on iTunes.

Leaders are always looking for energizing leadership principles to apply in their contexts. It gives them something to focus on, teach their teams, and further their missions. However, the leadership principle discussed in this post is not one of these principles. This one is not motivating and is extremely difficult to apply. When not applied, however, it can be deadly to your organization.

In part one of this post, we said it’s always easier to work around someone or hire around someone than it is to remove him or her. Personnel changes can be messy and painful, but they are a necessary part of a healthy organization. There is a leadership principle that applies to these situations, but it is not for the faint of heart.

The principle: Always sacrifice the one for the many, never the many for the one.

The objections are obvious. “But isn’t that insensitive? It sounds heartless.” And while it may seem that way at first glance, it is actually insensitive to the many to refuse to deal with the one. Everyone benefits when everyone contributes. And everyone suffers when one person is not fully contributing. Refusing to apply this principle will negatively impact the morale and health of your organization.

“Letting the wrong people hang around is unfair to all the right people, as they inevitably find themselves compensating for the inadequacies of the wrong people.”

- Good to Great by Jim Collins

It is also insensitive to the one to keep him or her in a position that hinders the progress of the organization. To work around the one is dishonoring to the one. Everyone knows what is happening. Eventually, the one knows it as well. Intentionally or unintentionally, we should be careful to never embarrass or frustrate someone. To work around the one also robs him or her of future opportunities. Freeing their futures allows them to move on to a better job fit.

When you sacrifice the many for the one, nobody wins-ultimately.

When you sacrifice the one for the many, everybody wins-eventually.

Individuals who negatively influence the organization must be removed or reassigned. This principle stands at the center of all we believe as Christians. God sacrificed the one, Jesus, for the many, humanity. As is always the case, the decision turned out to be in the best interests of the one and the many.

Either way, someone is going to be disappointed.

Will it be one or many?

Either way, someone is going to be mad.

Will it be the people you can least afford to have mad at you?

Either way, only a few will understand exactly why you did what you did.

Will you bear the burden that, with time, will become clear?

What’s best for your organization is not always what’s easiest for you, the leader. Instead of making difficult changes, we often put them off or avoid them all together. One such change is a personnel change. It’s always easier to work around or hire around people than it is to remove them. Personnel changes can be messy and painful, but they are a necessary part of a healthy organization.

Any number of factors can lead to a personnel change:

• An individual fails morally or ethically.
• A financial downturn forces broad reevaluation of personnel.
• A position outgrows an employee.
• An individual doesn’t fit the culture of the organization.
• An individual demonstrates a poor work ethic.

Situations like these oftentimes make it easy to determine when a personnel change needs to happen. Although the change itself will present a challenge, it will be clear that a change needs to be made.

What about those not-so-clear situations? How do you determine when a personnel change needs to happen when the situation is not black and white? These gray situations often begin with an ongoing, nagging suspicion about a person. Pay attention to those feelings. In Good To Great, Jim Collins suggests asking two questions when these nagging suspicions begin:

• Would I hire this person again?
• If he or she quit, would I secretly be relieved?

Your honest answers to these questions can help you determine if a change is needed. Your answers will bring clarity. They may also help you realize a change is not needed. Maybe the person just needs coaching through a situation or there is just a difference in personalities.

Personnel changes are difficult. There is always tension leading up to the change and there is always an aftermath. But leaders who want to create a healthy work culture must deal with personnel changes from time to time. Knowing when to do so is critical.

In part two we will share a principle that will help you when it’s time to make a personnel change. It is very difficult to apply, but not applying it can prove deadly to your organization.

Last time we looked at a couple of keys to creating a culture that’s receptive—even excited—about change. Step one: make changes frequently. And step two: do it now, before you’re forced to.

(Click here to read the entire part 1 article.)

Today, let’s dive into two more practices that can make leading through change a breeze. And again, we’ll start with a story.

In the mid 1960s, social scientists Jonathan Freedman and Scott Fraser devised an unusual experiment to test the power of the “foot-in-the-door” technique often employed by salespeople. A volunteer would go door-to-door in a residential California neighborhood making a preposterous request of homeowners—allow an oversized billboard to be installed in their front yards. The poorly lettered sign reading Drive Carefully would almost completely obstruct the view from their homes.

Although the request was understandably refused by 83 percent of those asked, a particular group of homeowners reacted favorably. More than 50 percent of this group offered the use of their front yards.

How can it be that these folks agreed to such an extreme request?

The answer lies in something that happened to this group two weeks earlier. A different volunteer had come to their doors asking them to sign a petition that favored “keeping California beautiful.” Of course, nearly everyone signed since state beautification is an issue almost no one is against.

But why should the small act of signing a petition cause more than half of these people to be so willing to perform the much larger, more imposing favor of giving up their front lawns?

The explanation: signing the petition changed the view these people had of themselves. They had come to see themselves as public-spirited citizens who acted on their principles. In the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Freedman and Fraser say, “Once [a person] has agreed to a request, his attitude may change, he may become, in his own eyes, the kind of person who does this sort of thing . . . who takes action on things he believes in, who cooperates with good causes.”

So what can we learn from this study? Should petitions become our secret weapons? Maybe not.

But we know that small, safe commitments can change a person’s self–image. So when we have a major change to navigate, let’s start small. The label “test” may be the way to do so.

The most visible test we’ve taken on recently at North Point has been adding a Sunday evening service. Adding another service meant significantly expanding “the ask” from our volunteers. But introducing the change with the label of test meant volunteers didn’t need to commit their next 52 Sunday evenings. We only asked for a commitment while we tested the new schedule.

Breaking major changes into bite-size portions lowers the barriers to commitment. And once someone commits to the small step one, he is more likely to see himself as an insider, an early-adopter, someone who is on board with the larger vision.

Now where do you go from here? Right back to that group of folks. Casting vision for whatever change you’re undertaking should start with this group of “connectors.” These are the people who, despite having only agreed to a small step in the direction of change, are most on-board with you. Get these folks excited about the results of the change and you’ll create real momentum—one person making one small commitment at a time.

How has this practice been true at your company or your church? Are you an early-adopter? When did you first view yourself that way? Join the conversation using the link below.

Read a sneak peek of chapter one from Andy’s newest release by clicking here.

When Work & Family Collide is updated content from the previously released title
Choosing to Cheat.

Publisher’s Description:

Let’s face it. With all the demands of the workplace and all the details of a family it’s only a matter of time before one bumps into the other. And many of us end up cheating our families when the commitments of both collide. In this practical book, Andy Stanley will help you. . .

• establish priorities and boundaries to protect what you value most.
• learn the difference between saying your family is your priority and actually making them your priority.
• discover tested strategies for easing tensions at home and at work.

Watch as this powerful book transforms your life from time-crunching craziness to life-changing success.

To purchase a copy of When Work & Family Collide, click here.

If you work at a church, though, Christmas can be downright insane. Especially if you do a living Christmas tree. Something about assembling a set that rivals Les Miserables out of 2×4s and phone books doesn’t seem so Christmas cheer-y.

Thankfully, we don’t do the living Christmas tree at North Point. In fact, it really is the season I look forward to the most every year. Over the last few years, we’ve been able to do some really fun stuff - and the process of making it happen is so much fun.

Typically we start sometime in late summer or early fall with a brainstorming session. We’ll bring in people from all over the church staff and just ask for as many random ideas as possible. Everything from baking turkeys in ovens to fill the room with the aroma to making the band wear footie pajamas, no idea is a bad idea. Then, all of those ideas get taken to another meeting with our Service Programming Team. We try to take those loose ideas and find some themes, some big picture ideas for what to tackle this Christmas.

From there things get really fun. I typically sit down with the people on the music team and we brainstorm anything and everything we could possibly do with music that could work at Christmas. This is where ideas like the iBand and “Santa Went Down to Georgia” were born. We get all excited and bring our half-baked ideas back to the SPD team. The SPD team listens patiently to our strange music ideas, and most of them end up on the cutting room floor. But some of them survive, and when they do they go back down to the music team with ideas for changes and new direction.

Then our team gets to work on creating demos for these ideas. We spend time with microphones and karaoke tracks, trying our best to piece together a reasonable idea of what our concepts would look and sound like as a finished product. After another round or two of edits, the SPD team signs off and we are all systems go. Then we bring in musicians and singers for rehearsals, some of which start months ahead of time depending on what we’re trying to accomplish. Finally, after some of the longest nights of rehearsal we have all year, we get to try these ideas out on Sunday mornings in front of people in their best Christmas sweaters.

The best part is, we never really know if it’s going to work. I was pretty convinced the iBand was going to flop until we stood on stage and heard the laughter after the first few notes. It’s always exhilarating and nerve-wracking, but at the end of the day it is incredibly satisfying to work so hard and see something come together like Christmas. I can’t wait to see it come together again this year…

How do you like to prepare for Christmas? What’s the idea you’re looking forward to this year?

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s time to deck the halls!

We just kicked off our annual holiday giving and serving campaign, Be Rich.

Check out the video above for the details of this year’s efforts.

Like the soundtrack? Visit NorthPointMusic.org to download a free MP3 of “Here And Now”
by Eddie Kirkland. ]]>

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s time to deck the halls!

We just kicked off our annual holiday giving and serving campaign, Be Rich.

Check out the video above for the details of this year’s efforts.

Like the soundtrack? Visit NorthPointMusic.org to download a free MP3 of “Here And Now”
by Eddie Kirkland. ]]> http://insidenorthpoint.org/blog/2011/11/01/tis-the-season-already/feed/ http://insidenorthpoint.org/blog/2011/10/18/why-the-new-album/ http://insidenorthpoint.org/blog/2011/10/18/why-the-new-album/#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:07:32 +0000 Jessica http://insidenorthpoint.org/?p=1370 Eddie Kirkland is the Music Director and frequent worship leader at North Point Community Church. His new album, Here & Now, debuted at Catalyst earlier this month. Below Eddie explains the inspiration behind this new release.

Every once in a while I’ll hear a song and it really captivates me. There’s no logic to it, no formula or predictable pattern, but every once in a while something about a song - the melody, the musicality… something grabs my heart. Although I’ve never heard anything like it, I feel like it’s strangely familiar. It feels like someone expressed something that’s been inside me for a long time, but until then I never had the voice to say it.

In a way, that’s why I wanted to make this record. That’s why I want to make music, period. But it is specifically why I wanted to record the six songs on Here & Now. There’s always an artist part of me that wants to push the envelope a little bit and do things a little differently. I don’t want to just record another batch of worship songs that sound just like every other worship record out there, or that say the same things in the same way as every other worship song. I want to try and add something to the conversation - add something to the dialogue the church is having each week. I want to try and say something that’s been in my heart for a while, but to give it a voice for the first time.

This is a huge task, and if I’m not careful I get caught up in this and end up not writing “worship music” at all. I end up with a collection of artsy songs that most people don’t like or don’t listen to and no one can worship to but me. Instead, I wanted to take the music that we’ve been singing every week at North Point and take it one step further. My hope is that people will be able to relate to it, but also be challenged in a new way. That’s why you’ll hear songs that have different metaphors and even different instruments. I hope it can be a fresh collection of songs that express something people have wanted to express for a while.

For me, a lot of the ideas for this EP came together when I started reading a few books by NT Wright, specifically Simply Christian. I’m late to the NT Wright party, and the ideas he presents are not new at all, but for some reason they gripped me and I felt like my world began making sense. My view of God and the church suddenly became much clearer, and Scripture became much more invigorating. Over time, these ideas began to influence a few of the ideas in these songs. They became a way for me to express this newfound hope in the kingdom of God, a kingdom that is here, now, living and active in the world. A kingdom that will one day make everything new again.

I feel like these thoughts have been inside me all along. God sets eternity in the human heart (Ecc 3:11), and I think music specifically helps us tap into that. Music helps us realize tiny bits of what eternity truly means. These songs have done that for me, and hopefully they’ll do that for someone else as well.

Here & Now is available via iTunes and Eddie is available via Twitter (@EddieKirkland) or Facebook (/EddieKMusic).

What’s best for your organization is not always what’s easiest for you, the leader. Instead of making difficult changes, we often put them off or avoid them all together. One such change is a personnel change. It’s always easier to work around or hire around people than it is to remove them. Personnel changes can be messy and painful, but they are a necessary part of a healthy organization.

Any number of factors can lead to a personnel change:

· An individual fails morally or ethically.

· A financial downturn forces broad reevaluation of personnel.

· A position outgrows an employee.

· An individual doesn’t fit the culture of the organization.

· An individual demonstrates a poor work ethic.

Situations like these oftentimes make it easy to determine when a personnel change needs to happen. Although the change itself will present a challenge, it will be clear that a change needs to be made.

What about those not-so-clear situations? How do you determine when a personnel change needs to happen when the situation is not black and white? These gray situations often begin with an ongoing, nagging suspicion about a person. Pay attention to those feelings. In Good To Great, Jim Collins suggests asking two questions when these nagging suspicions begin:

· Would I hire this person again?

· If he or she quit, would I secretly be relieved?

Your honest answers to these questions can help you determine if a change is needed. Your answers will bring clarity. They may also help you realize a change is not needed. Maybe the person just needs coaching through a situation or there is just a difference in personalities.

Personnel changes are difficult. There is always tension leading up to the change and there is always an aftermath. But leaders who want to create a healthy work culture must deal with personnel changes from time to time. Knowing when to do so is critical.

In Part Two we will share a principle that will help you when it’s time to make a personnel change. It is very difficult to apply, but not applying it can prove deadly to your organization.

When was the last time you took a good, long look at a guardrail? It was probably the last time you needed one. Guardrails aren’t much to look at. They’re mostly dull gray metal with dents and dings that remind us of why they’re there—to protect us. That’s why you’d rather not notice them, because noticing a guardrail usually means you’ve just smashed your car into it.

And yet, when that happens, how grateful are you that the guardrail is there?

Sure, it did a number on your fender and grillwork, but things could’ve been much worse. Guardrails protect us from what lurks on the other side. The danger zone. You never see guardrails on long, flat stretches of road. They’re in the sharp curves and along the sheer cliffs. Yes, they can dent your bumper and bust your headlight. But all that lies on theother side of the guardrail could do far greater damage.

I have to confess that I’m not a highway safety expert. But I’ve spent years watching people make wrecks out of their lives. And the principle of the guardrail applies on the road and in your life. Your greatest regret in life probably could have been avoided if you had protected yourself from the danger zone—if you had established some guardrails.

Personal guardrails are boundaries you establish on the safe side of damaging decisions that protect you from the danger ahead. They’re meant to set off warning bells over seemingly little things . . . little things that can lead to big, messy consequences. If you’re going to have a crash, have a conscience crash, instead of destroying your career, your marriage, or your reputation.

Before you find yourself thousands of dollars in debt, cue your conscience to guard your budget. Before you find yourself confiding in that attractive co-worker two cubes away, let your conscience prevent any alone time with him or her.

But here’s the trick. Guardrails must be set intentionally—because culture’s gravitational pull is toward the very edge.Party all night long . . . oh, but drink responsibly. Everybody’s having sex, but wait until you’re ready. What do you mean you can’t afford it? It’s zero percent down!

The good news is that God has given us some great guardrails. In fact, one of the first verses Sandra and I had our kids memorize—one of our family mantras to this day—comes from Proverbs.

“The prudent see danger and take refuge.

But the simple keep going and suffer for it.”

Proverbs 27:12 NIV

The prudent see danger and build guardrails. The prudent see danger in having coffee alone with her and say no. The prudent see danger in working 60 hours every week and go home. The simple keep going and drive off the cliff.

So, where is the danger zone for you? Where do you need guardrails? Career? Marriage? Finances? Personal integrity? Remember, many of our greatest regrets in life could probably have been avoided if we had put guardrails in place.

If you think your congregation could benefit from this message, we have free resources to help you! Guardrails is a six-part series about setting boundaries in friendships, finances, and relationships. And with special thanks to Zondervan, we have some free resources to help you bring this sermon to your church. Visit the Church-wide Journeys website to access free downloadable files including sermon outlines & transcripts, promotional materials, and video packages. We hope it’s helpful!