Story-telling comes naturally.

… It’s the long-winded tale you made up to explain to your mom how her antique vase mysteriously crashed and broke into 1000 pieces.

… It’s the hours I played outside with my Tonka trunks and Barbies creating the stories of lives interwoven.

… It’s the hours that you and your friends played Star Wars and elaborated on elements of a story that you knew so well.

… It’s the scribbles of a novel that I started as an 8 year old when I was convinced I was going to be an author.

Story comes naturally.

And yet oftentimes we lose our affinity for telling a story as we grow up lost in the details of simply living our story.

As church communicators we have to embrace the power of telling the story.  We get the privilege of communicating “the greatest story ever told”.  Have you really thought about that?  Do you understand the weight and responsibility… and privilege you’ve been entrusted with?

That’s powerful!

And that’s why I’m so excited about STORY…

Founded by one of the most brilliant creative minds I know, I know that Story will be an experience that will push you to dream, to think and to pursue the power of story!

STORY
Sept 23-24
Chicago, IL

STORY is a conference for the creative class in ministry on September 23-24, 2010 at Park Community Church in downtown Chicago. The purpose is to fuel the church’s artists, writers and producers in communicating the greatest story ever told. You’ll hear from some of the best creative practitioners in both ministry and the marketplace, from filmmakers and authors to actors and musicians.

REGISTER HERE!

And just for some Friday Fun… What was the best story that you made up as a kid?

Trust is one of life’s greatest commodities. My friend’s 10 week old baby girl already knows to trust the sound of her mother’s voice and the safety of her daddy’s arms.

Earning trust and extending trust become a natural part of our life rhythm.

The same is true in our leadership.  Trust is foundational to our leadership relationships.

While there is much that can be said about earning the trust of those you lead, I want to focus for a minute on earning the trust of those that lead you.  Oftentimes I believe we overlook the importance of earning the trust of the person who is empowering your leadership.

To earn leadership trust, I believe you need to display these three things well:

1. Accountability
2. Communication
3. Consistency

Accountability

Leadership is a big responsibility and contrary to what many new leaders assume, it doesn’t come with autonomy.  In fact, I believe leadership requires greater accountability.  As a leader you have to determine who you are accountable to and then find out what accountability means to them.  For some that may mean checking in daily, for others it may mean weekly.  Know their expectation and then live up to it.

Communication

Learn what your leader values and then make sure he/she knows about it.  I suggest you over-communicate first and then get feedback from them on what they really want to know.  The more you are looping them in, the more confident they’ll feel about your leadership and the more quickly you’ll earn their trust.  I’ll add one caution though: communication doesn’t mean popping into their office repeatedly throughout the day.  Respect their time and their schedule and work within that.  The most important thing you can do each week is come prepared with a thorough update for your weekly meeting time (assuming you have one).  Never come unprepared to a meeting with your boss – NEVER!  Unpreparedness erodes trust.

Consistency

Be consistent.  Consistently do what you say you’ll do.  Consistently deliver on what is asked of you… and in the time frame it was requested.  Unpredictability erodes trust. If you can’t be counted on, you can’t be trusted.

Having the complete trust of your leader is an amazing gift, but don’t expect it.  Earn it!

Do you agree?  What would you add to the list?

You’ve been the leader of the country for a full year.

The honeymoon has worn off and the real work of leadership has begun.

Your approval ratings are mediocre.

We’ve come through one of the most difficult years for our country economically.

People are not very confident and not very trusting.

You’re the leader.  What do you say tonight?

We all like feedback.  Even when we fear it’s not good.  We generally want to know where we stand.

I’m sure it’s no surprise that I was a studious kid.  I wanted to achieve the best I possibly could, so as the teacher passed out graded assignments I eagerly awaited that circled letter at the top of my paper.

That part of me that longs for approval hasn’t changed much.  I want to know how I’m doing.  I want to know if I’m measuring up.

As I leader, I believe I have a responsibility to give our staff “a grade”.  No, not an A, B or C grade.  Frankly a grade is really the easy way out.  A grade represents feedback and feedback is all about communication.

I firmly believe that one of the most critical components to being an effective staff leader is creating communication with your team.

And while I believe this is critical to my success as a leader, it doesn’t mean that I naturally do it well.  Oftentimes I find that in my haste and busyness I haven’t given the clear direction that  I think I have and I certainly don’t rush into conversations where I need to give construction criticism.

But whether I always like it or not, I’m not helping myself, our staff, or our organization if I’m not committed to providing our team these two key things:

1. Clear direction
2. Candid feedback

Most organizations have a system, or at least a form, for performance reviews.  I’ve seen all kinds of different reviews.  I’ve been graded, dictated, manipulated and persuaded in performance reviews.  I’ve worked in organizations that had no written plans at all and then I’ve been in organizations where the system was so formalized and structured it didn’t allow for relationship or conversation of any kind.

While I by no means think that our system at Cross Point is perfect.  I do believe that we’ve created a process that encourages conversation - and conversation is the key word.  Without conversation, performance plans become  rigid, passionless rules that lack motivation and buy-in from your team. Creating conversation is critical to a successful performance plan system.

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to our performance plan process at Cross Point:

Step 1: The manager writes a vision for the employee for the upcoming year.  The manager shares what he sees as the employees strengths and shares how he feels the employee can uniquely contribute this upcoming year.  This is a motivation piece that doesn’t include “needs improvement” statements or a list of expectations.  While this is a written piece, it is communicated in a one-on-one meeting and is used to generate a conversation about what the employee’s key objectives could be for the next year.  This should be a brainstorming/dreaming session between manager and employee.

Step2: The employee writes a first draft of 5-8 performance objectives and 2-3 development objectives. Performance Objectives are specific, job-related objectives or key accomplishments that represent the most critical things the employee can contribute to the organization in the upcoming year.  Development Objectives are specific, personal goals for the employee.  These are goals that are connected to their job but have more to do with their personal growth and development; ie. leadership skills, technical training, communication skills, etc.

Step 3: The manager reviews the objectives the employee has written measuring them against key criteria:

• Do these goals meet the SMART criteria – Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Results-driven, Time-sensitive.  Basically, will you be able to clearly state whether the objective has been met or not at the end of the year?
• Do these goals align with our overall goals and direction as an organization and a ministry department for the upcoming year?
• Do we have the budget to support these goals?
• Can I as their manager adequately help them achieve these goals?

Step 4: The manager and employee meet back together to discuss and finalize the performance plan.

Step 5: The employee begins working the plan

Step 6: Every 3 months the manager instigates a meeting with the employee to discuss progress.  At the manager’s discretion adjustments can be made in the plan in the event that circumstances indicate a change in direction or timing.

Step 7: At the end of the performance plan year, the employee and the manager each individually write a summary of each objective.  Then they meet together to compare notes, discuss any discrepancies and wrap-up the plan for that year.

This system is by no means perfect, but it does create the conversations that are so critical to providing clear direction and candid feedback.

Remember, leadership is rarely black & white.  It’s not as easy as scribbling an “A” or “F”.  Leading through “the grey” in performance assessments requires the tough work of communication, but I promise you it’s worth it!

How about you?  What systems or processes does your team have for effective performance reviews?

I’ve found that different seasons of leadership bring different areas of focus for me.  Recently I’ve found myself constantly evaluating the effectiveness of my communication and that of our team.

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing some thoughts with our staff about our communication challenges and ways to improve the effectiveness of our communication.  I’ll share those notes here on the blog soon.

In the meantime, here’s a video that I shot about effective communication for multi-site leaders for “Leading Multi-site“.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I list clarity and candor as two important elements to effective multi-site communication.

What would you add?

Assume the best.

Give the benefit of the doubt.

I had a funny thing (well kind of funny depending on your perspective) happen to me this week.  I got a very kind but concerned message from a former colleague about a status update he saw on my facebook page.  The update included an expletive that he felt was inappropriate considering my position as a church leader.  I was totally freaked out because I didn’t write the update.  I went into immediate damage control mode trying to figure out how my facebook page was hacked.  I was  distraught because I was afraid of what people would think.  I was fearful that they wouldn’t give me the benefit of the doubt.

I traced (or at least think I have traced) the problem to the twitter application on facebook.  I immediately turned the application off.  Sent a twitter message to check to make sure it wasn’t going through.  Sent a twitter asking people for advice on how to handle it and posted an apology and explanation on my facebook page.

And then I held my breathe.

Would people believe me?  Would those who had read the message the previous evening see my update and know it wasn’t me or had they already vowed to never talk to Jenni Catron again! (drama intended because I am really paranoid about people getting the wrong impression)

But, you know what?

At least a few gave me the benefit of the doubt.  They believed the best.  They said things like “that didn’t sound like the Jenni I know”.

And that little bit of grace gave me so much relief.

I still don’t know if everyone who read it knows that it wasn’t from me.  I hope they have.  I hope they won’t assume the worst.

But all of this became a reminder to me of the importance of giving people the benefit of the doubt.  Give people a chance to explain themselves.  You don’t always know what’s going on.  You never know when you may have misunderstood.

Believe the best.  It matters!

Another “grey leadership” example…

This week I had to say some tough stuff to our leadership team.  I don’t usually “bring the hammer down” with our staff, but this week was one of those weeks when I felt like there was no better way to address my concerns than to say some tough things.

I’m a firm believer in the axiom “what gets rewarded gets repeated” and I would submit that as much as 90% of the time this IS the best way to lead and motivate your team, however I also believe that there are moments – that 10% – when a tough reprimand is in order.  That’s what makes this such a “grey leadership” issue.  When do you know you’re in the 10%?  Who’s to say your not just having a bad day?  Maybe the issue or concern is not that dramatic?

Here’s how I process to determine whether it’s 10% time:

• Journal my frustration/the issue
• Talk it through with my husband or my boss
• Talk it through out loud so that I can hear how I sound delivering the reprimand
• Pray – pray for discernment, wisdom, patience and direction
• Then, if I still feel as frustrated/concerned/passionate, it’s most likely time to say it

And let me just say, I HATE IT!  I absolutely agonize over those times when I have to look my team in the eye and say some tough stuff.  I hate that when we walk out of that room, they probably are not really happy with me.  I hate that sometimes I have to be ok with that.  They will not always like what I have to say, but it’s my responsibility to lead and motivate our team effectively… and sometimes that means saying the tough stuff.  It’s just part of leadership.

How do you deal with saying the tough stuff?

Last week I posted Part 1 of Create a Crisis where I shared how our team creates a “Thematic Goal” every year.  Today, I thought I would share more about the process we go through in creating our thematic goal.

The concept for creating a thematic goal is easy to understand and get excited about, but creating the thematic goal for your organization is more challenging… and living it out is even more challenging.

One of the key things I’ve learned about creating a thematic goal is that if you can’t quickly understand it and repeat it, it’s not going to work.  Simply put: KEEP IT SIMPLE!  It was very easy for me to ramble on about what I wanted to accomplish with our thematic goal this year, but putting it into an easily digestible phrase was another matter.  I literally agonized over this for a couple of months.  Let me assure you, creating a thematic goal is NOT easy.  It takes tremendous planning and processing to come up with something that you can clearly articulate, that can be grasped and repeated by your team and that you can reinforce repeatedly throughout the organization all year long.

I’m currently reading a great book called Leading Change by John P. Kotter.  In the chapter entitled “Communicating the Change Vision”, Kotter shares a list of key elements in effective communication of vision which I believe have great application to creating and communicating a thematic goal.

Simplicity: All jargon and technobable must be eliminated

Metaphor, analogy, and example: A verbal picture is worth a thousand words.

Multiple forums: Big meetings and small, memos and newspapers, formal and informal interaction – all are effective for spreading the word.

Repetition: Ideas sink in deeply only after they have been heard many times.

Leadership by example: Behavior from important people that is inconsistent with the vision overwhelms other forms of communication.

Explanation of seeming inconsistencies: Unaddressed inconsistencies undermine the credibility of all communication.

Give-and-take: Two-way communication is always more powerful than one-way communication.

These elements have become the guide rails for me as I’ve put my ideas for a thematic goal on paper.  Making it understandable, repeatable and FUN were critical for me in creating a goal that I could enthusiastically communicate to my team.

In Part 3 I’ll share our 2009 Thematic Goal, how it’s working so far and how we plan to weave it into the fabric of our staff culture!

I have a pet peeve…

I hate it when people don’t use their turn signals on their vehicles.

I have a theory…

How people use (or don’t use) their turn signals on their vehicle is a good indication of how well they communicate in general.

Turn signals communicate what you are about to do.  They help prepare others for your next move.

Using your turn signal is courteous.  It tells me that you care enough about others to communicate to them in a timely fashion.

If turn signals are an indicator, how well do you communicate?

I was contemplating present day slang this morning… I know really random, but this gives you an idea of where my crazy mind goes when I’m bored with blow drying my hair.

“I’m just sayin’”

“Seriously??!!”

“That’s how I roll”

These are just a few of the sayings that I hear a lot lately.

What would you add?  Do you use these phrases where you are from?